The MoD got in touch yesterday. They confirmed the time of his death, and just said it occurred during ‘anti-insurgent operations in eastern Iraq, in the line of duty, killed by enemy fire together with the rest of his unit’. But that was it: that is all I will ever know about the circumstances of Robert’s death.
Twenty-odd words represent the full extent of the MoD’s comment on Robert’s life, his ten years’ service with the marines and his death.
I’m going to pull myself together and come back to work next week. That’s the best chance I have of getting through this.
Although at the moment I’m not sure this is something I ever will get through. But I know you and all my friends will help me try.
Love,
Harriet
From:
Date:
14 December
To:
Subject:
Captain Robert Matthews
Please could someone tell me how I can get more information from the MoD? I was engaged to Captain Robert Matthews who was reported as Missing in Action in Operation Telic 2, and this was posted on the website on 21 November. The MoD has refused to give me any further information. I would like to know more about the circumstances of his death-where he died and the mission he was engaged on. I do not believe I am being told the full truth about any of this, and I think I and Robert’s family have a right to know.
Harriet Chetwode-Talbot
From:
Date:
21 December
To:
Subject:
Re: Captain Robert Matthews
Dear Ms Chetwode-Talbot,
We are unable to help you with any of your queries, as we are dependent on the MoD to supply us with any information of the kind you are seeking. As Captain Matthews was on operational duties in an area with maximum threat level rating, the MoD has reserved the right to make a judgement about what information can, or cannot, be released on the basis of security considerations. We cannot assist you further. However, we recognise the stress this must cause, and suggest that you contact a new unit which has recently been set up by the MoD to supplement our own services, which is located in Grimsby. The contact details are: Bereavement Management Centre on 08004008000 or at Bereave@Grimsby.com.
From:
Date:
21 December
To:
Subject:
Captain Robert Matthews
My name is Harriet Chetwode-Talbot and I was engaged to a serving officer, Captain Robert Matthews, who was recently (21 November) posted as Missing in Action on the Operation Telic 2 website. Please can you help me. I desperately need to know:
how he died
where he died
why he died
Please can someone contact me as soon as possible?
From:
Date:
3 January
To:
Subject:
Re: Captain Robert Matthews
Owing to the volume of enquiries and current MoD budgetary constraints, this operation has recently been offshored to Hyderabad, India. Please call us on 08004008000 and you will be answered by one of our highly trained staff. All of our staff have taken the UK NVQ in bereavement counselling or a local equivalent of the same qualification. As this operation has only recently been transferred, you may experience some linguistic difficulties with some of our newer staff. Please be patient, they are seeking to do their best to help you.
All calls will be monitored for training and quality purposes. The counselling service is entirely free, but calls cost 50p per minute.
29
Interrogator:
When did you last meet the sheikh in the UK?
Dr Alfred Jones:
I met him in a hotel in London, in early July. We had dinner together, and Harriet joined us.
Interrogator:
What was the purpose of the dinner? Was Mr Peter Maxwell present?
Alfred Jones:
No, Peter Maxwell was not present then, although I met him that same day. It was a few days before I went out again to the Yemen for the final project launch. The sheikh had asked Harriet to dine with him at the Ritz. I had never been to the Ritz before. It was a beautiful, elegant room, with large round tables well apart from each other. I arrived first, of course; I am always too early for trains, planes and dinners. I spent ten minutes gazing at the expensively suited, smartly dressed inhabitants of the other tables. Have you ever dined at the Ritz?
Interrogator:
No, I have not dined at the Ritz.
Alfred Jones:
If you ever do, you’ll understand that I felt, even in my best dark suit, rather shabby, and I was glad when I saw the sheikh arriving, clad as usual in his white robes and followed by a respectful maître d’hotel.
‘Good evening, Dr Alfred,’ said the sheikh as I rose from my seat to greet him. ‘You are early. You must be hungry. Good.’ He sat in the chair the maître d’hotel had drawn out for him and ordered a whisky and soda for himself and a glass of champagne for me. I remember the sheikh turned to me and told me how good the food was there. I said I felt sure it was, and the sheikh nodded and said, ‘I know it is. The chef who now works here in the hotel used to work for me at my houses in London and Glen Tulloch, but I think he became bored with just cooking for me, and of course many weeks he was on his own when I was in the Yemen or elsewhere. So I understood when he accepted the offer of a job here, and of course I can still come and sample his cooking. I often do.’
The drinks arrived and, with them, Harriet. I had not seen her for weeks. She had gone back to work at Fitzharris & Price but then had experienced something that I think must have been close to a nervous breakdown. Now she spent most of her time living at home with her parents, working from a laptop in her father’s study. My first impression was how pale and thin she was. Then she smiled at us, and her smile brought a lump to my throat. She still looked very pretty, despite her worn out air. I felt a great wave of pity mixed with desire sweep across me. I remember thinking, Desire? I am fifteen years her senior, for God’s sake.
‘You are off to a good start,’ she said, looking at my glass. ‘Yes, please, the same for me, if it is what I think it is.’
‘The Krug ‘85,’ murmured the wine waiter who had handed us our drinks and was waiting for further orders. ‘His Excellency orders no other champagne.’
‘I didn’t know there was any other kind,’ said the sheikh. He smiled at us, and then there was the business of menus being handed round. Once this was done and orders had been taken, the sheikh raised his glass and said, ‘A toast!
To my friends, Dr Alfred and Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, who have worked without pause, who have set aside every difficulty both small and great-some difficulties, Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, have been very great for you, very great indeed-and have succeeded against all odds in bringing my project to this point.’
He raised his glass and drank to us. I saw the people at the next table gazing at the unusual, but in that place perhaps not unknown, spectacle of a sheikh drinking from a large tumbler of whisky and soda. He may have been aware of such glances, but they meant nothing to him.
I, in turn, raised my glass and said, ‘To the project, Sheikh Muhammad, to its successful launch and its great future, and to the vision that inspired it!’