A FORMER policeman provoked panic in Buckingham Palace in 1931 when he insisted that he had a superior claim to the throne than George V.

Anthony Hall argued that he was the 23rd descendent of Henry VIII and tried to convince mass crowds at a series of public meetings in the Birmingham Bull Ring that he was rightful heir to the throne. He started raising eyebrows in Whitehall and Buckingham Palace after making “scurrilous” attacks on the King, including a threat to shoot him.

George V, the Queen’s grandfather, was forced to intervene to make sure that Hall’s campaign came to an abrupt end, preferably in an asylum, while making it clear that the Palace’s involvement should never come to light.

But “King Anthony”, who was born in 1898, served in the police in Shropshire and died aged 49, thwarted attempts to prove that he was mad: two doctors gave him a clean bill of mental health.

The story unfolds in correspondence to the Home Office and the Palace released today at the National Archives. Hall traced his ancestry to Thomas Hall, the bastard son of Henry VIII, who died in 1534. He also claimed that James I of England was a changeling and could not have been the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, because he was “goggle-eyed”, his head was too large for his body, his tongue too large for his mouth and his legs were so rickety that he could not ride.

“Now we know definitely that this man was an impostor and I will therefore call him the missing link,” Hall said at one of his meetings, which drew crowds of up to 800.

“In fact he is the cause of all the trouble because having proved that he was an impostor, it is obvious that all the kings who claim to be descendents of his are not entitled to their jobs and are not of jobs royal.”

In an open letter to George V on February 2, 1931, Hall first made his claim to the throne and asked the King to relinquish the “Imperial Crown”.

The Chief Constable in Birmingham raised the issue in correspondence to the Home Office on July 6, 1931, suggesting: “It is quite evident that this man’s mind is not steadily balanced and in the ordinary course no notice would be taken of him; but his references to the King are highly offensive and it might be considered desirable to stop this man behaving as he is doing.”

Further letters to a senior civil servant at the Home Office revealed that Hall “would have no hesitation shooting him as he would a dog. The King was a German, and had no right to rule this Country.”

On July 13 Sir Clive Wigram, George V’s private secretary, became involved, suggesting that a stop should be put to Hall’s “effusions”. He suggested to the Home Office: “Would it not be possible to keep him under observation with a view to his final detention in an Institution, without actually putting him in prison?”

Further letters showed that a summons was issued on Hall, calling upon him to find sureties or face imprisonment. Sir Clive sent a letter approving the proceedings but adding “so long as it is quite understood that His Majesty is in no way responsible for the initiation of them”. Hall was arrested on July 24 after making another “scurrilous attack” on the King in the Bull Ring and was then examined by two doctors.

The files include two letters from the two doctors who refused to certify him as insane. Walter Jordan, who examined him on July 25, said he was “unable to get facts definitely indicative of unsoundness of mind”. He concluded that his claim to the kingship was a case of a sort. Hamblin Smith, a prison doctor, said that he was also unable to certify Hall.

Hall was later found guilty of disturbance of the peace and fined £10.

Two weeks later, on August 12, Hall delivered his swansong in the Bull Ring before disappearing from Birmingham. “The police tried to get me certified insane and sent to prison for life,” he said. “Yes, without trial too . . . Well, people, I am going away for a while, but I shall be back later. Goodnight my friends, you may be my subjects one of these days.”

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