Thread by @Tim_Schmalz

What's the connection between Sir Walford Selby and Bellatrix Lestrange? 🤔

For 2.5 years I've been working on a riddle for my PhD that concerns @UKinAustria and @austriainuk, and resulted in an unexpected link to #HarryPotter!

Read on to follow my discovery! 👇

Selby was the British Ambassador to #Austria for much of the 1930s. Frustrated with the Foreign Office's 'empty promises of support' for Austria in the face of Nazi Germany, Selby sought the help of friends in high places in order to sidestep official diplomatic channels. 🆘

Early in his tenure in Vienna, Selby struck up a series of correspondence with a mysterious friend, 'VBC', with whom he confided his fears and hopes.

Now, 'VBC' is the vital link to 'the boy who lived'.

Dozens and dozens of letters were exchanged...but I needed a *name*! 🙃

Reverse-checking the several addresses that appeared in VBC's letterhead over the years (they were some pretty ritzy residences near Hyde Park!), cross-referencing indexes, and scouring my other sources all left me empty handed.

'VBC' remained an enigma.

Gah! 😱😱😱

'VBC' certainly moved in important circles. In 1 letter alone, 'VBC' mentions having dinner/drinks/parties with 2 Prime Ministers, PUS of State for Foreign Affairs Anthony Eden (who later became PM) & @austriainuk's Baron Franckenstein (the Austrian Ambassador) - who *was* he?!

Two days ago I revisited the hundreds of photographs of the handwritten letters I had taken at @bodleianlibs more than two years ago to see once again if I had overlooked the key clue (MS. Eng. c. 6587, in case you're interested!).

Nothing. 😩

But then...

On the top of the backside of one of the letters there was some writing that was written sideways in the upper margin. I tilted my computer screen to read what was scribbled, and there it was at last...Violet Bonham Carter! 🤩

'VBC' wasn't a 'he' - 'VBC' was a *she*! 🤯🙌

The daughter of Lord Asquith, a former PM, Bonham Carter was fiercely anti-appeasement and a politician in her own right, serving as two-time president of the Women's Liberal Federation and the first woman president of the Liberal Party.

She was a staunch defender of Austria.

Bonham Carter was a crucial intermediary between Selby & those in London with similar sympathies for beleaguered Austria.

She promised Selby that she 'would leave no stone unturned' to help enable him in his mission to protect Austria & used her network to try to rally support.

And, of course, Violet Bonham Carter was the grandmother of #HelenaBonhamCarter, the talented actress behind Bellatrix Lestrange. 🪄😉

So that's your Anglo-Austrian diplomatic history fun fact of the day! 🇬🇧🤝🇦🇹(🧙‍♀️)