While stationed in Siam he was involved in the Paknam incident wherein he disobeyed the orders of his commander, Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu.

Alongside his military career, Christmas was involved in several attempts to sell the Danish West Indies to various nations.

His efforts were ultimately unsuccessful and resulted in a congressional investigation into claims that he attempted to bribe members of the United States government.

[6][7] In 1880, Walter Edmund was granted the right to adopt his wife's noble name, thus creating the Christmas-Dirckinck-Holmfeld family.

[7] Ellen was born in 1872 and was the adoptive daughter of the merchant Ludvig Marcus Adolph Hansen and Kirstine Thorsen.

While the Danish crown was actively supporting the government of Siam, they were unwilling to be involved in a war with France to defend the nation.

As such, Christmas in particular received a telegram from the Danish Ministry of the Interior that if he engaged in combat he would be discharged from the navy.

[2][3] Beginning in 1896, Christmas was involved in several ill-fated attempts to sell the Danish West Indies.

Christmas unsuccessfully attempted to sell the Islands to Germany in collaboration with Rear Admiral Paul Zirzow in December 1898.

[17][18] Christmas was again unsuccessful, and he was later accused of attempting to bribe several congressmen and other U.S. officials with up to $500,000 to facilitate the purchase.

These allegations against him arose from the financial gains he stood to make from a successful deal between the nations, as he had expected a commission of 10% on the sale price.

[2] For an undisclosed period of time, Christmas was an agent for the British Intelligence Service under the direction of Mansfield Cumming.

Finally Sir Francis protested against this irresponsible old man of the sea’s sojourn any longer in Athens at the expense of the British Government, and he wandered off again.

"[24]Christmas had been the Naval officer overseeing operations at the northernmost point of mainland Denmark, Skagen, from 1914 until 1916.

[25] Walter Christmas published approximately 30 plays, novels, and short-stories in addition to a biography and series of memoirs.

Its contents were explicitly critical of Admiral Richelieu's command, as well as Hans Niels Andersen's business in Bangkok.

Richelieu was greatly offended by Christmas' statements, and sought to file a lawsuit against him in Copenhagen for libel.

Through close contacts, Richelieu then began publishing criticism of Christmas in the English-language press in Bangkok.

[13] In 1901, Christmas released the first of five books about his character Peder Most, a young boy from Svendborg who embarks on worldly adventures.

Though the books were very popular at the time they were released, they have since been criticized for their use of derogatory terms, ethnic slurs, and exoticism.

He had seen William Gillette's production Sherlock Holmes several times in 1899 while attempting to sell the Danish West Indies to the United States.

Christmas' production of Sherlock Holmes debuted in 1901 in Copenhagen and was soon taken up by traveling acts which toured Denmark for several years.

These traveling acts paid him for performance rights, despite the reality that the play was a copy of Gillette's, for which Christmas never gave him credit.

[27] Danish intellectual property laws of the time initially took no issue with this obvious case of piracy, though by 1903 Denmark had signed the Berne Convention and Christmas was forced to become more cautious.