LATE KING ALBERT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22256, 8 May 1934, Page 7

LATE KING ALBERT

MANNER OF HIS DEATH AN AUTHOR’S DECLARATION (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, May 6. “ King Albert did not meet his death by an accidental fall, but he was tapped ou the back of the head,’’ declared Mr Graham Hutchison, author and publicist, in an address at the Nottingham Writers’ Club. He added that the story of the King’s death was issued in Belgium before he died. “ A man with a rope around his waist does not go climbing by himself. His body and his hands were not bruised. The facts are that the King would not participate in the devilry of France in conspiring for war against defenceless Germany.” Interviewed subsequently, Mr Hutchison declared that he possessed documentary circumstantial evidence that King Albert was tapped on the back of his head. The Belgian people well knew that this was the case.

The Secretary of the Belgian Embassy, commenting on Mr Hutchison’s statement, said: “It is a horrible lie that decent-minded people throughout the world should treat with contempt. If Mr Hutchison will come to the embassy and repent his statement I shall punch him on the jaw.” The statement was received with disgust in Brussels.' It is stated that it will not bear scrutiny. King Albert always used a rope when climbing alone. There was gruesome proof that his head struck a rock.

An alpinist (Count de Grunne), who organised the search party, says: “The official account of the circumstances of the King’s death can be indisputably confirmed by facts and photographs.”

Mr Hutchison declined to make a further statement in view of the Belgian Embassy’s denial.

Mr Graham 'Seton Hutchison served in the Great War 1914-1918 and rose from the rank of lieutenant to that of lieutenant-colonel, being mentioned in despatches on four occasions. In 1932 he was appointed first principal of the Shri Shivaji Military School at Poona. Under the name of Graham Seton he wrote “ The W Plan ” (which was dramatised for the talking film version), “ Colonel Grant’s To-morrow,” “ Life Without End,” “Eye for an Eye,” and other tales.