Major Pieter Voltelyn Graham "P. V." van der Byl MC (21 February 1889 – 21 January 1975) was a South African soldier and statesman.
[1] Major Piet (as he was commonly known) was a chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, Honorary Colonel of the University of Cape Town Regiment,[2] as well as receiving the Military Cross and the King George VI Coronation Medal.
During this time, van der Byl frequently called on an old family acquaintance and famed big game hunter, F C Selous, and would be one of the last people to see him before his assassination.
[5] Since there was little left for him to do in East Africa, van der Byl managed to secure a transfer to the Western Front, where he joined the RAF.
For his efforts during the war, van der Byl was made a chevalier de la Légion d'honneur by the French Government and he was invited to Buckingham Palace to receive the Military Cross.
[9] The conclusion of the war in Europe signalled a return to a more quiet life of living between England and running the family estates in South Africa.
Back in South Africa, van der Byl by chance met Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, and the two immediately struck up a close, lifelong friendship.
In 1948, van der Byl was requested to crown the new Zulu King, Cyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomon (father of the current King, Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu), to which van der Byl chose the hymn Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika to be played at the coronation, which forms part of South Africa's current National Anthem.
However, van der Byl managed to win the seat for Green Point (a suburb of Cape Town) in October of that year.
[14] During his years in opposition, van der Byl's views on National Party government policy never changed, he vehemently continued to openly criticise the Apartheid regime for its extreme suppression of the non-white population and its transformation of South Africa into a republic.
[16] However, in van der Byl's case, the dislike with the National Party extremists was mutual, and he later bought the bench on which Verwoerd was murdered.
In his retirement, van der Byl became a director of South African insurance giant, Old Mutual, and he wrote a three-volume autobiography: Playgrounds to Battlefields; Top hat to Veldtskoon and The Shadows Lengthen.
Van der Byl was offered several times a baronetcy by King George VI, but Smuts refused as he insisted that South Africans did not require titles.