Friday 16 October 2015

Sir Louis Greig helps The Bruderhof and is a good friend to King George VI

When the Cotswold Community of the 'Bruderhof' were looking for a country to go and settle in, one of the people they asked for help was Sir Louis Greig. Rosemary's Father, A.A. Warden was a Doctor and Louis was a Naval Surgeon. Both trained at Glasgow University but at different times.

Louis Greig was a close friend of King George VI. He was the son of a Glasgow Merchant and in 1911 was living at 18 Lynedoch Crescent, Kelvingrove, Glasgow. His middle name may have been Carron but that seems to be coincidental. (A.A.Warden's younger daughter Charlotte married an Edward Carron on her second marriage)

Sir Louis Greig was living at Thatched House Lodge, Richmond Park, in London, when he died in 1953. The Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandra and her husband, Sir Angus Ogilvy, later occupied this house. It is a privately owned royal residence, belonging to the Crown Estate. Sir Louis Greig was Equerry to King George VI and held the title of Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park. He helped in gaining permission for the 350 plus members of the  'Bruderhof' to emigrate to Paraguay by cutting down on the 'red tape'. England was not a good place for people of German origin in 1940 and Rosemary had married Josef Staengl, a German.

They also approached Eleonore Roosevelt, wife of the President of the USA, for help.

Louis Greig helped to speed up the process and the story of their journey to Paraguay and life there is told in  'Jungle Gems', Bud's daughter's blog. The Bruderhof were part of the Mennonite sect which resembled the Amish to some extent. It was not an easy life. Rosemary had to give up contact with her family to join them and even sent all her clothes to her sister Charlotte.

Sir Louis Greig was a great support to his friend King George VI. His grandson, Geordie Greig, who is now Editor of The Mail on Sunday, wrote a book called  'The Kingmaker. In the well known film, 'The King's Speech' much of the credit went to Lionel Logue for the king's progress in public-speaking but his great friend, Louis Greig was also instrumental in the King's improvement.

My husband's Australian Cleveland cousins are actually related to Lionel Logue, oddly enough.



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