Prince Michael remembers a close friend of Sealand…
After the German/Dutch invasion of August 1978, when I was held prisoner for several days until being forcibly put on a Dutch trawler and released in Holland, our subsequent counter attack by myself, my father and several fellow Sealanders was Some adrenalin rush!
If you have ever watched the 1969 Bond film “On her Majesty’s Secret Service” starring Telly Savalas, Diana Rigg and the much maligned George Lazenby who played a square jawed but somewhat naff second Bond, after the charismatic Sean Connory’s portrayal of Ian Flemmings “devil may care” secret agent and seducer. You would be forgiven for missing our good friend and fervent supporter of Sealand who flew one of the helicopters, the actor and stunt pilot John Crewdson. During one action packed part of the film, a fleet of helicopters claiming to carry Red Cross aid to some disaster zone in Italy swoop down on the baddies fortified layer in the Swiss alps, to the very moving strains of the John Barry orchestra and the rattling of machine gun fire. As they are given the word to attack, the lead pilot (John Crewdson) complete with stick on moustache looks back at the camera and gives a macho grin.
Some ten years later he is doing it “for real, for the first time” as he so proudly put it afterwards. with “real baddies”, the sound of “real gunfire” ringing in his ears as he wrestled his helicopter into position and the Sealand special unit assault team fast rope down a hundred foot above the raging North sea onto the Sealand helideck to recapture the fortress island.
Prince Michael of Sealand
