Letters to the Editor
The Royal Family and the Church Randolph Churchill
Centralised. Art Basil Taylor Northern Ireland Patrick Lynch Cyprus Spyros A. Kyprianos A Standard Solution Muriel Bowen
U-sense v. Common Sense Dorothy M. McIntyre Civic Freedom Lawrence D. Hills THE ROYAL FAMILY AND THE CHURCH
SIR,—A large section of the gutter press has in recent months squandered acres of news- print by writing in an impertinent, untruthful and offensive manner about the private life of Princess Margaret. And a number of news- papers have sought to suggest that Her Royal Highness was thwarted from marrying the man, she wished by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Some have persisted in this falsehood after Her Royal Highness had already given the story the lie. A similar canard was spread about the abdication of King Edward VIII, and the public was invited to believe that the King was chased from his throne by a con- spiracy organised by Archbishop Lang. The recent biography of Mr. Geoffrey Dawson by Sir Evelyn Wrench has utterly disproved this story and we now know for certain that the Archbishop played virtually no part in the abdication.
However, since so many journalists believe that history repeats itself and therefore think it safe and profitable to parrot each other's fabriCations, the public has had this further legend of archiepiscopal intrigue foisted upon it.
What is the truth? Princess Margaret had made up her mind that she did not wish to marry Group Captain Townsend before she went to visit the Archbishop at Lambeth Palace on October 27. The Archbishop, how- ever, supposing that she was coming to con- sult him, had all his books of reference spread around him carefully marked and cross- referenced. When Princess Margaret entered she said, and the words are worthy of Queen Elizabeth I, 'Archbishop, you may put your books away; I have made up my mind already.'
It seems in the interests of Her Royal High- ness, of the Archbishop and not least of history that this fact should be known.—Yours faithfully,
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