6. Joachim von Ribbentrop, the Nazi Ambassador to the United Kingdom, made an unfortunate habit of social faux pas during his tenure including unintentionally striking King George VI
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop, commonly known as Joachim von Ribbentrop, was Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany from 1938 until the death of Adolf Hitler on April 30, 1945. Less commonly known alongside his more memorable accomplishments, such as the Munich Agreement (1938) and the the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (the Soviet-German non-aggression pact), is that Ribbentrop served between 1936-1938 as the Ambassador to the Court of St. James with the hope of negotiating an Anglo-German alliance.
His tenure in this position was marked with persistent diplomatic blunders and gaffes, rendering his efficacy limited. At a recital of Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken at a service in Durham Cathedral, as the opening bars of organ music are identical to the German national anthem Ribbentrop lept to his feet to give the Nazi salute before being physically restrained by the Marquess of Londonderry. Ribbentrop also made the impolite habit of requesting tailors from the finest establishments, before making them wait for hours, dismissing them, and requesting they return the following day to repeat the process. Ribbentrop’s secretary later commented that his boss “behaved very stupidly and very pompously and the British don’t like pompous people”, calling Ribbentrop “pompous, conceited and not too intelligent”. Of particular note, in February 1937 Ribbentrop greeted King George VI with the Nazi salute. Unfortunately for Ribbentrop, whom the king was walking towards to shake the hand of, his sudden movement smacked the British monarch squarely in the face and nearly knocked him over.