Remarkable residents: Anne Matheson

This is an occasional series on some of the remarkable people who’ve lived in Tavistock Court.

Anne Matheson was a pioneering Australian journalist. She was one of the few women to report from the front line during World War Two, and was the only journalist to fly over the Rhine as the British and US armies were crossing it, riding as observer with an American colonel in a Thunderbolt aircraft. She attended the press conference when Hitler’s air force chief Hermann Goering was captured, and recorded memorable details like the holes in his uniform where the Allies had ripped off his medals.

After the war she forged a decades-long career as a royal correspondent, touring the world with Britain’s first family. In 1952 she was with Princess Elizabeth in Kenya when news arrived of the death of King George VI; a courtier actually borrowed Anne’s car for a dash to a nearby military base to seek confirmation. The timing meant Anne was the first person ever to curtsey to the new Queen Elizabeth.

Flat 24 in Tavistock Court was Anne’s home base whenever she returned from her global assignments. She died in 2006.