The story imagines a slightly altered timeline of events surrounding the German occupation of the Netherlands, most notably the time between the German invasion of the Netherlands, which occurred in 1940, and the death of the Kaiser and the German invasion of Russia, both of which took place in 1941. As described in the story a detachment of Wehrmacht troops under the command of an SS Officer was sent to guard Wilhelm II, but Krebbs is an imagined character. Churchill offered the Kaiser asylum in the United Kingdom, but the invitation was conveyed to him in different circumstances from those described in the book. Heinrich Himmler did not visit the Kaiser at Huis Doorn, but Hermann Göring did. An incident in the book during which Wilhelm's wife Princess Hermine gives Himmler an envelope of money is based on a similar incident involving Goering. The novel also makes reference to an assassination attempt against Hanns Albin Rauter, the head of the SS in the Netherlands, the Le Paradis massacre, and deals with Krebbs' discomfort on hearing Himmler discussing his preferred method for exterminating Jewish children.