The Secret Life of Tommy Lascelles: The Man Who Knew the Palace's Darkest Secrets

In January 1927, a 40-year-old courtier sat in the Prime Minister's room at the House of Commons and admitted he sometimes wished the next King of England would break his neck in a point-to-point race. Stanley Baldwin agreed. The exchange was recorded that night in a private diary that would not be published for 79 years. Tommy Lascelles served 4 sovereigns across 33 years of senior royal service, kept 50 volumes of diary in tin trunks at Kensington Palace, and signed off on the constitutional advice that ended an emperor's reign and a princess's marriage. The British public was never asked. In this video, we talk about the secret life of Sir Alan Lascelles, including his 1929 walkout from the office of Edward VIII, his return to Buckingham Palace as Assistant Private Secretary to George V, the abdication crisis of 1936 and the Hardinge letter that forced a king to choose, the wartime suppression of the Marburg File and the Duke of Windsor's contacts with Nazi Germany, the constitutional framing of the Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend affair, the Royal Marriages Act and the Lascelles Doctrine, the publication of King's Counsellor in 2006 and the modern reassessment of his role, and the price three royal lives paid for the institution he served. Hit subscribe to stay close to the stories the palace would rather you never heard. Comment below where you're watching from and tell us whether you think Tommy Lascelles saved the monarchy or broke a princess. Share this anywhere it might land, on Facebook, on Reddit, or in the group chat that loves a real royal story, because you are the reason this channel keeps digging. #TommyLascelles #RoyalScandals #BritishRoyalFamily #PrincessMargaret #PeterTownsend #EdwardVIII #WallisSimpson #Abdication1936 #KingGeorgeVI #QueenElizabethII #BuckinghamPalace #KensingtonPalace #RoyalHistory #BritishMonarchy #RoyalSecrets #TheCrown #PalaceIntrigue #RoyalCourt #HiddenHistory #DocumentaryHistory