Lord Louis Mountbatten of Burma. “The exact circumstances of the ‘plot’ will probably never be made public, but it was alleged that Lord Mountbatten and Cecil King, the former Chairman of the Daily Mirror had canvassed opinion on the support a military take-over might receive. One meeting, which took place early in May 1968 at Lord Mountbatten’s London home, was attended by Hugh Cudlipp and Sir Solly Zuckerman, Chief Scientific Adviser to the government. Mountbatten reported that the Queen had become concerned over the very large number of letters she had received protesting about the Wilson government [Labour government 1964-1970]. According to Mountbatten, no other monarch had ever been sent so much mail on one subject. He asked, in the broadest terms, what action should be taken. Zuckerman wanted no part of it. By the time Furnival Jones [Director General of MI5] reported to the Prime Minister, the meeting had been interpreted as the first stage in a military coup, with Mountbatten and Cecil King the principal organizers. Wilson was appalled at the prospect of such a ‘plot’ and instructed both MI5 and the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Burke Trend, to investigate further. No doubt this action would have been enough to ensure the collapse of the ‘plot’, if indeed one did actually exist. Certainly no military personnel were discovered to be directly involved, although Mountbatten, having been Chief of the Defence Staff, had the very best connections. (Nigel West, MI5 1945-1972, A matter of trust [Coronet Books 1983], p. 221-222)