Security concerns, about U.F.O.s

Files from other departments, like the Ministry of Defense, provide interesting details about Britain’s security concerns through the past century, including those involving unidentified flying objects.

The ministry received drawings, reports of sightings and questions from concerned citizens over several decades, papers released in several batches through the National Archives showed.

“No U.F.O./flying saucer has landed in the vicinity of Menwith Hill and the base had no connection with U.F.O. research,” the ministry once replied to local farmers who reported sighting a disc-shaped object.

The U.F.O. files are available for browsing on the National Archives website.

A Royal Wedding That Never Was

Anthony Eden, who briefly served as prime minister in the 1950s, did not seem poised to stand in the way of a potential marriage between Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II’s sister, and Group Capt. Peter Townsend. Even as the royal family was navigating what it would mean for Princess Margaret, then third in line for the throne, to wed Mr. Townsend, who was divorced, the government was coming up with plans to support the marriage.

Mr. Eden’s government would have allowed Princess Margaret to keep her royal title.

“The government was looking for ways of enabling her to marry,” an official at the National Archives told the BBC after government papers were released after the death of the princess.

A Merger With France?

When Prime Minister Guy Mollet of France visited Britain during the Suez Crisis in 1956, he had a surprising suggestion, according to papers from the National Archives seen by the BBC in 2007. He proposed a union between the two countries.

Later, when Mr. Eden was in Paris, Mr. Mollet reiterated the proposal and said that France would be happy to join the Commonwealth.