Prince George's Plane Crash - Royal Murder Mysteries - S01 EP06 - History Documentary

on the 25th of August 1942 during the height  of the second world war an RAF flying boat   destined for Reykjavik in Iceland crashed into  the side of a hill in the Scottish Highlands among those who lost their lives was  the VIP they were transporting he was   Prince George Duke of Kent brother of  King George VI to this day the true   cause of the crash remains a mystery  leading many to question whether this   was simply a tragic accident or the planned  assassination of a member of the Royal Family it's more than a possibility horrible  though it is to contemplate that   Kent's plane was actually sabotaged was George  simply a wayward Prince best known for his   scandalous private life or as some now claim the  ringleader of a plot to overthrow Churchill and   make peace with Nazi Germany we have tentatively  concluded that there was actually a coup attempt   underway on May the 10th 1941. there's a  great deal of evidence that the Royal Family   were actively seeking to suit for peace with  Germany and that Prince George was a major player during his lifetime George became one of the  best known public figures of the age yet after   his mysterious death in a plane crash in 1942 the  details of his life were seemingly erased from   history some now believe that this is the result  of a cover-up but what were they trying to hide   could it be to do with the rumors about his  illegitimate child his relationships with men   maybe even his drug addiction or was it to do  with the more recent Theory linking George to   the British intelligence service Rudolf Hess  and a plot to make peace with Adolf Hitler   just what had Prince George been involved in  and did it play a part in his untimely death George was born in 1902 on the Sandringham estate  in the English County of Norfolk at the time of   his birth he was fifth in line to the throne  behind his father and three older brothers his   early life was typical for that of a young prince  and there was little to suggest that he would   go on to become one of the most controversial  Royals in the history of the British Monarchy he was the fourth son of George V and Queen Mary   so responsibilities in his life were never  going to be as onerous as those for his brothers   but because George was lower down in the  pecking order um I he probably escaped a   lot of the of his father's Ayah Prince George  went to some Peter's court at broadstairs and   he was a very very quick student very Able Boy  Who did extremely well later he was sent off   to the junior Naval College at Osborne on the  Isle of Wight he did show remarkable ability   um at Naval Affairs when he went to Naval College  he was very good there when there were telltale   signs that all was not going well for George was  when he went to the senior Royal Naval College at   Dartmouth and that is when he went from the top  of the academic letter to the bottom I think it   was very unfair to put a a young boy who was quite  sensitive like Prince George into Naval College um   huge handicap that he was seasick so as you know  as a sort of austere shipboard upbringing is the   last thing you would impose on a quite artistic  sensitive outgoing rather lovely young man but it soon became clear to George  that a life at Sea was not for him   the strictness I think of Naval protocol the  way that they were expected to behave just   didn't sit comfortably with Prince George at all  he stood out for the rest of his family in terms   that he was he was much more intellectual  much more sophisticated much more cultured   now contrast those artistic sensibilities to the  rigors of a naval career and you can actually see   the dichotomy that existed there and and the and  the challenge that there was for Prince George to   actually stick at something that he really did not  want to be a part of and was desperate to be free   of but it was really his ill health that persuaded  King George V that he should leave the Royal Navy George reveled in his Newfound freedom and where   better to exercise it than the hedonistic  night spots of London's Roaring Twenties man with privilege and wealth but no real role in  life but he has got an enormous appetite for some   of the more loose and slightly more racy side of  life he discovered the London party scene through   his older brother Edward who was very much a fixed  on it during the 1920s and it's hard to imagine a   better party circuit the world has ever had I mean  this is a seriously glamorous World it opened up   a new world to him he he discovered drinking  and dancing he could indulge his passions for   music and in a way that he just hadn't been able  to before Prince George was the kind of man you   wanted at a party you know because he could  play the piano like an old coward Drive in a   Velo he could entertain he could sing he was  very charismatic he was very good company he   could talk to anybody for George the whole thing  was an adventure you know here he was uh pretty   much a matinee Idol a good looking guy who also  happened to be a prince the world was his oyster   the Two Princes I I suppose had a ball as and why  would they not it was also the Jazz Age so this   is interesting because we're getting away from  the sort of classical age of um you know of of   King George V and Queen Mary who was certainly not  syncopated characters to these two young princes   who liked hot Jazz enjoyed cocktails enjoyed  nightlife and um and they clearly had a ball oh George was handsome eloquent and Charming  he had become the quintessential Playboy prince   who quickly gained a reputation for his  womanizing you could you could pretty much   sleep around provided it was with somebody that  wasn't going to be damaging you or your career   or your position which is why um Showgirls  and actresses were considered fair game   there was the actress Lois sturt and people like  Gloria Swanson and Tallulah Bankhead famous silent   movie stars also cross George's path at that time  you had enormous passion for all the the big names   certainly that he he went to bed with it was very  rarely just a you know a one-off a mere dalliance   um although he had those as well by the bucket  load but he did have genuine feelings for an   awful lot of the people he was involved with  and that made him special in those circles for all of George's countless romances flings and  liaison there was one who stood out from the rest   Another Love of George's was poppy bearing  part she was a member of the very wealthy   bearing banking family somebody found them one day  snuggled up together in one another's arms and uh   it was thought that these two would  get married and to start off with   it seemed as though the king and queen had  no objections and then for whatever reason   it was all off King George was quick to remind his  son that no matter how far down the pecking order   no member of the royal family is completely free  to do as they please bearing was a banking heiress   um which would have made her no more suitable  in King George V size as a royal bride than a a   Coleman's daughter it didn't matter Royal Prince  is married into royalty whether it was European   or Russian at the time um so poppy bearing would  have still been looked on as as totally unsuitable George was devastated he had once again Fallen  victim to the strict rules of Royal protocol   in an attempt to keep his Wayward Son occupied  the king decided to send George on his first   official royal visit he was to join his  eldest brother Edward the Future King of   Great Britain on a tour of South America it  was hoped that a busy schedule packed with   royal duties would keep the brothers out of  trouble but nothing could have been further   from the truth there was a chore that the Duke  of Windsor and the Duke of Kent jointly went on   to South America and I believe it was Duke of  Windsor's private secretary reported back to   the king saying that the tour was really  about wine and women and horsing around whoever came up with the idea for these two  princes going off together on an official visit   actually got it pretty wrong because these boys  were there they were there to represent the king   and country they were there to represent the crown  but in fact they didn't do it terribly well and is basically two boys off the leash they  would go to nightclubs they would lack   about they would get incredibly drunk they  were just basically enjoying themselves   there were two young men making the most  of being away from the stuffy Windsor Court his actions on the official tour had caused  a major embarrassment to the royal family but   that was soon overshadowed by his next scandal  rumors had started to circulate the Georgia   become involved with another flamboyant  star of the stage and Screen Noel coward   no coward and um can match after a performance  in the early 1920s and and struck up   a public friendship but many people  believed in private was a romance   it's not implausible I mean there's a very  famous story about coward and the Duke of   Kent aborting around Mayfair dressed as women  it was said that George and coward would often   raid the theater's costume department and take  late night walks through London in disguise   on one occasion however coward along with Prince  George found themselves in trouble with the law they were arrested on a suspicion of prostitution  um and it goes without saying both of them got   off very quickly and certainly as soon as  Prince George's identity was ascertained   um uh but he you know he put himself in incredible  danger basically doing such things but in those   days he could get away with it because nobody  in the Press was ever going to report it this   was an indication of a side to Prince George  that the public didn't know about and in fact   wouldn't know about what was also not known  to the public was that George was bisexual   I think George's bisexuality was very much a  problem for the royal family it would have caused   an enormous Scandal had it come to light at that  time so they were desperate to keep it under wraps his gay life the gay side to his life he became  increasingly Reckless and this became quite   dangerous really you know we have to remember  that at that time homosexuality was illegal George had narrowly avoided a public Scandal but  his indiscretions had brought him to the attention   of the British Security Services many now believe  that George was considered a threat to the state   and that his death may have been connected  to his many scandals and Reckless Behavior   a theory that is only compounded by the fact  that George also fell victim to a blackmail plot instances of the royal family having to  hastily cover up potential huge scandals   surrounding Prince George there was a story  circulating that still circulating that Prince   George was being blackmailed by a male lover  living in Paris and that the prince had given   him I think monogram Tiffany and Cartier's  cigarette boxers and various letters which   would have been compromising hence the  black male and the the Duke of Windsor   his older brother was the one who was sent  to Paris to retrieve letters and the gifts so George actually got himself  potentially in an awful lot of   scrapes but the royal family usually  in the person of Edward covered it up but still he refused to change his ways now there   were even stories that George had  fathered an illegitimate child it was by a young woman called Violet Evans who  was the sister of a friend of George's when he   was at the Osborne Naval Academy she became part  of George's set and she became pregnant and it   is widely believed that George was the father  of this child at the time Violet was engaged to   another man who agreed to stand by her as long  as she went to Switzerland and had the child   and the child was put up for adoption and there  was nothing else to be said about it what we do   know is the Valor did have a child did have a  boy that she Chris and Michael and that he was   adopted by the Canfield he had an interesting life  he went back to America with his adoptive parents   Violet did go to Switzerland where she gave  birth to a Boy Arrangements were made for him   to be adopted by the wealthy American publishing  Tycoon Cass Canfield who christened him Michael   in later life Michael went on to marry  Laura charteris Duchess of Marlborough   this led to a chance encounter with George's older  brother Ed Ward they were in Paris lunching with   the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the Duke was  staring intently at Michael Canfield so much so   that Laura said is there a problem sir and he said  your husband looks exactly like my brother George continued to live his life to excess much to the  worry of both his family and the security services   to make matters worse he was reported  to have found a new Vice drugs   Prince George's most dangerous liaison was  with Kiki Preston also known as the girl with   the silver syringe Kiki Preston had lived in  Kenya for a couple of years when when George   came out on a private visit and they began an  affair it was dangerous because Kiki Preston   was known for her love of cocaine and morphine  she actually carried a syringe around in her   handbag and just having a conversation with  somebody she pull it out and inject herself   she was totally open with it she sold it  as an idea as being a very glamorous thing contemporary and described her that she could stay   up until four in the morning jabbing  a syringe into her arm and then wake   up at eight o'clock and appear you know  in society looking as beautiful as ever probably um the woman who  introduced the decanter narcotics but when George returned to England he developed  a full-blown addiction to cocaine and morphine   much to the consternation of his family  particularly his older brother Edward   he took him to his country Retreat I suppose you  would say that it was like a rehab they they got   him off the drugs but it didn't take long you  know it was a matter of days rather than weeks   suggesting that Prince George was never an addict  he was just addicted to the love of Kiki Preston tragedies seemed to follow George even the  people involved in his many controversies met   untimely ends I think it's fair to say there were  quite a few casualties from the sort of Jazz Age   the 20s and 30s Violet committed suicide Kiki  Preston committed suicide they all lived such   fast lives lives in the fast lane  and so it's not surprising whether   drink and the drugs that in fact they would  burn out very quickly and many of them did   perhaps the these unfortunate deaths um pushed  him to think about changing his ways a little but by 1934 George for the most part had  seemed to put his troubled days behind him   after a short engagement he married  Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark   the Wayward Prince was finally settling down  the excitement Rises to a fever heat and then   the Duke and his bride appear a radiantly happy  couple I think with Marina Georgia very much met   his match she was also cultured intellectual  loved the Arts very beautiful very striking   they made a tremendously glamorous couple when  they married in 1934 there's a distinct mood   change because he was made Duke of Kent there's  a seriousness and an understanding of a royal   role that now he's married and he went on to  have three children he became a family man   there's no real evidence after the Duke who Kent  married Princess Marina that he straight again a rewarding job as a factory inspector  he had a beautiful wife he had children   um but he was a Restless multifaceted complex man   who always was looking to other ways of  developing his unbounded intelligence   and many skills so he was always there was  always a sense of a frustration about him but the years that followed were turbulent  ones by 1936 Britain had seen the death of   one king and the abdication of another there  was also the rising threat of Nazi Germany   war was looming and Britain needed to keep a  close eye on political developments in Europe   in a twist of fate the same security service that   had once kept such a close eye on George  now called upon him to serve his country of war with Germany for the second time as  well don't forget I didn't exactly fill the   raw family with joy and not surprisingly because  they were going to be at war with members of their   own family I mean after all let's not forget  that the house of Windsor Windsor German and   so many uh people like Prince George had  a really pretty close relatives in Germany believe that British intelligence had asked George  to act unofficially as their negotiator with the   Nazi party in the hope of securing peace and  avoiding war and Princess Marina's German   relations provided the perfect cover for George to  enter and leave Germany without raising suspicion and so Prince George is hobnobbing you  know with his relations who some of whom   you know during their day jobs will  be wearing swastikas around there on   it was an intelligence Mission if you like  he was able to find out from members of the   family some of whom were members of the Nazi  party about the feeling testing the water   finding out the thoughts were what the plans  were and that he was a Within to report back but in 1939 after the invasion of  Poland Britain declared war on Germany in such a way it has to threaten  polish Independence by then that would   inevitably start a general conflagration  in which this country would be involved all hopes of a peaceful resolution were now lost  Prince George returned to active military service   serving first in the Intelligence Division of  the admiralty before transferring to the RAF he wanted to be of help to the royal family he  wanted a role that was significant he really   wanted something more the turning point in a  sense was the start of the second World War had during the second world war were the  endless plug waving tours he would have   been desperately frustrated but  the evidence is that that was a   cover for other work other missions  which unfortunately led to his death there are many people who now think that there  is sufficient evidence to suggest that George   served as more than just a ceremonial  military figure and was in fact involved   in Espionage activities at the highest  levels of the British and Nazi governments   but the question is whose side was he on suspicions about his wartime activities  were further compounded when in 1942 less   than two years after joining the Royal Air  Force tragedy struck as part of his role   wartime role with the RAF Prince George was  going to visit Iceland to inspect RAF bases and   um on that August day he'd gone up to Inver  Gordon uh to join this Sunderland aircraft   that he was going to be traveling in weather  conditions are good and the two pilots were   both very experienced so it seemed as if  it would be a very straightforward flight George along with 14 passengers and crew  aboard the short Sunderland flying boat   set off from RAF Inver Gordon on the east  coast of Scotland and headed for Reykjavik   in Iceland the highly experienced crew  had been specially hand-picked for the   mission but shortly after takeoff and for  reasons unknown the plane turned inwards   towards the Scottish Hillside heading  away from their official destination what happened next would be would be a  subject of controversy for many years to come Prince George along with several other  men died in horrific circumstances and   at some point during this flight at 650 feet  he crashes into an outcrop called Eagle Rock   um and the plane split in half um and bodies  are flown out of the plane everywhere Prince   George is probably killed straight  away that's the only Mercy we can draw the explosion from the crash  alerted the nearby residents   of caith Ness who quickly rallied a  search party to investigate the scene George Beaton is a caithness local his father will  Beaton was a special Constable on duty that day because it was such a large area to  search they split into two groups   and the locals came on the crash first they  looked around and then decided to go home   and on the way out they met my father  and the other special Constable they said   don't bother going They're All Dead we've  had a look at them and they're all dead   but of course the special constables had to go  to the side when my father arrived at the site   he said of course it was absolutely a scene  of Devastation spread over a huge area   and there were Kroner notes hundreds and  hundreds of Kroner notes flying about   he noticed this man with important the  father said high up Insignia and then   he took a closer look and he thought it was  the king of course the father had been in the   war and he knew exactly that there would be a  bracelet and they examined it and of course it   said and rather said he'll never forget the  day he dies what was on it hrh Duke of Kent the crash had left many unanswered  questions with no one able to fully   explain exactly what had happened  on that seemingly routine flight why with its engines at Full Throttle did  this very experienced pilot Frank goyan   bring the plane down to the level of only 700  feet and then it thundered into the hillside but there was one person who may have been able to  shed light on what caused the plane to Korea into   the side of a hill the first announcements of the  crash said that everybody had been killed on board   this wasn't actually true flight Sergeant Andrew Jack was given the  job of rear Gunner positioned at the back   of the plane miraculously he had been  thrown clear of the wreckage on impact   Andy Jack had been thrown clear and obviously  he was suffering from shock he left the site of   the crash and he seemed to be intent on putting  as much distance between himself and the crash   as possible and then set out get help it's almost  like he didn't want anything to do with it foreign was in a side room in a hospital and when  his sister went to visit him she found two   men already there one apparently very  high up from the RAF another very high   up stranger perhaps from the admiralty  and they shoot her out and they got him   to sign something which she thought was  must have been the official Secrets Act it's more than a possibility horrible  though it is to contemplate that   Kent's plane was actually sabotaged and Andy  Jack was silenced about what really happened but if the crash was no accident as some  people claim then who could have been   responsible for it and what reason would  they have had to want Prince George dead George's brother uh when he became  the Duke of Windsor after he had   abdicated uh from being Edward  VII uh he famously visited Nazi   Germany and was even photographed  you know giving a Hitler salute it's well known that Edward was very  sympathetic towards the Nazi party   during the 1930s probably not as well known  as the fact that many of the other minor   rules were quite sympathetic too because they  had a lot of German relatives they were quite   proud of their German ancestry and they didn't  want to risk going to war with Germany again there's a great deal of evidence that  the royal family were actively seeking   to suit for peace with Germany and  that Prince George was a major player some people now believe that Prince George and  other high-ranking members of the establishment   were hoping to secure a peace deal with Nazi  Germany and put an end to the second world war   but there was one person standing in their way  who is the biggest obstacle to making peace with   the Germans with making peace with Hitler it's  Winston Churchill Winston Churchill was hated by   the royal family certainly when he first came to  power he was hated by a huge number of people in   government and aristocracy and he was seen to be a  warmonger we shall defend our Island whatever the   gods may be we shall fight on the beaches which  will fight on the landing grounds a little fight   in the fields and in the streets which will  fight in the Hills we shall Never Surrender there's a theory that people  like Prince George and others   were involved in a plot to oust Churchill due to his military experience Churchill had been  appointed Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1940.   at the time there were some who felt that  he was excessively pro-war and neglected to   explore ways to find a faster and  more peaceful end to the conflict George share this View and want Churchill  removed and if so how did he intend to do   it one of the obvious ways to ask Winston virtual  would be to mount their own clandestine Rebellion   the first we know and have hard  evidence historically speaking of   this Royal and aristocratic peace deal behind  the scenes was really rudolfes's dramatic flight   from Nazi Germany in the middle  of the war over to Scotland Rudolf Hess was an important and influential  member of the Nazi party so highly trusted   by Adolf Hitler that he had been made  Deputy fuhrer but in May 1941 in an act   that still baffles historians to this day Hess  decided to get in a plane and fly to Scotland the flight made by Rudolf Hess to Britain in  1941 is one of the enduring Mysteries of the   second world war and even today it's  astonishing to think that this man who   was the deputy fuhrer had stood by Hitler's  sideford for decades decide simply to get in   a measure Smith 110 and fly secretly  from Germany all the way to Scotland   some people believe that he had intended to  navigate his way to dungavel house the home of   the Duke of Hamilton where he hoped to take part  in talks aimed at removing Winston Churchill and   negotiating peace between Britain and Germany but  all did not go as planned hess's plane was wildly   off course he never got to Duke of Hamilton's  estate when Hess was captured after his plane   crash he kept saying take me to the Duke of  Hamilton and I have a safe passage from the King   and of course the Duke of Hamilton when faced with  this said don't know anything about it the man's   crazy Hitler said the man's crazy he stole a plane  Churchill said the man's crazy was Hess crazy author of numerous books on Rudolf Hess John  Harris has been researching The Mystery of the   flight to Scotland for over 17 years he believes  that Hess was not acting alone and that the flight   had taken place with the full knowledge of not  only Adolf Hitler but members of the British   establishment he took off a quarter to six from  Augsburg um flew on a bearing of 335 which took   him over cologne he carried on hit the Dutch  Coast turned 90 degrees to the right followed   the Friesian islands and turn 90 degrees to the  left then went straight at the middle of the   North Sea he flew across lowland Scotland at great  speed hit the West Coast just south of ardrossen   turning land went to eaglesham and bailed out  that's the official story of the flight a measure   Smith 110 can only fly for two hours normally on a  normal fuel Landing it was a long flight according   to the official story Hess was in the air for  five hours 24 minutes so we know that he must   have landed else his engines would have seized  somewhere we believe around the northumbrian coast if rudolfest did have to land and  refuel what does that tell us about   the circumstances surrounding the flight  the official story again was that Hess   was on a solo peace Mission he'd gone mad  jumped in a plane and flown to the enemy   so the moment you start introducing Landings  on route and lufwafa connivance and knowledge   it blows a hole in the story that it was a solo  peace Mission without sanction from anybody over the years there have been increasing  number of theories put about that Hess   actually had some form of backing backing from  Hitler to make peace but also there were also   perhaps secret conversations through members  of perhaps the British royal family British   aristocracy some senior political figures who  are also trying to achieve the same thing and   so therefore so much of the Hess flight  is caught up in this very murky world of   the demimond aristocracy spies and and people in  Britain doing really what they shouldn't be doing you go into it that Hess was telling the truth he  had come over up for a pre-arranged meeting with   not only with Hamilton but with other Aristocrats  and even Representatives the Royal Family   specifically George Duke of Kent George was living very near uh and in that  part of Scotland at the same time and so   therefore there is a theory a theory  that seems quite reasonable that maybe   the Duke of Kent was the man that Hess  was wanting to come and see and not in   fact the Duke of Hamilton and if that's the  case then things get very complicated indeed   foreign but is there any evidence to prove that  Prince George was intending to meet with Hess Lee one of the employees at dungavel who was  there that night said that the landing strip   had been lit up obviously waiting for a plane to  come in and that at the house there was a very   distinguished welcoming party including as she  said the Duke and when challenged that in fact   the Duke of Hamilton wasn't there that night she  said no not the Duke of Hamilton the Duke of Kent the whereabouts of Prince George cannot be  corroborated I've tried desperately to find   out where he was that evening the 10th  of May or that weekend are not recorded   we have tentatively concluded that there  was actually a coup attempt underway on   May the 10th 1941 a coup attempt that failed it  clearly failed but a coup attempt nonetheless could Prince George have been involved  in a plot to overthrow Churchill and   make peace with Hitler and if so  did his attempt cost him his life there are some people who maintain even to  this day that the crash was no accident and   in fact was essentially an assassination  because and this is the pretty outlandish   theory in my opinion because Churchill  knew that they were plotting against   him and he wanted to kill Prince George as  the the ringleader of this potential coup it was on record that he he was on a very  important Mission I'd quite like to believe   that that it was important War work and there  wasn't any conspiracy theory there wasn't anybody   sort of you know putting bombs on planes or  assassinating members of the Royal Family   I don't think personally that there  was a cover-up of of any specific issue   that said we perhaps will never know is virtually impossible to research  Through official channels you have   to piece together what happened bit by painful bit   um there are major major questions over  what really happened to Prince George the files relating to the true events  have been misplaced or removed or are   still sealed so we'll never really know what  George was up to during late 1930s early 1940s since his death countless astonishing theories  and claims have been made about Prince George   but when it comes to the exact details  of George's life and his involvement in   Wartime activities opinion remains divided will  we ever really know the truth about Prince George   or will his life in much the same  way as his death remain a mystery I think there are some unanswered questions  about Prince George's role in the war and   indeed the exact circumstances of his crash I  think that actually on the surface that no he   wasn't acting against Church law I don't think the  crash was anything other than a terrible accident   um however I do find it strange that the  Royal household has not opened its papers   um on people like Prince George during this  period it raises suspicion and it does make   people question as to what may have been going on  behind the scenes I think if and when those papers   are ever released we'll then get the full answers  and until then there's always going to be room to   look at stories like this and wonder whether what  we know is what we've been told and not the truth

Channel: Banijay History

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Length: 44min 26sec (2666 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 03 2024