Fotoreproductie van een tekening, voorstellende keizer Wilhelm II van Duitsland gaat voor in een dienst aan boord van de Hohenzollern before 1892

This anonymous drawing depicts Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany leading a service aboard the Hohenzollern. Here, we see the Kaiser at the front, the congregation with bowed heads behind him. The symbol of a leader engaging in spiritual devotion goes back centuries. Consider images of Roman emperors depicted as Pontifex Maximus, the high priest, or medieval kings kneeling in prayer, demonstrating piety and divine right. The Hohenzollern was Wilhelm's yacht. What would be the subconscious motive of making this photograph available to the public? By placing himself as a figurehead of morality, it echoes the Byzantium emperors who placed themselves as intermediaries between earthly and divine realms. Such imagery isn’t simply about religious faith, but the fusion of spiritual and temporal power. This archetype of the leader-as-devotee is a recurring motif, which resurfaces through history, continually reshaped to serve the needs of those in power.