God for Harry, England, and Saint George

[davywavy]

Well, the media has had a lot to saw about Prince Harry knotting his bedclothes together, shinning down the walls of Buckingham Palace and running off to war. I'm not going to go over it here because it's one of those things that everyone has an opinion on, but one report mentioned that the last reigning Monarch of the UK (sorta) to go to war was George II at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743.
This reminded me of one of those stories of the Second World War which never fails to amuse me, and which had the potential to make the reigning monarch in battle story a little more recent.

It was 1944, and D-Day was approaching. Churchill had devoted years of his life towards this day, and to the horror of pretty much everyone he told privately announced that he would be watching the landings from the bridge of one of the battleships providing artillery cover offshore.
The members of the cabinet politely asked him not to, pointing out that he'd be in quite astonishing danger and that the risks coupled with the devastating effects on morale were he to be killed just were too great. Churchill was not swayed, and so the cabinet told Eisenhower as Supreme Commander Allied Forces Europe. Unfortunately, Churchill (as Prime Minister) was one of the very few people who Eisenhower didn't outrank and couldn't order (Churchill told Eisenhower that he had no power to prevent him signing aboard a ship as an ordinary seaman), and so Eisenhower got in touch with King George VIth and told him Churchills plan.
George VIth sent a note to Churchill:
Winston. Have heard of your plan to watch the landings and fully support them. As Commander in Chief of His Majesty's forces, I shall of course be leading the men ashore myself.

Churchill backed down.

Comments

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

~applause~

[gnommi.livejournal.com]

short, but to the point!

[rssefuirosu.livejournal.com]

Hahaha. That's precisely what I want out of a monarch. Great decision making skills with the wit of Edmund Blackadder.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Brilliant!
And I believe the heir to the throne was probably driving army lorries around the country at the time, that being as close to the front line as women were allowed to get, royal or not.

[applez.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a great piece of history. :-)