Signed letter in Afrikaans to Queen Wilhelmina dated 22/09/1941 on the official stationary of the Office of the Prime Minister, Pretoria.
English translation of the letter:
“Her Majesty Queen Wilhelmina
My prayer is that the glorious victory of our Afrikaner sons and daughters - descendants of two proud freedom loving nations - may also be the precursor to the eventual liberation of a precious fatherland - as a motherland.”
Wilhelmina was the Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw both World War I and World War II.
Following the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, Wilhelmina fled to Britain and took charge of the Dutch government-in-exile. She frequently spoke to the nation over radio and came to be regarded as a symbol of the resistance. By 1948, she had returned to the liberated Netherlands and was the only survivor of the 16 monarchs who were sitting on their thrones at the time of her inauguration.
Jan Christiaan Smuts (24 May 1870 – 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and 1939 to 1948.
After nine years in opposition and academia, Smuts returned as deputy prime minister in a 'grand coalition' government under J.B.M. Hertzog. When Hertzog advocated neutrality towards Nazi Germany in 1939, the coalition split and Hertzog's motion to remain out of the war was defeated in Parliament by a vote of 80 to 67. Governor-General Sir Patrick Duncan refused Hertzog's request to dissolve parliament for a general election on the issue. Hertzog resigned and Duncan invited Smuts, Hertzog's coalition partner, to form a government and become prime minister for the second time in order to lead the country into the Second World War on the side of the Allies.
On 24 May 1941, Smuts was appointed a field marshal of the British Army.
Smuts's importance to the Imperial war effort was emphasised by a quite audacious plan, proposed as early as 1940, to appoint Smuts as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom should Churchill die or otherwise become incapacitated during the war. This idea was put forward by Sir John Colville, Churchill's private secretary, to Queen Mary and then to George VI, both of whom warmed to the idea.
Source: Wikipedia
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