Trooping the Colour was a success this year, blessed with plenty of sunshine. Riding on His Majesty’s annual tribute to the military, here I try again, a pitch via the web.

This is not the first time I write a public letter to His Majesty, the previous one was about a film called The Mermaid and ocean biodiversity.

Every since I had the honour to meet His Majesty at his spring reception in 2023 at the Buckingham Palace, public letter has become one’s special wish. I wish that one day, that this digital telegraph is somehow read, somewhere, by you.

The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru is a feature documentary about British POWs in the Far East, and the sinking tragedy. What happened to over 1,800 British soldiers? What did they encounter in the China sea? Up until the film was released (in both mainland China then in the UK, distributed by us), the story of the Lison Maru was not widley known by many in the public. However, there are over 500 relatives and family members who are directly related to this history in the the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

They have been experiencing the trauma brought home by their loved ones as part of their lives, they grew up with the history and the emotional impact even lingers till nowadays. Some of them did not even know what happened to their fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers, uncles, grand uncles, great grand uncles, until they had a chance to watch The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru.

Distributing this film has become more than a usual film distribution business. The preasure on my shoulders is hard to be expressed in words while balancing the nuance. It feels like a wave of deep water, between two continents, between two countries. They might not be agreeing on several things in the current climate, but this is a shared history.

Most who have seen the film, acknowledge how caring the documentary is by the way it deals with the subject matter. For many, this is still a very sensitive story. For family members of the POWs in the Far East, one of the most important things for them is to let more people know about this lesser known history. While memorial activities took place across the country and internationally for VE 80, VJ 80 is unlikely to attract the same attention. It deserves the same respect and remembrance, the boys also fought hard in Asia.

Last week, I went to Liverpool to support a special screening of the documetnary, as part of the Far East POW Research Group conference. It was then, I learnt about Arthur Percival and his connection with the Cheshire Regiment. On the 15th of February 1942, Lt General Arthur Percival signed the largest surrender in British history in Singapore. Although Percival was not taken on baord to the Lisbon Maru, the surrender incident was the beginning of the rest of the Far East WWII history. After Singapore, it followed with the Fall of Hong Kong, British soldiers were captured and taken on board, to be transferred from Hong Kong to Japan…

The full list of regiments on board of the Lisbon Maru is as follows:

The Royal Navy
The Royal Marines
The Royal Naval Dockyard Police
The Royal Artillery
The Royal Engineers
The Royal Signals
The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)
The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge’s Own Regiment)
The Royal Army Service Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Dental Corps
The Merchant Navy
St John Ambulance

The Cheshire Regiment was not onboard of the ship but some British POWs did have a prior connection with the regiment.

Why are we so keen to invite His Majesty to watch this documentary?

Not only because it will mean a great deal as part of the VJ 80 memrorial activities worldwide, but it will also be meaningful to the family members. For them, this will be a formal recognistion and acknowledgement.

His Majesty the King is currently the Head of the Armed Forces and Lord High Admiral of The Royal Navy, the Captain-General of The Royal Artillery, Head of the Armed Forces and Captain General of The Royal Marines, Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Engineers, and formerly the Colonel-in-Chief of yhe Cheshire Regiment (1977–2007).

In my eyes, His Majesty the King has always been an entrepreneurial individual, a force of nature, innovative and empathetic. Beyond the subject matter and its relevance to VJ80, above direct connections are already more than enough to enlighten my barvery for writing this open letter.

If His Majesty the King is interested in watching this film, a private screening can be arranged anytime at any cinema. In fact, may I suggest, the Regent Street Cinema (where the film received its UK premiere on the 17th March), the birthplace of cinema-going in the Kingdom, as well as a historical institute where it used to train vetrans for new employable skills, such as film projection.

“I told you it was true, I told you it was true, I told you it was true, the Lisbon Maru”.

Sincerly yours.