Feature: Books - Royal Flourish

Published: 13 January, 2011
by DAN CARRIER

HAS the reason for the Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess’s flight to Scotland at the height of the Second World War ever really been uncovered? Before his death, retired north-London solicitor Christopher Rubinstein did not think so.

He turned sleuth to come up with a plausible explanation – the result being a book, Royal Flourish, which his son Daniel edited after his father’s death. 

The official line was that Rudolf Hess had some kind of breakdown and fled Germany, hoping to meet with senior members of the British government and broker a deal that would see the Germans run mainland Europe but leave the British empire intact.

“It was a story that fascinated my father,” says Daniel Rubinstein. “He felt this was a crucial piece of history that had not been sufficiently covered.”

He points out that Churchill was in a corner, with America and USSR yet to join the war effort. 

“Churchill was fearful the Germans would get to the oil supplies in the Middle East, there was the threat of the invasion, and he was after some tricks to play on the Nazis,” says Daniel.

“Churchill was predisposed to playing tricks like this on his enemies: he wanted to deceive them whenever he could.”

A quiet word with George VI, who he had a good relationship with, is not out of the question, says Daniel. A secret letter from the King to Hitler supposedly to find an understanding would help win some valuable breathing space. 

It seems his father spoke to Captain Peter Moon, a Royal 

Equerry at the time, who would not dismiss the idea of a letter: “He had ummed and ahhed and said, well, something might come up,” says Daniel.

“Christopher was fascinated by this period of history and he felt the official explanation was implausible,” says Daniel. “Perhaps this theory was the real reason for the flight of Rudolf Hess.”

The Rubinstein family has a history of military subterfuge: Christopher’s uncle was Ewan Montagu, the government agent responsible for the famous “Man Who Never Was” con trick played by the British on the Nazis that saw the body of a tramp found dead in St Pancras dressed up as a senior officer. 

He was dumped at sea with false top secret invasion plans. When his body washed ashore, the Germans fell for it.