Exiles and espionage in Estoril
Telegraph "Discover Estoril" supplement
Published on Saturday May 17, 2008
In wartime, the Portuguese resort of Estoril provided inspiration for James Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming. Chris Alden reports.
It might look like an ordinary hotel now. But turn the clock back to the second world war, and the Hotel Palácio, Estoril, in then-neutral Portugal, was a hotbed of espionage and deceit – so much so that it helped give birth to the most famous secret agent of them all, James Bond.
Among the eminent guests who stayed in the hotel during the war were any number of royal exiles, agents and literary types, including King Umberto II of Italy, the French aviator and writer Antoine de St Exupéry, author of the Little Prince – and a British naval intelligence officer by the name of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.
On my visit to the hotel, marketing director Manuel Guedes De Sousa shows me a copy of Fleming’s registration card, which mentions a “Government Officer” under Fleming’s name who stayed in the hotel in May 1941.
Guedes De Sousa explains that there were so many international spies in Estoril at the time that all a journalist had to do to find out who had won a key battle in the war was to telephone the hotel’s concierge. If the Germans were celebrating in the bar, things weren’t looking good. If the British agents were popping corks, the headline would be more upbeat. The press agencies called it the “champagne news”.
As for Fleming, that would be the end of the matter if it weren’t for the small matter of the casino in Estoril – which lured his famously competitive spirit.
According to Fleming’s account, he found himself in Estoril one evening during the war, while he and a certain British admiral were awaiting transport from Portugal to the US. Needless to say, he couldn’t resist heading to the casino. Once there, Fleming recognised some German spies and took the chance to play against them, hoping to steal a few coffers from the Nazi war chest. Unfortunately, he lost. The incident has a direct parallel in his first James Bond book, Casino Royale, when Bond plays the international criminal Le Chiffre – except this time Bond wins.
As for the admiral, he was Admiral John Godfrey, of British naval intelligence – thought to be one of the inspirations for the character “M”. But Godfrey has questioned Fleming’s account, suggesting that rather than German agents, he’d been playing a bunch of Portuguese businessmen instead.
Of course, in the most recent Bond film, the remake of Casino Royale, Bond plays poker in the Casino Royale in Montenegro. But moving with the times, the modern-day casino at Estoril also offers poker rooms for those experienced or foolish enough to try their luck. And just to bring the roulette wheel full circle, the Hotel Palácio does appear in a Bond film – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Nevertheless, for an authentic slice of Bond history, head to the piano bar in the Grand Hotel Palacio and order a martini. Enjoy it any way you like, though – this is Portugal, after all.
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