EARLY CAREER IN NAVY

Southland Times, Issue 24833, 27 August 1942, Page 5

EARLY CAREER IN NAVY

WIDE TRAVELS AND MANY INTERESTS Prince George Edward Alexander Edmund, Duke of Kent, was the fourth surviving son of King George and Queen Mary of England. He was born on December 20, 1902. He entered the Navy in September 1916 and, after passing out of Dartmouth as a midshipman in January 1921, he was appointed to H.M.S. Iron Duke, flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, in which he spent two years. In May 1923 he became acting sub-lieutenant and next February was confirmed in his rank. Having completed his courses with a view to qualifying later for the rank of lieutenant, he was appointed in January 1925 to the cruiser Hawkins, flagship on the China Station, where he served during the serious trouble in the Yangtse Valley. At Hong Kong he helped to put out a big hotel fire. In February 1926 he passed his examination for lieutenant, but was given only a second in seamanship and thirds in navigation, gunnery and torpedo work. On returning from the China Station via Canada in December 1926 he was posted to H.M.S. President, the R.N.V.R. ship in the Thames, for four months’ study of French, after which he qualified as an interpreter. It was announced in March 1929 that in view of the fact that life afloat did not suit his health, which is not very robust, he was leaving the Navy. In December 1922 he had been operated on for appendicitis; in February 1923 he was found to be suffering from hammer-toes and his two little toes were removed, and in March 1925 he underwent an operation for the removal of the tonsils. CIVIL SERVICE POST The Prince was attached to the Foreign Office in order that he might gain knowledge of the work and administration of a Government department. His name, however, still remained on the active list of the Navy. He was the first member of his family to be attached to the Civil Service. In 1930 he took aviation lessons, going up in a dual-control plane. Next year along with the Prince of Wales he made a very extensive and successful tour of South America, largely by air. As he desired to acquire a first-hand knowledge of industrial conditions and administration, it was arranged in 1932 that he should accompany factory inspectors of the Home Office on their visits. He was still attached to the Home Office in 1934 and acted as a factory inspector. His Visits were not announced beforehand. In January 1934 he left England on a 4000-mile tour of South Africa during which he was promoted commander. From Cape Town, where he had had a great reception, he set out in February in a special train which carried two motor-cars and had accommodation for journalists and a dark room for photographers. During his visit | he climbed Table Mountain, went down a | gold mine at Johannesburg and a copper mine in North Rhodesia and exchanged gifts with the Bechuanaland chief, Tshekedi, who had been suspended for having a white man flogged, but was reinstated. The Zulus requested that the Prince should be made the next Governor-General of South Africa. After leaving the Union he visited the Belgian Congo. He reached England on April 23. A week later it was announced that he would not go to Australia and New Zealand in the autumn, as had been planned, as it was feared that a second tour of six months would be too great a strain following on his long journey in South Africa. The Duke of Gloucester was to take his place. Far the best dancer in the Royal family, the Duke once won a dance competition at Cannes. His identity was kept secret and the judges did not recognize him. A good pianist, he could accompany dancing and play from memory selections from musical comedies and revues. He was a very frequent attender at the Russian Ballet. Fond of films, he visited Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford at Hollywood when his ship was off the Californian coast. Given the Order of the Garter on his 21st birthday, he was made a Freeman of the City of London in 1924. MARRIAGE TO GREEK PRINCESS

Prince George visited Yugoslavia in August 1934 as the guest of the Regent, Prince Paul. He had married Princess Olga of Greece, whose sister Princess Marina, bom In 1906, was a member of the party. They were daughters of Prince Nicholas of Greece. Prince George proposed to Princess Marina and was accepted. They had

1 known each other for five years, the Princess having visited London every season. I She is tall, dark and beautiful. The engagement came as a surprise even to the Prince’s equerry. In November King George V conferred on Prince George the title of Duke of Kent, last held by Queen Victoria’s father, and also those of Earl of St. Andrews and Baron Downpatrick. The Duke’s marriage took place in December 1934 with great pomp. In addition to the ceremony in Westminster Abbey there was a Greek Church service in the chapel at Buckingham Palace. Most of the honeymoon was spent in the West Indies and the Royal pair visited President Roosevelt in his yacht off the Bahamas. In 1935 the Duke was appointed Lord High Commissioner of the Church of Scotland and colonel-in-chlef of the West Kent Regiment. He was also made a Knight of the Thistle. In response to his suggestion that wedding gifts to him might take tire form of donations to St. George’s Hospital. London, of which he was president, he was presented in July with a sum of £33,582. Just before the outbreak of war the Duke was appointed Governor-General of Australia, but because of the war he did not take up the appointment. There are three children of the marriage. On October 9, 1935, a son was born to the Duke and was named Edward George Nicholas Paul Patrick. A daughter was bom on December 25, 1936, and was named Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel. The third child, a son, was bom on July 4, American Independence Day, and President Roosevelt was one of his sponsors. Baptized Michael George Charles Franklin, he is to be known as Prince Michael of Kent 1