ABSTRACT
The outbreak of war was accompanied by a vicious outburst of anti-German sentiment and it was not long before aspersions were cast on the royal family’s patriotism.1 Attention was also drawn to the apparent anomaly that the Kaiser and the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef were Colonels-in-Chief of British regiments, and they and six German princes were Knights of the Garter. The Kaiser was also a British Field Marshal and Admiral of the Fleet. Several German princes, all closely related to George V, held British titles. At the same time, several holders of German titles, closely related to the king by blood or marriage, were resident in Britain and serving in the British Armed Forces.2
