| Dermot Michael Macgregor Morrah | |
| Birth Date: | 26 April 1896 |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
| Genres: | --> |
| Subject: | British Royal Family |
| Spouses: | --> |
| Partners: | --> |
Dermot Michael Macgregor Morrah (26 April 1896[1] – 30 September 1974) was a British journalist for The Times and an expert on the British royal family.
Morrah was educated at Winchester College and went to New College, Oxford, where he studied mathematics for a year just before the outbreak of the First World War before enlisting in the British Army and fighting in France.[2] There, he was wounded and returned to Oxford, changed his studies to modern history and gained a first-class degree. He became a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, and shared rooms with T. E. Lawrence. After dating his future wife under the eye of a nun who acted as a chaperone, his marriage forced him to end his Prize Fellowship, as they were required to be single.[3]
Morrah was in the Civil Service for six years before joining the editorial staff of the Daily Mail in 1928.[4] A few years later, he joined the editorial staff of The Times, where he worked for 30 years.[5] During this time, he wrote books on Britain's monarchy and its constitution, and later began writing speeches for George VI during the Second World War.[3] His books have included the History of the Times, The Royal Family: The Illustrated Story of the Royal Family's Service to Britain and the Commonwealth,[6] The Work of the Queen[3] and To Be a King, the last being about the early life of Charles, Prince of Wales.[5] From 1945 to 1965, he was editor of The Round Table: A Quarterly Review of British Commonwealth Affairs.[7]
He was an expert on heraldry and genealogy and a good court historian.[3] His unpaid post of Arundel Herald Extraordinary was given to him on 27 April 1953. He had a friendly relationship with Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.[5] In 1947, while Elizabeth II was still a princess, Morrah wrote a famous speech of hers given on her 21st birthday in southern Africa, which had been briefly lost in a bar.[3] He was later an aide at the coronation of Elizabeth II.[5]
He was a member of the College of Arms.[5]
Morrah died on 30 September 1974, aged 78.[5]