Cigar Churchill smoked as he planned D-Day is discovered after being hidden for 66 years



A cigar smoked by Prime Minister Winston Churchill as he planned D-Day has been discovered - after being hidden for more than 60 years.

Christian Williams, 33, was given the artefact when he was just 12 by his grandfather Ronald Williams, a WWII veteran who served as the British premier's butler.



At more than 6in long, the cigar has never been touched by its owner, who keeps it safe in a sturdy wooden box.

Historic: Churchill's cigar and place cards taken from the Casablanca Conference

It was taken from the historic Casablanca Conference at which Churchill and other Allied leaders declared they would fight until Germany’s unconditional surrender.

At the January 1943 meeting, Churchill had wanted to launch the D-Day invasion of France that year - but instead it was agreed to tackle Italy first.

However, the conference set in motion planning for the cross-channel attack that took place on June 6, 1944.

Cigar fan: Churchill enjoyed smoking

Place cards bearing the names of the world leaders taken with the cigar from the conference combined with the testimony of Mr Williams’s grandfather make its pedigree beyond doubt.

Mr Williams, a student at Lincoln College and lives in nearby Horncastle, said he felt honoured to own a piece of history.

He said: ‘I’ve kept the cigar a secret and completely to myself since my grandad gave it to me all those years ago.

‘I can remember so clearly what he said to me as he handed it over. He said: “You’ll know what to do with it one day and realise what it is.”

‘Even at 12, I obviously knew who Churchill was, but I didn’t fully understand the relevance of the cigar until quite recently when I spoke to an expert.

‘I’ve never dared to touch it and never picked it out of its box, it’s far too precious to me.

‘I don’t even keep it at home because I’m worried about it, it’s held in a safe place and I only take it from there for special occasions.

‘It’s a really powerful object because when I look at it I can really imagine where it came from.

‘I guess I have got a 20th century icon, you think of Churchill and you think of the man with a big fat cigar in his mouth.

Casablanca conference : From left, General Henri Giraud (French deputy) President Franklin D Roosevelt, General Charles de Gaulle, and Winston Churchill,

In colour: Churchill at the Jnauty 1943 conference with Roosevelt, who persuaded him to put back D-Day plans to invade France and instead take control of Italy first

‘You can just imagine him saying “Let’s go with D-Day” as he stood there puffing away on it.’

Ronald Williams, who served in the 8th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, had been asked to act as butler to the Prime Minister for the conference in 1943.

The meeting, which had the codename of Symbol, was held from January 14 to 24 in the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco.

Among the leaders present were U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French, who had recently regained control of their North African colony from the clutches of the Nazi puppet regime of Vichy France.

Proud owner: Christian Williams was given the cigar by his grandfather, Churchill's butler, when he was 12

Notably absent, however, was Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who stayed in Russia due to the raging battle of Stalingrad, which by that point the communists had nearly won.



And so, as Red Army soldiers finally began to roll back the Germans on the Eastern Front, the conference marked the turning point for the Allies in Western Europe.

At some point during the conference, most likely the end given the importance of the place cards, Ronald Williams decided to take some souvenirs of the occasion.

And in 1987 he passed the incredible heirloom down to grandson, a gift made especially poignant as he died just two years later at the age of 67.

Mr Williams had the cigar valued at £800 by an expert during the filming of the Antiques Roadshow at Lincoln Cathedral.

Presenter Fiona Bruce told him the place cards with the item and the details from his grandfather meant its history could be corroborated.

But he said he would not consider selling the precious items, unless it was to a very specific person.

Mr Williams said: ‘He must have been clearing away at the end and must have put them in his pocket as keepsakes.

‘I wouldn’t like to guess if it was something Churchill knew about, I simply don’t know if there was an arrangement for him to take them or not.

‘I would only ever sell it to the Churchill family or to a museum because I think it’s too important to be shut away in a private collection.

‘I think there are only a handful of his cigars left in existence, which makes this really special to me.’