DEMAND FOR WITHDRAWAL

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 416, 24 April 1937, Page 5

DEMAND FOR WITHDRAWAL

“CORONATION COMMENTARY.” BOOK OBJECTED TO BY ‘DUKE OF WINDSOR Publishers Faced With Delicate Situation Received 10.5 a.m. London, April 23. The Duke of Windsor’s solicitor, Mr A. G. Allen, has requested William Heinemann, Ltd., publishers of “Coronation Commentary,” by Geoffrey Dennis, to withdraw the book and publish a suitable apology on the ground that it libels the Duke; otherwise a writ for libel may be issued. Mr Allen told the Press Association to-day that if “Coronation Commentary” was not withdrawn and an apology published, action would certainly follow.

Heinemann’s admit that they have received a demand. They say that the matter is too delicate for them to make a statement. Mr Dennis, who for many years was attached to the League Secretariat at Geneva, resigned to devote himself to literature. He was an Oxford undergraduate at the same time as the Duke. “Coronation Commentary,” published on April 12, has proved itself a “best seller.*’

MR DENNIS’S BOOK “Can’t Run Ancient Monarchy On Cocktail Lines.” “There was more in the drama of King Edward’s abdication than conact between the Prime Minister, Mr. ? anley Baldwin, .and the King over Mrs. Wallis Simpson,” states Mr. Dennis in he extracts from his book which w.re cabled from London on Xpril 11. -j ‘There were things done and said in his infatuation, his lover’s prodigality, and his shrill King’s rage i.galnst those who denied her >o him,” Mr Dennis says, “and there .were kings left undon in hi s infatu. ion. duty neglected, papers held up, an-' . I.pers curiously neo-Kaiserishly an notated. He had no tound under. ; ■ anding of the technique or limitsions of the nee ssary dignity of his office. There were irregular hours, irregular habits, muddling, fuddling and meddling.” While Mr. Dennis expresses the opinion that Edward’s association with Mrs. Simpson 'Was a source of 1 courage, strength and stimulus to Ed- I ward, he sums up the national opin- ■ ion as follows: “For Queen of Eng- I land, a twice-divorced womlan with j two former hue bands living was not good enough. She clashed too crudely with the nation’s idea and ideal and with the nation’s dream and myth of feminine Royalty.” Mr. D-nnit also says: “You can't run an ancient Monarchy on saxophone and cocktail party lines.” Career of Mr Dennis. Geoffrey Pomeroy Dennis, born in Devon in 1892, was educated first at various North Country schools, and from 1907 to 1910 he was articled to an. estate agent and auctioneer at Walsall. He won a scholarship to Oxford and was at Exeter College

there from 1910 to 1914, taking firstclass honours in the school of modern history. He was co-founder of the Oxford Poetry series and treasurer and librarian of the Union. He served in the army from 1915 to 1920, reaching the rank of captain. He joined the League of Nations secretariat in 1920. Mr Dennis has been twice married, first in 1926 to Miss Doris Ethel Hall, who died in 1927, and then in 192 S to

Miss Imogen Christina Rossetti, the I eldest child of Gastone Angell, of the j Italian army, and Helen, daughter of William Michael Rossetti and a niece of Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti. Albert George Allen, D. 5.0.. M.C., solicitor to the Duke of Windsor, served in the European War in France as a captain in the’ Eighth South Staffordshire Regiment, and as brigade major in the 51st Infantry Brigade. He was mentioned in disnatches twice.