Khalid Sheldrake

In 1932, he conducted the conversion of Gladys Milton Palmer, wife of Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke, aboard a chartered Imperial Airways 42-seat airliner over the English Channel.

[2] In the early 1930s, a series of rebellions among the mostly Muslim population of Xinjiang deprived the local governor, who had pledged allegiance to the Republic of China, of control of the region.

Several short-lived Islamic states were founded, including the First East Turkestan Republic (commonly called the ETR) and the Khotan Emirate.

The ETR sought international recognition but was opposed by all powers with influence in the region: China, Afghanistan, Japan, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom.

[2] In 1933, Sheldrake welcomed an ETR delegation to his home in Forest Hill and accepted their invitation to become overlord of "Sinkiang", soon after he departed for China.

The SCMP did not publish the story until 30 March 1934,[2] more than a fortnight after The New York Times had revealed that Sheldrake had accepted the ETR's invitation to become king.

Despite Chinese police surveillance an ETR delegation visited Sheldrake at the hôtel and repeated their offer to make him their head of state.

[2] In early August, the Sheldrakes were approaching Xinjiang but found that the coalition of factions that created the ETR had disintegrated into violence and Soviet-backed forces[2] led by the warlord Sheng Shicai (盛世才) were restoring Chinese control.

He travelled in north Africa and central Europe, and served his family business by buying sour pickles in Turkey.