Hamilton acknowledged that the Admiralty had admitted Battenberg without the usual medical certificate and defended the decision through his subsequent health and worldwide service. Pickersgill alleged that three doctors had rejected him and that Queen Victoria had intervened to secure his entry. Randolph Churchill challenged the reference to the monarch, and the Speaker ruled that it breached Commons convention, prompting an apology. The missing certificate is established in the exchange, while the account of repeated failed examinations remains disputed. Possible explanations involving royal medical privacy and different treatment before formal entry are speculative. Battenberg later supported reforms broadening officer entry, and his service record showed that he was rarely sick.
Notable Point · 42:17-51:48
Battenberg's entry medical certificate debate
The parliamentary attack shifts to Battenberg's missing entry medical certificate, exposing both constitutional limits on political questioning and the gap between an irregular admission and 19 years of healthy service.