As Allied forces fought their way into Germany in the closing months of the Second World War, Winston Churchill was forced to take time off from directing Britain’s war effort to attend to a crucial matter – the appointment of a new provost of Eton College.
Official files newly released to the National Archives show how – in war and in peace – successive prime ministers were required to break off, at least briefly, from the other matters of the day to consider the administration of the UK’s most exclusive public school.
