The Secret Life of the Windsors: How Prince George Gave Up Love to Please His Parents and Ruined His Life

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The most incredible rumors circulated about Prince George (George) in Great Britain, and his life resembled a famously twisted plot of not the best series. He fell in love with both women and men, did not hide his addiction to drugs, had illegitimate children, and his death in a plane crash still causes many rumors and speculation. His fate could have turned out differently if he had not once renounced his love at the insistence of his parents …

A whirlpool of passions

He was born in 1902 and became the fifth child of Mary of Teck and Prince George, Duke of York. As a child, Georgie, as the boy was called in the family, did not give his parents any trouble. He was invariably obedient and friendly, enthusiastically and diligently learned the basics of science and touchingly took care of his younger brother John, who suffered from epilepsy and died at the age of 13.

Georgie was handsome and educated, was fond of the arts, played the piano, knew French and Italian, loved fast driving and sailing, and went skiing. At the same time, he had a very explosive character and gravitated towards all kinds of dangerous adventures. But initially George was very obedient, tried not to upset his parents and did everything to deserve, if not their love, then at least approval.

He had the closest relationship with his older brother Eduard, who later admitted that their relationship was not only brotherly, but also friendly, despite the eight-year age difference. It was Edward who at one time had to save his brother from unbridled passion. Although, it seems, it was he who showed his brother the London nightlife. True, Edward could not imagine how all this would turn out.

Having tasted all the delights of freedom, young Georgie rushed with the enthusiasm of a neophyte to learn all the delights of life. Acquaintance in the mid-1920s with Kiki Preston, who bore the unofficial name "The Girl with the Silver Syringe" for the open use of drugs, led to the prince's fascination with drugs and an unbridled sex life. It seems that it was then that the first rumors about Georgie's vicious passions appeared.

Edward then rushed to save his brother from his pernicious attraction to Kiki. He convinced them both of the need for a break, but the young people invariably returned to each other. Until then, until Edward forced his brother to abandon the vicious relationship, and then Kiki herself was forced to leave England. It was rumored that Kiki had given birth to a son from the prince, Michael Temple Canfield.

After breaking up with Kiki and until the end of his life (including the period after the wedding), the prince's love list was invariably replenished with representatives of both sexes. Among them were very famous personalities: the actress Jesse Matthews, the writer Cecil Roberts, the playwright Noel Coward and the writer Barbara Cartland. The latter claimed that the prince became the father of her daughter Raine McCorkodale. The one who in the future became the stepmother of Princess Diana.

Giving up love

Among the succession of the prince's loves and hobbies, there was only one, but a fiery passion that could well have ended in marriage, if not for the active protest of his parents. Poppy Bering (real name Mac Helen Azalea) was the daughter of Sir Godfrey Bering, 1st Baronet of Nubia House, and Eve Hermione Macintosh. She was perky and funny, with an easy attitude to life in general and to her fans in particular. Once the prince had already fallen in love with her, but then Maria Tekskaya did not allow him to marry a commoner. However, the romance with the Duke of York, who in the future will become King George VI after the abdication of Edward VIII, was not a tragedy for Poppy.

But six years later, she will meet Prince Georgie … It was love. Georgie first spoke of marriage. He knew that he would never ascend to the throne, so he considered himself entitled to marry anyone. Unfortunately, his father George V did not share his son's opinion. He forbade Georgie to even think about marrying the "unsuitable person." And Georgie, for old memory, did not dare to argue with his father and insist on his own.

Nevertheless, the prince and his Poppy were together for several years, until the girl herself decided to end this painful relationship. Depression and bitterness she won by going into business, and her soul was healed by a young man who had nothing to do with Poppy's past victories. He just fell in love with her and took her down the aisle at the appointed time.

While Prince Georgie was next to his laughing lover, all rumors of his adventures and victories stopped. But after the girl's wedding, he was very depressed. He seemed to specifically flaunt both his many hobbies and love for alcohol. Georgie, after breaking up with Poppy, seemed to deliberately create for himself a reputation as a cynical rake. But the scandals grew louder and harder to hide.

The parents decided: they urgently need to marry their son. And they even began to look for a suitable bride for him.

The mystery of death

It is not known how and where Prince Georgie met his future wife Marina, Princess of Greece and Denmark. Their wedding took place on November 29, 1934. The Duke and Duchess of Kent lived together for only 8 years. They were loved in the UK and even called the most brilliant couple of the time. True, neither marriage to a beautiful girl, nor the birth of children stopped the adventures of the Duke of Kent.

The couple had three children, Edward, Alexandra and Michael. The latter was born just a month and a half before the tragic death of his father.

On August 25, 1942, the plane carrying Georgie and 14 other people crashed into a hillside in the north of Scotland. Of the 15 people, only one survived, and an experienced lead pilot, Aviation Lieutenant Frank Goyen, who had incorrectly calculated the flight path, was named guilty of the crash. It was also rumored that the Duke of Kent himself was at the helm, while the level of alcohol in his blood was too high.

These investigations were not made public, and many papers simply disappeared from the case. In narrow circles, the version of the murder of the Duke of Kent was seriously discussed. Allegedly, British intelligence dealt with him on the orders of Winston Churchill, who believed that Prince George was sympathetic to the Germans. There has never been any evidence of the authenticity of this version.

Unlike his younger brother, having already become king of Great Britain, Edward VIII sacrificed the throne for his love. At the end of 1936, he made his famous address on the radio, in which he said that he was not able to fulfill his duties, if at the same time his beloved woman was not around. The monarch abdicated the throne, and his marriage to a divorced American woman of ignoble descent became one of the most notorious misalliances of the twentieth century.