Captain John Shirley Sandys Litchfield, OBE (27 August 1903 – 31 May 1993) was a British Royal Navy officer and politician who became Conservative Member of Parliament for Chelsea. He was noted for his connections with the Royal family. Education Litchfield was the son of a rear admiral in the Royal Navy (F.S. Litchfield-Speer), and went to the Royal Naval College, Osborne, where Naval officer cadets received an education akin to a public school subsidised by the Navy. He went on from there to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, and later studied at the Imperial Defence College and on an exchange trip to the National War College in the United States. Royal connections At Dartmouth, Litchfield was asked to "keep a fraternal eye" on fellow cadet Prince Charles of Belgium, and later served with him on when it visited the far east with the Prince of Wales. In 1922, while at the wedding of Lord Louis Mountbatten, Litchfield accidentally trod on the foot of former Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, who uttered a response that was "unparliamentary and swift". That same year, it was Mountbatten who personally informed Litchfield of his father's death. Litchfield was appointed as "King's Midshipman" for Cowes Week of 1924, and nearly caused problems when his steamship came within inches of colliding with the Royal Yacht. He later recalled that he heard a loud cry of "Mind my paintwork, boy!" and looked round to see that King George V was glowering at him. Later in the 1920s, Litchfield was called upon to reply to the toast "Wives and sweethearts" while on board Renown carrying the Duke and Duchess of York to Australia. He decided to end with his own toast, to the Princess Elizabeth, and ever after claimed to have been the first person to toast the health of the Queen. Naval advancement In 1929, Litchfield was posted to the Yangtze River and won permission to travel via the Trans-Siberian Railway. He stopped off in Moscow to see the sights and when he photographed the Kremlin, was detained by the OGPU as a suspected spy. Litchfield was an enthusiastic photographer, both still and cine, and his footage of naval operations is valued by historians. The 1930s saw him stationed in Palestine commanding armoured cars and trains on the land, and trying to stop Arab terrorists. He was mentioned in dispatches for his work there. Wartime