Editing Unity Mitford (section)

==Controversies==
===Allegations of a faked shooting===
On 1 December 2002, following the release of declassified documents (including the diary of wartime MI5 officer Guy Liddell), investigative journalist [[Martin Bright]] published an article in ''[[The Observer]]'' saying that Home Secretary John Anderson had intervened to prevent Mitford being questioned on her return from Germany. He also said that the shooting, which "has become part of the Mitford myth", may have been invented to excuse this.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/dec/01/martinbright.theobserver|title=The truth about the Minister, Unity Mitford and the hole in her head|access-date=18 May 2008|last=Bright|first=Martin|newspaper=The Observer|location=London|date=30 November 2002}}</ref>

Bright cites the statements of press photographers and others who witnessed Mitford's 3 January 1940 return to Britain that "there were no outward signs of her injury." Liddell had written on 2 January, "We had no evidence to support the press allegations that she was in a serious state of health, and it might well be that she was brought in on a stretcher in order to avoid publicity and unpleasantness to her family." Liddell had wanted her and her entourage, which according to Bright included known Nazi supporters, to be searched upon arrival, but the Home Secretary prevented this. On 8 January, Liddell notes receiving a report from the Security Control Officers who were responsible for meeting the arrivals that states "there were no signs of a bullet wound."<ref name=":0" /><ref Name="HBG"/>

Mitford's cousin, [[Rupert Mitford, 6th Baron Redesdale]], replied to the accusations by saying, "I love [[conspiracy theories]] but it goes a little far to suggest Unity was faking it. But people did wonder how she was up on her feet so soon after shooting herself in the head." Unity's sister, [[Deborah Mitford|Deborah]], rebutted by stating that the entourage that returned with Unity consisted of herself and their mother and although she could not remember them being searched upon return, that Unity "could not walk, talked with difficulty and was a changed personality, like one who had had a stroke", and that she has detailed records from Professor Cairns, neurosurgeon at the Nuffield Hospital in Oxford, on her condition, including X-rays showing the bullet.<ref name="observer2"/> In a 2007 article for ''[[New Statesman]]'', Bright states, "In fact, Liddell was wrong about her injuries. She had indeed shot herself and later died of an infection caused by the bullet in the brain."<ref name="newStatesman">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/martin-bright/2007/12/unity-mitford-home-hitler-war|title=Unity Mitford and 'Hitler's baby'|access-date=5 February 2015|last=Bright|first=Martin|date=13 December 2007|magazine=The New Statesman}}</ref>

===Rumours of Hitler's baby===
In December 2007, Bright published an article in ''New Statesman'' stating that following a previous article on Unity Mitford, he had received a phone call from a Ms Val Hann, a member of the public, offering new information on the story. The caller said that during the war, her aunt, Betty Norton, had run Hill View Cottage, a private maternity hospital in Oxford where Mitford had been a client.<ref name="theTimes"/> According to Hann's family legend, passed from Betty to Val's mother and then on to Val herself, Mitford had checked into the hospital after her return to England where she had given birth to Hitler's child, who was subsequently placed for adoption.<ref name="theTimes"/> Bright states he was initially sceptical.<ref name="theTimes"/><ref name="newStatesman"/>

Bright travelled to [[Wigginton, Oxfordshire|Wigginton]] where the current owner of Hill View confirmed that Norton had indeed run the cottage as a maternity hospital during the war. Bright met with elderly village resident Audrey Smith, whose sister had worked at Hill View. She confirmed seeing "Unity wrapped in a blanket and looking very ill" but insisted that she was there to recover from a nervous breakdown and not to give birth.<ref name="theTimes"/>

Bright contacted Unity's sister Deborah who denounced the villager's gossip and claimed she could produce her mother's diaries to prove it. Bright returned to the National Archives where he found a file on Unity sealed under the 100-year rule. He received special permission to open it and discovered that in October 1941, while living at the family home in Swinbrook, she had been consorting with a married RAF test pilot – throwing doubt on her reported invalidity.<ref name="theTimes"/>

Bright then abandoned the investigation, until he mentioned the story to an executive from [[Channel 4]] who thought it was a good subject for a documentary film. Further investigation was then undertaken as part of the filming for ''[[Hitler's British Girl]]''.<ref Name="HBG"/> This included a visit to an Oxfordshire register office, showing an abnormally large number of birth registrations at Hill View at that time, apparently confirming its use as a maternity hospital. No records were found for Mitford, although the records officer stated many births were not registered at this time. The publication of the article and the broadcast of the film the following week stimulated media speculation that Hitler's child could be living in the United Kingdom.<ref name="theTimes">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3042944.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709025025/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3042944.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 July 2008|title=Did Unity Mitford have Adolf Hitler's love child?|access-date=18 May 2008|last=Yeoman|first=Fran|date=13 December 2007|newspaper=The Times|location=London}}</ref><ref name="theSundayTimes">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3056288.ece|title=Is your neighbour Hitler's son?|access-date=18 May 2008|date=13 December 2007|newspaper=The Sunday Times|location=London|first=Laura|last=Pitel}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref name="theMirror">{{cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/12/14/a-real-little-hitler-89520-20248636|title=A real little Hitler|access-date=18 May 2008|last=Routledge|first=Paul|date=14 December 2007|publisher=The Mirror|archive-date=19 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219134744/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/12/14/a-real-little-hitler-89520-20248636/|url-status=dead}}</ref>