Churchill's wartime farewell to wife unveiled
Death was on Winston Churchill's mind on July 17 1915, as he sat down to write four neat pages to his wife, Clementine. She never read his letter, unlike millions of distraught widows who opened their own envelopes similarly marked "in the event of my death".
"Do not grieve for me too much," he wrote. "Death is only an incident, and not the most important that happens to us in this state of being. On the whole, especially since I met you, my darling one, I have been happy and you have taught me how noble a woman's heart can be.
"If there is anything else I shall be on the look out for you. Meanwhile look forward, feel free, rejoice in life, cherish the children, guard my memory. God bless you, goodbye, W."
The letter, still among his papers when he died 40 years later, is on public display for the first time - in facsimile form, as the fragile original is preserved at the Churchill Archive in Cambridge - in a poignant exhibition at the Cabinet War Rooms museum in London.
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
"Do not grieve for me too much," he wrote. "Death is only an incident, and not the most important that happens to us in this state of being. On the whole, especially since I met you, my darling one, I have been happy and you have taught me how noble a woman's heart can be.
"If there is anything else I shall be on the look out for you. Meanwhile look forward, feel free, rejoice in life, cherish the children, guard my memory. God bless you, goodbye, W."
The letter, still among his papers when he died 40 years later, is on public display for the first time - in facsimile form, as the fragile original is preserved at the Churchill Archive in Cambridge - in a poignant exhibition at the Cabinet War Rooms museum in London.