GUARDING A KING

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 70, 19 September 1936, Page 9

GUARDING A KING

THE SPECIAL BRANCH THEIR WORK IN BRITAIN FINE ORGANISATION ' Tradition and vital, national need have cast around every public appearance of the King of England a bodyguard for his personal safety that is as self-effacing as it is efficient, says'a writer in the "Daily Telegraph." To anyone who has seen any rich pageant in w ; hich the .King of England has centred, it would seem that those magnificent figures around him were concerned solely with the display.

, When he strolls- through the gates of Buckingham Palace and along the Mall to St. James's Palace in mufti, as he did several times recently when he came to the' Throne, King .Edward might have seemed to the observers entirely unguarded. ' , J ■ Yet the eyes of the Special Branch, New Scotland Yard, were.around him at every step* he took. Bowler-hatted men in black double-breasted overcoats walk beside the King or a few paces away from him whenever he appears, studying every gateway, observing each movement of the watchers as a.possible source of danger to his life.

AN ADEQUATE GUARD. When he stood leaning on reversed sword by the bier:of his father, with his brothers at Westminster, two strangers carrying bowler hats watched the crowd file-by. As he walked in the funeral procession, seemingly unprotected, there were-half a dozen lynxeyed Special Branch men, who would have flung themselves before any arm raised against him. From the time in -England when kingly power was first installed over ignorant and desperate men there has been surveillance as adequate as the times have demanded, and it says much for the loyalty. and love of the British people that their sovereigns have never had to parade the force of their personal guards. , ; Over a hundred years ago the origins of the Special Branch (the King's personal detective force, aod Royal Family Guards) were formed, following an attempt to- assassinate King George the Third. But in 1883 the need was held more pressing on account of the rise of the Irish Fenian Movement. Before the war, anarchists, Kussian Nihilists, : and alien revolutionaries of every description, as well as spies, had caused growing concern for the lives of Royalty, and. it< was then that the officially-recognised Special Branch, created in 1883. commenced that neverflagging vigilance which today is traditional, and as perfect as any unostentatious efforts can be.

PENTONVILLE EXPLOSION. The Fenian Movement was heralded by a dynamic campaign starting with the Pentoriville Prison explosion, and ending with a . second' attempt to wreck, the Mansion House; Special Branch men, under Government orders and in a metropolis which was in a bad state of nerves',' had anxious months guarding the Royal Family, and many an outrage, it was claimed; subsequently, was thwarted by the vigilance of thatbody of bowler-hatted men, whose wits had been sharpened by the rising fears in the realm;" ■ . From the official viewpoint the present King'was thought to accept undue risk by his youthful passion for riding to hounds and putting his mount at the .worst hazards. Today his fondness for flying has given point td that motherly fear of a proud tradition and a deeplyaffectionate race for their King. < But officialdom is never lulled into a false sense of security. Even when national fervours are at their height, the .endless vigil of the King's detective guard goes on. ■■- When it became known recently that King Edward wanted'a holiday as a plain citizen on the Riviera this summer, perturbation in official ranks was only partly masked, and contact .was immediately made with the French Government and the British Ambassador in-'France to discover how the King's desire for an informal holiday abroad could be- fulfilled and his life fully protected. LEFT TO SPECIAL BRANCH.

Those safety arrangements were left almost entirely to the Special Branch. When, he arrives on the Riviera as the "Duke of Lancaster," casual, athletic "strangers" would encircle, his every movement. . The Royal yacht Victoria and Albert was to\ be anchored in Cannes harbour with reinforcements of those self-effacing detectives aboard; The King knows them all personally, and chats to thenV as intimate friends. In New Scotland Yard's Special Branch every person who has viciously assailed kingship, in discussion is known. In times when' the King appears in public that person is shadowed. The war 'against .the would-be assassin is unending; the watch about the body of the King a duty as perfect as matchless loyalty and defective skill can make it. . British people everywhere have shown such genuine loyalty that Royal personages haVe responded by moving among their people with absolute freedom and confidence. Yet leaders must. • always, , remember that posibility of ; the enmity of an individual among -the friendly mass, and this realisation causes an inevitable strain when a long series of public appearances has already brougnt the personage's nerves to a pitch of stress.

MELBOURNE INCIDENT. The calm of King Edward in these circumstances is well known;. it v/as strikingly demonstrated in ail incident in Melbourne, when he was on tour as Prince of Wales. People had formed the habit of rushing forward to touch the Prince as he passed, and he had not allowed them to be prevented. They began to throw flowers in his car,, and this, too, was allowed. , But one day in Melbourne a woman suddenly flung a large bouquet, which actually,struck the Prince. The rapidity of the occurrence left only a vague impression of a. hurtling object. Many members of the Royal entourage suffered a shock, thinking some missile had been thrown. .Some even feared it was a bomb. The one who remained calmest, shifting never an inch, and. not changing his expression, was the Prince. Ho, too, must have been startled by the missile, but,he betrayed no-feeling,, and soon everyone realised that it was just another friendly gesture, if a mistaken one. But after that special requests were issued that no one should throw anything, or touch H.H.H. as he passed. The guardians of Royalty saw< the possible dangers of such practices, and acted. i :