The Spy Who Painted the Queen (8 page)

ACC

Of course, Mr László, you have been perfectly open about having sent letters that way, but I ought to read you this Regulation [Thomson then read out DORA Regulation R24 with regard to transmitting letters without lawful authority by means other than through the post].

PAL

I have no answer to give. It is unfortunate, but I did not know it was against a regulation. My conscience is absolutely clear I never said anything in a letter that I ought not to have said.

ACC

That is not the point. The thing is you ought not to have sent the letters that way.

PAL

My position is such as an artist and the father of five boys that I give you my word of honour that I never in my life have written a word that was against my feeling as a man, or that I ought not to have done.

The position having been made clear, Thomson turned again to his loyalty and whether he desired peace:

PAL

Certainly I do, for Hungary always was friendly to England. If you ask me as to political matters, it is a very sad situation for the Hungarians – they have to fight. They were very ambitious to fight when Roumania attacked them, but Hungary up to now was always devoted to England. I talked with a Prime Minister in Hungary whom I painted some time ago about these things, because I visited a young Hungarian who is interned here. This man came over to give a concert with his wife and children at the Queen's Hall, and he was here when the
Lusitania
went down and they interned him. I said to him, ‘Page, you ought not to be interned, because no British subject is interned in Hungary. All British subjects are regarded as honorary guests there.' So far as my knowledge goes, there is no British subject interned in Hungary. The feeling between the two nations was very intimate. We lived there only a year after we were married. The Hungarians are a sporting people like the British and live in the same way.

There was a brief discussion over the treatment of prisoners of war and Thomson turned back to correspondents abroad:

ACC

You said just now that you had no communication with anybody in Switzerland or Spain. Is that quite correct?

PAL

I have no communication at all. I received one letter from my brother-in-law via Switzerland at the beginning of the war. I remember now the name of that lady whose daughter was married to an Englishman; it was Mr Michaels. They wanted a separation, and she wrote a letter to me from Switzerland on this matter to explain to me her situation. Then she sent another letter to my wife – a very long letter, like a book (I cannot understand how the censor had the patience to go through it). We destroyed it immediately because we did not want to have anything to do with them. Mrs Michaels sent a letter twice, but received no answer from us. I received one letter from my brother-in-law and these two from Madame Michaels.

ACC

But was there not a proposal at one time that you should send money to your brother through some friend in Spain?

PAL

Yes, Baron Mayendorff.

ACC

That led to some correspondence?

PAL

Yes.

ACC

That is a correction of your original statement?

PAL

No, nothing came via Switzerland. Baron Mayendorff was here at the Russian Embassy and I made his acquaintance through Miss Warrender, whose life sized portrait I painted. Then I did some painting in Paris in January 1914, and then we went to Italy and I was invited by the King of Greece to paint the whole family. The Baroness wanted me to paint her husband's portrait; I commenced this but was not able to complete it, so, as I told them I always come to London twice a year, it was arranged that I would finish it in my London studio. Then of course the war broke out and I heard nothing of them until August or September of last year when I had a message from the Ritz Hotel where they were living. ‘Would I finish the portrait now?' I agreed, so he came, and his uniform is still at my studio. I asked them to lunch with me, as they had been here for a long time, seven years, and I had lunched with them a few times. They were going back to Zurich where they always lived in the summer. His wife has property there, and his brother is, I think, in the Russian Embassy there … He asked me if he could do anything for me. I said ‘Yes, I cannot send money to my brother. If you could send it over for me, I should be very pleased if you would.' He said ‘Certainly, with the greatest pleasure.' I gave him a letter. He took the letter and the cheque, and promised that the money should remain here. He said ‘They talk so much about you, so, if you can; if not, send it back.' I gave him my cheque on the London County and Westminster Bank.

ACC

To the police officer who visited you, you said ‘The Baron owes Mr P de László £1,000 for portrait painting , and Mr de László wrote asking him to send £200 to his brother, Marczel, but he has since heard that this wish has not been complied with.' Is that right?

PAL

No, when he was in my studio I could not finish the picture so I did not ask for money. He owed me £1,000.

ACC

But in this case you said you had written to him asking him to send £200 to your brother.

PAL

That is wrong. I could not have said that. I never wrote to him … I said ‘I give you a cheque for £200, but the money must remain in England.' I asked him how he would send it to my brother, and he said ‘If I cannot send it though the Minister my wife is going to Switzerland to see my brother. She will stay there several weeks and she will arrange it, or I am expecting my brother here and I will ask him to forward it.' At any rate, I had a letter from my brother about a month ago, in which he said he had not received any money.

ACC

Why did you say anything to the police officer about Mayendorff owing you money unless it was to imply that he was to pay what he owed you? As a matter of fact, was the cheque ever cashed?

PAL

That I do not know. I have not looked out my pass book.

ACC

You have not satisfied yourself as to whether the money was drawn?

PAL

I think it was, because Mr Williams {the accountant appointed by the Home Office earlier in the year} looked through my books.

ACC

Did you ever see that letter? (Exhibit A – Photograph of letter to Mayendorff.)

PAL

I really do not remember that letter.

ACC

I suggest to you that it was delivered or posted by someone in London. It came through a man named Taylor.

PAL

I have never heard that name.

ACC

Well, I will tell you what happened. A postcard was received for her addressed to your house on the 14
th
July (that would be all right if she went to you on the 6th) except that it is a little difficult to know how her correspondent in Holland should have known. After this postcard was received, the police asked her to call, and she then gave her address as 14 Holland Park, and said nothing about ever being employed by you.

PAL

That is very strange. I know she has a friend in the Army who she knew years before the war broke out who sends her postcards and letters. He is an Englishman.

ACC

(Postcard in question read to him.) Who is L?

PAL

I do not know.

ACC

The writer of this is known to us and very unfavourably known, and he addresses it to your house. How could he have known that she was at your house if she had not been there for years before now?

Quite who the mysterious writer was, or why he was unfavourably known to MI5, is not stated on the files. Thomson then turned again to De László's attitude to Hungary, and in the course of the interrogation things turned very serious. It is given here verbatim:

ACC

I understand you have a hereditary title granted by the Emperor of Austria?

PAL

By the King of Hungary really.

ACC

Yes, and I suppose that on naturalisation as a British subject you parted with that title did you not?

PAL

I do not think so. I applied first of all for naturalisation before the war. Mr Balfour, Lord Devonport, my brother-in-law Howard Guinness are my sponsors. I intended to become naturalised two years before the war broke out, and many people knew of it. Then it happened that I went to Balfour just before the war broke out, and we talked about things. I said that I had very great esteem for the old Emperor Joseph who was very nice, and that I preferred postponing my naturalisation until after his death. When the war broke out a Hungarian who I had never seen before came over to England because he thought it was the safest place for a Hungarian to be. He brought me a letter of recommendation from an old friend of mine. I was so pleased to learn from this letter that my mother was still alive that I gave him a letter to take back, which was, however taken away from him. He was the very man whom I invited to lunch with me. He went home and made a big story out of it. He asked me what my position was and I said ‘I am a British subject.' (This was not then known in Hungary, it came out afterwards.) Then this man went back to Hungary and made a terrible row in the papers, and only one man stood for me, a very reliable good friend of mine from whom I have had four or five letters during the war – Baron Forster – who looks after art matters in Hungary. He wrote that there was a meeting at the Art Academy called together on my account. He said ‘They were all down on you and I stood beside you, and brought it so far that they said they would not go against you altogether.'

ACC

Otherwise they look on you as a traitor?

PAL

Yes.

ACC

How did those letters from Baron Forster come?

PAL

Probably one or two through the ordinary post. They were always written in French.

ACC

Where were they written?

PAL

Once he sent me a postcard with a picture of his estate in Hungary and that was written in Vienna. He was here a year before the war broke out.

ACC

I suppose the letters came through Switzerland?

PAL

I do not know.

ACC

How did they actually reach you?

PAL

From the Dutch Minister. I think the very first letter which reached me came through his wife. He has a son who was in Switzerland with his wife and he said ‘My wife will forward you this letter.' That was the only letter I received from him via Switzerland.

ACC

I suppose it was rather painful for you to be accused of being a traitor to Hungary where you had an established reputation. It would be very convenient for you to have a dual nationality.

PAL

I never thought of that. I am a British subject and my five sons are British.

ACC

I am going to suggest to you that you have in your mind the idea of resumption of Hungarian nationality after the war.

PAL

I do not believe I have.

ACC

I think you have expressed that wish in a letter.

PAL

I do not remember ever having expressed a wish like that.

ACC

It would be a solution to all your difficulties in Hungary.

PAL

I never thought of that.

ACC

You wrote a letter on the 30th of May to a friend in Switzerland and in that letter you said that you would like to recover your Hungarian nationality. Of course you may have said that with the object of tempering down this storm against you in Hungary.

PAL

To whom could I have written that, because I have no friends in Switzerland? Could I have answered the letter to Baron Forster in Switzerland?

ACC

You do not keep copies of your letters, do you?

PAL

No.

ACC

Did you hear from Baron Forster in May of this year?

PAL

Probably. I think I had a letter from him this year.

ACC

Do you keep your letters?

PAL

I keep all my letters. Mr Williams was asked to look after my papers. He is a chartered accountant.

ACC

What is his address?

PAL

Somewhere in the city – I do not know where.

ACC

Where would you put all your letters?

PAL

They are in my house at 3 Palace Gate. I left a key there.

ACC

I suggest that it was in a letter to Baron Forster that you intimated that you would like to recover your Hungarian nationality.

PAL

I do not believe that I have written such words: my feelings are such that it would be impossible for me to do so. If I was a single man it might have been easier, but I could not play such a game on my children.

ACC

It is not suggested that you would alter your sons' nationality or even your own.

PAL

They accuse me of being a traitor to my country – I have all these letters – Baron Forster is on my side.

ACC

As a matter of diplomacy with the Hungarians you might have intimated that in your letter.

PAL

I do not think so. I do not know what they feel about me in Hungary. In my brother-in-law's last letter received about three weeks ago, he says that a man whom I knew many years ago – a restorer of old modern pictures – came to him and said ‘I knew your brother Philip, but I have had nothing to do with him for a number of years. They have decided to put his pictures among the foreign artists.'

ACC

Did your letters from Baron Forster come through Madame van Riemsdyk?

PAL

Yes.

ACC

And probably through the Legation Bag?

PAL

One or two probably.

ACC

I suppose you answered them by the same medium?

PAL

Yes.

ACC

How many letters do you think you have written to Baron Forster all together?

PAL

Five, six or possibly seven. I am not sure.

ACC

You said just now that you sent through the Legation Bag altogether about six, so I take it those are the six. As a matter of fact none of the Forster letters came by post.

PAL

I gave him the address to send them to Madame van Riemsdyk.

ACC

They came through the Legation Bag?

PAL

I cannot say if they all did.

ACC

I suggest to you that they all went through the Legation Bag.

PAL

It is probable. I will not say yes or no.

ACC

I suggest to you that that was the reason you used the Legation Bag in order to send letters to Baron Forster in Vienna.

PAL

Yes, I was invited by Madame van Riemsdyk to do it.

ACC

But why did you not say so the first time we got on to the subject this morning? You said they were all ordinary letters, and suggested they were letters to your family.

PAL

I have been so much irritated already. I showed them all the letters. I take it for granted you know all about me.

ACC

It is a very serious matter. Here you are communicating with an enemy through a Legation Bag.

PAL

My conscience is absolutely clear.

ACC

Your conscience may be clear, but my mind is not clear at all about this.

PAL

I am very sorry about it. I did it in good faith.