Fonteyn: Revolutionary ballerina?
Dame Margot Fonteyn, one of Britain's most famous ballerinas, was "up to her neck" in a coup plot in Central America - along with Fidel Castro, according to government files released today at the National Archives.
It seemed "better than fiction" as the news reporters put it. Britain's leading ballerina, Dame Margot Fonteyn, had been accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Panama. She'd been arrested and held in jail overnight. Mobbed by press in New York, on her way back to London, she delicately avoided all questions on the subject. Poised, graceful, courteous, she gave the impression of a somewhat regal figure, accidentally caught up in some local political trouble.
In fact, as newly released government files show, Dame Margot Fonteyn was closely involved in the coup attempt. Her husband, Roberto Arias,was a leading opposition figure in Panama and according to the British Embassy there "it has long been known that he has been conspiring against the Panamanian government". When Dame Margot Fonteyn spoke to the British Ambassador, after she'd been questioned, he learned that:
"She knew that her husband was gun-running, she knew that he was accompanied by rebels and at one point she used her yacht to decoy government boats and aircraft away from the direction which her husband was taking."
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It seemed "better than fiction" as the news reporters put it. Britain's leading ballerina, Dame Margot Fonteyn, had been accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Panama. She'd been arrested and held in jail overnight. Mobbed by press in New York, on her way back to London, she delicately avoided all questions on the subject. Poised, graceful, courteous, she gave the impression of a somewhat regal figure, accidentally caught up in some local political trouble.
In fact, as newly released government files show, Dame Margot Fonteyn was closely involved in the coup attempt. Her husband, Roberto Arias,was a leading opposition figure in Panama and according to the British Embassy there "it has long been known that he has been conspiring against the Panamanian government". When Dame Margot Fonteyn spoke to the British Ambassador, after she'd been questioned, he learned that:
"She knew that her husband was gun-running, she knew that he was accompanied by rebels and at one point she used her yacht to decoy government boats and aircraft away from the direction which her husband was taking."