Six decades after a conviction that they say was designed to smear her, the family of Profumo scandal figure Christine Keeler are making a final, historic push for justice. Her son, Seymour Platt, is leading a campaign for a posthumous royal pardon, hoping 2026 will be the year his mother's name is finally cleared.
The Shadow of a Scandal and a Conviction
Christine Keeler, who died in 2017 at the age of 75, was at the heart of the Profumo Affair in the early 1960s, a political sex scandal that helped topple Harold Macmillan's Conservative government. However, it was a separate legal case that led to her imprisonment. In 1963, the then 21-year-old was jailed for nine months for perjury following a violent attack by her stalker, Aloysius "Lucky" Gordon.
Her family maintains that Keeler lived in genuine fear of Gordon and that the assault was real. The perjury charge arose because she told jurors two witnesses were not present during the incident, a statement her supporters argue she was pressured into making. Gordon's subsequent conviction for assault was overturned on appeal based on this testimony.
A Final Bid for a Royal Prerogative of Mercy
Having exhausted standard judicial routes, the family's last hope lies in an arcane constitutional power. In May of this year, they submitted a 300-page dossier calling for the use of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. This would allow the King, on the advice of the Justice Secretary, to grant a pardon.
This mechanism is reserved for incredibly rare circumstances, typically where someone is proven to be "morally and technically innocent" of the crime. The family's application argues precisely that: that Keeler was a victim who was wrongly criminalised to discredit her over the Profumo scandal.
"I am hoping that 2026 is the year we can fulfill my mother's request to tell her story," Seymour Platt told the Mirror. "That she was a scapegoat and it was wrong that she was sent to prison."
Legal Support and a Symbolic Fight for Women
The campaign has garnered significant legal backing. World-renowned human rights barrister Felicity Gerry KC has publicly supported the case, framing it as a broader issue of justice for women. "I'm hoping 2026 is the year when we realise that Christine's case was such a terrible miscarriage of justice that her pardon matters to all women," Gerry stated.
She questioned how women can trust a justice system that fails to recognise when they are victims, pointing to the structures meant to protect them. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) previously acknowledged that the "unprecedented level of prejudicial media coverage" at the time meant Keeler could not have secured a fair trial. However, it declined to refer the case to the Court of Appeal, stating the court's ability to correct the public record regarding the Profumo affair would be very limited.
For Seymour Platt and his 16-year-old daughter, Daisy Devine-Platt, the fight is deeply personal, driven by a promise made in Keeler's will to "tell the truth about her life". As the new year begins, they wait to see if six decades of shadow can finally be lifted by an act of royal mercy.
