There have been stories about Edward VIII and his links with the Nazis for years. I first read of them back in the 1970s in Socialist Worker. It didn't surprise me. Not that I knew with any certainty at that point, of course, but I'd always instinctively doubted the tragic, romantic story, much of it propounded by the Windsors themselves, of the 326-day king who had renounced the throne of Britain to be with the woman he loved. It all sounded too good to be true - and it was. Then there was the sad aftermath. According to the legend. Edward VIII morphed into the Duke of Windsor and lived his life in exile, faithfully serving his country during WW2 as Governor of the Bahamas. His wife, Wallis Simpson and Duchess of Windsor, again according to this long-refuted legend, was spurned by the Royal family and watched her husband's state funeral from a window, June 5, 1972.
As I said, later in the 70s, the true nature of the Duke, his wife and their pro-Nazi sympathies became better known. A great deal of incriminating material has become available since then , but books, films, radio programmes, etc, about the Royal family bore me stiff, so I didn't follow the story closely. This change for me came after watching a recent Channel Four documentary based upon a new book by Andrew Lownie: "Traitor King". Mr Lownie is to be congratulated on having written a very well-researched book which convinces me that "Eddy" was indeed a traitor who should have been tried for treason - even Daily Mail readers who saw the programme think that. Let's look at the main charges first.
Lownie is admirably clear in his condemnation of the Windsors and their pro-Nazi sympathies before and during WW2. Previous writers on this topic have portrayed them as dupes. Lowrie refutes this, saying:
“The argument of this book is that there is plenty of evidence … that the Windsors were not foolish and naïve, but actively engaged with the German intrigues.”
As we know, prior to the King's abdication in 1936, there was a good deal of sympathy for him from supporters who wanted him to stay on as monarch. One such supporter was Winston Churchill - although he later revised his opinion of "Eddie". There were supporters beyond the corridors of power, some of whom are seen in the picture below.
Oswald Moseley and his Blackshirts were loyal friends to Eddie. During the Abdication Crisis, they would chant "Stand by the King" on their marches. As might be expected, the main Fascist leaders, Hitler and Mussolini, looked upon Eddie with favour, even before he became king.
The admiration was mutual. The Windsors made a well publicised visit to Nazi Germany in1937. Lownie quotes Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister, as saying:
"It's a shame he is no longer king. With him we would have entered into an alliance".
During a visit to Dusseldorf, the Windsors visited a miners' hospital and - unbelievably - a concentration camp. Lownie quotes a companion of the Windsors as saying:
"We saw this enormous concrete building which, of course, I now know contained inmates. The duke asked "What is that?". Our host replied, "It is where they store the cold meat".
It's not known whether the Windsors understood that sick joke, but even if they didn't, they were unlikely to have disapproved. Lowrie yet again:
"The Duke was strongly pro-German...telling Diana Moseley, "Every drop of blood in my veins is German".
After WW2 began, the Duke was given the post of liaison officer to the French 1st Army. This gave him insight into the weaknesses of the Allied defences. Eddie then, consciously or (much less likely) not, revealed the weaknesses in the Allied defences to a pro-Nazi American friend, Charles Bedeaux, who then, on business trips to Holland, divulged this information to the German Ambassador who, in turn, passed the information to Berlin. When the Germans launched their offensive in May, 1940, they attacked in the sectors where the Duke had identified weak points.
As the Germans approached Paris, the disloyal couple made a tardy escape to the Iberian peninsula, where, while Britain endured hardship and rationing, they lived a life of luxury. From the outset of their stay, Eddie had contacts with German agents and leading figures in the the Francoist regime. The Spanish foreign minister wrote to Franco, after a conversation with the Duke:
"He (Eddie) throws all the blame (for the war) on the Jews and the Reds and Eden...all of whom he would have liked to put up against a wall".
A Spanish diplomat, quoted here by Katrina Urbach, reported that Eddie wanted to see England bombed:
"In another conversation on June 25 1940 Bermejillo reported that Windsor stressed if one bombed England effectively this could bring peace...He wants peace at any price".The intelligence services were well aware of the duke's wavering loyalty to the Allied cause and sent an agent to shoot the Duke and Duchess if the Windsors attempted to defect. The Germans launched an operation of their own: "Operation Willi", designed to lure the Duke into fleeing to Germany to become a sort of Quisling king-in-waiting. British intelligence got wind of this and hurried the Windsors away to the Caribbean, much to Hitler's chagrin. Coincidentally (or not), the day the Windsors sailed from Lisbon, Hitler ordered the bombing of Britain to begin.
The grossest act of betrayal is a “killer telegram” of 15 August 1940, in which the Duke - now on his way to the Bahamas - asked his Portuguese friend (and an agent for the Germans) to send a code word as soon as his return to Europe was required. The suggestion is that he was complicit in a scheme to be installed as a puppet ruler in Britain after a negotiated peace. As the Duke knew that his friend was a German agent, that proves him guilty of treachery. Communicating with the enemy was a capital offence, but, strangely, no arrests were made.
The Duke's anti-Semitism did not perish with the Third Reich, nor did his predilection for Fascists vanish. Oswald Moseley was a frequent house guest at the Windsors' home in post-war Paris. Other guests were treated to anti-Semitic outbursts, such as this, quoted by Lowrie:
"On one occasion the Duke took a lady guest's hand in his and "closing her fingers together, enclosed her hands over them. The Duke continued..."The Jews had Germany in their tentacles. All Hitler tried to do was free the tentacles". With that, he released the lady's hands"
We could leave our discussion of the book there, but...
...the book points to more details about this couple. Besides their co-operation with the Nazis, Lowrie paints an uncompromising picture of a thoroughly unpleasant pair. They were clearly foolishly extravagant and ungrateful to their hosts. As
Marcus Field remarks in his review of the book in the Evening Standard, after the Duke left England in 1936, he stayed ...
"... initially for four months as a guest at a castle belonging to Baron Rothschild in Austria where he waited for Wallis Simpson’s divorce to be finalised (she stayed in France). A pattern was immediately established, with bills for the Duke’s shopping and £800 in phone calls charged to his host. When Kitty Rothschild gave him Cartier studs for Christmas, the Duke reciprocated with a signed photo of himself."
Nor was the Duke's racism confined to Jews. Lowrie quotes from a report that the Duke sent to Churchill in 1942:
"...negroes in the mass are still children mentally and morally...liberal socialistic ideas of freedom and equality regardless of race or colour may sound fine theoretically, the forcing of the theories are...both premature and dangerous as far as the Western hemisphere is concerned..."
The Windsors left a lot to be desired as employers also. The book lists a number of examples of loyal staff who were summarily dismissed without explanation - sometimes after decades of service.
Then there is the murky affair of
the murder of Sir Harry Oakes on Bermuda in 1943, while the Duke was serving as governor. This is
a complex matter, but Lowrie points out that the man arrested and tried for the crime -
Count Alfred de Marigny - had "history" with the Duke which led to Marigny's arraignment for murder. Marigny was cleared of the crime and this rebounded on the Duke. As Lowrie comments, this was:
"...a disaster for the Duke, showing his lack of authority and judgement and revealing how he had tried to frame an innocent man"
For those interested, Lowrie looks at the long-established speculation about the Windsors' sexuality and their extra-marital "diversions". Personally, I can't see the relevance, but Lowrie makes a point of asking if they were actually both gay, citing a number of sources from psychiatrists to Noel Coward, who said of the Duke:
"I'm queer and he's queer but, unlike him, I don't pretend not to be".
The problem with this is that there is no proof offered as to the Duke having gay relationships, nor did any of his previous mistresses reveal anything amiss in his sexual activities. What cannot be denied is that the Duchess had a very public affair with
a younger man called Jimmy Donahue, who was openly gay. Lowrie here gives way to gossip, and distracts us from the main point, which is that the Duke of Windsor was a Nazi sympathiser and a traitor to his country. I think Lowrie has established that - at least to my satisfaction - and I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Royal Family, WW2, espionage, or all three.
Now, I am well aware that many people will say that they are not interested in the antics of the Windsors and see no point in either watching the documentary or reading the book. I accept this, but would respectfully remind such people of the title of this blog item. The documentary was screened on Channel Four, which has a sterling reputation for challenging, hard-hitting programmes. The Channel byline is:
"Challenge your thinking with documentaries on Four". Not if Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has her way. If she succeeds, C4 will be privatised, and we won't see documentaries like
"Traitor King" any more. If you oppose this, please click on
THIS LINK.And, if you are interested, read the book!
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