Jason MoorePalma13/02/2021 09:55
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I know that the world of film sometimes doesn´t take history into full account but I do hope that the new film with Colin Firth, Mincemeat, gives credit where credit is due. One of the leading architects of Operation Mincemeat was the former British Consul in Majorca, in the 1930s, Captain Alan Hillgarth.

Hillgarth met Winston Churchill in Palma in the 1930s at the Grand Hotel (now fundacion La Caixa). Churchill was so impressed with Hillgarth that he appointed him as his “chief intelligence officer” in Spain, when he became Prime Minister in 1940. Hillgarth was involved in the operation to bribe Spanish generals to keep Spain neutral despite pressure from Hitler and he also played a key role in Operation Mincemeat.

According to Wilkipedia: Hillgarth had a prominent role in Operation Mincemeat in which faked documents were used to fool the Germans about Allied plans for the invasion of Sicily. Yesterday, I searched through all information relevant to the film and found no mention of Hillgarth. I do hope that the script writers have not written him out because it would be a tragedy. Hillgarth actually worked in Spain with Ian Fleming (the creator of James Bond) and there are some who say that 007 was based on the former British Consul. Much of the work he carried out in Spain is still secret but historians say that he was very active and successful. I do hope that the film Mincemeat tells the whole story. I sincerely believe that the operation wouldn´t have been possible without Hillgarth.