1954-02-13 — Page 7

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY

1954.

The FABULOUS MOUNTBATTENS TAILOR CHEUNG

RUMPILY the ́Ad- miralty got out its

and pen

made another entry

op-

posite Mountbatten's name

The Viceroya

in Fleet orders: "Rear Ad- from command of Combined

miral: Seconded temporarlly duty Viceroy."

In India the machinery of government was

down. It was Mr Attlee's

Operations Earl Mountbatten went as running Supreme Commander, Southeast personal decision to ap Asia. Again his appointment caused a apply his im- sensation, but there was more to come mense drive and dynamic personality to the establish- when he returned home at the end of Ing of full self-government in India within a definite the war. The Labour Government

prouch Mountbatten with a request to

stated period.

Mountbatten at first de- appointed him Viceroy

clined. It was only when King George VI reinforced

of India.

When the Mountbattens come disobeyed only at his Prime Minister's request back for good from India the that his objections were problem was to find employment overcome, and even then he for a man who, before reaching held the demanded a guarantee that the age of 48, bad his naval career would not highest appointed office in the

British Commonwealth. be affected.

ISA

Jour

There is no hint that Mount- batten wavered at any time in his resolve, which was to return to the Navy.

to

went sea again

the carriage abolit

in

were going to drive away

0.30 p.m., on the start of the honeymoon

"While we waited for the brido and bridegroom to change their clothes, everyone skylarking about, more war like a Bank Holiday on Hamp stead Heath than a royal cere monial.

WIS given the bride.

groom's overcoat and hat to

the

bat

hold, and was standing next to the Grand Duchess Vera when the peril of Prince George of Greece seized the whole system.

and put it on his aunt's And, above all, there is the head, knocking her spectacles acute sense that Earl Mount- off and damaging her coiffure,

of She was. I shown

think one batten has always

proprieties, fret ladies with bobbed hair 1 the constitutional

however, had ever seen. It may yet, prove,

contribution "Deprived that his greatest

of her spectacles she could not see who was the to our affairs has been to com- stan- municate his hereditary

aggressor, However, she pulled dorda and contemporary out the hat off and started to hit

who has me over the head with it. look to the nephew brought such lustre to the family name.

The Duke of Edinburgh's up

"As they came but under the light, it appeared to the detec, tives that something untual was happening, for the paper bags must have looked Jikn the satin shoes bombs, and gleaming under the searchlight appeared very like daggers.

"Thereupon they shouldered their umbrellas and joined the rush,

"The Emperor went straight for the backs of the people. awaiting who were anxiously the passing of the Royal car ringe.

"At this the

from

the

moment she re-

Philip's father, Prince Andrew, was, in command of one of the Greek army corps. When defeat led / la Insurrection in the forces und revolu- lon at home, King Constantine hud to abdicato again, this time. In favour of his blasz son, George, the first part of. whose reign was to last barely, fourteen months

But the sourch for scapegoats went further, The revived Re- placed volutionary Committee three royalist ex-premizsa, swa ex-ministers and the commander- m-chief on trial for their lives.

Prince. Andrew W moned from his home do Cortu on the pretext that he was re- quired to give evidence, but on arrival in Athens was his

arrested and put on promptly

His escape

husband

Only personal intervention by emissaries of King George V "Putting his head down; he

of England, the King of Spalni

them of the rammed

and gradually and the Pope saved him from

the fate of his fellow prison pushed his way through the six

were lined up and Ales of human beings, shedding or, who

shot in the prison courtyard the children

coat.

of and reached after the merest semblance tails on the way, Reaching Delhi on March 22,

trial. 1947, he and his wife succeeded

the street at the moment when

Princess Allco, leaving hor weeks completely

the carriage was going by with Princess Alice bowing her one-year-old son in the Corfu transforming the whole rela-

To the general astonishment Britists and he appeared perfectly happy to tionship between

Landing, clean, who was acknowledgments to the cheer- at 2, made her way to Athens at great personni risk to be at close behind and enw ing

hia sido. When Trydsust.

her take up the appointment which

the whole incident, found by his interrupted brief laid down a trutts had been

released, they left the Rep bringing was something of a opportunity for having a litle ceived the contents of the full country in the British cruiser that fer of power to the Indians not Viceroyalty,

the Em-

gathered up their later than Junie 1948. Within Admiral commanding the First group enterprise, involving his joke, so she went back

two the grandmother, his parents,

she found my sister, Squadron with a few days of his arrival he had Cruiser

and, leaving her: Your brother has been uncles and a sister. made up his mind and taken Mediterranear Floot.

But the

so funny. He has put his hat the fateful decision

personality that the

ол the Grand Duchess Vera's dute should

advanced by

deeply imprinted on his forma-

anci knocked her nearly

tive years was his Uncle Louts head, (Earl Mountbatten), through spectacles off. who whom he derives his aptitude, naval suspended. service and in the liberal en-

T vironment of whose household ho ucquired his attitude 10 Ft modem world,

be

year.

his

That the British Government accepted

ni

The conclusion

From being the effective ruler recommendation of a Bub-continent, he

found

does not absolve Mountbutten himself twenty-sixth in order of of his responsibility.

precedence in the tiny island of Malta.

It is contended that he went that this haste 100 jul, ind Wie

direct cause of the appalling

that ful lowed partition at midnight un August 14, only a hundred und forty-five days after his arrival. 11 is an argument largely hypothetical.

Unparalleled

There is no escaping the con- clusion that the example of his fother is what bulks largest in Earl Mountbatten's life.

He has now reached again the eminence he enjoyed tr the special conditions of war.

As

Allied Commander-in- Chief in the Mediterranean he la responsible to General Ridg- way at SHAPE. for the lines of communication to the Euro- he is in no pean theatre. But to this day that if the miillant sense under General Ridgway for the extremets had been given an- In his responsibilites

Those who really Indian scene proclaim

Kreat

know the rourully

In

the

other ten or twelve months civil lines of communication to the war would huve reduced the Miitdie East, and he has overoli sub-continent to a reeking coordinating power for naval slaughter-house,

movements апа air By the time the transter of

Mediterranean. including the occurred

the Mount American Sixth Fleet. Dower battens prestige In India stood it is very doubtful whether

height, and It ity

the Americans would have been paralleled scenes of mass affee, willing to yield such powers to

wore A true any other Englishman. of the volte-face in concerning all opinion

lion for them

reftertion Intion

things Brilisti.

มิ

the

un-

As the situation slowly cleared Mountbatten was able to devote ittle time to personal and family affairs.

In No

November 1947, he flew his wife to attend home with the momentous marriage of his nephew to Princess Elizabeth.

There

was something pecu-

Whispering

D9

whispering cam- A quiet

has gathered strength polgn depicting Earl Mountbatten the "power behind the Throne." because of his relationship to the Duke of Edinburgh,

Those who propagule it must have highly simplined conce tions of the checks and balances ly tting in the presence at of the British Constitution. the wedding of the man who There is very little hope in

Britain

for anyone who thinks had just been instrumental in rentving the ille ef Emperor to use the Crown as a tool to

the sovereign's further his ambitions. India from

Joco standing iy

to The two obstacles excutcheon.

the parents to the young consort on interference whom will fall such a large eignty of Parliament and the share of maintaining the dignity conventions of the constitution

unwritten rules of the Crown in those and position this modern age.

British government which are

аго

such

Gover-

#

of

ΠΟΥ

for

To pick up the first threads of the Duke's background, wc must go back to the beginning of The century. It WRS in

October. 1003, f t Prince

Louis of Battenberg ok a few days leave from his duties

until

Was

behind

and told peror had carried, in her

face ng

they possessed, om-

Paper 'bombs'

what shu

"My sister evidently thought the champagne had been too much for me, and hurried for- ward to reprove and; it neces- laughter, while the bride re-

sary, remove me,

rond

sumed her seat with a charm-

precarious

found itself

in

the

bag of rice, which

followed by the satin shoe.

"Casting dignity asido, abg

barked on a life of caught the shoe, and leaning over the back of the carriage extle in Paris. The family hit the Emperor on the head

very red

reduced circumstances, with it, at the same time tells Paris was full of royal exlles ing him

exactly

endeavouring to accommodate thought of him.

"This so overcame him that themselves to a world of harsh realities for which they were ho remained in the middle of

Ul-adapted. the

shrieking

with

Another

manber Greck Royal Family who had sought refuge there was Prince Andrew's brother Nicholas, father of Princess Marina, later the Duchess of Kent. He was a To London

gifted artist, and not only man-

and to support eged

his wife This idyllic picture provides three daughters by giving us with our first introduction in lezzons in painting, hut was Prince Philip's parents. Durable to sell a respectable mum- ing the eighteen yours that ber ni canvases under the were to intervene before his signature of "Nicholas, birththe last of five children Prince."

Junc

his મમ 10, 1021, ready the host, the Grand Duke un

Andrew still Prince of Hesse,

villa, who was the bride's father's beautiful

Mon

served sufficient private means of Corfu, to lease a modest estate at St uncle, acted as butler and call- Hepos, on the island many unkind buffels

to Cloud,

Alicè and Princess ed up the carriage.

dim the first fair promise

of started a small business selling his parents'

traditional Greek embroidery Prince

and needlework. It was against this background that her small

I don't think she quite being smile, looking more besti- Heved my gatement of Inno- ful than ever,

until ehe heurd JL

and

roundi looking Queen Alexandra laugh-

ពង

cence chuckle, BAW

at

her joke.

An-

1

Director of Naval Intelligence ing hearily ut the success 10 sitend the wedding

of his daughter, Darmstadt Princess Alice, to Prince drew of Greece.

Skylarks!

jano- the festivi-

A mood of prankish cence ran through tles.

"We were each supplid wish white paper bag of tice and a satin shoe, and

when

the

bride and bridegroom were

werd

Parriage.

WAS

old whan ho the country which

three first

Wus

and bridegroom make him Duke of Edin. 5on grew up.

brought at- she

of ber

10

con-

members One of the other of the Royal Family, acting as footman, led a shot to the back of the carriage just before months

visited bride the entered.

mother "Shuwers of rice and slippers burgh. His

him

to London when as they drove followed them

the funeral out

o strong electric tended

NEXT SATURDAY: Prince light, near which was gathered father, Prince Louls of Batten- Philip comes to Britain Ди

detectives berg. a group of man

school high-spirited prep boots ammunition

Greece. On their

return to on

boy with

he elimbe on the roof fect

in disaster and umbrellas

overwhelmed the of their

Palace and their hands.

family.

Constantino dares a policeman to fetch him King go found that he had inherited the down

he grows up, Joine of his former the then ambitious plan

Navy Prime Minister was

for a Greater marries Princess Elizabeth.

under

Whether they realised it or not we cannot perceive, but the sands were running out of the

te private hour-gines

of £ world in which most of the wedding guests lived.

were to War and revolution shalter their life and some of their lives before two decades had passed, and a new, more forbidding and more demand

world was to be the lot of ing most of their descendants.

Admiral Mark Kert, Prince

The carriage had to Louis's blographer,

and wrote this about sixty yards

celebration turn into a street which the account of shortly

to leaving Darn lined with pectatore about Greece, Include the Western

to see te deep, walling stadi, where his close friend- deep,

portions of Turkey. ship

of the bride

The whole nation with Prince Louis had groun

in a muile him a fellow guest:

once united had ext ot completion

"Almo

extend THE

directly they

this territory, "At the

there

started the Emperor of Russia. large army Was 1 marriage rites

given. In the old called out, 'Come along, we can ported large dinner

abso Palace, and to make it

catch them again_outside, and purpose. all the suites

started lutely informal

in to run. Everyone were dispensed with, and after their taras, ribbons and stars di ner even the servants were followed him, the children of relegated to the background, the party hanging on to his Ankara, was a great milltary when the newly-married couple coat-tails.

after

six

de- and

Wis

meets

д

and

the

bu

for This world copyright series of

to articles is abridged from fervour

book "Manifest Derliny," had been trans- Brian Connell, and published to Turkey

by Cassells.

and a

for

tha

initial

after The result, Greek successes which brought their forces to the outskirts of

defeat.

SPOTLIGHT ON OFFICE BOYS

London.

OFFICE boys are far from

ensy to get in Britain, although many large firms have standing arrangements with the employment ex- changes which ensures ધ regular inflow.

jy

It i

The office-boy with his days off for his grandmother's funeral, was once as much à Music Hall joko as mother- in-laws. Now the jokes are no more. Chiefly because the office-boys are quite often either elderly gentle- mon or non-existent! This week correspondents describe the type one finds in different countries.

scme senior typist not a particular- of the staff sneak out one less popular job because by one and plug an electric can be cajoled (or flat-

some- tered) into making it. Home employers purposely hotplate in the wall

James White. dismiss the boys just be. where. fore their term of National The nearest the German

BIG PROMISES Service.to avoid being com- offico gets to having an pelled to re-engage them on office boy is a messenger,

forty, and often over sixty. He Ministry, tax-collector's office or never makes tea or coffee- such-like. They seem to be a except for himself, and this he special physical type, something does fairly ofien.

ilko Neanderthal man, with extremely shallow brain-pans, The Vienna office boy's time rudimentary manners and total is divided between:

incapacity to do anything not 1 Carrying Bles, letter-trays sanctified by routine. To judge and other office impedimenta by their wooden faces, most of them also have Parkinson's about the building.

disease.

2. Making "odd purchases" for, and "obliging" "generally, anyone suficiently important to have a claim on his services.

3. Competing with the Aus trian post office.

their discharge from the but there is no nonsense A SALARY of between raison d'etre of his existence,

offices and

Otherwise, Paris business houses are staffed by cheery whistling young lads and girls. They don't do much in afternoon the way of getting tea because there's nothing like tea-time in France. Though if the boss feels like a croissant they'll slip out and ret it and BOTTLE bave OVEN been

New York.

This, it seems, is the main services 18 months later. about him making cups of £14 and $17 a week and he spends most of his time Neither is it well paid com- tea, or saucing the boss. and the promise of quick cycling or walking round Vienna known to return inside forty pared with many "quick He runs official messages advancement are the only delivering the firm's mail by minutes-Stephen Coulter. money" openings now, being and that is that.-Antony ways of getting offered to youngsters.

Terry.

To remedy the shortage, LIMITED DEMAND girls of 15 and

NEVER HAD THEM

Berlin.

for

NON-EXISTENT

\FFICE boys In Switzerland

hand. Generally speaking it is office boys in New York. Even up to the "perfect secretary" to

make her chief's "clevenses.""

Geneva. then the boss might have of to throw in the name

In the larger "general offices," 15 are.

aren't. Young fellows who Copenhagen. "Office Administrative As the best coffee-raker is chos often employed, and if they

go into offices on leaving school. the job-regarded as a office sistant."

highly skilled and exacting task serve as apprentices and learn do well are promoted to THE demand for

boys in Denmark is so Office boys practically dis and allowed a lot of latitude, at once to do a clerk's work, better paid clerical jobs.- Ian Macleod.

limited that the supply is appeared in New York during the last war. Some offices hired

This VIP spends most of her In Switzerland self-gumming sufficient. The largest

girls, but the majority learned (or his)) time huddled in a corner anvelopes tend to eliminate envelope-licking, and franking offices profor men as indoor to get along without such help. of the office Addling about with machines, at least in big con- and outdoor messengers. - în the old days, in walking pots, cans, cups, saucers

and

cerna, are doing away with There lan't even

a native into a big offos to see the boss some kind of coffee-brower, for stamp-jleking. The only errand TRYING to explain to a

Danish word for office the receptionist would call a coffee time is not a kind of to be run outside the office t German about office

chances are the hour's secretary, continuous round, of little, cups, or pillar-box for, one never any other foreigner why is used for them and hotel will come out or maybe the of brown liquid, starting soon seed a cup of tea in a Swiss boys is like explaining to Doy: The Italian. "piccolo" * to show you in. Now the "break" as in England, but curry letters to the post office.

boss himself!

after the office opens and tasting orice, the Briton drinks ten, or

The shortage of

of boys ls, so throughout, the day,ma, Riichie, a why it rains more at home, It is generally the lot of

neute that belegraph companies MeKwen. the junior typist to run rely on elderly men and women or why Britain is an island.

errands and do odd jobs,

Hampreti. ~ Germany has never had Thench hour! is but a office boys partly because half hour, so sandwiches OFTEN OVER 60- Germane do not drink tea are eaten on the spot

pagos.

in the office. If they feel all, including "the

the need for

the secretazioni

fhment: After lunches coffee

to deliver messages Jehu DESPAIR OF ALL

"<"The Swing" are oarly - risers and elevernes become “öleni in the French part of the

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