Wilhelm II's personal fixation on the island

Wilhelm II's relationship with Britain is portrayed as contradictory. The Kaiser wanted recognition from the British royal family and tried to emulate British prestige, yet resented the fact that he could never outdo Britain on its own terms. A British-held Helgoland would give that mixture of admiration and grievance a tangible object. He would be likely to demand the island in repeated crises and negotiations, turning a strategic position into a personal political fixation. German policy would then have to accommodate an objective whose importance to Wilhelm exceeded the island's size.