From saluting SS camps to playing with Goering's model trains - new podcast reveals how Hitler manipulated a 'deluded' Edward VIII into becoming a 'Nazi puppet'

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

On the final instalment of the Mail's three-part podcast miniseries examining Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Kate Williams examine how deeply the exiled couple became entangled with Nazi Germany.
After abdicating in December 1936, Edward and his twice-divorced wife Wallis found themselves seeking new allies, having been effectively ostracised by the British establishment and denied the full privileges of royalty.
Buoyed by the propaganda triumph of that summer's Berlin Olympics, Hitler saw in the royal couple an opportunity to lend his regime further international legitimacy.
Wanting to still appear a statesman, Edward accepted an invitation to visit Nazi Germany in 1937, a decision that prompted his brother King George VI to write to Edward's political advisor Walter Monckton that the plan was 'a bombshell, and a bad one'.
By 1937, Europe was well aware of Nazi Germany's dismantling of democracy, persecution of Jews through the Nuremberg Laws, illegal rearmament, and aggressive territorial ambitions, making Edward's visit a highly controversial legitimisation of an openly authoritarian regime.
The photographs from the visit and the rumours it generated would forever tarnish the former King's reputation.
This episode of Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things explores what the couple did in Germany and investigates whether Edward was truly willing to collaborate with the Nazis should they occupy Britain.
Edward and Wallis's 1937 Tour of Nazi Germany
Beyond mere self-aggrandisement, royal biographer Robert Hardman believes Edward and Wallis agreed to the tour because they harboured fascist sympathies.
In the late 1930s, this was seen as problematic but not entirely unusual among the British upper classes. Across Europe, many aristocrats viewed fascism as a bulwark against the spread of communism.
'Throughout the story of Edward and Wallis Simpson, there is a swastika', Hardman said.
'There was Nazi influence all the way through. In the run up the abdication, Hitler was issuing instructions to his diplomats in London to try and stop it. Hitler believed Edward was on his side.
'There are well documented stories Simpson's links to Nazi politicians and diplomats in London.
'It was clear by 1937, that Edward VIII would, in any given situation, lean towards the Nazi side.'
Upon arrival in Germany, Edward foolishly sees himself as a 'peacemaker', as Kate Williams told the podcast.
'That vision he had of himself was hopelessly naive', Williams described.
'Because for Nazi Germany, the former King turning up and having the red carpet laid out for them is giving consent to the regime.
'It's treated like a Royal progress – crowds' wave away. The couple are greeted by the British national anthem accompanied by Nazi salutes. They dine with high-ranking Nazis including Goering, Goebbels, Ribbentrop and Speer.
'All of the Nazi charm is brought out to bear on Edward and Wallis, and they are there with their eyes closed to the reality of the situation.'
During the tour, Edward is taken to munitions factories, SS training camps and Hitler's Salzburg Mountain retreat, the Berghof.
An SS trooper would later recount how Edward relished in saluting the soldiers and declaring the shared racial ties between the British and German peoples.
Visiting Berchtesgraden for a private meeting with Hitler, Edward reportedly killed time waiting for the Fuhrer by viewing Goering's prized model train set.
Hardman explained: 'There's a hilarious lunch where Goering entertains the couple: he lays on this chorus of mountain huntsman with these horns to serenade them
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'Of course, they feel terribly important. At last, Edward thinks, I am being treated like the King I once was, and my wife, the Queen she should have been.
'After lunch, Goering shows them his model railway set, and they're utterly charmed by this. You get these amazing glimpses into what a bunch of crackpots these guys all were.'
Exactly what the former King and Hitler discussed in their private meeting remains unknown to this day.
According to his advisor Dudley Forwood, Edward told the dictator that the 'British and German races are one and they should always remain one.'
In 1966, Edward told a reporter that he and Hitler had discussed the need to destroy communist Russia.
Williams said: 'The King later says of the meeting that Hitler made him realise Red Russia was the true enemy.
'He convinced him that Great Britain and Europe should encourage Germany to march East and crush communism once and for all.
'The Duke of Windsor becomes obsessed with the idea that he and the Nazis can be best friends – he's impossibly naive about the realities of the regime.'
Following their meeting, rumours would dog Edward that he had tacitly agreed to replace his brother as King in the event of a Nazi occupation of Great Britain.
Addressing the veracity of these rumours, Hardman said: 'I do think Edward was deluded – his sympathies did lie strongly with the Nazi cause.
'But it's probably pushing it too far to suggest that there was a plot to put the Duke of Windsor on the throne.
'What is true is that when asked whether he would ever come back to Britain to be President if we ever became a republic – he said yes.
'He was happy to countenance the fall of the monarchy and taking over some sort of head of state role.
'Whether he would be willing to do that under the aegis of Nazi Germany is a deeper question.'
To hear about the political fallout of the visit and how Edward and Wallis spent the war, search for Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things now, wherever you get your podcasts.