THE SON'S AND DAUGHTER OF KING GEORGE V AND PRINCES MARY - (III)
In previous chapters we see 4 child's of king George v And Prince Mary . In this chapter we see remaining child's Of king George v And Prince Mary.(last two children's Prince George, Duke of Kent and Prince John )
5.Prince George, Duke of Kent
Introduction :
Name : George Edward Alexander Edmund.
Father : George V.
Mother : Mary of Teck.
Born : Prince George of Wales
20 December 1902
York Cottage, Sandringham, Norfolk, England.
Died : 25 August 1942 (aged 39)
Morven, Caithness, Scotland
Cause of death : Dunbeath air crash
Burial :29 August 1942
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
29 August 1968
Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.
Spouse : Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark.
Issue : 1.Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
2.Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy
3.Prince Michael of Kent
House : Windsor (from 1917)
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Allegiance : United Kingdom.
Service/branch : Royal Navy.
British Army.
Royal Air Force.
Years of active service : 1916–1942.
Rank : Rear-admiral (RN).
Major general (British Army).
Air commodore (RAF).
Battles/wars : First World War.
Second World War.
Prince George, Duke of Kent, KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO, KStJ, ADC (George Edward Alexander Edmund; 20 December 1902 – 25 August 1942) was a member of the British royal family, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary. He was a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and George VI.
Prince George served in the Royal Navy in the 1920s and then briefly as a civil servant. He became Duke of Kent in 1934. In the late 1930s he served as an RAF officer, initially as a staff officer at RAF Training Command and then, from July 1941, as a staff officer in the Welfare Section of the RAF Inspector General's Staff. He was killed in a military air-crash on 25 August 1942.
Early life :
Prince George was born on 20 December 1902 at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England. His father was the Prince of Wales (later King George V), the only surviving son of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
His mother was the Princess of Wales, later Queen Mary, the only daughter and eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. At the time of his birth, he was fifth in the line of succession to the throne, behind his father and three older brothers: Edward, Albert and Henry.
George was baptised in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle on 26 January 1903 by Francis Paget, Bishop of Oxford.
Education and career :
Prince George received his early education from a tutor and then followed his elder brother, Prince Henry, to St Peter's Court, a preparatory school at Broadstairs, Kent. At the age of 13, like his brothers, the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII and Prince Albert, later King George VI, before him; he went to naval college. First at Osborne and later, at Dartmouth. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant on 15 February 1924,and was promoted to lieutenant on 15 February 1926.He remained on active service in the Royal Navy until March 1929, serving on HMS Iron Duke and later on the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet (renamed the Home Fleet in 1932), HMS Nelson. He served on the latter as a lieutenant on the admiral's staff before transferring in 1928 to HMS Durban on the America and West Indies Station, based at the Royal Naval Dockyard at Bermuda; where his father had previously served on HMS Canada and HMS Thrush, as a watch-keeping Lieutenant.
After leaving the navy, he briefly held posts at the Foreign Office and later the Home Office, becoming the first member of the royal family to work as a civil servant.He continued to receive promotions after leaving active service: to commander on 15 February 1934 and to captain on 1 January 1937.
From January to April 1931, Prince George and his elder brother the Prince of Wales travelled 18,000 miles on a tour of South America. Their outward voyage was on the ocean liner Oropesa. In Buenos Aires they opened a British Empire Exhibition.They continued from Río de la Plata to Rio de Janeiro on the liner Alcantara and returned from Brazil to Europe on the liner Arlanza, landing at Lisbon. The princes returned via Paris and an Imperial Airways flight from Paris–Le Bourget Airport that landed specially in Windsor Great Park.
On 23 June 1936, George was appointed a personal aide-de-camp to his eldest brother, the new king, Edward VIII.Following the abdication of Edward VIII, he was appointed a personal naval aide-de-camp to his elder brother, now George VI. On 12 March 1937, he was commissioned as a colonel in the British Army and in the equivalent rank of group captain in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He was also appointed as the Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Fusiliers from the same date.
In October 1938 George was appointed Governor-General of Australia in succession to Lord Gowrie with effect from November 1939. On 11 September 1939 it was announced that, owing to the outbreak of the Second World War, the appointment was postponed.
On 8 June 1939, George was promoted to the ranks of rear admiral in the Royal Navy, major-general in the British Army and air vice-marshal in the Royal Air Force.At the start of the Second World War, George returned to active naval service with the rank of rear admiral, briefly serving in the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty.
He was patron of the Society for Nautical Research between 1926 and 1942.
Personal life :
On 12 October 1934, in anticipation of his forthcoming marriage to his second cousin, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, he was created Duke of Kent, Earl of St Andrews, and Baron Downpatrick. The couple married on 29 November 1934 at Westminster Abbey. The wedding was followed by a Greek ceremony in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, which was converted into an Orthodox chapel for the ceremony. They had three children:
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (9 October 1935). He married Katharine Worsley on 8 June 1961. They have three children.
Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy (25 December 1936). She married the Hon. Angus Ogilvy, son of David Ogilvy, 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady Alexandra Coke, on 24 April 1963. They had two children.
Prince Michael of Kent (4 July 1942). He married Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz on 30 June 1978. They have two children.
◇Relationships :
There were "strong rumours" that he had affairs with musical star Jessie Matthews, writer Cecil Roberts, and Noël Coward, a relationship which Coward's long-term partner, Graham Payn , denied. While married, he also had an affair with Margaret Whigham, later known as Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll.
George was also rumoured to have been addicted to drugs, especially morphine and cocaine, an allegation which reputedly originated from his friendship with Kiki Preston (née Alice Gwynne, 1898–1946), whom he first met in the mid-1920s.Known as "the girl with the silver syringe" due to her addiction to heroin, Preston – a cousin of railroad heiress Gloria Vanderbilt – was married first to Horace R. B. Allen and then, in 1925, to banker Jerome Preston.She died after jumping out of a window of the Stanhope Hotel in New York City.
Other alleged sexual liaisons include a ménage à trois with Preston and José Uriburu, bisexual son of Argentinean ambassador to the UK José Uriburu Tezanos.
In addition to his legitimate children, he was said to have had a son by Kiki Preston. According to the memoirs of a friend, Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, Prince George's brother, the Duke of Windsor, believed that the son was Michael Temple Canfield (1926–1969), the adopted son of American publisher Cass Canfield – and the first husband of Lee Radziwill, sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Some authors have alleged that like his elder brother, Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, he was a Nazi sympathiser with ties to Rudolf Hess but the claim has not been proven.
RAF career :
As a young man the Duke came to the opinion that the future lay in aviation. It became his passion, and in 1929, the Duke earned his pilot's licence. He was the first of the royal family to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air. Before his flying days, he entered the Royal Navy, and was trained in intelligence work while stationed at Rosyth.
In March 1937, he was granted a commission in the Royal Air Force as a group captain.He was also made the Honorary Air Commodore of No. 500 (County of Kent) Squadron Auxiliary Air Force in August 1938.He was promoted to air vice-marshal in June 1939, along with promotions to flag and general officer rank in the other two services.
In 1939 he returned to active service as a rear admiral in the Royal Navy, but in April 1940, transferred to the Royal Air Force. He temporarily relinquished his rank as an air officer to assume the post of staff officer at RAF Training Command in the rank of group captain,so that he would not be senior to more experienced officers. On 28 July 1941, he assumed the rank of air commodore in the Welfare Section of the RAF Inspector General's Staff.In this role, he went on official visits to RAF bases to help boost wartime morale.
Freemasonry :
Prince George was initiated into freemasonry on 12 April 1928 in Navy Lodge No 2612. He subsequently served as master of Navy Lodge in 1931, and was also a member of Prince of Wales's Lodge No 259, and Royal Alpha Lodge No 16, of which he served as master in 1940. He was appointed senior grand warden of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1933, and served as provincial grand master of Wiltshire from 1934, until he was elected grand master of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1939; a position he held until his death in 1942.
Honours and arms :
KG: Knight of the Garter, 1923
KT: Knight of the Thistle, 1935
GCMG: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George, 1934
GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 1924
Royal Victorian Chain, 1936
ADC(P) Personal aide-de-camp to the King (Appointed by Edward VIII), 23 June 1936
Knight of the Order of the Elephant, 20 September 1922
Knight of the Order of the Seraphim, 1 October 1932
Knight Grand Cross of the Chilean Order of Merit
Knight Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, March 1939
◇Appointments :
1932: Royal Bencher of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn
◇Military :
Colonel-in-Chief, Royal Fusiliers (1937)
Honorary Air Commodore, No. 500 (County of Kent) Squadron Auxiliary Air Force (1938)
Colonel-in-Chief, Corps of New Zealand Engineers (1938)
◇Arms :
Around the time of his elder brother Prince Henry's twenty-first birthday, Prince George was granted the use of the Royal Arms, differenced by a label argent of three points, each bearing an anchor azure.
Death :
On 25 August 1942, George and 14 others took off in a RAF Short Sunderland flying boat W4026 from Invergordon, Ross and Cromarty, to fly to Iceland on non-operational duties. The aircraft crashed on Eagle's Rock, a hillside near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland. George and all but one of the those on board were killed. He was 39 years old.
Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince have written about the crash in their book Double Standards, which, however, has been criticised for its "implausible inaccuracy". They alleged that Kent had a briefcase full of 100 Swedish krona notes, worthless in Iceland, handcuffed to his wrist, leading to speculation the flight was a military mission to Sweden, the only place where Swedish notes were of value.
His death in RAF service marked the first time in more than 450 years that a member of the royal family died on active service.The prince's body was transferred initially to St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and he was buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, directly behind Queen Victoria's mausoleum. His elder son, six-year-old Prince Edward, succeeded him as Duke of Kent. Princess Marina, his wife, had given birth to their third child, Prince Michael, only seven weeks before Prince George's death.
One RAF crew member survived the crash: Flight Sergeant Andrew Jack, the Sunderland's rear gunner.Flight Sergeant Jack's niece has claimed that Jack told his brother that the Duke had been at the controls of the plane; that Jack had dragged him from the pilot's seat after the crash; and that there was an additional person on board the plane whose identity has never been revealed.
Further Information about Dunbeath air crash : The Dunbeath air crash involved the loss of a Short S.25 Sunderland Mk. III that crashed in the Scottish Highlands on a headland known as Eagle's Rock (Scottish Gaelic: Creag na h-Iolaire) near Dunbeath, Caithness, on 25 August 1942. The crash killed 14 of 15 passengers and crew, including Prince George, Duke of Kent, who was on duty as an Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force on a mission to Reykjavík; a message of condolence was proposed in Parliament by the British Prime Minister. A Royal Air Force Board of Inquiry determined that the crash was the result of a navigational error by the crew.
Accident :
Date : 25 August 1942
Summary :Controlled flight into terrain
Site : Eagle's Rock, near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland
58°14.1781′N 3°30.5338′WCoordinates: 58°14.1781′N 3°30.5338′W
Aircraft type : Short Sunderland Mk. III
Operator : No. 18 Group, Royal Air Force
Registration : W4026
Flight origin : RAF Invergordon, Scotland
Destination : RAF Reykjavik, Iceland
Passengers : 4
Crew :11
Fatalities : 14
Injuries : 1
Survivors : 1
Background :
The aircraft, assigned to 228 Squadron, was based at RAF Oban.228 Squadron was part of 18 Group, involved in long range maritime operations and particularly anti-submarine warfare, reconnaissance and long range liaison flights.
Flight details :
The aircraft and crew were assigned a VIP transport mission to RAF Reykjavik, specifically to transport Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Iceland. The aircraft departed from a seaplane base at RAF Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth at 1305 GMT on Sunday 25 August 1942 into foggy weather. The Sunderland (flying on instruments) veered off its flight plan track and crashed into the remote Eagle's Rock at 13:42 GMT. Fourteen of the fifteen crew and passengers, including the Duke of Kent, died in the crash.
Official cause :
The official board of inquiry concluded that the plane crashed into the hillside due to an error of navigation; i.e. there was not enough allowance made for wind that caused the aircraft to drift off its planned track up the eastern coast of Scotland.
The Board noted that investigation at the crash site suggested that all four engines were at full power at the time of impact.
Sole survivor :
Sergeant Andrew Jack, the aircraft's Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, survived. Jack recovered from the injuries he sustained in the accident, was later commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the General Duties Branch on 12 January 1945,and served in the RAF up until 1964; retiring as a Flight Lieutenant. Jack died in Brighton in 1978 aged 56.
Flight Sergeant Jack's niece has claimed that Jack told his brother that the Duke had been at the controls of the plane; that Jack had dragged him from the pilot's seat after the crash; and that there was an additional person on board the plane whose identity has never been revealed.
Interment site :
Four of the 228 Squadron crew's remains were interred at Pennyfuir Cemetery in Oban. The Duke of Kent, the first member of a British Royal Family to die on active military service since the death of James IV of Scotland at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, was buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.
In popular culture :
The Duke's early life is dramatised in Stephen Poliakoff's television serial The Lost Prince (2003), a biography of the life of the Duke's younger brother John. In the film, the teenage Prince 'Georgie' is portrayed as sensitive, intelligent, artistic and almost uniquely sympathetic to his brother's plight. He is shown as detesting his time at the Royal Naval College and as having a difficult relationship with his austere father.
In May 2008, the BBC aired its Radio 4 comedy, Hut 33, Series 2, Episode 1, titled "The Royal Visit". The main guest character for this episode was Duke of Kent, played by Michael Fenton-Stevens. The show is set at Bletchley Park with a team of code breakers. The Duke has been chosen to make an impromptu visit, and the code breakers have been told to hide all evidence of their real work and invent a story. On no account should the Duke be told what really happens at Bletchley because he is a Nazi spy. He is also portrayed as promiscuous and bisexual, as he tries to gain sexual favours from one of the male staff, and one of the female characters recalls a previous liaison with the Duke.
Much of George's later life was outlined in the documentary film The Queen's Lost Uncle. He is a recurring character in the revival of Upstairs, Downstairs (2010/2012), played by Blake Ritson. He is portrayed as a caring brother, terrified of the mistakes that his family is making; later, he is portrayed as an appeaser of the German regime, but also as a supportive friend of Hallam Holland.
George and his eldest brother the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, are shown in Stephen Poliakoff's BBC television serial Dancing on the Edge (2013), in which they are portrayed as supporters of jazz and encouragers of Louis Lester's Jazz Band. A sexual attraction to Louis on George's part is also insinuated.
6.Prince John :
Name : John Charles Francis.
Father : George V.
Mother : Mary of Teck.
Born : Prince John of Wales
12 July 1905
York Cottage, Sandringham.
Died :18 January 1919 (aged 13)
Wood Farm, Sandringham.
Burial : 21 January 1919
St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham.
House :Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Windsor
Prince John (John Charles Francis; 12 July 1905 – 18 January 1919) was the fifth son and youngest of the six children of King George V and Queen Mary. At the time of his birth, his father was heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, King Edward VII. In 1910, the Prince of Wales succeeded to the throne upon Edward VII's death and Prince John became fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.
In 1909, John was discovered to have epilepsy. As his condition deteriorated, he was sent to live at Sandringham House in 1916 and was kept away from the public eye. There, he was cared for by his governess, "Lala" Bill, and befriended local children whom his mother had gathered to be his playmates. He died at Sandringham in 1919, following a severe seizure, and was buried at nearby St Mary Magdalene Church. His illness was disclosed to the wider public only after his death.
John's seclusion has subsequently been brought forward as evidence for the inhumanity of the royal family. Contrary to the belief that he was hidden from the public from an early age, however, John for most of his life had the role of a fully fledged member of the family, appearing frequently in public until after his eleventh birthday, when his condition became severe.
Birth :
Prince John was born at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate on 12 July 1905, at 3:05 am. He was the youngest child and fifth son of George, Prince of Wales and Mary, Princess of Wales (née Mary of Teck). He was named John despite that name's unlucky associations for the royal family, but was informally known as "Johnnie". At the time of his birth, he was sixth in the line of succession to the throne, behind his father and four older brothers. As a grandchild of the reigning British monarch in the male line, and a son of the Prince of Wales, he was formally styled His Royal Highness Prince John of Wales from birth.
John was christened on 3 August 1905 in the parish church of St Mary Magdalene at Sandringham, the Reverend Canon John Neale Dalton officiating. His godparents were King Carlos I of Portugal (for whom Prince John's father stood proxy); the Duke of Sparta (his first cousin once removed); Prince Carl of Denmark (his uncle, for whom Prince John's father also stood proxy); Prince Johann of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (his great-granduncle, for whom Prince John's father also stood proxy); Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife (his uncle, for whom Prince John's father also stood proxy); the Duchess of Sparta (his first cousin once removed, for whom Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom stood proxy); and Princess Alexander of Teck (his first cousin once removed, for whom Princess Victoria also stood proxy).
Childhood and illness :
Much of John's early life was spent at Sandringham with his siblings—Prince Edward (known as David to the royal family), Prince Albert, Princess Mary, Prince Henry and Prince George—under the care of their nanny Charlotte "Lala" Bill. Though a strict disciplinarian, the Prince of Wales was nonetheless affectionate toward his children; the Princess of Wales was close to her children and encouraged them to confide in her. In 1909, Prince John's grandaunt, the Dowager Empress of Russia wrote to her son, Emperor Nicholas II, that "George's children are very nice ... The little ones, George and Johnny are both charming and very amusing ..." Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, described Prince John as "very quaint and one evening when Uncle George returned from stalking he bent over Aunt May and kissed her, and they heard Johnny soliloquize, 'She kissed Papa, ugly old man!" George V once said to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt that "all [his] children [were] obedient, except John"—apparently because Prince John alone, among the King's children, escaped punishment from their father.
Though a "large and handsome" baby, by his fourth birthday John had become "winsome" and "painfully slow". That same year he had his first epileptic seizure and showed signs of a disability, probably autism or learning disabilities. When his father became king, he did not attend his parents' coronation on 22 June 1911, as this was considered too risky for his health; nonetheless, cynics said that the family feared their reputation would be damaged by any incident involving him. Although Prince John was deemed not "presentable to the outside world," George nonetheless showed an interest in him, offering him "kindness and affection".
During his time at Sandringham, John exhibited some repetitive behaviours as well as regular misbehaviours and insubordination: "he simply didn't understand he needed to [behave]." Nonetheless, there was hope his seizures might lessen with time. Contrary to the belief that he was hidden from the public from an early age, Prince John for most of his life was a "fully-fledged member of the family", appearing frequently in public until after his eleventh birthday.
In 1912 Prince George, who was John's closest sibling, began St Peter's Court Preparatory School at Broadstairs. The following summer, The Times reported that he would not attend Broadstairs the following term, and that his parents had not decided whether to send him to school at all. After the outbreak of World War I, he rarely saw his parents, who were often away on official duties, and his siblings, who were either at boarding school or in the military. Prince John slowly disappeared from the public eye and no official portraits of him were commissioned after 1913.In spite of his physical and mental decline, he was not removed from the line of succession.
Wood Farm :
In 1916, as his seizures became more frequent and severe, John was sent to live at Wood Farm, with "Lala" Bill having charge of his care. Though he maintained an interest in the world around him and was capable of coherent thought and expression, with his lack of educational progress, the last of his tutors was dismissed and his formal education ended. Physicians warned that he would likely not reach adulthood.
At Wood Farm, John became "a satellite with his own little household on an outlying farm on the Sandringham estate ... Guests at Balmoral remember him during the Great War as tall and muscular, but always a distant figure glimpsed from afar in the woods, escorted by his own retainers." His grandmother Queen Alexandra maintained a garden at Sandringham House especially for him, and this became "one of the great pleasures of [Prince John]'s life."
After the summer of 1916, John was rarely seen outside the Sandringham Estate and passed solely into "Lala" Bill's care. After Queen Alexandra wrote that "[Prince John] is very proud of his house but is longing for a companion," Queen Mary broke from royal practice by having local children brought in to be playmates for Prince John. One of these was Winifred Thomas, a young girl from Halifax who had been sent to live with her aunt and uncle (who had charge of the royal stables at Sandringham) in hopes her asthma would improve. Prince John had known Winifred years earlier, prior to the outbreak of World War I. Now they became close, taking nature walks together and working in Queen Alexandra's garden. Prince John also played with his elder siblings when they visited: once, when his two eldest brothers came to visit, the Prince of Wales "took him for a run in a kind of a push-cart, and they both disappeared from view."
Titles and styles :
12 July 1905 – 6 May 1910: His Royal Highness Prince John of Wales.
6 May 1910 – 18 January 1919: His Royal Highness The Prince John.
Death :
John's seizures intensified, and Bill later wrote "we dared not let him be with his brothers and sister, because it upsets them so much, with the attacks getting so bad and coming so often." Biographer Denis Judd believes that Prince "[John]'s seclusion and 'abnormality' must have been disturbing to his brothers and sister", as he had been "a friendly, outgoing little boy, much loved by his brothers and sister, a sort of mascot for the family".He spent Christmas Day 1918 with his family at Sandringham House but was driven back to Wood Farm at night.
On 18 January 1919, after a severe seizure, John died in his sleep at Wood Farm at 5:30 pm.
Queen Mary wrote in her diary that the news was
▪A great shock, tho' for the poor little boy's restless soul, death came as a great relief. [She] broke the news to George and [they] motored down to Wood Farm. Found poor Lala very resigned but heartbroken. Little Johnnie looked very peaceful lying there.
Mary later wrote to Emily Alcock, an old friend, that
▪For [John] it is a great relief, as his malady was becoming worse as he grew older, & he has thus been spared much suffering. I cannot say how grateful we feel to God for having taken him in such a peaceful way, he just slept quietly into his heavenly home, no pain no struggle, just peace for the poor little troubled spirit which had been a great anxiety to us for many years, ever since he was four years old.
She went on to add that "the first break in the family circle is hard to bear, but people have been so kind & sympathetic & this has helped us much."George described his son's death simply as "the greatest mercy possible".
She went on to add that "the first break in the family circle is hard to bear, but people have been so kind & sympathetic & this has helped us much." George described his son's death simply as "the greatest mercy possible".
On 20 January, the Daily Mirror said that "when the Prince passed away his face bore an angelic smile"; its report also made the first public mention of Prince John's epilepsy. His funeral was the next day at St Mary Magdalene parish church, John Neale Dalton officiating.
Queen Mary wrote that
Canon Dalton & Dr Brownhill [John's physician] conducted the service which was awfully sad and touching. Many of our own people and the villagers were present. We thanked all Johnnie's servants who have been so good and faithful to him.
Though nominally private, the funeral was attended by Sandringham House staff; "every single person on the estate went and stood around the gates and his grave was absolutely covered in flowers."Queen Alexandra wrote to Queen Mary that "now [their] two darling Johnnies lie side by side".
Legacy :
Prince Edward, who was eleven years older than his brother and had hardly known Prince John, saw his death as "little more than a regrettable nuisance." He wrote to his mistress of the time that "the poor boy had become more of an animal than anything else." Edward also wrote an insensitive letter to Queen Mary, which has since been lost.She did not reply, but he felt compelled to write her an apology, in which he stated:
"I feel such a cold hearted and unsympathetic swine for writing all that I did ... No one can realize more than you how little poor Johnnie meant to me who hardly knew him ... I feel so much for you, darling Mama, who was his mother."
In her final mention of Prince John in her diary, Queen Mary wrote simply "miss the dear child very much indeed." She gave Winifred Thomas a number of John's books, which she had inscribed, "In memory of our dear little Prince." "Lala" Bill always kept a portrait of Prince John above her mantelpiece, together with a letter from him that read "nanny, I love you." In recent years, Prince John's seclusion has been brought forward as claimed evidence of the "heartlessness" of the Windsor family. According to a 2008 Channel 4 documentary, much of the existing information about Prince John is "based on hearsay and rumour, precisely because so few details of his life and his problems have ever been disclosed," and the British Epileptic Association has stated,
"There was nothing unusual in what [the King and Queen] did. At that time, people with epilepsy were put apart from the rest of the community. They were often put in epilepsy colonies or mental institutions. It was thought to be a form of mental illness" …
adding that it was another twenty years before the idea that epileptics should not be locked away began to take hold.
One author has claimed that the royal family believed that these afflictions might flow through their blood, which was then still believed to be purer than the blood of a commoner, and, as such, wished to hide as much as possible in regard to Prince John's illness. Others have suggested that Prince John was sent to Wood Farm to give him the best environment possible under the "austere" conditions of World War I. Another author has claimed that undoubtedly the royal family were "frightened and ashamed of John's illness",and yet another author has claimed that Prince John's life is "usually portrayed either as tragedy or conspiracy".At the time that Edward VIII (formerly Prince Edward) abdicated, an attempt was made to discredit Prince Albert, who had succeeded as George VI, by suggesting that he was subject to falling fits, like his brother. In 1998, after the discovery of two volumes of family photographs, Prince John was briefly brought to public attention.
The Lost Prince, a biographical drama about Prince John's life written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, was released in 2003.
End of 4th chapter.....