26 AUGUST 2000, Page 24

Medal muddle

From Sir Anthony Kershaw Sir: You publish a letter (12 August) from Henry Keown-Boyd about foreigners who won the VC. Perhaps the best known was General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart. He won the VC in 1915. He was decorated by King George V in France in 1916. He said to the King, 'This is very good of you, Sir. I am, in fact, Belgian.'

I was told that the King was furious. He almost snatched back the medal which he was about to pin on.

Anthony Kershaw

Badminton, Gloucestershire