Hunt for Lost Prince
A local legend which suggests the epileptic son of King George V had connections with Norwood has been given fresh credence this week by a Shirley woman who claims members of the Royal Family regularly visited a local masseur in the early 1900's.
Image: The Duke of York, later King George V, and his family in 1906 with the Duchess (Queen Mary) holding Prince I, John. I
Prompted by last week's Heritage story on the 'Lost Prince' along with Sunday night's broadcasting of the BBC drama about John, the youngest son of the King, Christine Smith called the newsroom to offer her insight into the mystery.
Shirley resident Christine, 61, worked as a home help for the daughter of a wealthy German born masseur named Ziter in the late 1970s who reportedly massaged King George for a number of years at his Maberley Road home.
Christine told Heritage: "I can't remember her Christian name but I know her surname was Ziter-Harris, she was married to a famous English cricketer in the 1920s.
"I was her home help for about four years. She still lived in the family home alone, there weren't any servants living there any more".
"She was a cow to work for. For a long time she felt it was beneath her to talk to me but as she became more and more dependant on me she started to open up about her family history.
"Her father was a very wealthy, successful man from Alsation in Germany. When they moved to Maberley Road, he didn't want any neighbours so he bought the two houses either side of him and let his servants live there".
"His daughter was educated at a private school in Crystal Palace for £48 a year and, according to her, Ziter was such a good masseur that he counted King George V among his clients.
"Apparently he would regularly visit him and sometimes Queen Mary would come along too.
"So they may have taken Prince John to a doctor round here for his autism and epilepsy."
The masseur. Ziter, was believed to have died in 1954 and his daughter died in 1982.
Christine added: "Mrs Ziter-Harris was quite a character".
"She drove a car, which was very unusual in those days, and was the first woman to drive at the Broadlands Racecourse".
"She used to tell me how, on her shopping trips to London in the 1920s, she would drive up to Hyde Park and just park her car on the roundabout and leave it there while she shopped".
"Could you imagine doing that now?"