The Duke and Duchess of Windsor met Adolf Hitler in 1937. In 1970 he told one interviewer: “I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap.”
Posted on 12/10/2010 10:24:24 PM PST by iowamark
Wallis Simpson was branded a 'miserable second-rate American woman' by BBC founder Sir John Reith after he learned Edward VIII was to abdicate to marry her, it has emerged in his diaries.
The eyewitness account of the abdication crisis by the corporation's then director general shows a distinct lack of appreciation for the divorcee....
He wrote a diary account of the events surrounding the address and extracts are featured in a collection of radio broadcasts, and television footage telling the Abdication story.
The material has been put online to commemorate the anniversary of the broadcast...
"He said that the King simply wasn't sane. He was going to realise later what he had done."
In the document the director general describes how he spoke to Edward's legal adviser Sir Walter Monckton a few minutes after the broadcast about Mrs Simpson.
Sir John wrote: "He said he couldn't find words for her. I said it was awful that all this crisis was caused by a miserable, second-rate American woman."
Before leaving he spoke to Edward telling him "Good luck, Sir" and shaking his hand and bowing.
Reith wrote: "What an occasion. What that young man has thrown away - a greater opportunity than any King or any man ever had."
The BBC Archive collection which is now online includes speeches when Edward was the Prince of Wales, showcases interviews after he became the Duke of Windsor and features other interviews with those who knew him and his wife.
A 1980s radio programme is also available featuring the journalist who first broke the story about the King's affair with Mrs Simpson.
In it he talks about the event that prompted his decision to file the scandalous scoop that ended Fleet Street's "conspiracy of silence".
For more information go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/edward_viii/
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Ha! Well, join the club! :-) and FReegards!
Photos dont do her justice. She was very stylish, elegant, charming. Plus had learned a lot of interesting things in China.
Hmmm...you read the Charles Higham bio too?
I flew in from Atlanta, played music in the ballroom there and stayed overnight. What a great place.
The point is, he didnt want the crown and the throne. He wanted to play with his dogs and design jewelry.
Dont know why so many people here have it in for Camilla. That is a true live story.
I don’t like chippies.
When the Germans invaded through the Low Countries and into France, Edward deserted his command and fled to Portugal through Spain. While in Portugal he was put up by a banker friend who was well-connected to the German legation in Lisbon. The German Ambassador and Edward became fast friends and Edward told him the highest British secrets; the Ambassador informed Berlin. Edward even asked the ambassador if the Germans would secure his property in France from harm, and the Germans provided security until they were forced out of France. This was at the time his homeland fought for its life against Germany.
MI-6 kept PM Churchill well-informed of the former King's treason. Eventually, Churchill had a private meeting with King George VI. Churchill told the King about Edward's treason and proposed a choice: either the King would take care of Edward or MI-6 would. Churchill sent the wayward ex-King a message that if he did not return home, he'd be subject to court martial. The King sent a destroyer to Portugal in August 1940 and brought Edward out. He was shipped to the Bahamas and appointed Governor General. Edward held this post until the war in Europe ended.
Edward spent the rest of his life at a chateau outside Paris and several other vacation homes about Europe. He died in 1972.
Both were Nazi lovers. Simpson was rumored to have had an affair with Von Ribbontrop.
They had to ship “the man who would be king” out of the country because the Brits were afraid that he would help the Nazis.
But I digress. No, the reasons behind the abdication were the real ones. In any case, it wasn't just Baldwin's decision. The PMs of all the other Commonwealth dominions (Canada, Australia etc) were all opposed to the King marrying a divorcee as well, because it just wasn't the done thing in those more devoutly christian times....
I read once where he liked to be diapered and put into a baby carriage
“it just wasn’t the done thing in those more devoutly christian times....”
THAT is hysterically funny! The idea that people were more Christian in the past gets lumped with the term, “good old days” — good only because it’s all in the past!
What that means, is that one is less likely to be shocked nowadays by the “secrets” of friends as few are truly discrete and hide their unsavory behavior anymore. People today no longer live lies; less hypocrisy abounds in public. Open lives is more the norm now.
Edward VIII was always a physical, intellectual, and moral weakling and would have been awful as king.
During WW-II, the Brits had to get him out of England and sent him off to be Governor of Bermuda. He had to be kept under supervision as he was a complete self absorbed trouble maker.
BUMPY ride for England. According to one book I read Wallis listened to his broadcast from somewhere in Europe and cried. The author claimed that she didn’t want to be his wife but to continue as his mistress with all the extras that meant. Who knows? She was an illegitimate child whom no man would claim to be her father, according to the author of the book.
Wow! The King sure taught him a lesson!
She must have had the right skill set...
“THAT is hysterically funny!”
Not really. It is a clumsy way of saying that the CULTURE was shaped by religious values. People haven’t changed in their nature since Day One, but when Culture degrades societies collapse.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor met Adolf Hitler in 1937. In 1970 he told one interviewer: “I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap.”
On December 11, 1936 it shocked the world when King Edward VIII announced that he was abdicating the throne to “marry the woman I love”.
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