“DEPENDABLE-DEFENCE” – By Des Kelly
This extremely interesting TRUE STORY was sent out by a good friend and ex Royal Ceylon Navy Officer, Chris. Lawton-O.A.M., relating to the recent
“Racist-Rantings” going on in England, in relation to “The Royal Family” versus a slightly less Royal Family, involving Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, Oprah Winfrey, and the entire
Social-Media Corporation of America, it seems, intent on discovering the “Culprit of the Colour” controversy now rampant in both old Blighty and the new Land of the free America, under it’s new President, Joe Biden.
With Covid 19 still causing havoc in both England & America, vaccinations being “rolled-out” everywhere, Wars, still being fought all over the place, Climate-change, in full swing, Icebergs melting in the Arctic, floods, bushfires,
Volcanoes spitting out red-hot lava, etc., etc., the COLOUR(English), COLOR (American) of a baby’s skin, takes pride of place in this so-called “BREAKING NEWS”. What colour was Archie’s skin going to be ??. I am very sure that Archie doesn’t care, I don’t care either, because right now, I am more interested in this fascinating account of the son of a former aide de camp of the Queen of England, defending the Monarch and those closest to her of any silly comment, whatsoever.
Thank you Chris.Lawton, for the story, and readers of eLanka, everywhere, please enjoy it, wherever you are.
Desmond Kelly.
(Editor-in-Chief) eLanka.
Son of Queen’s former aide-de-camp in Sri Lanka rallies to her defence
Monarch had enduring friendship with Maj Gen Anton Muttukumaru, who worked for her in 1950s
Maj Gen Anton Muttukumaru receives the Coronation medal from the Queen in the 1950s. Photograph: Family handout
Source:–theguardian
Maj Gen Anton Muttukumaru was a barrister, soldier and diplomat who loved collecting walking sticks. He was known for being charming and shrewd, had a talent for mimicry, and was once driven to Ascot to join the Queen because she was too busy enjoying the races to meet him at Buckingham Palace.
Born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Muttukumaru was the Queen’s aide-de-camp in 1954.
Now, almost 70 years on, and with the royal family caught in a race storm in the wake of the Oprah Winfrey interview with Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Muttukumaru’s son Christopher spoke to the Guardian about his father’s experiences.
He described the friendship his father had with the Queen which endured for years beyond his time in service.
“Years later, whenever my father came to the UK to visit my family and me – long after he had any official position in the army or diplomatic service – the Queen would give him a private audience in Buckingham Palace,” said Christopher, a former general counsel to the Department for Transport. “There was no need for her to do that – my father was just an ordinary member of the public by this time – but she made time in her diary for him from the 70s onwards.”
One year, when the Queen was at Ascot at the time of Muttukumaru’s visit, her private secretary arranged for him and his wife to be driven to see her there. “My parents watched the races with the Queen in the royal box and my father won £25 – which he was cock-a-hoop about because he didn’t know the first thing about horse racing,” Christopher said.
The first Sri Lanka-born soldier to command his country’s army, Muttukumaru read PPE at Jesus College, Oxford, in 1928 and became a lawyer at Gray’s Inn before returning home in 1934.
Muttukumaru joined the Ceylon Defence Force and at the outbreak of the second world war he was in charge of the South East Asia Command headquarters in Kandy.
Muttukumaru poses next to the Queen Mother in Canberra. The Australian PM, Harold Holt, and Muttukumaru’s wife are to the left of the royal. Photograph: Family handout
After the war, Muttukumaru came to London to lead his soldiers in the victory parade. He returned six years later with his men for the funeral of George VI in 1952, and a third time a year later for the Queen’s coronation.
Hearing of his plan to attend her coronation, the soon-to-be Queen issued a personal invitation – couched as a command – to attend the service in Westminster Abbey. Muttukumaru, however, decided to march with his soldiers instead.
According to his 2001 obituary in the Telegraph, the Queen forgave his refusal and, after later seeing his men mounting guard at Buckingham Palace along with her own guardsmen, congratulated him on the smartness of his men.
“Regarding the controversy over a member of the royal family asking (if true) about the colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son, my point is that if she was somebody who harboured views about coloured or black people, it certainly didn’t come through in her treatment of my father,” Christopher said.
Muttukumaru went on to become his country’s high commissioner to Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan. In 1966 he became ambassador to Egypt. Four years previously he had hosted lunch for the Queen Mother in Canberra with his wife, Peggy, and the then Australian prime minister, Harold Holt.
Muttukumaru, who died in 2000 aged 92, always spoke with great affection of the Queen’s treatment of him, said his son.
