Date Posted 01-09-13
January 7th 2013
Today it is being reported that H.M The Queen intends gifting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with "Amner
Hall", a Grade II listed Georgian country house situated in the Norfolk village of Amner a couple of miles from a
favourite residence of her own "Sandringham". This well known as being the annual summer home for the Queen
away from her official London residence of "Buckingham Palace". "Amner Hall" located on the Sandringham Estate
on which also used to stand "Park House"; home of Diana's parents and the home where Diana, Princess of Wales,
was born. The Spencer family lived here before the death of Diana's grandfather. Diana's father then inherited the
title Earl Spencer and the family seat of "Althorp House" in Northamptonshire where the family moved in 1975.
"Amner Hall" was leased by the Duke and Duchess of Kent as their country home from 1972 until 1990 and has
stood on the estate since 1898. At present it is leased to the current occupant James Everett, a business magnate,
until March 2017 and not certain if he will stay living there the full term but the couple due to being parents in summer
this year!
At present Catherine and William are living in a rented farmhouse on Anglesey, North Wales close to William's
work base R.A.F. Valley and in London in Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace whilst renovations
to "Apartment 1a", which used to be the home of H.R.H. Princess Margaret, are being carried out. When completed
for them. Prince Harry will live in the cottage. William is said to be thrilled about receiving "Amner Hall" as he and
Catherine spent their first Christmas as man and wife at Sandringham in 2011
Addressing Catherine!
Also it ought to be noted that Catherine Middleton officially assumed the title
Duchess of Cambridge upon the April wedding to Prince William, who like his younger
brother prefers not to use his H.R.H. title. As such Catherine should be officially
referred to as either Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, or the Duchess of Cambridge,
not as “Duchess” Catherine, as most British tabloids call her, much less Kate which the
media christened her, a name never given her before and one she herself initially was not in favour of as Diana never
liked being called Di! This is why on Diana's personal site is seen addressing her eldest son's wife as Catherine.
Catherine's official title is Her Royal Highness the Princess William, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn,
Baroness Carrickfergus.
Histories and Mysteries
Date Posted 01-09-13
I am busy doing my homework and this is meaning taking an in depth look at the royals in recent history and how the
Monarchy has shaped history, as by example an inevitability is that the current Monarch will among other things
always be remembered as Queen in the Diana Years as from 1981 - 1997. Even divorced from the royal family legally
in 1996 Diana remained immensely popular with people all over the world and immediately after her death having lost
the official H.R.H. title at the time of the divorce gained another that she still holds "The People's Princess" and some
people call her "The Queen of Hearts".
Now people will remember the scandal of King Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson. It is because he
abdicated the throne that his brother, the Queen's father; at the time the Duke of York became King George VI and
his eldest daughter would unexpectedly one day become Queen. Most popularly the story is that Edward renounced
the throne for the woman he loved as he could not marry her as she was divorced. Times have changed. The current
H.R.H. Prince of Wales due to inherit the throne divorced from Diana and married to his wife H.R.H. Duchess of
Cornwall, herself a divorcee. The goal posts changed as being Monarch, King Charles III will be Head of the Church of
England which does not officially recognise divorce. Four of the current Monarch's children, as well as her late sister
H.R.H. Princess Margaret, are divorced with the two eldest children re-married.
It is true in part that Edward abdicated for this reason but it seems likely that the Prime Minister of the time Stanley
Baldwin exploited the King's desire to marry Wallis to expel him from the throne. His reign was brief, abdicating after
less than a year as Monarch and he becoming The Duke of Windsor, but humiliatingly they withholding the title of H.R.
H. from him . He and Wallis marrying the following year, and she becoming his Duchess; were exiled to France,
leaving the day after his abdication. It was seen beforehand that as a King he was going to be rebellious, be
determined to have his say and be a hands on King as opposed to being his parliament's puppet figure and told what
to say and content to be abiding by that. It is known now the Royals rules but the parliament governs! By example
even advised that his public speeches needed to be vetted by the Home Secretary, Edward refused to comply with
this traditional rule. He was accused of interfering in state affairs and he welcomed an alliance of Great Britain and
Germany. He had a fear of as he termed it a menace...Communism... and in this complied with the same view held by
the Nazi political party in Germany headed by the later infamous Fuhrer, native Austrian; Adolf Hitler. The King's
empathy with this party's leader, as consulting history books you'll find he had, played into his being deemed
unacceptable as Monarch, the issues against him were not so much matrimonial as the fact that very powerful
factions wanted rid of him for complicated, political reasons. The uncertainty of whether Edward would co-operate with
an anti-German policy and the scandal of involvement with Wallis Simpson and Edward's determination to marry her
made the prefect excuse for his abdication. In his famous abdication speech addressing the nation on the evening of
December 10th 1936, Edward saying:
"You must believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and
discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love"
Allowing himself to be manipulated to renouncing the throne, it might be
considered that Edward himself had no desire to be King and he used the excuse
of loving and being determined to marry Wallis as his own personal excuse to bow
out of this inherited obligation! Married in 1937 for 35 years until his death they
lived in Paris, France and in the Villa Windsor a property ironically leased to
Mohamed al - Fayed and visited by Diana and Dodi on 30th August 1997
the day before they died.
Villa Windsor
Well known that the Queen Mother strongly despised the Duchess of Windsor, said to be never forgiving her for
causing her husband to becoming King blaming the strain upon this causing his death. Let it also be known that in
1940 Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, described her as "A steel hand in a velvet glove". Diana calling her "The
chief leper in the leper colony"-- meaning the Boss of the "Firm" as the Royals term themselves. Even Elizabeth
saying of herself "I'm not really a nice person". The Queen Mother also had originally had sights on Edward as a
prospective husband but feelings unreciprocated by him, marrrying Wallis and making as seen the ultimate sacrfice
for her, and so then Lady Elizabeth Bowes - Lyon marrying his brother, our current Queen's father. Also Wallis made
headlines as the Best dressed woman in the world while the Windsor women struggled for a mention in the worst
dressed lists which antagonised the Queen Mother as Wallis had the better figure!
Adolf Hitler noted the people popularity of the Queen Mother,
then Queen Elizabeth, declaring her " The Most Dangerous
Woman in Europe" witnessing her ability to raise public morale
as by example when Buckingham Palace was bombed saying
"I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the
East End in the face". It was said at the time this comment had
great impact on Londoners especially those who were all too
regularly bombed in their East End slums but what has come to
light is that the King and Queen's visits to the East End of
received. Sometimes booed as the woman clad in designer
clothes and eating unrationed food having been whisked back
to safety after a visit was hardly something to cheer about or
celebrate! Further embarrassment came after the 2nd world war
with their eldest daughter, our Queen falling in love with Prince
Philip of Greece whose three surviving sisters were all married
to Germans who'd been active in the Nazi party either in the
dreaded S.S. or the armed forces during the 2nd World War.
Both were anti the love match but their daughter was obstinate
and though she did not exactly make the threat did say that she could
understand what had made her Uncle Edward abdicate for love! Prince Philip proposed to Elizabeth at Balmoral in
1946 and Elizabeth accepted without consulting her parents and the story leaking out, one denied by the palace.
In 1947, aged 21 yrs, the King's eldest daughter which he called his Pride, her younger sister H.R.H. Princess
Margaret Rose being his Joy, made a telling speech to the people in which she said,
" I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the
service of our great imperial family to which we all belong".
It was soon after this speech that the King and Queen relented and gave permission for their eldest daughter and
Philip to marry. This necessitated his converting from Greek Orthodox to Church of England and his surname being
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg took the Anglicised form of his Mother's maiden name becoming Philip
Mountbatten and renounced his royal title becoming Duke of Edinburgh though all too often incorrectly referred to as
Prince Philip! He well known for loving night clubbing in red-blooded male company the handsome man had to avoid
such scandal and rumours before his marriage, stopping his antics. As a friend said prior to the royal wedding
" Be glad your zipper can't talk!". The wedding took place at Westminster Abbey on November 20th 1947. Princess
Elizabeth's succession to the throne being five years after the marriage. Philip soon enough again seen to be
enjoying London's nightlife with the press becoming fascinated by his close relationships with beautiful women,
including his being seen dining and dancing with singer Pat Kirkwood whilst his wife was pregnant with H.R.H. Prince
Charles who was born November 14th 1948. His reputation as a serial womaniser something well documented. No
love lost between he and his eldest son; upon Charles marrying Diana saying to him if after five years and having an
heir you can always take a mistress. One occasion when father and son were in agreement!
On 6th February 1952 the King died in his sleep at Sandringham from thrombosis having in 1951 had a lung removed
due to cancer, known to heavily smoke and drink. The current Queen being told the news whilst in Tree Tops in
Kenya, Africa. For Philip this meant the end of a promising Naval career and the end of an idyllic life the couple had
been enjoying living on the island of Malta where he'd been serving with the Mediterranean fleet. In April 1952 the
Queen had to issue a decree specifically changing her name from Mountbatten to Windsor.
"I and my children shall be styled and known as the House of Windsor and that my descendents who marry and their
descendents shall bear the name of Windsor"
This meaning that Philip's wife, unlike other wives, no longer officially took his surname but later conceded in 1960
shortly after the birth of H.R.H. Prince Andrew; now H.R.H. Duke of York, that those without the titles of H.R.H. or
Prince/ Princess would have the surname Mountbatten-Windsor. On 2nd June 1953 the coronation took place. At
Elizabeth's express wish her Uncle Edward was not invited to attend, no doubt wishing to avoid a show-down with her
mother happening and she becoming Head of the Commonwealth which has always been something dear to her
heart. Five months after the ceremony she and the Duke of Edinburgh set off on a six month tour of the
Commonwealth leaving H.R.H. Prince Charles and sister Princess Anne, now H.R.H. The Princess Royal born on
August 15th 1950, behind. The primary constitutional crisis during H.M. The Queen's reign involved her beloved
younger sister H.R.H. Princess Margaret who was in love and desperate to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend, a
former Battle of Britain pilot who had become one of the late King's equerries during the 2nd World War. The King
and Queen to re-dress the balance having Elizabeth married a German-Dane were insistent Margaret marry a British
husband and as a royal husband Townsend was unsuitable. Though a war hero, he was a servant, sixteen years her
senior and divorced. The latter of all the contentions making it an impossible match as being the official reason for
King Edward VIII's abdication and the marriage required Elizabeth's permission and the Queen Mother against it
wanting her youngest daughter to marry someone grander. However a public poll showed 97% of the people in favour
of the romance; dashing pilot capturing the heart of Cinderella Princess! The Queen disliking confrontation gave the
decision to her cabinet and it was ruled against and Townsend was transferred to Brussels, Belgium as Air Attache to
the British Embassy. Princess Margaret bowed under pressure and on 31st October 1955 issued a statement saying
she had decided against marrying Group Captain Townsend. In May 1960 the Queen's younger sister married
photographer Antony Armstrong - Jones who became Lord Snowdon at Westminster Abbey, someone who her
mother and eldest sister approved of. A marriage subsequently resulting in two children, Viscount Linley and Lady
Sarah Armstrong - Jones and ultimately divorce.
The Duke of Windsor died of throat cancer on May 28th 1972 and his body flown back to England from France. His
widow invited to stay at Buckingham Palace prior to the funeral of the exiled ex-King was treated coldly by the Royals.
The funeral taking place on June 3rd 1972, he buried in the royal burial ground at Frogmore. Later in 1976 the
Queen Mother on a visit to Paris intended to visit the ailing Duchess of Windsor but suffering advancing senility and
too sickly to receive her. The Queen Mother sent her enemy a dozen red and white roses bearing the message "In
friendship, Elizabeth". What though do the colours symbolise? To hospital workers considered unlucky, the
harbingers of imminent death, some hospitals refuse to accept them for this reason! The Duchess of Windsor dying in
April 1986 and buried at Frogmore next to her husband yet bizarrely during her burial service, conducted in St.
George's Chapel Windsor as her husband's had been and attended by the Queen and the Queen Mother, her name
not mentioned once! The plaque on her grave bears her name "Wallis, Duchess of Windsor" but no H.R.H.
The Duke of Kent Mystery
- George Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was born on 20th December 1902 at York Cottage on the
Sandringham Estate. His father, George, Prince of Wales, was the son of Edward VII and
Queen Alexandra. At the time of his birth, George was fifth in the line of succession.
Edward VII died in 1910 and Prince George's father, George V became the new king. At
the age of thirteen Prince George went to Osborne Naval College. Later he transferred
to Dartmouth College and served in the Royal Navy on board the Iron Duke and the
Nelson. In 1917 George V took the controversial decision to deny political asylum to the
Tsar Nicholas II and his family after the Bolshevik Revolution. People where shocked by George's unwillingness
to protect his cousin but his advisers argued that it was important for the king to distance himself from the
autocratic Russian royal family. Some people questioned this decision when it became known that the
Bolsheviks had executed Tsar Nicholas, his wife and their five children.
In 1924 George V appointed Ramsay MacDonald, Britain's first Labour Prime Minister. Two years later he played an
important role in persuading the Conservative Government not to take an unduly aggressive attitude towards the
unions during the General Strike. Prince George remained in the Royal Navy until 1929. He then held posts in the
Foreign Office and the Home Office. In 1934 George married Princess of Marina of Yugoslavia. At the same time he
was granted the title of the Duke of Kent. Like his brother Edward, the Duke of Kent was sympathetic to the political
developments that were taking place in Nazi Germany.
George V died of influenza on 20th January, 1936. George's brother, Edward VIII now became king. At the time he
was having a relationship with Wallis Simpson. The government instructed the British press not to refer to the
relationship. Although the king received the political support from Winston Churchill and Lord Beaverbrook, he was
aware that his decision to marry Wallis Simpson would be unpopular with the British public. The Archbishop of
Canterbury also made it clear he was strongly opposed to the king's relationship.
The government was also aware that Simpson was in fact involved in other sexual relationships. This included a
married car mechanic and salesman called Guy Trundle and Edward Fitzgerald, Duke of Leinster. More importantly,
the Federal Bureau of Investigation believed that Simpson was having a relationship with Joachim von Ribbentrop, the
German Ambassador to Britain, and that she was passing secret information obtained from the king to the Nazi
government. On 10th December, 1936, the king signed a document that stated he had renounced "the throne for
myself and my descendants." The following day he made a radio broadcast where he told the nation that he had
abdicated because he found he could not "discharge the duties of king as I would wish to do without the help and
support of the woman I love."
George VI now became king and the coronation took place on 12th May, 1937. Later that month, Neville Chamberlain
replaced Stanley Baldwin as prime-minister. The following year Chamberlain travelled to Nazi Germany to meet Adolf
Hitler in an attempt to avoid war between the two countries. The result of Chamberlain's appeasement policy was the
signing of the Munich Agreement. George VI wrote to Chamberlain on hearing the news: "I am sending this letter by
my Lord Chamberlain, to ask you if you will come straight to Buckingham Palace, so that I can express to you
personally my most heartfelt congratulations on the success of your visit to Munich. In the meantime this letter brings
the warmest of welcomes to one who by his patience and determination has earned the lasting gratitude of his fellow
countrymen throughout the Empire."
Prince George shared his brother's view of appeasement and was considered the leader of the Anglo-German peace
group. The Duke of Kent met Rudolf Hess and Alfred Rosenberg during the 1930s. A report written by Rosenberg for
Adolf Hitler in October 1935 stated that the Duke of Kent was working behind the scenes "in strengthening the
pressure for a reconstruction of the Cabinet and mainly towards beginning the movement in the direction of
Germany." In February 1937 it was reported that the Duke of Kent had met the Duke of Windsor in Austria. Later that
year a Foreign Office document pointed out that the Duke of Kent had developed a close relationship with Joachim
von Ribbentrop, the German Ambassador in London.
The Duke of Kent took part in secret talks with his cousin Prince Philip of Hesse in early 1939 in order to avoid a war
with Nazi Germany. In July 1939, the Duke of Kent he approached George VI with a plan to negotiate directly with
Adolf Hitler. The king, who supported the idea, spoke to Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax about the plan. On the
outbreak of the Second World War the Duke of Kent and his family moved to Scotland, living in Pitliver House, near
Rosyth, in Fife. He returned to active military service at the rank of Rear Admiral, briefly serving on the Intelligence
Division of the Admiralty. In April 1940, he transferred to the Royal Air Force. He took the post of Staff Officer in the
RAF Training Command at the rank of Air Commodore.
In 1940 the Duke of Kent travelled to Lisbon to meet the dictator of Portugal, Antonio Salazar. The Duke of Windsor,
who was in Madrid at the time, planned to meet his brother while he was in Lisbon. British officials were instructed to
prevent the former king from going to Portugal until the Duke of Kent had left the country. On 10th May, 1941, Rudolf
Hess flew a Me 110 to Scotland with the intention of having a meeting with the Duke of Hamilton. Hess hoped that
Hamilton would arrange for him to meet George VI. The Duke of Kent was apparently with Hamilton at his home
(Dungavel House) on the night that Hess arrived in Scotland. As the Duke of Kent's papers are embargoed it is
impossible to confirm this story. However the facts being he was at RAF Sumburgh in the Shetlands on the 9th and at
Balmoral in Scotland on the 11th of May. The following day he was at RAF Wick at Caithness. He was therefore
definitely in that area during this period.
The Duke of Hamilton's diary records several meetings with the Duke of Kent during the early months of 1941.
Elizabeth Byrd worked as a secretary for Hamilton's brother Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton. She claims he told her
that the Duke of Hamilton took the "flak for the whole Hess affair in order to protect others even higher up the social
scale". Byrd added that "he (Lord Malcolm) had strongly hinted that the cover-up was necessary to protect the
reputations of members of the Royal Family". On 25th August 1942, Prince George, Duke of Kent, took off from
Invergordon in an S-25 Sunderland Mk III Flying Boat. The official story is the Duke was on a morale-boosting visit to
RAF personnel stationed in Iceland. The crew had been carefully selected for the task. The captain, Flight Lieutenant
Frank Goyen, was considered to be Sunderland flyer in the RAF and had flown some of Britain’s politicians during the
war. The rest of the crew was also highly regarded. The co-pilot was Wing Commander Thomas Lawton Mosley, the
commanding officer of 228 Squadron. Mosley was one of the RAF’s most experienced pilots having completed 1,449
flying hours. He was also a navigation specialist and was a former instructor at the School of Navigation.
Officially the Duke of Kent was one of fifteen people on board the aircraft. Also on board were Prince George’s
private secretary (John Lowther), his equerry (Michael Strutt) and his valet (John Hales).
The flying boat took off from Invergordon on the east coast of Scotland at 1.10 p.m. Being a flying boat, its standing
orders were to fly over water, only crossing land when absolutely unavoidable. The route was to follow the coastline to
Duncansby Head – the northernmost tip of Scotland – and then turn northwest over the Pentland Firth towards
Iceland. The S-25 Sunderland Mk III crashed into Eagle’s Rock later that afternoon (there is much dispute about the
exact time this happened) at a height of around 650 feet. As you can see from the map below, the flying boat was well
off course when the accident happened. Its 2,500 gallons of fuel, carried in the wings, exploded.
The route of the S-25 Sunderland Mk III
on 25th August, 1942.
This raises some important questions. Why did the pilot take the flying boat off course? It was a clear day and he
would be fully aware that he was now flying over land rather than the sea. Why, when the aircraft included four
experienced navigators, did the aircraft drift a huge 15 degrees off course from its point of departure? Why did he
descend to 650 feet when he was flying over high land? This is especially puzzling when one considers that the S-25
Sunderland Mk III had one major defect – it was sluggish when climbing – especially when heavily laden, as it was on
the Duke of Kent’s flight. The crash was heard by local people and reached the scene of the accident about 90
minutes after they heard the explosion. This included a doctor (John Kennedy) and two policemen (Will Bethune and
James Sutherland). They found 15 bodies. This included the body of the Duke of Kent. Bethune gave a radio
interview in 1985 where he described finding Prince George’s body. He said that handcuffed to the Duke’s wrist was
an attaché case that had burst open, scattering a large number of hundred-kroner notes over the hillside.
The Duchess of Kent, collapsed in shock when she heard the news. The following morning the newspapers reported
that everyone on board the Sunderland had been killed. Telegrams were sent to the next of kin of all members of the
crew. However, later that day it emerged that Andy Jack, the tail-gunner, had been found in a crofter’s cottage at
Ramscraigs. Apparently, when the flying boat exploded, the tail section was thrown over the brow of the hill, coming to
rest in the peat bog on the other side. Andy Jack only had superficial injuries. What he did next was very surprising.
Instead of going to the wreckage to see what had happened to his colleagues, and waiting for rescuers to arrive, he
ran away in the opposite direction. This of course was in direct contravention of standard procedure – which was
always to remain with the wreck. Andy Jack eventually found an isolated crofter’s cottage. The owner, Elsie
Sutherland alerted Dr. John Kennedy by telephone. However, it was sometime before this information reached the
authorities. Andy Jack’s sister Jean had already received a telegram telling her that her brother had been killed in the
accident.
Winston Churchill made a statement in the House of Commons where he described the Duke of Kent as “a gallant
and handsome prince”. Of the many tributes and messages of condolence received from other countries, the most
significant was from General Wladyslaw Sikorski, the head of the Polish government in exile. The two men were very
close and Sikorski sent a special dispatch to all Polish troops in Britain where he described the Duke as “a proven
friend of Poland and the Polish armed forces”. The Duchess of Kent visited Andy Jack several times after the death of
her husband. It is believed that the information he provided influenced what was inscribed on the Duke of George’s
memorial. This included the following: “In memory of…. the Duke of Kent… and his companions who lost their lives on
active service during a flight to Iceland on a special mission on 25th August 1942”. The use of the words “special
mission” is an interesting one. It was also the words used by Pilot Officer George Saunders, who also died in the
crash. In 2001 Peter Brown, the nephew of Saunders, told a researcher that he was told that in August 1942,
Saunders while home to see his family in Sheffield. Saunders informed his mother: “I’m just on leave for a couple of
days. I’m going on a most important mission, very secret. I can’t say any more.”
A court of inquiry was held and details of their findings were presented in the House of Commons by the Secretary of
State for Air, Archibald Sinclair, on 7th October 1942. The conclusion of the report was: “Accident due to aircraft
being on wrong track at too low altitude to clear rising ground on track. Captain of aircraft changed flight-plan for
reasons unknown and descended through cloud without making sure he was over water and crashed.” Sinclair
confirmed that weather conditions were fine and there was no evidence of mechanical failure. He added “the
responsibility for this serious mistake in airmanship lies with the captain of the aircraft”. It was therefore suggested
that the reason for the crash was the team of four pilot/navigators drifted off course and then failed to reach the
necessary height to clear Eagle Rock. Although the flying boat was supposed to be taking the Duke of Kent to
Iceland, it seems its true destination was very different! The aircraft taking off from the wrong part of Scotland for a
flight to Iceland. The normal departure point being Oban on the west coast and not Invergordon on the east coast
and the aircraft stationed at Oban and needing to be moved to Invergordon for this specific flight and why as a sea -
plane was it flying overland and not above water and why did the pilot descend so low? It also found the wreckage
containing an extra body than it should and so it seems the flight had diverted somewhere to pick up the passenger
who it is believed might have been Rudolf Hess although he supposedly lived out his days in Spandau prison, Berlin
Germany. It has long been thought that the prisoner there was a double, it having come to light that in the summer of
1942 Hess was held in a house on the Duke of Portland's Caithness estate just two miles from the crash site and
briefly in a cottage on Loch More itself! Flying from Invergordon the flight might well have been headed to neutral
Sweden! Unusually every scrap of wreckage was cleared from the crash site and the official report, which would have
included the technical analysis of the aircraft has never been released! With the convenient timing and the presence
that day of unidentified military personnel there is the strong possibility of sabotage!
The problem is that the documents that would enable researchers to re-examine the evidence have vanished. This
includes the flight plan filed by Goyen before take-off. The secret court of inquiry should have been made available
after 15 years. When researchers asked the Public Record Office in 1990 for a copy of the report it was discovered
that it had gone missing. The PRO suggested it might have been transferred to the royal archives at Windsor Castle.
However, the registrar of the royal archives denies they have ever had the report. The crash acknowledged as a
mystery of the 2nd World War not least because of the official cover - up, records withheld or gone missing so much
like the incident in Paris happening in 1997! The reaction to the Duke of Kent's death was odd! It provided a few
headlines but the details were muted and this reported happening because the royals did not wish to detract from the
wartime bereavements of ordinary people. He was buried at Windsor on August 29th 1942. Although the only royal
member to die in active service for over 500 years not many people know about him. Even at the annual Cenotaph
ceremony he is not mentioned, there is no sense of heroism or national grief, it seems the royals wish to pretend he
never existed. Two memorials to him exist, the cross raised by his widow at the crash site and a stained glass window
in the Savoy Chapel in London. It seems the Royal Conspiracy of silence has closed around him as it has about other
things happening in much more recent times!
Andy Jack, the only survivor of the crash, was forced to sign the Official Secrets Act while still in hospital. He later told
his sister that he could not talk about the crash because he had been “sworn to secrecy” and maintained silence until
his death in 1978. Jean Jack did provide researchers with one piece of interesting information about the case. Frank
Goyen gave Andy Jack a signed photograph of himself just before take-off on which he had written: “With memories
of happier days.” Was this a reference to the mission they were about to undertake? Does it suggest that Goyen
disapproved of the mission? Andy Jack was promoted and after the war served in Gibraltar. While he was there he
was visited several times by the Duchess of Kent. Clearly she was still interested in finding out why her husband was
killed. On 17th May 1961 the Duchess of Kent brought the case to national attention when she visited the scene of
her husband’s death. This created a discussion about the crash in the media. Andy Jack now came forward to give an
interview to the Scottish Daily Express. He was still serving with the RAF and not surprisingly he went along with the
conclusions of the official inquiry. He retired from the RAF on a good pension in 1964. However, he drunk away his
money and died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of fifty-seven.
An important witness to the crash was Captain E. E. Fresson. He piloted an aircraft over the same area and at around
the same time as the crashed Flying Boat. The following day he took the only aerial photographs of the wreckage. In
1963 Fresson published his autobiography, Air Road to the Isles. Amazingly, the book does not refer to the death of
the Duke of Kent. According to his son, Richard Fresson, the book originally included a full chapter that covered his
investigation into the crash. However, this material was removed by the publishers at the last moment. There is also
another interesting aspect to this story. Just ten days after the death of the Duke of Kent, another flying boat, also
from 228 Squadron, crashed in the Scottish Highlands. The official explanation was that the plane had run out of fuel.
Everyone on board was killed, including a very interesting passenger, Fred Nancarrow, a journalist from Glasgow.
Nancarrow was investigating the Eagle Rock crash.
In the 1980's the secrets within the House of Windsor began to be exposed. Thus it became known that the Queen,
who as Monarch is Head of the Church of England which does not recognise divorce and whom personally
disapproves of it; unfortunately for her therefore that three of her four children have divorced. Though she remaining
officially married to the Duke of Edinburgh they have lived separate lives as a couple for years, though he appearing
by her side for formal and official occasions. This is reported more recently the case being now with H.R.H. Prince
Charles and H.R.H. Duchess of Cornwall. The separate lives lived seemed, in the case of the Queen and her
husband, to be an arrangement that suited them both. Back in 1956 Philip had belonged to the Thursday Club, which
was basically a get together with other males at riotous parties with glamorous women held at the London home of
ironically his private secretary and navy confederate Mike Parker. Philip said to a fellow member of the club "You can
go anywhere you like and even have affairs and no one knows, I am known everywhere and I am constantly being
trailed by secret service men."
An interesting comment in regards to Diana being in Paris in 1997 with Dodi and its reported this being news
to the Royals. Unlikely surely, even divorced, that the Mother of a future King and someone who'd been called a
"Loose - Cannon" by Nicholas Soames, a friend of Prince Charles and a member of the Establishment would have not
been monitored. How embarrassing in the event of her being kidnapped, by example, to not be able to say by whom
or from where until her kidnappers revealed the information to the royals themselves!
Now to continue as this a passing thought: Despite his laddish behaviour, Philip was a master of discretion
but it was feared his name would be used in connection with other members discovered partying in wild orgies and
hungering for re-living his bachelor days Philip himself sought a means to escape the prying eyes of reporters and
the constant surveillance by detectives who were cramping his style. He was invited to open the Olympic Games in
Melbourne, Australia and this became a four month, 40,000 mile tour on the Royal Yacht Britannia that visited New
Zealand, the U.S.A. the Seychelles and Malaysia amongst other global locations. There were moments of official
business but by and large the emphasis was on fun and his companion on the cruise being Mike Parker. The trip
fuelled rumours of there being serious problems within the royal marriage and Mike Parker's wife divorced her
husband for adultery whilst he was at sea. There were countless stories of the two men entertaining numerous women
on board ship at every port of call. In February 1957 the Queen appointing Philip to being Prince of the United
Kingdom seen as a symbolic gesture bestowed upon him to curtail the rumours of problems between the couple. Mike
Parker being now divorced had the palace delighted by this turn of events and "they" insisted that it meant his
leaving Prince Philip's staff, "they" having always disapproved of his influence over the Queen's husband. Philip
continued making trips solo, so much so that in 1959 a newspaper headline read "The Duke visits Britain". Due to the
royals' decline in people popularity there was adopted a new strategy to draw closer to them and this began with a
"Fly on the wall" styled documentary called "The Queen and her family". As expected she was initially reluctant to take
part in this but it went ahead and the royals filmed from June 1968 - May 1969 on both state and private occasions
although all stage managed to appear natural as similarly was the open, candid Panorama Interview to Martin Bashir
given by Diana in 1995! The Queen documentary proving itself being highly successful as Diana's was and in the
1970's the royal walkabout was first introduced, the royals walking amongst the crowds publicly with a degree of
professionalism and charm but would later be eclipsed by the star quality of the walkabout queen, Diana!
Philip is recognised as being an official consort of the Sovereign, the head of the household and someone
fiercely protective of the royal family's image. The royals found themselves handed a real problem (as Diana herself
remarked upon in the 1995 Panorama Interview) in the 80's: Lady Diana Spencer who in 1981 married their eldest
son H.R.H. Prince Charles of Wales and became H.R.H. The Princess of Wales. Diana, aged 19yrs old, had been
expected to become a royal clone overnight and refused, insistent of doing things her way. This included her means
of bringing up the boys, continuing to pursue her own interests and developing her own unique royal style which was
much warmer and spontaneous and made other senior royals bewildered, furious and jealous as she continued to
steal their thunder with such apparent ease as she continued doing until her death in 1997.even having been
divorced from H.R.H. The Prince of Wales in 1996. Ironically since her death, as the Queen remarked in her personal
eulogy to Diana given on September 5th 1997, lessons have been learned and today the senior members of royalty
have themselves adopted certain aspects of Diana's hands-on style though her boys William and Harry and now more
recently William's wife Catherine are seen to nail it which is a real compliment to Diana, Princess of Wales.
Unfortunately the royal marriage was, as Charles himself later said, "A bloody awful mistake" as both wanted and
needed things from each other that each were incapable of supplying. By all accounts it had been somewhat an
arranged marriage influenced by the Queen Mother and Diana's maternal grandmother Lady Ruth Fermoy as the
Spencers had for years in varying capacities been in service to the royals so one of them marrying a royal being the
ultimate prize and the Spencers a family of British blood. As Diana's popularity soared in the late 80's her husband
sought to compete against her for attention; speaking to the then Prime Minister; the 'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher,
well known to having a mutually frosty relationship with her Monarch, about his having a constitutional role, being
made Prince Regent to co- rule with his mother, taking some of her constitutional responsibilities though not
discussing this with her knowing that if Mrs. Thatcher requested it from the Queen, she would have been obligated to
agree. However the Prime Minister rejected the idea. In 1985 during a state visit to Italy with Diana, Charles planned
to have an audience with the Pope but also to attend Mass in the Vatican, Rome. During discussions with the
Archbishop of Canterbury and the Government it was agreed upon provided he did not partake of Holy Communion
but he had not told the Supreme Governor of the Church of England-- the Queen-- and finding out his mother vetoed
the idea on the grounds of it breaking royal protocol and the palace then arranging for this story to be leaked to the
press forcing Charles into the humiliating position of having to cancel his attendance at the Vatican service.
The above paragraph illustrating how merciless the palace machine can be even towards those it serves if they step
out of line with what is deemed acceptable, whoever they might be. Following the divorce of Diana and Charles, Diana
eventually securing short-lived happiness with Dodi Fayed. In the summer of 1997, just prior to returning home to
England to be with her boys for the last week or so of their holidays (being initially spent with their father and other
royal family members at Balmoral), Diana and Dodi flew to Paris. The day of their arrival on 30th August 1997 drove
to the Villa Windsor in the Bois de Bolougne in the French capital city, former home of the Duke and Duchess of
Windsor and a property leased to Dodi's father, Mohamed al - Fayed. It can be imagined, as Diana was genius at
stealing headlines, must have loved the fact that here was news that another wayward woman who threatened the
future of the royal family even without her royal H.R.H. title was flaunting her unconventional personal relationship in
royal faces from the former home of their enemy, the much hated and resented Wallis Simpson. It ostensibly being
viewed by the couple as a possible home for them in Europe!
As everyone knows Diana and Dodi died in Paris on August 31st 1997.
"Hello,
I have most recently encouraged Andrew to read up on and to learn about the royals as my site needs to be one that
explores the history of the family I was married into as without them of course there would have been no Diana,
Princess of Wales. The dramatic constitutional effect of King Edward VIII's abdication something that warranted some
kind of explanation as to why it haunts the family even to this day. Without it happening after all, the current Monarch
would never have become Queen. I feel it is important to draw people's attention to historical facts that have played
such significant roles within the history of the Royal Family."
Diana
Side
by
side
still.
by
side
still.
George's brothers:
Edward
Duke of Cornwall
became King Edward VIII
Abdicated 1936
Albert
Duke of York
became King George VI
Died 1952
Edward
Duke of Cornwall
became King Edward VIII
Abdicated 1936
Albert
Duke of York
became King George VI
Died 1952