Baghdad Oct 15 Dearest Father. I've a spare half hour before lunch and as I have got to go to the King at 4 and dine with the Minister of Justice I shall not have much time this afternoon, so I'll begin writing to you in the office. Sorry to say I have been afflicted with a violent cold in the head but it's getting better. Also I have had a fearful number of social functions. On Saturday there was a farewell dinner at the Residency to Nigel - the King came and all his special friends. He left on Sunday. I'm so sorry he is gone. On Sunday I had to take a party of French tourists over the Museum - nice people they were, Count and Countess de Fels, among them, brought a letter to me from Ronald Storrs. Then I had the Minister of Justice to lunch - he is a relative of the Naqib, new to Cabinet office and a very good man. Then I swam with the Sinbads which was rather silly of me, but she has just come back and I wanted to go swimming with her. She is a dear little thing. Finally I had the King to dinner. That was a day, wasn't it. On Monday Yasin Pasha dined and two to meet him. We played Bridge. Yesterday at last I had a quiet evening and went to bed early with the result that I'm better. We are having fearful alarums and excursions over Mecca [Makkah]. The King had violent hysterics on Monday; on Tuesday he formally abdicated in favour of the Amir Ghazi - but only to Sir Henry. H.E. asked him where he was going, to which H.M. couldn't find an answer. His family, apparently, are sailing about the Red Sea like so many Flying Dutchmen. Sir Henry then advised H.M. to wait and see, so he withdrew his abdication for 4 days! I remember that in 1922 Ken Cornwallis had Faisal's abdication lying about in a drawer for a month. There is a fierce rivalry between us and Palestine as to who is not to have King Husain. I do pray that it will end in a decision in our favour. He would be an incredible nuisance here, I feel sure. No doubt he will be rather a bore in Palestine but he can't do so much harm where he hasn't a son on the throne. I have just had a message from the Palace asking me to go to tea, so I expect H.M. wants his hand held. I console myself with the reflection that in whatever way King Husain may continue to add his quota of irritation to the general burden of the universe, it will not, at any rate, be in the capacity of King of the Hijaz and Khalif of Islam. As for our war, you know as much about it as I do, more perhaps. We have just heard that the Turks have referred the definition of the status quo to the League of Nations which is all to the good. I don't think they want to fight. They are in great trouble with their Kurds. The better part of a regiment mutinied and deserted the moment they were marched into the Assyrian country. Their officers are in Mosul [Mawsil, Al] now. The nationalist movement is making strides and though I think that it's tosh and that the idea of an independent Kurdistan is quite illusory, it may well embarrass the Turks considerably. Indeed we are inclined to think that the attack on the Assyrians may be due to a desire on the part of the Turkish Govt to divert the thoughts of the Kurds into other channels. If so, it doesn't seem to have met with success. I have letters from you and Mother of Oct 1, all about your Free Traders. You appear to have been very much de fust[?]. And now you are thick in the elections and I'm longing to know your views. Upon my soul, I think I would vote Labour if I were in England. The turning out of the Govt at a time when the peace of Europe is still on such thin ice seems to me to be such a mean party trick. And the programmes of the Conservatives and Liberals are poor, hackneyed stuff, don't you think? But if the Labour party were to come in with a clear majority we should be in for trouble too. It is very difficult for us, as Ja'far says. I wonder if the Norton Griffiths scheme is coming off. We hear that he can't find the money in London, even for the preliminary experiment in cotton growing, 3/4 of a million. He doesn't inspire much confidence, I imagine, and it is also said that the terms he has given Asfar (a Syrian who is merely a company promoter, though a clever little man) are much too liberal. Oct 16. [16 October 1924] I found H.M. quite collected and reasonable yesterday. He doesn't the least want his father here if he can be provided with accommodation elsewhere. I am still alive, after dining out of doors on a night grown suddenly cold, with the Minister of Justice. Indeed I think I'm on the mend. Your very affectionate daughter Gertrude