One's a boat, the other is....
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 8:09 am
Queen Elizabeth II may have played an important but unwitting role in the coup against Iran's prime minister because of a muddled telegram, newly-discovered documents have revealed.
Communications found in Washington DC's archives show bungling US officials accidentally told the Shah of Iran that the monarch had urged him to stay in his country to successfully complete the coup, but she had no involvement at all.
In 1953, Britain's Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden was organising a coup against Mohammad Mossadeq, Iran's prime minister.
Mossadeq had two years earlier secured a unanimous vote in favour of nationalising the country's oil fields, which had been built through the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, later known as British Petroleum (BP).
To restore British control, Eden wanted to replaced him with the shah, an ally to the Western powers such as France, the United States and the UK.
But the shah was unconvinced by the idea, instead preferring a more comfortable life in exile, having already lived in Italy after being removed.
Looking to convince the royal by other means, Eden sent a telegram to Washington DC, urging them to put pressure on the shah to stay in Iran so that the coup could be carried out.
Eden was on board the RMS Queen Elizabeth at the time, a luxury liner that travelled across the Atlantic.
A US telegram is then sent to their ambassador in Tehran, Loy Henderson, saying: 'Foreign Office this afternoon informed us of receipt message from Eden from Queen Elizabeth expressing concern at latest developments re Shah and strong hope we can find some means of dissuading him from leaving country.'
It is believed that US officials so badly misunderstood the message, that they through Eden was speaking on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, rather than the fact he was on board the ship carrying her name.
Richard Aldrich, one of the two historians who discovered the key documents in Washington's archives, told The Times: 'In 40 years as a historian this is the most astonishing collection of documents I have ever seen.'
Henderson then met with the shah’s entourage, while the leader was preparing to flee, describing later in a telegram how he told the shah’s senior minister that in the 'interest of the country' he needed to stay put.
He added that he had received a message from a 'very important personage for whom Shah had most friendly feelings' who had also implied that the shah was better off to stay.
Professor Aldrich said there was no doubt that the shah would have taken that to refer to the Queen.
