Chapter 48, Buckingham Palace, 15 June 1940
“And one another thing, if I may be so bold”, Sir Alan Lascelles, the King’s Assistant Private Secretary, muttered to Halifax as the two trotted up the Palace stairs, “he’s rather upset about Beaverbrook”.
“My briefing?” Halifax looked anxious.
“His Majesty has read the briefing, as well as this morning’s headlines,” Lascelles remarked tartly.
They had arrived at the library. Lascelles knocked and the two marched in, side by side.
“Viscount Halifax to see you, Your Majesty.” Lascelles bowed (rather rigidly Halifax thought) and, still bowing, retreated out of the room. Halifax noted that the King seemed engrossed in the large, leather-bound book that he was holding.
“Ah, Edward.” The King’s voice was without warmth.
“Your Majesty, allow me to explain.”
“Are you familiar with the Earl of Strafford?”
“Sir?”
“K-King Charles, and all that. He was forced, by his own Parliament, to execute Strafford.”
“Ah, yes, I am aware of the tale Sir.”
“I often wondered, Edward, how I would behave in such a situation, being dictated to over key positions. I am pleased to note that I have kept my temper.”
“I’m not sure I follow, Sir.”
“Beaverbrook, Edward. B-bloody Beaverbrook!”
“It was a political necessity, Sir. Without a conciliatory gesture from us his newspapers could have damaged our position.”
“But Canada, Edward, Canada! What will they say?”
If only you knew, thought Halifax. The Canadians, whilst pleased in part to have someone of Canadian descent as Governor-General, were also dismayed that it had to be Beaverbrook. Mackenzie King, their Prime Minister, had been extremely unhappy about the decision, coming as it did after a peace treaty that was also being viewed suspiciously by the Dominion. For Halifax, it was simple: Beaverbrook had to be placated in order to secure public support for Milan. The King however, was clearly not convinced.
“Sir, Beaverbrook will prove, I am confident, an outstanding Governor-General. After all, he is Canadian.”
“The only thing from which I draw comfort, Edward,” the King snapped, “is that
I cannot be accused of nepotism. They cannot attack the Crown for appointing one of our family.”
“Indeed,” Halifax readily agreed, eager to move the conversation on. “Sir Alan said that Your Majesty wishes to discuss something else?”
“W-what? Oh, yes, Edward. Her Majesty the Queen would like to know when Their Royal Highnesses may be returned to their home.”
Halifax nodded. He and Attlee had discussed this on the journey home from Milan. “Sir, we so no reason why Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose cannot be escorted home immediately.”
The King beamed. “Oh, she’ll be delighted! Are you flying them home?”
“No, I pwopose to bring them back on ‘their warship’.”
“Edward?”
“HMS Royal Sovereign, Sir. She will escort them home with full ceremony.”
“Full ceremony?”
“Wather. I would like the nation to see the return home of the future of our Royal Family.”
“Good. Now, what about Neville?”
“He wesponded badly to my comments. He seems to view himself as a Prime Minister in waiting, and from what my sourced in the Commons tell me still commands loyalty amongst some of our MPs. I’d be grateful if we look at some small token of the nation’s thanks for his role in pweventing the recent attack on London.”
“An honour of some sort?”
“Perhaps, Sir. I will, with your permission, discuss it with Sir Alan and offer a list of options to Your Majesty.”
[Game Effect] – The King is understandably grumpy about the Beaverbrook saga, and Halifax has erred in not visiting the Palace prior to giving out the Canada Governor Generalship. For the King not to be at least consulted is a bit of a gamble for the Prime Minister, who has carefully built up his rapport with the King (to the point where Halifax had his own key to the Palace Gardens) and who, in most things, will be a natural ally. Perhaps Halifax, knowing this closeness, has calculated that the King will, in time, see this as a ‘blip’ on an otherwise close friendship.
The assignment of Beaverbrook shows something that I find more sinister, a lack of courtesy towards the Dominion Prime Ministers. Canada was wary of Milan and, coupled with the foisting of Beaverbrook upon them they could be forgiven for thinking that Halifax is careless towards them. This is of course untrue, as Halifax is committed to the British Empire. But it again shows his lack of a central belief, and a willingness to do anything to achieve an aim.
Chamberlain may also be about to get a gong of some sort. I appweciate (sorry, couldn’t resist!) that people may find this a wee bit unpalatable, but there is a swathe of precedent (most PMs are offered a peerage – Eden became Lord Avon for Christ’s sake) and the award of honours is a huge power available to the PM and Sovereign. Will Chamberlain accept? Given his ego and sense of wounded pride I’m not sure, though I suspect the King would lean upon him to become “Sir Neville” at least.
BritishImperial: For want of a comma, my stomach was lost. Oh well, at least this AAR goes down in the annals (note that is annals, not anals!) of Forum history for something.
In the reality the job went to the Earl of Athlone (or Prince Alexander of Teck as he was born), the younger brother of Queen Mary. The Canadian papers indeed called for a Canadian to be Governor General, but given Canada’s involvement in the war it instead became a more traditional appointment, in that it went to a lesser royal. Athlone seems to have been well regarded during his tenure.
El Pip: Indeed, as I mentioned in the ‘Game Effect’ bit his work in mobilising support for the production of aircraft was important. Of course in this AAR (at the moment) he’s off to Canada and the Air Ministry will have to think of an alternative way of getting support for the build-up.
Kurt_Steiner: You are correct: his exposure to the front line was minimal compared to others in Parliament at that time.
Enewald: There is a fine line between ‘selling’ government positions for cash and ‘rewarding’ those who have supported the nation or government (the terms were often, sadly, interchangeably used). Halifax, whilst seeing nothing wrong with offering rewards to those useful to him (a process that continues to this day), would actually be horrified at the notion of someone “buying” their way into power. To an aristocrat of Halifax’s tastes that would be unthinkable, as well as ‘ungentlemanly’. But I get your point, it is a peculiar line to draw, hence the ongoing saga of honours and peerages in the modern British political system.
Phargle: As ever, very many thanks.
