Adding the famous ‘United States of Europe’ quote and writing ‘the first step is to form a Council of Europe’ himself, it is clear how strongly he supported the concept of a united Europe. In this document, the prepared speech transcript, we can see additional notes written in Churchill’s own hand. Advocating for a partnership between France and Germany, and the need for a ‘United States of Europe’, this speech set the scene for the creation of a Council of Europe, an organization that might thwart the threat of future war and ensure the continued freedom of European peoples. He would often engage them in ‘swan-talk’, of which he was highly proficient.ħ5 years ago, on 19th September 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech at the University of Zurich that caused a stir. Churchill also talks fondly of Chartwell’s black swans, given to him by Sir Philip Sassoon from their native Australia. The tide of the war was changing – the siege of Malta had been lifted, the desert war had been won, and days before Churchill wrote the Battle of Stalingrad had ended hopes of a German victory in Eastern Europe. A plaque reads that Rota was presented ‘as a war mascot and to commemorate the magnificent victories in North Africa’. The symbolism of the animal to British heraldry and identity is clear. By 1943 he was free of much of the early cabinet instability of his Premiership, and ‘ministerial calm’ had prevailed, but he acknowledges that ‘situations may arise in which I shall have great need of it.’ He was able to visit Rota, pictured in July of that year feeding him meat at the other end of a long shovel amidst crowds. In this featured document, Churchill writes to Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire and Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, informing him of this news. In a symbolic act he was presented to the Prime Minister in 1943. He was given to London Zoo ‘on deposit’ but later donated permanently, in a much larger cage. There were also fears that Blitz bombing would let him escape the back garden. By May 1940 rationing had made it impossible for his owners to keep feeding him a healthy diet – around 50 pounds of horsemeat a week.
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