THE ROYAL FAMILY’S BEREAVEMENT

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 282, 27 August 1942, Page 4

THE ROYAL FAMILY’S BEREAVEMENT

The news of the tragic fate that has overtaken His-Royal Highness the Duke of Kent through the loss of the Sunderland, flyingboat which was conveying him to Iceland on special duty will have come as a painful shock throughout the Empire and the Allied countries. The King and Queen, with other members of the Royal Family, have earned widespread admiration and tributes for their readiness to share with the people the dangers and the burdens of wartime service. This spirit of devotion has now been exalted by the supreme sacrifice in the service of the nation that has been made by His Majesty’s youngest brother. r xr His Koval Highness was the only son of the late King George V who had not visited New .Zealand, That event had been arranged for the Dominion’s Centennial celebrations in 1940, but unfortunately had to be abandoned on account of the war. His untimely death has most regrettably, denied us the opportunity of the promised and anticipated opportunity of welcoming him to our shores on some future occasion. It is in such sorrowful events, that the bonds, of human sympathies and affection are drawn closer. At one with the people in the common cause for which so many sacrifices are being made, and so many poignant losses suffered, the Royal Family is also at one with them in the sanctified community of mourning. To the King and Queen, and to Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, will be extended the sincerest and profoundest sympathy of the New Zealand people.