Warmtoast
2nd Mar 2011, 17:03
I’ve just finished reading “The Last Princess”, Matthew Dennison’s biography of Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter who died on 26th October 1944.
My interest was aroused by the following passage which refers to the journey of Princess Beatrice’s daughter Ena, then living in Switzerland, to the UK.
“….and, on 25th October [1944], summoned by telegram, Ena left Geneva to return for the last time to her mother’s side. She travelled by converted bomber sent by the British government, but still arrived only just in time. At ten past five on the morning of 26th October, in a house deep in the English countryside belonging to a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, the last princess died peacefully in her sleep….”
Queen Ena of Spain (Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg) was Beatrice’s daughter and married to King Alfonso XIII of Spain. Ena was estranged from the King and lived separately in Geneva for the duration of the war.
“Converted Bomber” would seem to allude to the Mosquitoes used by BOAC during the war for journeys into neutral Sweden (the 'ball bearing' run), but this is the first time I’ve heard of them being used for flights into Switzerland.
Given that for most, if not all of 1944, Switzerland was surrounded by German occupied territory, what sort of route would BOAC’s Mosquitoes have to fly to get safely into and out of Switzerland?
My interest was aroused by the following passage which refers to the journey of Princess Beatrice’s daughter Ena, then living in Switzerland, to the UK.
“….and, on 25th October [1944], summoned by telegram, Ena left Geneva to return for the last time to her mother’s side. She travelled by converted bomber sent by the British government, but still arrived only just in time. At ten past five on the morning of 26th October, in a house deep in the English countryside belonging to a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, the last princess died peacefully in her sleep….”
Queen Ena of Spain (Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg) was Beatrice’s daughter and married to King Alfonso XIII of Spain. Ena was estranged from the King and lived separately in Geneva for the duration of the war.
“Converted Bomber” would seem to allude to the Mosquitoes used by BOAC during the war for journeys into neutral Sweden (the 'ball bearing' run), but this is the first time I’ve heard of them being used for flights into Switzerland.
Given that for most, if not all of 1944, Switzerland was surrounded by German occupied territory, what sort of route would BOAC’s Mosquitoes have to fly to get safely into and out of Switzerland?