As such, he was during August 1902 invited by German authorities to tour the dockyards and naval establishments in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven and several of the great private shipyards in the country.

He complained to the Prime Minister that he was being circumvented by an unelected and unaccountable authority vested in the royal prerogative.

Arnold-Foster was frequently ignored at cabinet meetings, as decisions had been taken behind his back by courtiers moving in military circles.

[4] Arnold-Forster married Mary Lucy Story-Maskelyne (1861–1951), daughter of Nevil Story Maskelyne and Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn (Welsh astronomer and pioneer in scientific photography) in 1885.

They had four sons, of whom his Times obituary states "the eldest is just beginning to practise as an artist, and the youngest is a naval cadet."