[4] He had intended to contest the St Albans by-election in October 1943, but communications difficulties with the Army Council prevented him from receiving the necessary permission soon enough to meet the deadline for nominations.

He told a story in The Observer Magazine that he took a morning off from the 1959 election campaign to go shooting with his brother, four years before the latter became Conservative Prime Minister in 1963.

Previously, William had briefly been the Conservative Party prospective parliamentary candidate for Kirkcaldy Burghs before resigning over foreign policy differences.

[citation needed] Despite his opposition to the policy of requiring the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany he was conscripted into the Army in July 1940 and joined the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment).

[7] He went to 161 Officer Cadet Training Unit (161 OCTU) in the buildings of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, where one of his colleagues was David Fraser.

[citation needed] Douglas-Home was assigned to the 7th Battalion of the Buffs, which was converted to tanks as the 141 Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (141 RAC).

In August, First Canadian Army was directed to mop up the German forces cut off in various sea ports in Normandy and Pas de Calais.

[citation needed] The aerial bombardment of Le Havre lasted four nights, killed over 2,000 French civilians, 19 German soldiers and levelled the city.

[citation needed] Douglas-Home was charged at a Field General Court Martial held on 4 October 1944 that, when on active service, he disobeyed a lawful command given by his superior officer (contrary to Section 9 (2) of the Army Act 1881).

None of those involved in the court martial, including Douglas-Home had a copy of the new edition of the Manual of Military Law, which had been prepared and published in April 1944, but was yet to reach personnel in Normandy.

[10] Because of the article in the Maidenhead Advertiser, the Allied forces besieging Calais allowed the civilians to be evacuated from the town before it was subjected to a heavy aerial bombardment and final assault.

This created something of a situation because he refused to go into action but at the same time was claiming that he could capture Le Havre without firing a single shot.

Home told me that the reason he refused this duty was that if the operation was carried out as planned a large number of French civilians would be killed.

[13]Wareing continued: Whilst under arrest Home had written to the editor of the Maidenhead Advertiser who published an exclusive on how Le Havre was captured without firing a single shot.

The initial upshot was that our CO Lieutenant Colonel H. Waddell was relieved of command and demoted to Major although he continued in combat until we reached Brussels.

This could have explained the demotion of our CO. Justice was finally seen to be done because William Home was sent to prison.He served 8 months, initially in Wormwood Scrubs, then completing his term in Wakefield Prison.

Wilson wrote his story deliberately in the third person:[citation needed] Even when he sailed with the regiment to Normandy, William had continued his private war-against-war.

[14]In 1988, Douglas-Home was roused to challenge his cashiering for disobeying orders, in the wake of an article in The Times, prompted by the election of Kurt Waldheim as the president of Austria.

The article attacked Waldheim, who was claimed to have been a Schutzstaffel (SS Officer) in the Greek theatre of war, supervising the loading of prisoners who were being transported north for imprisonment or worse.

The first film, called The Reluctant Debutante, released in 1958, featured Rex Harrison and Sandra Dee, with a screenplay by the playwright himself.

Another of Douglas-Home's plays, The Secretary Bird (1968), was later adapted into an Italian film, Duck in Orange Sauce (L'anatra all'arancia; 1975), which starred Monica Vitti and Ugo Tognazzi and was directed by Luciano Salce.