In Lord Edward Gleichen's account of his early months as Director of Military Operations and Intelligence in 1907, espionage sometimes appears simply as part of his hectic social round. In the autumn of that year he went with his old friend and military-intelligence officer, Sir George Aston, on a 'little spying journey to Holland': "We wanted to see what sort of resistance the Dutch would be able to put up against the Germans if attacked by them... We were not very favourably impressed. And then I went via Copenhagen and the delightful old castle of Aleholm [Alholm], belonging to my excellent friends Count and Countess Raben, to Sweden, where to my delight I was invited by the King to attend some manoeuvres... After a pleasant two days at the end of the manoeuvres at the castle of Tjolöholm [Trolleholm], near Göteborg, belonging to Count Bonde, the Rodds very kindly put me up at the Legation." Not everyone in the War Office was impressed with Gleichen's mix of a 'little spying' and a lot of high society. 'The only consolation', noted a memorandum in 1907, 'is that every foreign government believes that we already have a thoroughly organised and efficient European Secret Service'.
Christopher Andrew, The Secret World