Word: airman
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...chill rain spread gloom over Lydd airport one morning last week as Group Captain Peter Townsend oversaw the loading of his green Renault sedan aboard an air freighter. Curious sightseers huddled near by, but the airman had no last words for them, not even a farewell wave of the hand as he himself climbed aboard the plane. A half hour later he was gone from
While the debate went on, many Britons, even among those who affect not to care a fig whether the young Princess marries her airman or not, found themselves caught up in it: they professed themselves sated with it, but they could not escape it. Like polite weekend guests unwillingly trapped in a family quarrel, they could not choose but hear. As the week wore on, the young Princess fulfilled her royal functions, well-armed in the impassive mask of dignity that is royalty's required uniform. In tiara and strapless pink and white gown, she helped her sister...
...closer touch with the armed services. In an earlier day. the post might have gone to some eligible lordling, but Britain's social-minded King wanted to reward merit rather than mere birth, and Townsend's name was sent him. Wearing his best uniform, the young airman went to see the King. King George liked him from the first, and after 30 minutes of chat, he was taken on. As the King and the airman left the royal study in Buckingham Palace, they met a slightly gawky girl of 13 in the corridor. "This is my daughter Margaret...
...King George had promoted acting Group Captain (equals U.S. colonel) Townsend to Deputy Master of his Household. As his health failed, the King leaned more and more on the young airman who became his constant companion. Never long, the King's temper became testily short in illness, and only Townsend and Margaret seemed to know how to soothe...
...press of Britain, vainly trying to marry the Princess off to a whole parade of eligible earls and marquesses, was too busy to notice. Too busy, that is, until the coronation, when a sharp-eyed reporter in an Abbey anteroom caught Margaret affectionately brushing off the lapels of Airman Townsend's jacket. The simple gesture was enough to set off a fever of speculation in the press, and the speculation was enough to send the faithful aide winging into exile, as air attache in Britain's embassy in Brussels. Alerted by Royal Secretary Alan Lascelles, Winston Churchill himself...