| The Saddest Week |
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| Written by Joanne Leyland | ||||||||||
| Thursday, 27 October 2005 | ||||||||||
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Why August isn't a time to solely remember Diana. As with so many of her illustrious ancestors, the Queen is a creature of habit. And so it is that every Summer the extensive Royal Court moves en masse (with a little help from the Army) from London to Balmoral Castle. It is at Queen Victoria's favourite home that her great-great-great granddaughter feels at her happiest. However, it would be understandable if she and other members of the family viewed the last weekend of August (a Bank Holiday in England) with just a little trepidation as there is a quite astonishing fact associated with this time of year. Since 1942, no less than FIVE significant members of the House of Windsor have died between the dates 25th-31st August. The most startling fact? Four out of five of these deaths were violent and unexpected and, in three instances, the royal who died was under the age of 40. 25th AUGUST 1942: Prince George, Duke of Kent, the glamorous fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary, and uncle of the present Queen, was killed in a mysterious plane crash in Scotland. A rampant bisexual who enjoyed a lengthy affair with, amongst others, Noel Coward, George was also a serious drug addict who's dangerous weakness for the hardest of drugs, including heroin and cocaine, almost led to his complete self-destruction until, in the early 1930s his eldest brother, the future King Edward VIII, stepped in and literally had George locked away in a royal home over several days so as to undergo the process of "cold turkey". In November 1934 the Prince married the beautiful Princess Marina of Greece, a distant cousin. The couple soon welcomed the arrival of two of their children, the present-day Duke of Kent (Prince Edward) and Princess Alexandra. Tragically, their third child, Prince Michael of Kent, never knew his father as he was born just six weeks before the accident. As with the death of Diana, the plane crash in which the Duke was killed is surrounded by numerous conspiracy theories. The most rampant of these claims King George VI's brother was on his way to a private meeting with Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess when the plane he was travelling in crashed, killing all but one person on board. The sole survivor, an Australian member of the aircrew (who has now died), never spoke publicly of the crash and so, to this day, the real story of what happened in the bleak Highlands of Scotland remains an unsolved mystery. 27th AUGUST 1968: Princess Marina, wife of Prince George, Duke of Kent, died in her private apartments at Kensington Palace, succumbing to a brain tumour at the age of 61. Marina has often been hailed the Diana of her day, such was her popularity and status as a royal cover girl. 28th AUGUST 1972: Just six years after the death of his Aunt Marina, Prince William, heir to his father Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was killed at the tragically young age of 30 when the plane he was piloting crashed at Halpenny Green, near Wolverhampton. His brother, Richard, ultimately inherited the title Duke of Gloucester following the death of their father, Prince Henry, in 1974. Interestingly, the Gloucester family account for the most recent officially recognized cases of the inherited blood disease porphyria, which has blighted generations of the Royal family. The most famous case relates to the madness of King George III which modern-day scientists believe was caused by porphyria. Some years after his death, William's aunt, Princess Margaret, reportedly confirmed to a journalist asking after her own health that it was Prince William, not she, who suffered from the disease. William most likely inherited the gene from his father, Prince Henry, another sufferer. 27th AUGUST 1979: One of the most shocking tragedies ever to hit the Royal Family was the murder by members of the provisional IRA (Irish Republican Army) of Lord Louis Mountbatten of Burma, killed as he sailed his boat in Donegal Bay in County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland. Three more of Mountbatten's boat party were also killed when the bomber – reportedly watching from the nearby shore – detonated the explosives at the front of the boat. Those killed included two other members of the Mountbatten family - Lady Brabourne, the 82-year-old mother-in-law of Louis daughter, Patrician, and Louis' grandson, Nicholas Knatchbull, aged just 14. Local schoolboy, 15-year-old Paul Maxwell, a member of the crew, was also killed in the attack. 31st AUGUST 1997: Undoubtedly, the most famous royal anniversary is that marking the death of Diana, Princess of Wales at the age of just 36. The first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, died in a Paris hospital at 4am local time, just over three hours after the Mercedes in which she was travelling with new boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed, who was killed instantly, slammed into the 13th pillar in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. The accident has produced a whirlwind of constantly perpetuating myths and rumours, all of which are the subject of an-depth, two million pounds plus investigation headed by former Metropolitan Police Chief Sir John Stevens. Only recently Sir John raised some eyebrows when he told television viewers in Britain that his report into the crash does contain some surprises. It is perhaps worth considering whether, in 50 years time, the next-but-one generation will stop to think about Diana on the anniversary of her death in the same way people today have long forgotten the similarly tragic deaths of some of the other royal personalities of yesteryear. Comment on this article
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