Re: British Royals Trace POW Family

Date: March 26, 2004

"How Red Cross Traced Royal Family at War

By Laura Elston, Deputy Court Correspondent, PA News

The Prince of Wales today relived the war stories of two of his relatives who were captured by the Germans and held in prisoner-of-war camps.

Prince Charles, who was visiting the Red Cross in Geneva, heard how the aid charity tracked down both men after they were listed as missing in action.

The Queen Mother’s older brother, Michael Bowes-Lyon, was captured during the First World War. John Elphinstone, nephew of the Queen Mother and cousin of the Queen, was held during the Second World War at several camps including Colditz.

The Red Cross located both through its tracing service.

The Prince examined confidential documents only available to family members at the Red Cross Museum which showed how the men were found.

He recalled how John Elphinstone had spoken of his time in the camps.

“I remember him talking about it a little bit – not a huge amount,” Charles said.

“It was a great worry for everybody, not knowing where he was.”

The Prince was fascinated to hold a Red Cross record card which John Elphinstone had signed to confirm he was safe and well.

“That’s wonderful,” the Prince said.

In the tracing archive, filled with thousands of faded yellow cards listing prisoners located over the decades, Charles also looked at files relating to Michael Bowes-Lyon.

He examined a list of detainees which carried Bowes-Lyon’s name at the bottom.

“I must say, I’m thrilled,” the Prince said, as he examined the snapshot of family history.

Although Bowes-Lyon was located by the Red Cross, his relatives’ first indication that he was alive came when he cashed a Coutts Bank cheque in a prison camp.

The Red Cross is still tracing people who were separated from their families during the Second World War.

Head of the tracing agency Alain Aeschlimann explained to the Prince how the organisation was working to reunite Rwandan children with parents from whom they were separated during the genocide 10 years ago.

He was shown a room whose walls were covered with haunting photographs of Rwandan children holding identity numbers. Booklets of the pictures were circulated to numerous villages in the hope that parents might recognise lost children.

About 2,000 children have still not been reunited with their families but the scheme has had a 90% success rate.


©The Scotsman"