In September 1902, Kelly-Kenny accompanied Lord Roberts and St John Brodrick, Secretary of State for War, on a visit to Germany to attend the German army maneuvers as guest of the Emperor Wilhelm. In October that year, when again it was suggested that he be transferred to an army corps, the King wrote to Mr Broderick saying that the Adjutant General was a most able officer with a thorough knowledge of his profession who would be a loss to the War Office and that he was most surprised that Lord Hornby described him as reactionary when it came to reform. The War Office bowed to the King's wishes and left Kelly-Kenny in his post until the reforms in 1904. Kelly-Kenny did accept the appointment as Colonel of his regiment, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment), on 16 April 1902, and served as such until his death. On 21 June 1904 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). In 1905 he attended the wedding of the Crown Prince of Germany with Prince Arthur of Connaught on which occasion the Kaiser decorated him with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle. (He had previously received the Order of the Red Eagle 1st class from the Kaiser). In 1906, he accompanied Prince Arthur of Connaught to Japan as part of a mission to present the Order of the Garter to the Emperor. While on this trip and speaking with the Mikado, the Mikado remarked on how he had to improve the horses in Japan the breed being small. According to Redesdale (p. 26), Kelly-Kenny replied that "It is not always the big horses and the big men that do the best work" which compliment made the Mikado smile. On this trip he received from the Emperor the Grand Cross of the Rising Sun. On his return to England he received from King Edward VII the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO). Documentation on his trip is held in the Irish Jesuit Archives. Kelly-Kenny was quite a celebrity appearing on cigarette cards commemorating his Boer war successes and marches. He was friendly with several members of the Royal Family, including the Prince of Wales and Prince Arthur of Connaught and stayed in both Sandringham and Frogmore as a guest of the Prince of Wales on shooting parties. Shooting cards from the Sandringham shoots are in the possession of descendants of the General's heir Thomas O'Gorman, as is a chair made from Elm on the royal estate given to Kelly-Kenny.