Anecdote for the Day

An item about Prince Harry’s intended marriage to Meghan Markle reminded of an anecdote about Winston Churchill . . . 

The item: 

Because Harry is in line to the throne, official approval is needed to wed. A short time ago Her Maj gave official approval to the wedding, stating in her declaration to the Privy Council: 

“My lords, I declare My Consent to a Contract of Matrimony between My Most Dearly Beloved Grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales and Rachel Meghan Markle, which Consent I am causing to be signified under the Great Seal and to be entered in the Books of the Privy Council.” 

The anecdote: 

The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is a high office in the British Government. Originally, its holder was responsible for the monarch's personal (privy) seal (as opposed to the Great Seal of the Realm, which is in the care of the Lord Chancellor) until the use of such a seal became obsolete. 

Between 1940 and 1942 the Lord Privy Seal was Clement Attlee, a man who did not inspire Churchill, Churchill once saying of him that he was "a modest man with much to be modest about”.

During the war years, whilst Churchill was in his war time bunker, his personal secretary knocked on his toilet door and told him that the Lord Privy Seal wanted to see him. 

Churchill called out to his aide: “Tell the Lord Privy Seal I am sealed in my privy, and can only deal with one shit at a time."

Winston Churchill

Clement Attlee