Exiled King’s royal retreat
QUESTION In Great Gransden, Cambridge, there are two homes which, I’m told, belonged to exKing Peter of Yugoslavia. What is his story?
Peter II of Yugoslavia was the firstborn son of Alexander I and Queen Maria (formerly Princess Maria of romania). Born in Belgrade on September 6, 1923, his godfather was his mother’s cousin, George V of Britain, and his godmother was George’s Queen consort, Mary of teck.
Peter was educated in england from an early age, attending Sandroyd school in Wiltshire. His father, Alexander I, was assassinated by Croatian and Macedonian nationalists during a visit to Marseilles in 1934. As Peter was a child, a regency headed by his great-uncle, Prince Paul Karadjordjevic, was established.
In 1941, Prince Paul, against the advice of Peter and his counsellors, concluded a non-aggression pact with Germany. this led in late March to a Britishbacked coup d’etat led by pro-Western Serb nationalist officers and on March 27, 1941, aged 17, Peter II briefly took power.
Hitler was furious and ordered his troops to invade Yugoslavia and within weeks the country was occupied by Nazi forces, and the government was forced to surrender on April 17.
Peter and his family went into exile, first to Greece, then to Jerusalem and on to Cairo. they ultimately joined other monarchs and leaders of German-occupied europe in London in June 1941.
Peter’s mother, Queen Maria, first rented, then bought, the Old Mill House in Great Gransden, Cambridgeshire, where she lived with her three sons, King Peter and Princes tomislav (1928–2000) and Andrej (1929–90).
there’s Pathe news footage of her walking in the grounds with her two younger sons before delivering a rousing speech to the cameras (britishpathe.com/video/queenmarie-of-yugoslavia-in-england-may-1941).
Later, Queen Maria bought Great Gransden Windmill, a fine example of an open trestle post mill set on low piers, dating from the 17th century. the mill was given to Cambridge County Council in 1950.
After the collapse of the Yugoslav Army, two rival resistance movements formed, a loyalist one led by Yugoslav Army Colonel Dragoljub Mihailovic and a group of communist partisans led by Josip Broz, later known as tito. A bitter civil war took place during the German occupation. In 1944, tito’s partisans entered Belgrade and established a communist government. the monarchy was abolished in November 1945 and Yugoslavia remained a singleparty state for the next four decades.
Peter II never abdicated. He married Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark in 1944 and his son, Crown Prince Alexander, was born in a suite in Claridge’s hotel in 1945.
the family lived between London and America until Peter’s death in Denver Hospital, Colorado, on November 3, 1970. Initially buried at the St Sava Monastery Church in Libertyville, Illinois, his remains were transferred to the royal Palace Chapel in Belgrade on January 22, 2013 and a state funeral took place on May 26, 2013, at the royal Family Mausoleum of St George in Oplenac, Serbia.
Jim Gurney, haverhill, Suffolk.
QUESTION Five years ago, small brown spots started to appear on everything out in the open — including cars — during summer in the area I live. What might have caused this?
tHere are probably one or more beehives nearby. Bees excrete minute yellow globs while flying to or from their hives.
the colour and composition varies, but is frequently a rusty brown. these droppings are incredibly sticky and difficult to remove — even car washes leave them intact, although a well-waxed car usually aids in their removal.
An individual worker bee will hold her droppings until she is well away from the hive. the queen, larvae and drones have their droppings cleaned up by the workers to maintain a clean hive, remarkable considering how many individuals live in such a small and confined space.
Bees follow certain regular flight lines (beelines), so parking your car under one of these high-traffic routes can make for a big mess from bees dropping their waste, which they do more often at certain times of the year, particularly in the spring and early summer.
Mrs a. Rackham, Lewes, E. Sussex.
QUESTION Does anyone remember the craze for skip-jiving in the early Sixties?
FurtHer to earlier answers, I loved the skip-jive. Not a lot of people could keep it up, so you had to be good. I was 17 in 1956 and lived in Northamptonshire.
After marrying in 1962 and having my sons, it was difficult to get out dancing being so busy as a mum. My boys were brought up on rock ’n’ roll and still like the Fifties/Sixties music.
Mention of skip-jiving brought back many pleasant memories. And with the Americans being over here at the time, three bands from local airbases used to come to our clubs and play rock ’n ’roll music.
We danced mainly at weekends, we had to go to work in the week. It was great. those were the days!
Kathleen Earle, Kettering, Northants.
QUESTION I understand that ET, The Extraterrestrial was originally rejected by most major film studios. What other successful movies originally suffered this indignity?
FurtHer to the earlier answer, Christopher McQuarrie’s brilliant film the usual Suspects (1995) was rejected by every studio, major and minor. A Sony executive even told him to ‘remake it with Mel Gibson in there and you’ll have a hit’.
After approaching more than 50 studios, PolyGram and Spelling Films gave £4 million and Bryan Singer shot the movie in 35 days: 33 in LA, two in New York. It went on to take more than £2million at the box office and is considered a modern classic.
McQuarrie won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) and Kevin Spacey won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Jeremy taylor, Bedford.