HE QUEEN and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother were represented at the funeral here on Tuesday of the Duke of Leeds. The Duke, formerly Sir D'Arcy Osborne, and British Minister to the Holy See 1936-47, died last Friday following a stroke. He was 79,
Sir Peter Scarlett, British Minister to the Holy See, represented the Queen at the funeral, and the British Ambassador to Italy, Sir John Ward, represented the Queen Mother.
The Duke. a Protestant, who
was a close friend of the Royal family, succeeded to the title on the death of the 11th Duke of Leeds last year, The title dies with him.
Pope Paul, a very old friend of the Duke, had sent a personal chamberlain to his apartment to enquire about him every day since he fell ill on March 16. Major James Utley, of the British Ministry to the Holy Sec, who was with the Duke when he died, phoned the Holy Father shortly before death occurred. Subsequently the Pope expressed his profound regret.
Cardinal Cicognani, Papal Secretary of State. sent the following telegram to Sir Peter Scarlett : "The Sovereign Pontiff, recalling the long years of service as Minister to the Holy See of the late Sir D'Arcy Osborne, his sagacity and kindness, expresses his sincere condolenses on his death." Cardinal Cicognani also sent his own personal sympathy".
After the German entry into Italy during the last war the then Sir D'Arcy Osborne sought refuge in the Vatican. Although he remained there until the liberation in 1944, he was able to do much to relieve and help British prisoners of war and particularly in connection with the late Mgr. O'Flaherty's "Rome Escape Line"
The Duke was an admirer of Pope Pius XII and came to his defence in the controversy aroused a few weeks ago by the Hochhuth play. He was also a friend of Pope John and was received in audience by Pope Paul a few weeks ago.
The Queen Mother and Prirs cess Margaret broke their official itinerary in 195$ to have tea with him in his apartment in an old palace in Rome's historic Via Giulia. Queen Elizabeth also made her c ar departure from her official schedule in 1951 to visit him.
His apartment contained many photos and paintings, mostly by himself or members of the Royal Family. He was a talented water colour artist.
He was British Minister in Washington in 193t-1935 and had lived in Rome since his retirement in 1947. He visited England every summer.
Pope Paul, as Mgr. Montini of the Vatican Secretariat of State, with Major Utley and Sir D'Arcy Osborne founded the Don Bosco industrial school for poor boys. Its first members were shoeshine urchins and some of the "old boys" were present on Tuesday when the Duke's ashes were buried in the Protestant Cemetery