"In for a pfennig ...."
I love that! Having done so, he might as well at that point have kicked his shins.
Some evidence has it Ribbentrop may have believed that diplomatic protocol would have required the King to return the salute. After the incident, he tried to make it a rule for all German diplomats to greet foreign officials with the salute and insist it be returned. Hitler nixed it.
In OTL, his snapping the Hitler salute at their King astonished the British and not in a good way for Berlin, while so appalling the professional German diplomats it sealed their opinion of the Hitlerite amateurs and the British got yet even more active intelligence assets among them.
British royalty, nobility, the intelligentsia, the middle class, laborers -- all the way down to some fellow named Buggall who spent his days stealing door deliveries of milk and selling them in a market down the street -- everyone instantly (and rightfully) considered themselves superior in common sense and manners to the "jumped-up champagne salesman" who bought the "von" in front of his surname. Mind you, those who knew him or had studied his reputation at home held that contempt before he ever snapped stiff fingers toward the King's face.
Ribby might well have been recalled, I suppose, after some suitable face-saving interlude for the Germans. The oily little cork-popper barely spent any time in London anyway in OTL, spending most of that period in Berlin sniffing around Nazi Party intrigues and ingratiating himself to Hitler (who was, one might well recall, fond of dogs eager to lick his hand, but had yet to acquire his favorite, Blondi).
Off the cuff answer:I suppose that whether Ribby stayed technically the ambassador or not, Hitler's distaste for being embarrassed by underlings might have caused him to be relegated to the outer rings of the circles of power around him.
It's probably best he missed. Without Ribbentrop, Hitler may have gotten good advice about England. Ribbentrop realized early on that Hitler had a very hazy, racially based concept of English politics, instincts and character that (in his view) made them natural partners (if not quite co-belligerents) in ruling the world.
Consequently, Ribbentrop constantly fed him memoranda and briefings purportedly confirming he was right, based on his own observations and conversations. Hitler -- who famously hated travel outside of Germany -- was overly impressed by Ribbentrop's youthful globe-trotting, international champaign company and multi-lingual skills. When Ribbentrop assured him of deep influence over English monarchists and aristocracy, Hitler bought it.
Hitler's directions throughout the Thirties produced a navy that had no chance of holding the Channel long enough for a significant amphibious action without the Luftwaffe controlling the skies -- and a Luftwaffe that had been told it would never have to conduct an air superiority campaign against the RAF extending over the whole of the UK.
Ribbentrop, supported by a relieved military, was one of the principals in convincing Hitler to seek a extension of the period of peace with the Soviet Union. He was of course the fellow who then took the lead in closing the deal. This was his high point from which he fell the moment Hitler was informed the UK had responded to invasion of Poland with a declaration of war. An observer in the room recalled Hitler's face turned to stone and his eyes to ice as he turned, stared at Ribbentrop and said simply, "And, now?"
The Führer would spend months thereafter trying to convince himself he could either cajole the British into neutrality or conquer them by force before admitting he could neither and then launching a second front. Verdict: the world was better off with Hitler listening to Ribbentrop.
P.S. -- In retrospect, I apologize to all dogs everywhere for comparing them to Ribbentrop. I assure everyone that no actual dogs were harmed in the writing of this reply, save those awoken from their sleep, who I should have let lie.
