ET American author offers new window on Pocahontas row
By Jonathan Petre

PATRICIA CORNWELL, the American crime writer, is to stir controversy over Pocahontas, the 17th-century American Indian princess, by sponsoring a stained glass window in a London church.

The author of the best-selling Kay Scarpetta novels will this week unveil her plans for the window in St Sepulchre's, the largest parish church in the City of London, after months of agonising over its design.

She had intended to dedicate the window solely to the princess, whose "romance" with the English settler Capt John Smith was made into a Disney film in 1995. The film was criticised for distorting the facts, and in an episode that echoes that row, the plans for the window have been changed. It will be more "inclusive".

The Rev Dr Peter Mullen, the rector at the church from where Smith set out and where he features in a window, said he was "amazed" that anyone would have objected to a Pocahontas design. "Originally Patricia wanted to put in a window for Pocahontas, but that ran into difficulties, so there will be some kind of more general theme instead," he said. "Whatever it is, we are very pleased to celebrate the links between London and the state of Virginia, which Smith founded."

The story of how in 1607 the little Indian girl saved the life of Smith in Jamestown is the stuff of legend. Smith, who had been sentenced to death, was about to be executed by the Mattaponi tribe on the orders of their chief Powhatan.

His life was saved by Pocahontas, the chief's daughter, who rushed forward and placed her head over Smith's as it was about to be crushed by a stone. She later married another Englishman, John Rolfe, converted to Christianity and bore him a son. She died on a trip to London in 1617, aged 22 and is buried at Gravesend in Kent.

The Disney cartoon transformed the 11-year-old into a statuesque temptress and depicted Smith, who contemporaries described as a short ginger-haired middle-aged man, as a barrel-chested 6ft blond hunk.

The plans for the window, to be designed and installed later this year, will be disclosed on Thursday when Cornwell, accompanied by the governor of Virginia and his wife, will announce her sponsorship. The writer was not available for comment yesterday.

The Virginian tourist office was unable to confirm whether Pocahontas will still feature in the window. It said: "The image is still to be decided. Patricia Cornwell and others will be carefully looking at designs. They want to make sure that the window most appropriately represents the Jamestown experience."

Cornwell became intrigued by London history while researching her novel The Isle of Dogs, her first to be based in England, which will be published in December.

Dr Mullen said Cornwell who lives in Virginia, first visited the church last October, and had been in regular contact since. He said: "It is my intention to build up a cultural and educational exchange link with Jamestown.

"It is a marvellous opportunity to strike up a new relationship between the old world and the new. The Americans usually think that their existence began with the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620, but John Smith preceded them by 13 years."

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2001