© The Author(s) 2019 63
A. O’Sullivan, The Baghdad Set,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15183-6_4
CHAPTER 4
Restoring the Peace
The country was soaked in German doctrines; the Berlin radio blared
from every coffee-house; the army was surly over its defeat and none too
pleased to discover that it had been effected with less than two British
battalions; and the worst of the Middle Eastern war was beginning.
—Freya StarkAs a first step towards restoring peace to Iraq, on 1 June 1941, Sir Kinahan
Cornwallis, his diplomatic staff, and some senior British advisers to the
Iraqi government went to meet the returning Regent, Emir Abdulillah of
Hejaz (1913–1958) (Fig. 4.1), some miles out in the desert on the Falluja
road and returned with him to the palace, where he received the congratu-
lations of the assembled diplomatic corps and a large gathering of officials,
notables, and well-wishers. The Union Jack was rehoisted at the embassy
on 9 June in the presence of a group representing the British residents of
Baghdad; no doubt most of the Baghdad Set were there—Freya Stark, the
only woman in the party, and Seton Lloyd certainly attended. On 14 June,
Cornwallis presented his credentials to the Regent.^1 Though Abdulillah’s
return marked the ceremonial close of Rashid Ali’s misguided attempt to
overthrow the Iraqi constitution and govern the country with the aid of a
military junta, in alliance with the Nazis, this was clearly not the time for
Freya Stark, Dust in the Lion’s Paw: Autobiography, 1939–1946 (London: John
Murray, 1962), 119.