The Anonymous Widower

An Historical Snippet From Gyles Brandreth

Gyles Brandreth can always be relied upon to add something of note to a discussion. He has just said that the Duke of Edinburgh‘s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was at the Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving of Queen Victoria.

She stayed in Athens during the Second World War, and this snippet, shows an insight into her character.

During the fighting in Athens, to the dismay of the British, she insisted on walking the streets distributing rations to policemen and children in contravention of the curfew order. When told that she might have been shot by a stray bullet, she replied “they tell me that you don’t hear the shot that kills you and in any case I am deaf. So, why worry about that?”

So did the Duke get his forthright character from his mother?

June 5, 2012 - Posted by AnonW | News | Diamond Jubilee, Duke of Edinburgh, Greece, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria, Second World War