{"id":20953,"date":"2022-10-14T14:30:45","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T13:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/?p=20953"},"modified":"2022-10-14T14:31:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T13:31:02","slug":"a-royal-soldier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/?p=20953","title":{"rendered":"A Royal Soldier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\">A ROYAL SOLDIER<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/120616000_640123003313597_3768459000480973748_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-19995\" src=\"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/120616000_640123003313597_3768459000480973748_n-283x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"283\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/120616000_640123003313597_3768459000480973748_n-283x300.jpg 283w, https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/120616000_640123003313597_3768459000480973748_n-1x1.jpg 1w, https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/120616000_640123003313597_3768459000480973748_n-24x24.jpg 24w, https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/120616000_640123003313597_3768459000480973748_n.jpg 566w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 283px) 100vw, 283px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>OUR FIRST VISIT TO A CEMETERY TODAY IS TO YPRES &#8230; BELGIUM &#8230; H.H. PRINCE MAURICE OF BATTENBURG WAS THE FORTIETH AND YOUNGEST OF QUEEN VICTORIA\u2019S GRANDCHILDREN &#8230; A LANCE CORPORAL &#8230; HE WAS REPUTEDLY ONE OF THE FINEST MARKSMEN AT HIS COLLEGE &#8230; AND WOULD BE A FITTING OFFICER IN THE KINGS ROYAL RIFLE CORPS &#8230; HE WAS ALSO KEEN ON POLO &#8230; AVIATION AND FAST CARS &#8230; HE WAS CHARGED WITH SPEEDING AT LEAST TWICE &#8230; HE WAS INITIATED INTO MASONIC LODGE BY SPECIAL DISPENSATION IN JUNE 1912 &#8230; AGED JUST 20 IN TRULY GRAND STYLE &#8230; THE GRAND SECRETARY AND THE GDC AS WORSHIPFUL MASTER AND JUNIOR DEACON RESPECTIVELY &#8230; AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE GREAT WAR HE WENT TO THE WESTERN FRONT &#8230; TWICE MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES FOR GALLANTRY IN THE FIELD AT THE CROSSING OF THE AISNE &#8230; HE WAS FIRST OVER THE BRIDGE BY WHICH HIS BATTALION HAD TO CROSS &#8230; THEY WERE UNDER HEAVY FIRE &#8230; WHEN MAJOR ARMITAGE LED THEM FORWARD IN A SPLENDID CHARGE &#8230; BATTENBURG WAS IN THE THICK OF THE FRAY &#8230; HIS NAME WAS ON THE LIP\u2019S OF EVERY MAN IN THE BATTALION &#8230; HE DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION LEADING HIS PLATOON NEAR ZONNEBEKE ON THE 27TH OCTOBER 1914 IN THE YPRES SALIENT &#8230; KNOWING HE WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED BY A SHELL BLAST HE HAD THE PRESENCE OF MIND TO BID FAREWELL TO HIS MEN &#8230; HE WAS CARRIED BACK TO A FIELD DRESSING STATION WHERE HE DIED &#8230; HE WAS BURIED AT YPRES &#8230; WITH THE CEREMONY CONDUCTED BY A BROTHER MASON &#8230; THE REVEREND CAPTAIN EDMUND KENNEDY &#8230; PAST PROVINCIAL GRAND CHAPLAIN OF HAMPSHIRE &#8230; CAPTAIN W. DYER RECALLED \u201c NOT FAR AWAY THE GERMAN BIG GUNS WERE FIRING ON OUR TRENCHES &#8230; OUR MEN WERE DOING THEIR BEST TO PUT THEM OUT OF ACTION &#8230; THE GUNS WERE MAKING SUCH A NOISE THEY COULD NOT HEAR THE CHAPLAINS VOICE &#8230; IT WAS A SOLDIER\u2019S FUNERAL AMIDST THE NOISE OF BATTLE \u201c &#8230; HE WAS ONE OF 18 OWs SERVING IN THE REGIMENT TO DIE ON ACTIVE SERVICE &#8230; AND THE FIRST MEMBER OF THE ROYAL FAMILY TO DIE IN THE WAR &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Written by Elizabeth Sands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A ROYAL SOLDIER OUR FIRST VISIT TO A CEMETERY TODAY IS TO YPRES &#8230; BELGIUM &#8230; H.H. PRINCE MAURICE OF BATTENBURG WAS THE FORTIETH AND YOUNGEST OF QUEEN VICTORIA\u2019S GRANDCHILDREN &#8230; A LANCE CORPORAL &#8230; HE WAS REPUTEDLY ONE OF THE FINEST MARKSMEN AT HIS COLLEGE &#8230; AND WOULD BE A FITTING OFFICER IN THE <a href='https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/?p=20953' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3863,3864],"class_list":["post-20953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-a-royal-soldier","tag-elizabeth-sands","category-6-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20953\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.memorialatpeninsula.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}