Theo Aronson - Princess Alice: Countess of Athlone

PRINCESS ALICE

C ountess of A thlone

Theo Aronson

First published by Cassell Book in 1981

Copyright The Estate of Theo Aronson 1981

This edition published in 2020 by Lume Books

30 Great Guildford Street,

Borough, SE1 0HS

The right of Theo Aronson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

To the memory of my Mother

Table of Contents

A uthors N ote

I first met H.R.H. Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, early in 1974. This book is the result of many conversations with the Princess between that time and her death, almost exactly seven years later, in January 1981. It has been written with the help of Princess Alices family, of various members of the Royal Family, of secretaries, ladies-in-waiting, aides-de-camp, friends and associates, and of the Royal Archives at Windsor.

My chief debt is to the late Princess Alice herself who, in the course of our many talks, gave me a great deal of the information used in this study. I am indebted, also, to Her Royal Highnesss own book of memoirs, For My Grandchildren , for some of my source material. Permission to quote from this book has been granted by the Princesss daughter and son-in-law, Lady May and Sir Henry Abel Smith, and by the publishers, Evans Brothers. I have been granted full access to the Princesss scrap books and photograph albums and have been given permission to quote from various of Her Royal Highnesss letters.

Lady May and Sir Henry Abel Smith have very kindly read my manuscript, made suggestions, answered all my questions and checked certain facts without, in any way, trying to influence or alter what I have written. All opinions expressed and conclusions drawn are my own. Their co-operation, advice and impartiality have been greatly appreciated.

I must thank Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by whose gracious permission certain extracts from the Journal of Princess Alices grandmother, Queen Victoria, are here published for the first time. These extracts are indicated in the Notes on Sources. John Murray (Publishers) Ltd have allowed me to use quotations from The Letters of Queen Victoria , ed. G.E. Buckle, and the University of Toronto passages from The Mackenzie King Records byJ.W. Pickersgill.

Members of the Royal Family who have very kindly received me in order to give me their impressions and memories of H.R.H. Princess Alice are Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother; Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, who also allowed me to see certain of her photograph albums; and the Rt Hon. the Earl of Harewood. I am deeply grateful for their help.

I am indebted also to the late Princess Alices secretary, Miss Mary Goldie; her lady-in-waiting, Miss Joan Lascelles; and Lord Athlones Secretary during his Canadian term of office, Sir Shuldham Redfern. Others whose assistance has proved especially valuable are the late Sir Kenneth Blackburne, formerly Governor and then Governor-General of Jamaica; Sir Philip Sherlock, one-time Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies; Mr Neville Ussher, aide-de-camp to Lord Athlone in Canada; and Stella, Lady Bailey, of Cape Town, South Africa.

Then I must thank all those many people whose contributions, ranging from the slight to the considerable, have helped me to come to a fuller understanding of Princess Alices life and work. They are, in alphabetical order, Mr David Arnott, Mr Harold J. Ashwell, Mrs M. Pierneef Bailey of the Marita Pierneef Collection, Cape, Mrs R. Barclay-Ross, Ms Anne Barlow of Canada House, London, Mrs E. Basson, Mrs J. A. Blackmore, Ms Deborah Boles of the Literary Department of the Observer , Mr Andre Bothner, Mrs W. Brodby, Mr Gordon Brown, Ms G. W. Brown, Transvaal Regional Secretary of the South African Red Cross Society, Mrs M. Ormond Brown, Mr F.F. Burrow, Mr R. Campbell-Ross, Mr Francis O. Cameron, Rev Canon K. Chaffey, Mrs S. Chaykowsky, Mrs G. Christiansen, Honorary Secretary of the Kensington Society, Mrs Peggy Clin, Mrs Marcia Dalrymple, Rev G.F. Davies, Dr J. Elwyn Davies, Mr R. Caradoc Davies, Mr D.C. De Kocks, Mr Solomon de Souza, Ms Jean Devey of the Archives of the Girl Guides of Canada, Mrs Em de Villiers, Mrs Isobel de Waal, Mrs F. Dickson, Mrs June Digby, Mrs E.M. Dowling, Director of S.A. National Council for Child and Family Welfare, Mrs Grace Doyle, Mrs Z. Droskie, Director of S.A. Council for the Aged, Mr L.F. Dunnett, Mrs Barbara Evans, Mrs M. Faiman, Mrs Joyce Foord, Mrs Winifred Forrest, the Hon. Mrs Margaret Fox, Major Anthony G.D. Gordon, Mrs Joyce Grant, Mrs Cedryl Greenland, Mr Richard Guy, Mr Brocas Harris, Mr W.A. Harrison, Principal of the Claremont Fan Court School, Mrs Agnes Harvey, Miss Norah Henshil-wood, Mrs V. Heyliger, Mrs Lilian Hook, Mrs Margery Houghton, Mr Philip Howard, Mr R.H. Hubbard, Cultural Adviser to the Governor-General of Canada, Mrs Alma Inskip, Mr C.E. Jackman, Registrar of the University of the West Indies, Rev D.W. Jelleyman, Ms Bee Jordaan, Mr Roy Kay, Mr Richard Kennett, Mr Stephen Kerr, Mr Keith Killby, Ms Wyn Knowles of B.B.C. Womans Hour, Dr Julius H. Kretzmar, Mrs Agnes Lambe, Mrs Jeannie Lascelles, Mrs Aileen Lee, Mrs Mary Leeds, Mrs Cecile Lewis, Lady Longford, Mrs Julia Ludwig, Mrs N. Lundy, Mrs E.A.L. Machanick, Dr L. Marguerite Mackenzie, Mr and Mrs A. Mackenzie-Elliot, Mr A.G. Mackie, Mrs Maisee Macnae, the late Mr Arnold MacNaughton, Mrs A. Maddin, Bishop William Manning, Miss C. Manthey, Dr Matthew Mellon C.B.E. and Mrs Mellon, Mr E.W. Mew, Miss W. Middlecote, Mrs Mary Miller, Mrs Gwen M. Mills, Mr R.C. Molk, Miss Kathleen Murray, Mr William Nash, Superintendent of Windsor Castle, Mrs Cecile Newberry, Mrs Dorothy L. Norrington, Mr E.J. Page, Dr Marian Parkinson, Mrs S.Y. Parkinson, Corps Commander W.T.S./F.A.N.Y., Miss D. Parsons, Mrs Z. Pearce, Mrs Ann A. Pike, Ms Phyllis Piper, Mrs Anne Raff, Mrs Mary Rapson, Mrs Fanella Richman, Mrs D. Roberts, Mr D.F. Robertson, Mr Kenneth Rose of the Sunday Telegraph , Mr Eric Rosenthal, Mrs Stella Ross, Mrs Pam Rothschild, Mrs A.M. Rutherford-Titus, Mrs E. Ryall, Headmistress of St Cyprians School, Cape Town, Mrs Morar Ryton, Mr C.V. Sandiford, Mr A. Schapera, Mrs L.M. Sellery of the Archives of the Girl Guides of Canada, Mr Gerald Shaw of the Cape Times , South Africa, Mr Edwin G. Sinclair, Mrs Malcolm D. Smith, Mrs Dorothy Smuts, Mr H.M. Sparks, Mrs P.R. Standley, Mrs H. M. Starke, Director of the Child Welfare Society, Cape Town, Miss Ailsa Stephens, Mrs Hope Stewart, Mrs D. Stubbs, President of the Victoria League in South Africa, Mr William Tallon, Mrs E. Taylor, Mrs Lynda M. Tennant, Lady Mary Thelwell, Mrs Edna Theron, Mrs May Todd, Mrs Sheila Truscott, Mrs H.D. Tucker, Mr Stanley Uys, Mrs Kate Van Rensburg, Mrs M.C. Varty of the Londolozi Game Reserve, South Africa, Mr Hugo Vickers, Mrs Jean Watkins, Mr R.I.B. Webster, Mr R.F.R. Wells, Ms Liz Westby-Nunn, Mrs Cynthia Wintringham White, Mrs Alpheus Gardner Williams, Dr W.W. Wilson, Senior Medical Officer of St Anns Bay Hospital, Jamaica, Mr S.G. Wolhuter, Mrs Emily Wood, Miss Helen Woods, Mrs Kathleen York.

I am indebted also to Mr Clinton V. Black, the Government Archivist, Jamaica Archives; Miss Edith G. Firth of the Metropolitan Toronto Library; Mr K. E. Ingram, Librarian of the University of the West Indies; Miss L. Kennedy, City Librarian, Johannesburg Public Library; Ms Marie Lanouette, National Library of Canada; Mr Donald G. Mutch, Ottawa Public Library; Mr Gordon Phillips, Archivist and Researcher, London Times; Mr Koos Quinton, Chief Librarian, Parliamentary Library, Cape Town; Mr P.J. van der Walt, City Librarian, Bloemfontein Public Library; Mrs R. Wasserfall, State Archives, Pretoria. I am grateful to the staffs of the British Library, the Newspaper Library at Colindale, the library of the Argus newspaper, Cape Town; the Bath Reference Library, the Bristol Reference Library; and I should like to give a special word of thanks to Mrs S. Bane and the staff of Frome Library for their always efficient service.