THOSE men of Dorset who marched off to fight the Kaiser and his army could barely have comprehended that seven years before, the Hun-in-chief had been holding tea parties for their own children when he took up residence in the county.

Kaiser Wilhelm II arrived at Highcliffe Castle in November 1907 for what was described as a 'rest cure', on the advice of his uncle, King Edward VII, who had himself stayed there seven years before.

The Illustrated London News shows him emerging, top-hatted from a service at nearby St Mark's Church and he certainly endeared himself to locals by throwing a tea-party for their children.

The visit made all the papers, including our sister paper the Bournemouth Echo, which noted: “A special cake alone kept the children in open-eyed astonishment. So much has been heard of the cake that it has been about the one topic of conversation in most Highcliffe families for the past day or two.”

The party was personally supervised by the Kaiser who became popular with local children, deliberately slowing his car as he passed schools where children were lined up to 'give him a cheer'. “The Emperor has never failed to return their salutes, leaning forward from his seat and smiling at the happy gathering of the youngsters,” the Echo observed.

Less than a decade later his own Army would be butchering many of their fathers and even this far ahead of the conflict, the Kaiser's visit portended not only the trouble to come but gave a chilling insight into his ambitions.

According to his host, castle-owner Major General Edward Stuart-Wortley, the Kaiser complained about being 'misjudged' over the Boer War, claiming he had worked behind the scenes to assist Britain.

Maj-Gen Wortley then arranged for the Kaiser to broadcast his views via the Daily Telegraph in which he talked about 'humiliating England to dust' and of a prevailing anti-British feeling among lower and middle-class Germans.

Strangely, the article was well-received in Britain but caused a storm in his native country, resulting in a diplomatic disaster and souring relations between the two kingdoms.

But it was perhaps the comments allegedly made when he visited Christchurch Priory which are the darkest. The Kaiser dutifully signed the visitor's book but described the organ as 'shabby' before announcing: “When I am King of England I will buy you a new one.”

How his audience must have laughed. Seven years later they were at war.