by Anne Edwards
10 (“... as had Mrs. Simpson.”) The former Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon met her future husband at a ball given by Lord and Lady Farquhar at their home, 7 Grosvenor Square, on May 20, 1920. The Duke of York confided to his mother’s good friend, Lady Airlie, “that he had fallen in love that evening.” Lady Elizabeth obviously did not. Three years would pass before she finally accepted his proposal of marriage.
Chapter 2
16 (“... a Crown-owned house at ...”) 145 Piccadilly was destroyed by bombs during World War II. A hotel, The Inn on the Park, now stands on the site of the house and its neighbors. 17 Bruton Street was also destroyed by German Bombs. A high rise now occupies the site.
16 (“... obstetric surgeons ...”) The obstetricians were Sir Henry Simson, Sir George Blacker and Mr. Walter Jagger.
16 (“... event of a stillbirth ...”) The custom of Royal births being witnessed by a Home Secretary (or other designated witness) began in July 1688, when the Catholic Queen Mary of Modena, second wife of King James II, gave birth prematurely to a son (known variously as the Old Pretender and King James III and VIII). The prospect of a Catholic King infuriated the Whig Party, who put about a story that the Royal baby had died and that a servant’s child had been substituted. King James II and his infant son went to France in exile. The Protestant William, Prince of Orange, and King James’s elder daughter Mary (Mary II, 1689–1694) from his first marriage to Anne Hyde, were declared joint sovereigns in an unconstitutional move motivated by the Whigs to keep a Catholic off the Throne. The ploy was successful, for King James II’s only son, the Catholic “Old Pretender,” was never able to claim the crown from his two Protestant half sisters, Mary and Anne (1702-1714).
17 (“... first granddaughter ...”) Princess Mary and her husband, Henry, Viscount Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood, had two sons: George (b. 1923), 7th Earl of Harewood, and Gerald (b. 1924). George, Lord Harewood, King George V’s first grandchild, recalls hearing stories about the King and Queen’s attendance at his birth, “... my father, deciding he could not face entertaining them at such a moment of stress, left my aunt [Lady Boyne] to look after them. The King apparently paced up and down regaling them with tales of the wives of his friends who had died in childbirth, a lugubrious performance which would certainly have driven my father away had he risked staying.” [Harewood, p. 2]
18 (“... from the succession.”) As in the case of Princess Anne, who, thought second in age among Queen Elizabeth’s children, is behind her younger brothers Prince Andrew and Prince Edward and their offspring (male or female) in line of succession.
18 (“... ceremony was performed ...”) (William) Cosmo Gordon Lang (1864–1945) was Archbishop of York from 1908 to 1928. In 1928 he succeeded Randall Davidson as Archbishop of Canterbury. He was created Baron Lang of Lambeth in 1942.
19 (“History was repeating itself.”) The pattern of Royal parents leaving their children for long stretches of time as they made official tours was a common occurrence. In 1988, when the current Duke and Duchess of York left their infant daughter, Princess Beatrice, at home while they embarked on an Australian tour, a great public furor followed. This has been Royal custom, however. In 1954, the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II embarked on a long Commonwealth tour, leaving Prince Charles (six) and Princess Anne (four) in England.
20 (“... caused Bertie much anxiety.”) By the time of the opening of the first Parliament in Canberra, the Duke of York had gained much confidence. On May 12, 1927, he wrote the King; “The reading of your message & commission was done in the Senate Chamber. The members of both Houses were the only ones present at that ceremony. It was a very small room & not a very easy one in which to speak. I was not very nervous when I made the Speech, because the one I made outside [on the steps of the Parliament to a gathered crowd of 20,000] went off without a hitch, & I did not hesitate once.... I was so relieved as making speeches still rather frightens me, though Logue’s teaching has really done wonders for me ... I played my part successfully, at least I think & hope so.” [Wheeler-Bennett, p. 230]
23 (“ ‘Horses of the Duke of York, 1770’ ...”) The Duke of York in 1770 was George III’s second son, Frederick, whose career as Commander in Chief of the British Army was ended in 1809 when he was accused of allowing his mistress, Mary Anne Clark, to sell Army commissions.
24 (“... Royal photographer ...”) Lisa Sheridan and her husband, James Sheridan (parents of actress Dinah Sheridan), founded Studio Lisa and took some of the most frequently published photographs of the Royal Family.
26 “Denys Finch-Hatton” was celebrated pilot and white hunter and lover of Karen Blixen, better known as the writer Isak Dinesen.
26 “Sir Alan (‘Tommy’) Lascelles” (1887–1981) received the Military Cross for service in the World War I. He married Joan Thesiger, eldest daughter of the 1st Viscount Chelmsford, Viceroy of India, in 1920, and was: Assistant Private Secretary to Edward, Prince of Wales (1920–1929), Private Secretary to the Governor General of Canada, the Earl of Bessborough (1931–1935), Assistant Private Secretary to King George V (1935–1936), Assistant Private Secretary to Edward VIII (1936), Private Secretary to George VI (1937–1952), and Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II (1953), when he retired.
29 “Albert, Duke of Clarence,” was engaged to marry Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (the future Queen Mary), when he took suddenly ill. After several days of excruciating pain, he died. The Duke of Clarence was a known homosexual and has been considered a possible suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders. This seems unlikely, but he was unstable and his death saved the British Empire from the prospect of an incompetent Monarch one day mounting the throne.
29 (“... to seek his advice.”) George, Duke of Kent, is the only one of Queen Mary and King George’s four sons who survived into adulthood who has never had, “or never been allowed to have,” a biographer, although “academically, musically and culturally in general he was streets ahead of anyone else in the family circle.” [Mortimer, p. 74] He married the glamorous Marina of Greece (see genealogy, Prince Philip), became a leader of one of England’s top social sets and died young in a tragic wartime air crash.
Chapter 3
34 (“... Thomas Lyon-Bowes ...”) The name did not become Bowes-Lyon until late in the nineteenth century. Charlotte and Thomas Lyon-Bowes were the great-grandparents of Elizabeth, Duchess of York. The Bowes-Lyons controlled an ancient coal business with headquarters at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Marley Hill Chemical Company.
34 (“... for over seventy years.”) A story regarding the hidden rooms at Glamis persists that during the 1870s a workman “came upon a door opening up a long passage.” At the end was a cell-like room with a steel-grill door. As the workman approached he caught sight of the unfortunate occupant, “his chest an enormous barrel, hairy as a doormat, his head ran straight into his shoulders and his arms and legs were toy-like ...” The workman and his family were said to have been “subsidized and induced to immigrate....” [Day, p. 133]
Chapter 4
45 (“... she would fall.”) Princess Margaret, either by her desire for independence or because of the poor sight lines of Royal Boxes in general, will often take an orchestra seat at the ballet or theater.
45 (“... Mrs. Freda Dudley Ward ...”) “This cannot last forever,” the Prince of Wales confided to an associate in 1928 in reference to his affair with Freda Dudley Ward. [Private interview] The liaison had begun in 1917 and did not finally end until 1935 when Wallis Simpson became his mistress. However, he had never been faithful to Freda.
47 (“... at Balmoral.”) The Scottish baronial-style Balmoral, designed by Prince Albert and first occupied by him and Queen Victoria in 1855, finally proved too small to accommodate their large family. Birkhall, with its adjoining six thousand acres and charming Georgian house, was originally bought for their eldest son, the Prince of Wales (Edward VII), shortly after his marriage to Princess Alexandra. King George and Queen Mary had occupied it when they were Prince and Princess o
f Wales.
48 (“... Duchy of Cornwall ...”) The Prince of Wales was also Duke of Cornwall, a title he acquired the second his father ascended the Throne (1910). He became Prince of Wales a few months later and held (as does Prince Charles) both titles as Heir Apparent. His holdings in the Duchy of Cornwall included thousands of acres in the West Country and valuable London property.
48 (“... would still be secure.”) In fact, if King Edward VIII had been allowed to marry Wallis Simpson while he was on the Throne, no issue would have been possible. Following a reputed miscarriage suffered en route by boat from China to the United States in 1927, Mrs. Simpson had undergone a curettage and an operation to tie her tubes and so render her incapable of ever becoming pregnant. A hysterectomy was performed in 1951 when a malignancy in her womb was diagnosed. She underwent postoperative radium treatments and fully recovered.
48 “Sir Clive Wigram,” later 1st Baron Wigram (1873–1960), was Assistant Private Secretary to King George V (1910–1931), Private Secretary to King George V (1931-1936), Private Secretary to King Edward VIII (1936), Private Secretary to King George VI (1937–1939), Lieutenant Governor of Windsor Castle (1940–1960); he married Nora, eldest daughter of Sir Neville Chamberlain.
49 “Princess Marina of Greece” (1906–1968) and George, Duke of Kent, had been married in November of the previous year, 1934. The Duchess of Kent was the great-great-granddaughter of Tsar Alexander II. Her father, Prince Nicholas, was an older brother of Prince Andrew—Philip, Duke of Edinburgh’s father. At the time of her marriage she was fifth in the Greek succession. (See genealogical table—The Mountbatten Lineage.)
49 “Harry [Henry], Duke of Gloucester,” and Lady Alice Christabel Montagu-Douglas-Scott were married on November 6, 1935. The new Duchess of Gloucester was the daughter of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch, and was thirty-three at the time.
53 “Sir Henry ‘Chips’ Channon” (1897–1958) was born in Chicago, the grandson of a wealthy shipowner. He was a Conservative MP for Southend-on-Sea, a position that was held by his father-in-law (1918–1927), by his mother-in-law (1927–1935) and, after his own death, by his son, Paul Channon. His marriage was dissolved in 1945. He was knighted in 1957. But his talents were social rather than political. He entertained a constant flow of Royalty at his two great homes, 5 Belgrave Square and Kelvedon Hall.
Chapter 5
58 “Sir Alfred Duff Cooper,” 1st Viscount Norwich (1890–1954), was Secretary of State for War (1935–1937) and First Lord of the Admirality (1938), a post he resigned in protest of Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policies. He went on to become Minister of Information (1940-42) and Ambassador to France (1944—1947).
59 (“... a large sum.”) King Edward VIII, despite the late King George V’s private speculations of his dire financial position, has been reported to have had a private cash worth at the time of the Abdication of over £1 million, excluding the £300,000 settled on Wallis Simpson.
60 (“... only twelve people in the world ...”) Lascelles’s list of twelve people who would have known that the King’s Abdication was imminent included Stanley Baldwin, Winston Churchill, Clive Wigram, Godfrey Thomas, himself, the King, Wallis Simpson, Queen Mary, the Duke and Duchess of York, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent. But, of course, there were bound to be their close associates who had been told, as Lascelles was telling his wife, Joan.
63 (“... private property.”) For the next three years, the ex-King maintained the upkeep of Fort Belvedere. On March 13, 1940, the Duke of Windsor was informed that the Fort was no longer his “because the present sovereign had never formally confirmed him in possession of it.” [Bloch, ed., Secret File, p. 100.] His bitterness was increased when he learned that the plants from the Fort’s gardens, which he had lovingly and at great personal expense cultivated and grown, had been “moved in mid-winter to the Royal Nurseries at Windsor.” [Ibid.]
63 (“... a heated meeting ...”) The participants were: Edward VIII, the Duke of York, Sir Ulick Alexander, Sir Edward Peacock, Lord Wigram, Walter Monckton, George Allen (Edward VIII’s solicitor) and Sir Bernard Bercham (the Duke of York’s solicitor).
Chapter 6
66 (“... vermin controllers ...”) Marion Crawford wrote: “One day when I went to my bath [across the corridor from her bedroom] I found a large [mouse] sitting on my towel, the passing postman came in handy. Quaking, I gave him my poker [from the coal fire in her room] and asked him to kill it. He put his bag of letters down and kindly obliged.” [Crawford, p. 41] Mice were a particular problem at Buckingham Palace and a vermin-control squad of six men was employed to visit the rooms periodically. But with over three hundred rooms, the cellars, basements and stables to cover, it took nearly a year before a room was revisited.
67 (“... weekends at Royal Lodge ...”) Royal Lodge now became the Royal Family’s private property along with Balmoral (which included Birkhall) and Sandringham (with York Cottage).
68 “Waldie” was Helen of Waldeck-Pyrmont, the wife of Queen Victoria’s son Prince Leopold. The Princesses Louise and Beatrice were his sisters.
70 “Norman Hartnell” designed the Royal attendants’ gowns; the Queen’s Coronation dress was designed by Madame Handley Seymour.
72 (“... minor Heir Presumptive ...”) HRH Princess Elizabeth was Heir Presumptive, not Heir Apparent, which is a title given to first sons of British Sovereigns; it means that as the oldest male child, nothing save death can prevent his ultimate succession. If a son had been born to King George during his reign, the infant would have inherited the title and the Throne, not Elizabeth.
72“The Dominion Prime Ministers” who attended the Coronation included: Michael Joseph Savage (New Zealand), Joseph Aloysius Lyons (Australia), William Lyon Mackenzie (Canada) and James Barry Hertzog (South Africa). Ireland’s Eamon de Valera did not come.
73“... Dickie [HSP Louis] Mountbatten” (1900–1979), subsequently Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Baron Romsey, was the second son of one of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters (see genealogy). Mountbatten’s famous reply was: “This is a very curious coincidence. My father once told me that, when the Duke of Clarence died, your father came to him and said almost the same things that you have said to me now, and my father answered: ‘George, you’re wrong. There is no more fitting preparation for a king, than to have been trained in the Navy.’ ” [Wheeler-Bennett, p. 293]
74 (“... Battenberg to Mountbatten.”) This was not the first loss of rank the Battenberg/Mountbatten family had endured. Mountbatten’s paternal grandfather, Prince Alexander of Hesse, had married a commoner, Julie, Countess of Hauke, when she was pregnant with their first child, Marie, and this had led to his loss of title and their banishment from his country.
76 (“... page to the King ...”) George Lascelles’s brother, Gerald, rode in another coach to the Coronation. He was also dressed as a page as he carried out this duty to his grandmother, Queen Mary.
76 (“... cool temperament ...”) George, Lord Harewood, writes: “... though I clung to my mother as a little boy and haunted her sitting room and bedroom ... my declarations of affection were regarded as ... embarrassing.... We did not talk of love or affection ... but rather—of duty and behaviour.... [Harewood, p. 18]
76 (“... side of Queen Mary ...”) To date no British Queen Dowager had attended the new Monarch’s coronation. The tradition was said to date back to the Plantagenet Sovereigns, although its origin was unknown. But to add a sense of solidarity to this particular Coronation and to help in the smooth transference of power, Queen Mary proposed to the King a constitutional innovation: that she be in the Abbey when he was to be crowned and that she be a part of the Coronation procession.
79 (“... until February 1938 ...”) HRH the Duke of Windsor received an income of £10,144 17s 2d per annum from the Royal estates of Sandringham and Balmoral and the balance (£10,855 2s 10p) to be paid “by the King in the form of a voluntary allowance to be discontinued in the event of the Duke coming to or remaining in England
against the advice of the Government.” On the death of George VI on February 6, 1952, the Duke was informed that his allowance would be discontinued. His solicitor waged a long but ultimately successful battle, and the Duke’s annual pension was again put in force. HM Queen Elizabeth further agreed to pay the Duchess of Windsor £5,000 yearly throughout her widowhood.
79“George [Francis] Cambridge,” 2nd Marquess of Cambridge (1895–1986), the son of Queen Mary’s brother Adolphus, was the Royal Trustee of the British Museum (1947–1973).
80 (“... thousand pounds a quarter.”) Princess Elizabeth’s trust fund was established at Barings Bank with Sir E. Peacock as administrator. The money was to remain in the King’s private account (which he had for some years), an arrangement which he also made with Princess Margaret’s trust. He considered this money to be truly his until it was paid over to his daughters; and as King, he was not liable for taxes.
