CRITICISM OF DUKE

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29368, 22 November 1960, Page 24

CRITICISM OF DUKE

Speech On Unity With Germany

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright; LONDON, November 20.

The Duke of Edinburgh would be wiser to refrain from expressing his views on European politics in public, the “Sunday Express” said today. The “Sunday Dispatch” foresaw political squalls bursting around the Duke’s head “if he dares too much.”

Both papers were commenting on a speech by the Duke last Tuesday. He told an AngloGerman Association dinner that forgiving one’s enemies was more likely to achieve a better future than “stoking the fires of hatred and suspicion.” "Flouting Royal tradition, the Duke makes his first political speech. And a remarkable speech it is,” said a “Sunday Express” columnist.

“He tells a dinner in London that we must forgive the Germans and join up with them in the European community, however difficult we may find it to reconcile that with membership of the Commonwealth.

“If I may respectfully say so. I think it is wrong that the Duke should make himself a spokesman for the Germans in Britain, however powerfully family ties may pull him in that direction.”