Prince John, son of George V and Queen Mary, disappeared from history after his early death but in life he was a treasured member of the House of Windsor
Words JUNE WOOLERTON
Prince John of the United Kingdom
b.1905-d.1919
The sixth child of George V and Mary of Teck, Prince John suffered from severe epilepsy and possibly autism. His treatment and subsequent death became synonymous with the House of Windsor’s cold legacy.
The paperboy brought unexpected news on Monday 20 January 1919. Headlines that day announced the death of Prince John, youngest son of King George V and Queen Mary, at the age of 13. A smiling boy in a sailor’s uniform looked out at readers in a string of photos marking his life, nestled alongside short and formal obituaries. But if people were unprepared for news of his death, more shocks were to come. The papers revealed that John had died following an epileptic fit and confirmed he had suffered seizures for most of his short life. It was the first time the royal family had acknowledged his condition.
The Daily Mirror wrote “sympathy will be felt by everyone for the King and Queen,” but in the years that have followed, sympathy for George V and Mary has been in short supply when it comes to John. They have been accused of hiding him away to avoid embarrassment over his epilepsy. John has been described as a ‘tragic secret’ written out of history and held up as an example of an uncaring attitude within the House of Windsor.
Much of the criticism centres on the decision to send John to live at Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate with his nanny, Lala Bill, in the last years of his life. The modern telling of John’s tale is that his contact with his family lessened as his epileptic seizures became more severe and more frequent. We do know that his public appearances came to an end and that none of his family were with him when he died, on 18 January 1919, at Wood Farm. They found out he had passed away in a telephone call. Critics see this as evidence that George and Mary couldn’t cope with either the personal or public fallout from admitting their child had epilepsy and possibly a form of autism too. But one line in Mary’s diary soon after John’s death reveals a far more human side to the tale that is often told about John. “Miss the dear child very much indeed,” she wrote. John had been a huge part of their lives and their decisions for him in his final years can equally be seen as attempts to give him the best treatment available for epilepsy, a condition for which there was no established medical treatment. Far from being ashamed of John, George and Mary loved him dearly and spent as much time as they could at his side.
It’s easy to see why people adored John. He was charming, caring and a rule breaker. Some of the children who played with him at
