"p.s my brother Reggie died in war...reason for the change of name etc..."
By 1953 Reggie DeVeulle was back in England, hospitalised in Mildmay Memorial, Newington Green. In his correspondence Reggie pointed out that this was a room in the private ward and certainly not one of the new National Health Service ones...Reggie was corresponding with an old friend, Gerald Hamilton (1888-1970). Hamilton was a Zelig-like figure who has left his stamp on the without every appearing to really do anything of value.
Born in China and schooled in England from the age of 8 Hamilton was a fantacist and perpetual liar who published three biographies with increasingly elaborate stories of meetings with Rasputin, the pope, numerous crowned heads of europe and revolutionaries.
The truth about his adventures was less glamourous but he did make an impression on all who knew him. In the 1930's he befriended the young Christopher Isherwood who was making his way to Berlin for the first time. Gerald was later acknowledged as the 'Mr Norris' of Mr Norris changes trains, one of Isherwood's finest novels.
Gerald was played as a likeable, scoundrel with a liking for masochistic practices by Toby Jones when the BBC filmed 'Christopher and his kind' a few years ago.
It appears that Reggie and Gerald went back a long way. They appear as co-respondents in a civil case back in 1915. As to what their alleged activity was I have yet to discover.
In the few letters to Gerald that survive Reggie reminisces about the parties of old and how kind Gerald had always been to him. The letters reveal a sad and lonely Reggie who does have regular visitors but who longs to return to France to end his days there.
Naturally Reggie makes overtures of a financial kind. However he wasn't to know that Hamilton but only recently been released from prison for a debt related to his status as an un-dischaged bankrupt. I imagine given that Gerald was the type who lived on handouts and the occasional piece of journalism that Reggie would have been disappointed.
As for his re-invention as 'the Marquis Raoul De Veulle', the only hint so far is the quote from Reggie above. But there must be more to it....
