Maria Passolides is a young Cyprus woman from London. Her uncles, Georgios and Euripides, were murdered by Francis Urquhart on his tour of duty in Cyprus in 1956. She and her father Evanghelos moved to London and investigated what happened to them.
History[]
Maria on the deserted roof garden of the Houses of Parliament
Maria Passolides' uncles, Georgios and Euripides, were murdered by British Army soldier and future politician Francis Urquhart on his tour of duty in Cyprus in 1956. She and her father Evanghelos Passolides later moved to London and began investigating the deaths of Georgios and Euripides. In 2003, Maria's father recognises Prime Minister Urquhart as the soldier who killed Georgios and Euripides. Maria is asked by her father to investigate while secretly considering taking vengeance on Urquhart. Maria's search of government records finds a report on the incident written by Urquhart, but his name is redacted.
Upon being approached by Maria on the rooftop of the House of Commons, Urquhart arranges for documents revealing his involvement to be excluded from a coincidental declassification of British records relating to Cyprus. Maria later meets with Urquhart's Parliamentary Private Secretary Claire Carlsen and former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Tom Makepeace. At Makepeace's suggestion, Carlsen purloins the unedited report on the Cyprus killings from the secret government archive where it is stored. However, Urquhart's bodyguard, Corder – informed by the archive clerk – seizes the document from her, who later gave it to Makepeace to set in motion Urquhart's downfall. Carlsen's photocopy of the document was thus rejected by Makepeace, who was by then already in possession of the original, and he refused to give Carlsen a place in his new government, as he saw her as "pure poison" due to her association with Urquhart.
After this, Maria meets Urquhart again on the rooftop of the House of Commons. The incriminating Cyprus report has been sent to Evanghelos anonymously – presumably by Corder – and Maria vows to publish it. Urquhart told Maria that her uncles were Urquhart's informants and that he killed them to prevent them from being killed by their own people, but Maria does not believe him. Saying his goodbyes to Maria, Urquhart briefly contemplated killing her by throwing her off the rooftop (as he had previously done with Mattie Storin twelve years prior), but ultimately decided not to.
While Urquhart appeared defiant over Makepeace and Maria saying they will publish the tape and the Cyprus report, refusing to resign as he was close to beating Margaret Thatcher's record for time served in office, Elizabeth was worried, and she consulted Corder for advice on how to save him. Corder advised "drastic measures". Elizabeth decided to have her husband assassinated to spare him the shame of exposure, resignation, trial, life imprisonment, and historical damnation (his opponents were close to uncovering his shady past). Shortly thereafter Evanghelos and Urquhart were killed during the assassination of Francis Urquhart.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the novel, Maria and Tom Makepeace were in an adulterous relationship, which was almost immediately revealed after Maria's father Evanghelos assassinated Francis Urquhart. Criminal-conspiracy charges were considered but nothing could be proved in court, although the circumstantial proof against Makepeace had been established in the minds of the voters long before election day. In the TV miniseries, Maria and Makepeace were not romantically involved and a sniper in Corder's forces assassinated Urquhart as opposed to her father.
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