Historians believe the Duke of Windsor actively collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War

 

The late Duke of Windsor is perhaps most known for abdicating the throne in 1936, less than a year after being crowned King Edward VIII, to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson. But what happened afterward is where the true scandal lies. 

In the documentary Edward VIII: Britain's Traitor King, experts unearth documents that suggest the duke's dealings with the Nazis during the Second World War were extensive — and that his actions were covered up by the British government after the war.

"Edward's motivation was a sense of rejection from England. I think he never really got over that," Anna Pasternak, author of The American Duchess: The Real Wallis Simpson, says in the film. 

"Here is a former king that was exiled from Britain. There was so much hurt, rage, misunderstanding. That went into a lot of why and how he behaved. He was utterly selfish," she says. "As a lot of the documents might suggest, the duke was terrifyingly open to Germany and what he felt the Germans could offer him."

In 1937, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor set off on a tour of Germany, when the Nazi regime was in full control of the country. 

"This would be all over the world — photographs of Wallis and Edward with Hitler," historian Jane Ridley says in the documentary. "This would be acutely embarrassing and unacceptable [to the royal family]."

In October of that year, the duke wrote a thank you letter to Hitler after spending time with him at his mountain retreat. 

"It's written in German, but the translation reads, 'To the Führer and [Chancellor], the Duchess of Windsor and I would like to thank you sincerely. Our trip through Germany has made a great impression on us. Many thanks to you for the wonderful time that we had with you at the Obersalzberg," Andrew Lownie, author of Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor, says in the film. 

"Having seen so much evidence for his treachery, this [letter] was probably one of the most sensitive documents that I found in my research, and it's an indication of just how close the duke was to Hitler," he says.  (more...)

Historians believe the Duke of Windsor actively collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War

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