Wilhelm II, German Emperor news that Queen Victoria was dying at Osborne House in January 1901, Wilhelm traveled to England and was at her bedside when she died, remaining for the funeral. He also was present at the funeral of King Edward VII in 1910. In 1913, Wilhelm hosted a lavish wedding in Berlin for his only daughter, Victoria Louise. Among the guests at the wedding were his second cousin once removed and third cousin Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who also disliked Wilhelm, and his English cousin, King George V and his wife, Queen Mary. Wilhelm's biographer Lamar Cecil identified Wilhelm's "curious but
SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse were mounted in above-water swivel mounts. The ship's belt armor was thick, and the deck was thick. The conning tower and main battery turrets were protected with of armor, and the secondary casemates received of protection. Kaiser Wilhelm II, the emperor of Germany, believed that a strong navy was necessary for the country to expand its influence outside continental Europe. He initiated a program of naval expansion in the late 1880s; the first battleships built under this program were the four "Brandenburg"-class ships. These were immediately followed by the five "Kaiser Friedrich III"-class battleships, of which "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse"