‘They never spoke about anything until the very end – it was all very secret.’
The Prince of Wales was clearly keeping both Kate Middleton and her Bletchley Circle grandmother in his thoughts throughout the event, discussing the Waleses’ codebreaking connection with a woman thought have have worked at Bletchley herself:
‘My wife’s grandmother did the same sort of thing as you,’ he said. ‘Catherine only found out at the end of her life.’
It was only in 2014 that Kate, then Duchess of Cambridge learnt that her paternal grandmother, Valerie Glassborow, had played a monumental role during the Second World War. Glassborow was breaking German codes in Hut 16 at Bletchley Park when news came through that Japan had surrendered. It was, of course, an intercepted message – making The Princess of Wales’ grandmother one of the first people in the world to know that the war was over.
Kate Middleton, pictured here in 2023, learnt about her grandmother Valerie Glassborow’s crucial codebreaking contribution to Britain’s war effort during a trip to Bletchley Park a decade ago
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
When Kate toured Bletchley Park a decade ago, she met one of her grandmother’s codebreaking colleagues, Lady Marion Body, who was able to give the then-Duchess this completely new insight into Glassborow’s life.