PRINCE’S BODYGUARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21978, 13 June 1933, Page 16

PRINCE’S BODYGUARD

DEATH BY HEART FAILURE NEVER REVEALED CONFIDENCE. Detective Inspector Burt, the personal detective of the Prince of Wales, died on April 15 in the Police Convalescent Homo, where he had been for a fortnight, suffering from heart trouble. He was 47 years of age and was due to retire at the end of this year. During his illness the Prince of Wales made daily inquiries, and when he learned of Inspector Burt's death he sent a message of sympathy to the widow. Inspector Burt, who had been 244 years in the police force, was first attached to the prince’s staff in France as a plain clothes constable. After the Armistice the prince asked that he should continue to act as .his police officer. He travelled with the prince at home and abroad, on official tours and unofficial trips. Whether'it was a hunt, a wedding, or a dinner, he was always there—or thereabouts.

He had an uncanny knack ot being able to supply the prince’s needs. A woollen scarf after a hunt, a mackintosh in the middle of a rain-swept golf course, or a cap—he could produce .these things from his pockets with such ease that the prince often referred to him as “my walking wardrobe.” “ There is nothing Burt cannot supply,” the prince once said of him.

When the prince motored abroad, Burt always rode by the side of the chauffeur. During the prince’s shooting trip in East Africa. Inspector Burt proved his resourcefulness more than once. Ho often took charge o/ the transport, and was never late in reaching his destination despite the difficult nature of the country.

The only tour which he missed was the prince’s visit to South America. His health brokp down just .before the date of sailing, and he recovered in, time to meet the prince in France on his way home.

The prince had implicit faith in Inspector Burt, who was never known to have revealed a confidence, oven to his colleagues at Scotland Yard.