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Mary Churchill’s birthday party
Transcribed from a video recording

We were on the way back from Canada in HMS Renown, it was October 43,
Mary Churchill, now Lady Soames, as most people will know, she was a couple of years older than me, bless her, she had her twenty-first birthday party on board, and of course we all piled into the wardroom to wish her a happy birthday, I had my camera with me on board, and I took quite a lot of photographs which in theory I should not have done, but I got away with it, I don’t know how I got away with it, and I have quite a lot of black-and-white photographs, and years and years later, in fact only about five years ago, I thought I wonder if she’d like some of these photographs, and I wrote to her, not knowing her address, of course, so I wrote to the House of Lords, where she’s entitled to sit, and a lovely letter back, I’d be delighted to have those photographs, Mr Richmond, and I’ll pay you for them. I thought no, you wont, had them copied, and I had a lovely card back, with a letter inside, with one of her father’s paintings on the back, and I thought that was sweet.

Gordon Richmond

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