The mutual antipathy of the King and the Kaiser was reflected in a deterioration of relations between their peoples. Culturally, Britain and Germany were tightly knit. London was home to tens of thousands of expatriate Germans. German financiers were prominent in the City – Sir Ernest Cassel, for example, had been born in Cologne – and German governesses could be found in many aristocratic households. There was a German hospital, a brace of German-language newspapers and as many as a dozen German churches. Lined with German-owned cafés, restaurants and clubs, Charlotte Street, parallel to
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