The Traitor King: The Duke of Windsor (a re-run)
"Either this nation shall kill racism, or racism shall kill this nation." (S. Jonas, August 2018)
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"How do you spell ICE in German? GESTAPO." (S. Jonas, July 2025)
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"First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.
"Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
"Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
"Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me." Pastor Martin Niemoller (c. 1946)
Introduction: A couple of years ago I ran a column on the man who, for the last half of the 20th century, was generally known as the "Duke of Windsor" (Click Here). It dealt in part that with dealings that he, a former future English King, had in the summer of 1940 with the leadership of a nation, Nazi Germany, with which his nation was at war. Those dealings are laid out in some detail below.
Here, I am re-running the earlier column, while first introducing the subject with a Comment that I posted today (April 22, 2026) on a Steve Schmidt column --- concerning the visit of King Charles II to the reigning fascist of the United States. Then I proceed to the excerpt from the earlier column.
My comment on the Steve Schmidt column on the impending visit to the U.S. of King Charles II:
"In the summer of 1940, the former Prince of Wales of England and, the then no-longer future King, the man who would be given the meaningless title of "Duke of Windsor," as the Nazi Wehrmacht was moving South in France, was, with his wife, a U.S, slowly making his way across the south of France, having left his French chateau, towards the Spanish border. As documented in a book by Andrew Lownie, "Traitor King" (and others), representatives of his were negotiating with Nazi representatives about, possibly, a notable position for him in a future German-conquered United Kingdom, such as restoration to the ceremonial Crown or ceremonial President of a new Republic.
"Obviously, those negotiations were never concluded. The couple eventually entered neutral Spain, then went on to neutral Portugal, and then made it back to the UK. Given that it was wartime and that there were a significant number of former Nazi sympathizers in the UK (e.g., the Mosleyites), Churchill solved "the problem" by shipping the Duke off to the Bahamas as the British Governor there, for the duration of the war. Then the couple were exiled to France. How ironic is it that the Duke's Great Grandnephew is closing the evil circle by paying a 'State Visit' to the U.S. ideological descendant of Adolf Hitler."
And now to the excerpt of the earlier column cited above (Click Here).
The Prince of Wales (1930s) was a right-winger, who thought that fascism had a lot to offer to the Western nations struggling through the Depression. He was rabidly ant-Soviet. In terms of Germany and Italy, he was a pacifist until September 3, 1939, when the United Kingdom declared war on Germany following its invasion of Poland. Even after that he plumped for a peace settlement between Nazi Germany and the U.K., especially following the Fall of France in June 1940. He openly, through intermediaries, consorted with the Nazis whilst in France early that summer, and after France's abject surrender, then in Spain and Portugal as he and his wife were making their way out of Occupied Europe.
In the summer of 1940, before and during the early days of the Battle of Britain, a German invasion of the U.K. seemed a certainty and a then-German victory almost inevitable. During that brief period (before Great Britain won the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940) Hitler and the Nazi High Command foresaw victory over the UK, and actually envisioned either restoring Edward to the throne of the conquered nation or converting it into a Republic with Edward as President. It is certainly unclear to what extent Edward bought into this idea and how much of it was discussed with him through Spanish and Portuguese intermediaries as he dallied on the European mainland before getting back to the UK. Did he ever buy into the idea, did he listen intently, did he reject it out of hand? Which alternative is not known. But he certainly was pursuing having the U.K. engage in peace negotiations with Germany during that summer.
Detailed files from the German side of what went on in Portugal and Spain during the summer of 1940 between the Duke, (to re-emphasize, through intermediaries not directly), and the Nazis, called collectively by them "the Windsor file," emerged after the War (despite the best efforts of both the Tories and the post-war Labour government to keep them hidden if not destroyed). But it has never before been clear what exactly happened in that fevered time. As Andrew Morton (see the note below) said, was Edward a "Traitor King or a Duped Duke?"
But what we do know is the following. As noted, Edward been a Nazi sympathizer quite some time, and in that summer, he was flirting with the Nazis. And he knew it. If he had been coronated in 1937, he would have had a hard time of it both because he had those sympathies and because very early on in his brief reign, he had already shown an authoritarian streak. He violated the British Constitution(unwritten as it is --- only the British could do this) which since the time of Queen Victoria had provided that the Royal sovereign should have no role in actual governance. For four days after Hitler undertook his first foreign aggression and re-occupied the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles in March 1936, Edward (by then King and head-of-state even though not yet coronated) instructed his government not to react to it. They didn't (and neither did the French). Whether that was because of a directive from Edward or not, he, according to German intelligence, did deliver it.
So, what was going on? My estimation (and I must say that it is different from most interpretations of his behavior at the time) is that Edward, at some level, knew that as much as many of his aristocratic friends and certain elements of the manufacturing/commercial British ruling class agreed with him on Germany (and Italy) and fascism as a mode of governance, in one way or another he would not be permitted to continue to function that way as king.
The by-then traditional role of English king was one which did not suit him. And if war with Germany were to come, he would be forced to ceremonially be the nation's leader in it, something that his political gut would reject. (As it happened, his younger brother, the Duke of York who succeeded him as George VI, also had right-wing tendencies. But as King he was able to put them aside and was also able to abide by the British Constitution. He thus became an important ceremonial leader for the British people during the war.)
In my view further, however much he was in love with Wallis Simpson, the Duke, who had had many lovers over the course of his life (as had she), did not abdicate because of his love for her. I believe that A) he didn't want to be King as the British Constitution would have eventually required him to be, B) he really thought that things might change in that regard should there be a war that Germany could very well win, and C) he didn't really want to be the titular leader of Great Britain in any prolonged war (which of course it turned out to be).
As it happened, as previously noted, there were some very delicate negotiations, through intermediaries in Spain and Portugal in that summer of 1940, between Edward and the Nazis. (Edward and Wallis had left one of their palatial homes on the French Rivera in advance of the German arrival following the armistice with the collaborationist Petain/Laval Vichy government.) BUT, he was always VERY careful to make sure that to the Nazis he never actually said what it was he wanted and what he might accept from them. He certainly did not want to become the first English former sovereign to be executed for treason since Charles I. Hinting, but with total deniability. That was the way of Edward VIII, then the Duke of Windsor.