Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2013/January 2014 | Page 16

INTERVIEW

Paul is still
enjoying the
high life!
By Peter White

N

ot too many people have danced with the Queen at
Buckingham Palace; taken tea countless times with
renowned playwright Noel Coward and even shared a
birthday party with James Bond creator Ian Fleming.
But those are just some of the memories of Paul Methuen, who
was born in Seaview, and is still a regular visitor to the Island as
he approaches his 90th birthday.
In a remarkable life, Paul has worked in India and the West
Indies, and has lived in Scotland for the past 25 years. But the
Island has remained close to his heart, as he revealed when I
caught up with him on one of his recent visits.
Having been born here, Paul moved away because his father
was in the Army. But the family maintained close ties with the
Island and had a house here until recently. He grew up with his
grandparents near Epsom while his mother and family were
in foreign parts. After leaving school in 1942 he went into the
Scots Guards for six years, but was wounded during Second
World War conflict at Anzio in Italy. He returned to London to
convalesce and when he was fit enough he undertook Royal
duties at Wellington Barracks, Bird Cage Walk, London.
He recalls: “King George VI was on the throne at the time, and
because I was in charge of changing of the Guard I often found
myself sleeping at Buckingham Palace. I went to a lot of parties
at the Palace as well. There were often dances there because the
girls (Princess Elizabeth, later to become the Queen, and her
sister Princess Margaret) were growing up at the time.
“At all the dances they played the modern tunes of the time,
and one of them was ‘Hands, Knees and Bumps A Daisy’. I once
ended up opposite Queen Mary, and I felt a bit embarrassed
having to bump bottoms with her. So she just smiled and said
‘shall we just clap our hands?’
“I also danced a lot with Princess Elizabeth and Princess
Margaret, and as the war had just finished there was a lot of
entertainment, because the King thought his girls should have a
bit of fun after some miserable war years.”
Just before the war ended Paul had a fortunate escape when a
German V-1 bomb destroyed the Guards Chapel at Wellington
Barracks. He said: “It was one Sunday, and I wasn’t on duty that
day, but a lot of my friends were killed and it was horrible. I still

16

www.visitislandlife.com