In Europe, [Annie Oakley] performed for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, King Umberto I of Italy, Marie François Sadi Carnot (the President of France) and other crowned heads of state. Oakley had such good aim that, at his request, she knocked the ashes off a cigarette held by the newly crowned German Kaiser Wilhelm II.
The Annie Oakley Foundation suggests that she was not the source of a widely repeated quip related to the event: “Some uncharitable people later ventured that if Annie had shot Wilhelm and not his cigarette, she could have prevented World War I.” After the outbreak of World War I, however, Oakley did send a letter to the Kaiser, requesting a second shot. The Kaiser did not respond.
Ha! Great story.
Annie Oakley fan here. The real history is so much better than the silly stage play. She and Frank Butler, the guy she beat in that shoot-off at which they really did fall in love - she was 15 at the time - were married for 50 years. For their entire time together she accused him of deliberately missing his last shot, and for their entire time together he stoutly denied it. When at last she died, he just stopped eating and died himself 18 days later.