1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:04,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised, Hey, 3 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: this is Danishwartz, host of Noble Blood. So, as you 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: probably know if you've listened to this podcast, I wrote 5 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: a book called Anatomy a Love Story. But now there 6 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: is a sequel coming out, Immortality a Love Story is 7 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: coming out in March, but it's available for preorder now, 8 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: So if you liked Anatomy, or you just like the 9 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: idea of books about spooky surgeons in the ninete century, 10 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: check it out. There's links in the episode description, along 11 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: with links to the show's Patreon, where I post episode 12 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 1: scripts and a bonus episode once a month, and links 13 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:47,520 Speaker 1: to merch because we have new, amazing merch that comes 14 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: out all the time. But as always, the best possible 15 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: support for the show is just you listening to it. 16 00:00:53,880 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: So thank you so much. M. M. October twenty second, 17 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty seven. Berlin, the Duke of Windsor, a newly 18 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:18,400 Speaker 1: wet at age forty three, smiles his famously attractive smile 19 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: as he disembarks from a private train in the German mountains. 20 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: He's greeted by a guard in uniform, with whom he 21 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: shakes hands, as he did countless times on his tours 22 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: of America and Canada. This time the guard is wearing 23 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: a swastika arm band. The Duke's wife, twice divorced, smiles 24 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: at his side. The man they're here to see is napping, 25 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: they're told, so they'll have to wait. The Duke and 26 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: his wife are entertained well during the wait, with music, 27 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: possibly Wagner wafting through the room. They make small talk. Yes, 28 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: they all agree, the fascists are strong, the British are weak, 29 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: and the Jews, they may have said, with a chuckle, well, 30 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: don't get us started. Finally, the man that the couple 31 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: came to see is ready for them. They go into 32 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: a meeting. Only ten months ago, the Duke of Windsor 33 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: had another more important title, King Edward the Eighth of England. 34 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: Now he smiles that attractive smile and walks into his 35 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: private audience with Adolph Hitler. When the future King Edward 36 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: the Eighth was born in eighteen ninety four, the heir 37 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: to the British throne was christened with seven first names, Edward, Albert, Christian, George, Andrew, Patrick, 38 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: David as king. We know him by the first of 39 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,799 Speaker 1: the seven names, Edward, but friends and family knew him 40 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: by the last David, as if the distance between his 41 00:02:54,960 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: public and private selves could not be further apart. When 42 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: his father, King George the Fifth, was alive, he once 43 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: remarked that if David were to become king that the 44 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: quote boy will ruin himself in twelve months end quote. 45 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: King Edward the Eighth, never officially crowned in a coronation ceremony, 46 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: ruled the United Kingdom of Great Britain for just three 47 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty six days. Edward the Eighth is the 48 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,800 Speaker 1: king who rose to the throne eighteen years after World 49 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: War One and scandalously abdicated before World War Two after 50 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: less than one year as monarch in order to marry 51 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: a twice divorced American from Baltimore. In the TV series 52 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: The Crown, he is a rapscallion, a beloved uncle who 53 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: ultimately horrifies the young Queen Elizabeth with the contents of 54 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: a private dosier of information about him. In the pages 55 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: of Menswear magazine in the interwar period, he was covered 56 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: like a holly wood icon. Known for his good looks, 57 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: and fashion sense. In the notations by Queen Elizabeth's stationary office, 58 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: he was an ever loyal servant of the British cause. 59 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: In this very podcast he has been portrayed as the 60 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,160 Speaker 1: former lover of a murderers, but in the heart of 61 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: Adolph Hitler he was what an ally a friend upon 62 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: we can't know for sure. What we do know is 63 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 1: that recently abdicated King Edward the Eighth of England, now 64 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: known as the Duke of Windsor David, brother to the 65 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 1: then current King of England, was entertained as an honored 66 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,719 Speaker 1: guest on a trip to Nazi Germany in nineteen thirty seven, 67 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: where he had private meetings with Hitler while Ava Braun 68 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: and Rudolf Hess entertained his wife, the Duchess. The contents 69 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: of this meeting are lost to history. It was a 70 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: meeting just two years before the outbreak of World War Two, 71 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: which would kill up to fifty million people worldwide, but 72 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: a meaning after Germany had already passed the Nuremberg Laws, 73 00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:13,280 Speaker 1: which stripped Jews of citizenship in Germany. Adolf Hitler was 74 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: at least for an afternoon, a private confidante of the 75 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: inner circle of the British royal family. I'm danishchwartz and 76 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 1: this is noble blood. The future Duke of Windsor's early 77 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: life might be best described by this anecdote. After a 78 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: boyhood in which he was pinched a bit too violently 79 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 1: by his nanny and in which he displayed some interest 80 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:50,919 Speaker 1: in German language and culture, he wound up a student 81 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:55,920 Speaker 1: at Oxford University, for which he was basically totally unprepared. 82 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: At this point in his life, he was the Prince 83 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: of Wales. He considered his Oxford tutor Herbert Warren quote 84 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: an awful man end quote. The feeling was clearly mutual. 85 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: After the Duke left Oxford without a degree in nineteen fourteen, 86 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: his tutor sold him out to The Times bookish. He 87 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: will never be Warren wrote, the tight lipped academic British 88 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: equivalent not quite of he's a complete knit wit, but 89 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:31,359 Speaker 1: certainly of he's better suited to non academic pursuits. It's 90 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 1: unlikely the pursuits the tutor would have meant included being king. 91 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 1: Young David wanted to go into battle during World War One. 92 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,440 Speaker 1: What does it matter if I'm shot? He said? I 93 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: have four brothers end quote not exactly the words of 94 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: a guy desperate to live to his coronation. The Secretary 95 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: of State for War replied, quote, if I was certain 96 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 1: you would be shot, I do not know if I 97 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 1: should be right to restrain you end quote. The big 98 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: concern wasn't that the heir to the throne might be killed, 99 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:08,359 Speaker 1: but that he might be taken prisoner. It was a 100 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: concern that would continue to haunt the British in the 101 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: Second World War decades later. So though David wasn't allowed 102 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: in battle, he did toward the trenches. He witnessed soldiers, 103 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: young men his own age, who lived in constant fear 104 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: of shelling. He smelled the rotting corpses of their fellow men. 105 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: The experience disturbed him deeply, so deeply, in fact, that 106 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: it may have planted certain ideological seeds, the idea that 107 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: peace between the European nations is the single most important aim, 108 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: that war in Europe can never be allowed to happen 109 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: again from the horrors of the trench. This was a 110 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: noble idea, but we all know what the road to 111 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: Hell is paved with. And if you think a little 112 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: thing like trench war fair would depress the Prince for 113 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: long think again. World War One ended with the armistice 114 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 1: on November eleven, exactly one month before David's twenty four birthday, 115 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: and he was certainly celebrating. To put it bluntly, the 116 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: man was considered very attractive. He had a strong jawline 117 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 1: and dreamy eyes. He traveled to the United States and Canada, 118 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: shaking hands like a modern movie star. The object of 119 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 1: a million teenage day dreams, he was an international fashion 120 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: plate who scandalously dared to use a zipper in his 121 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: fly instead of a button. Unsurprisingly, all of that made 122 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: him very popular with the ladies. He embarked on a 123 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: long and storied career of affairs with married women, a 124 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: lot of them. There's a sign fell joke, you can't 125 00:08:55,200 --> 00:09:00,440 Speaker 1: just have an adultery, you commit adultery, and Dave it 126 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 1: was committed. He had affairs on his affairs. One of 127 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: his early mistresses was the future murderess Marguerite Albert, who 128 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 1: he actually covered on this podcast. David continued on with 129 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: his affairs until finally in nineteen thirty one, when, at 130 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,680 Speaker 1: the age of thirty six, at the home of one 131 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 1: of these several married women he was then sleeping with 132 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: he met a new woman, and already once divorced, American 133 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: from Baltimore, conceived out of wedlock, who carried her father's name, dark, 134 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 1: dramatic brows, red lipstick, with a sharp middle part in 135 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: her hair. Her name was Wallace Simpson. The Prince of Wales, 136 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: who had spent a decade seducing and sleeping with an 137 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: endless queue of women, felt his heart thud in his chest. 138 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: He looked at Wallace Simpson and fell madly in love. 139 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: By all accounts, he never fell out of it. In 140 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 1: the meantime, as you may have guessed, nobody in England 141 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 1: was really thinking this guy is fit for the throne. 142 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:15,559 Speaker 1: David had a younger brother, Albert, affectionately called Bertie, whom 143 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 1: every one preferred in temperament. But Bertie also had a stutter, 144 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: and he seemed a shy and unlikely king in his 145 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: own way. Still, their father, King George the Fifth, made 146 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: his preference clear. He was quoted as saying, I pray 147 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:34,800 Speaker 1: to God that my eldest son will never marry, and 148 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: nothing will come between Bertie and Lillibit and the throne. Lillibit, 149 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: of course, was referencing Bertie's daughter, the current Queen Elizabeth 150 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: the second. So with the parental preference so obvious, you 151 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: can forgive me for assuming David probably had some daddy issues. Unfortunately, 152 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: death doesn't care if you lack confidence in your successor. 153 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: King George the Fifth died near midnight on January nineteen 154 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:09,440 Speaker 1: thirty six. He was famously administered euthanasia so that his 155 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: death could be reported in the dignified morning papers rather 156 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:18,320 Speaker 1: than the more salacious evening ones. The Prince of Wales, David, 157 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:24,680 Speaker 1: became King Edward the eight that same day. Although the 158 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:29,560 Speaker 1: king's advisers assumed Wallace was just another mistress, it quickly 159 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:33,839 Speaker 1: turned out that David really was in love. He seriously 160 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:38,320 Speaker 1: wanted to marry her, and then she started divorce proceedings 161 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:42,800 Speaker 1: from her second husband. But well, the King is the 162 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 1: head of the Church of England and the Church doesn't 163 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: allow divorce. There was some back and forth between the 164 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: king and the royal family, the cabinet, Winston Churchill, and 165 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:57,319 Speaker 1: Wallace herself about all of this. Later in life. Recounting 166 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:01,840 Speaker 1: this period, Wallace will make herself out to be especially selfless. 167 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,920 Speaker 1: Quote I am sure there's only one solution, she says, 168 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,080 Speaker 1: quote that is for me to remove myself from the 169 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: King's life. That is what I am doing now end quote. 170 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: At least that's what she remembers herself as saying. In 171 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: the end, there was no way around David's choice. It 172 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: was the church and the monarchy, or it was Wallace. 173 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: The King chose Wallace, just shy of one year on 174 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: the throne before his own coronation, Edward the Eight abdicated. 175 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 1: The decision may have been as much about the character 176 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,880 Speaker 1: mismatch between David and the throne as it was about Wallace, 177 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:47,439 Speaker 1: but to the public it was about love. To the monarchy, 178 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 1: of course, it was disgrace to renounce family and duty 179 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: for personal pleasure, even if it was framed as a 180 00:12:55,880 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: great love story. Was the greatest possible failure of a Yale. 181 00:13:00,679 --> 00:13:03,760 Speaker 1: The Archbishop of Canterbury told the nation that the Duke, 182 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: in his quote craving for private happiness, had quote disappointed 183 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:14,600 Speaker 1: hopes so high and abandoned a trust so great end quote. 184 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: David's little brother Bertie became King George the Six, which 185 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:25,400 Speaker 1: put his daughter Elizabeth next in line. David was demoted 186 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 1: to the title Duke of Windsor, but as Duke he 187 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:33,559 Speaker 1: finally got to do what he wanted. He married Wallace 188 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 1: Simpson on June three, ninety seven in Tour, France. David 189 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: may have gotten his bride that day in France, but 190 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:46,200 Speaker 1: there was little else to celebrate. No one in the 191 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: family came to the wedding. Though he explicitly asked. Wallace 192 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 1: was denied the title her Royal Highness. That designation can 193 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 1: never be revoked, and the royals thought, what if she 194 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: goes off and Mary's a fourth guy still carrying the 195 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: title British Royal Highness. It was impossible. It was all 196 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: an enormous insult for the former Prince of Wales, the 197 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:15,320 Speaker 1: former king, the international fashion icon. So here David and 198 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:20,840 Speaker 1: Wallace are in seven honeymooning in a borrowed German mansion, 199 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: said to be haunted, the abdicated monarch and his new wife, 200 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 1: isolated and alone, looking for anyone to treat them as 201 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:34,200 Speaker 1: the king and Queen they felt they ought to have been. 202 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,760 Speaker 1: Four months after their wedding, the Duke and Duchess of 203 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:48,520 Speaker 1: Windsor arrived in Berlin. As the train pulled into the station, 204 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: the former king felt a twinge of old recognition and joy, 205 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 1: and then a fresh twinge of his newer resentment and 206 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: anger when he saw the red, white and blue of 207 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: his own Union jack, and he felt a chill, a 208 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: fear of power, of excitement, or maybe even envy when 209 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 1: he saw his own flag alongside the red, white and 210 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: black of the Swatstika. David and Wallace were welcomed warmly 211 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 1: on their trip to Berlin. The list of people who 212 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: entertained them socially is a list of Nazi war criminals. 213 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:32,680 Speaker 1: Joseph Gebel's reich Minister of Propaganda, Herman Goring, Hitler's second 214 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:35,640 Speaker 1: in command who had been in charge of creating the Gestapo, 215 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 1: Adolph Hitler himself. In the chummy photos of David and 216 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 1: Wallace out in public with Hitler, the three of them 217 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:48,600 Speaker 1: are standing shoulder to shoulder. David is in the middle, 218 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 1: long peacoat, buttoned and tie crisp, a hint of a 219 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: smile on his handsome face. Hitler is half bowing to 220 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 1: shake hands with Wallace, pulling her arm toward his chest, 221 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: Swastika on his arm, both Wallace and Hitler smiling broadly, 222 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 1: David deferential in the middle. Another picture shows David without 223 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 1: his wife or Hitler hatless in a sea of bowlers 224 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: and peaked s s caps. He's raising his right arm 225 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: palm flat fingers pointed to the sky in a Nazi salute, 226 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: with his elbow slightly cocked, as if some part of 227 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: him knew he wasn't in the right. I'll pause here 228 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: to say that the extent of David's involvement with the 229 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: Nazis has been covered up over time, with heavy influence 230 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:42,400 Speaker 1: from the Royals. Some of the speculation stems from those photographs, 231 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 1: readily accessible in a Google search, but much of the 232 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: speculation comes from the Marburg Files, a trove of four 233 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:57,760 Speaker 1: hundred tons of German documents found in within these the 234 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 1: so called Windsor Files of the Duke and Duchess were 235 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,920 Speaker 1: the subject of a long cover up, so long that 236 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: many of the details I've recounted so far in this 237 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:13,240 Speaker 1: podcast come from a book that was only published this year, 238 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:19,240 Speaker 1: Andrew Loni's Trader King. I think it's worth quoting directly 239 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: from Lonie's book on the following point, describing a day 240 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:28,320 Speaker 1: in Dusseldorf with David Wallace and their attendant Dudly Forward. 241 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 1: The book says, quote, they toward a miner's hospital and 242 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:38,280 Speaker 1: a concentration camp. Forward later recalled, we saw this enormous 243 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: concrete building, which, of course I now know contained inmates. 244 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:47,480 Speaker 1: The Duke asked, what is that? Our host replied, it 245 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:52,880 Speaker 1: is where they store the cold meat. End quote. Finally, 246 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:56,120 Speaker 1: a week and a half after their arrival in Berlin, 247 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 1: the fateful meeting with Adolf Hitler arrived. The Duke and 248 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:03,920 Speaker 1: Duchess sat in the train car that ferried them south 249 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:08,440 Speaker 1: of Berlin, skirting Munich. The train chugged as it scaled 250 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:12,360 Speaker 1: the snow capped Bavarian Alps to the present day southern 251 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:17,119 Speaker 1: border with Austria. They disembarked in brechdes Garden and found 252 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 1: themselves whisked away to Adolf Hitler's vacation chalet. The place 253 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 1: was like a resort, complete with terrace, big colorful umbrellas 254 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:31,120 Speaker 1: and cactuses. In the entrance. Hitler was napping. The Duke 255 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:34,400 Speaker 1: and Duchess were told when they arrived in what honestly 256 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,520 Speaker 1: reads to me like a power move. Yes, we'll pull 257 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: out the s S version of a red carpet for you, 258 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: but Hitler can make you wait here because you aren't 259 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:47,400 Speaker 1: king any more. Won't you make yourself comfortable? They were 260 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:50,880 Speaker 1: asked there's a lovely view of the snow capped mountains 261 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: out the window. Perhaps you've noted the light jade green 262 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 1: color scheme chosen by the fureer himself. They sat in 263 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: the home that Hitler her himself so loved. One year later, 264 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: in fact, Homes and Gardens magazine would cover the place 265 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: like it was Jennifer Aniston's mansion in the Hollywood Hills. 266 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:14,640 Speaker 1: Hitler quote has a passion about cut flowers in his home. 267 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,560 Speaker 1: The article said, this place is mine, Hitler said in 268 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: the magazine interview, sounding like a millennial, impressed with his 269 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,399 Speaker 1: first job. I built it with the money that I earned. 270 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:28,480 Speaker 1: That money, of course, came from the sale of his 271 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:33,199 Speaker 1: infamous anti Semitic book Mine comp which was banned in 272 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 1: Germany from the end of the war until twenty fifteen. 273 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:41,159 Speaker 1: At last, Hitler woke up from his nap. His wife 274 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:45,159 Speaker 1: av Braun and deputy Furer Rudolph Hess told Wallace they 275 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: would keep her occupied. Wallace and David nodded at each other. 276 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:53,000 Speaker 1: Perhaps David kissed his beautiful wife on the cheek, and 277 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,960 Speaker 1: then the former King of England walked into the private 278 00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:01,239 Speaker 1: room with the then current Furer of Germany on the 279 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: eve of World War Two. The two men sat together 280 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 1: with teacups in front of them and talked about, Well, 281 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,399 Speaker 1: we don't know what they talked about. Perhaps someday a 282 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: scandalous note about it will turn up on a scrap 283 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: of napkin. Maybe we'll never know. Maybe they discussed the 284 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,400 Speaker 1: quote unquote Jewish question as if it were a problem 285 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:29,879 Speaker 1: of politics and not human being. Maybe they discussed the 286 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: strength of fascism and the weakness of democracy. Maybe they'd 287 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 1: discussed what they'd each seen on the front in World 288 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:40,639 Speaker 1: War One. All of this is speculation. Maybe they talked 289 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 1: about dogs, or divorce or art. We don't know. Eventually 290 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:49,880 Speaker 1: the meeting ended. The New York Times reported that Hitler 291 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:53,680 Speaker 1: gave them a long, affectionate goodbye, holding both their hands, 292 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 1: and that when Hitler gave his salute, David raised his 293 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:02,959 Speaker 1: arm and returned the Nazi high After the trip to Berlin, 294 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:08,160 Speaker 1: David and Wallace returned to Paris. In nineteen forty. When 295 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:12,960 Speaker 1: the Germans invaded France, David and Wallace fled southwest to 296 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 1: neutral Spain and then Portugal. The Germans hatched a plot 297 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,960 Speaker 1: to kidnap him to use him to their advantage. But 298 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:26,120 Speaker 1: it didn't materialize. Churchill appointed him Governor of the Bahamas, 299 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:30,399 Speaker 1: a minor and almost embarrassing little post for any royal, 300 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:34,880 Speaker 1: especially a former king. It was clear enough that Churchill 301 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:40,199 Speaker 1: and the Crown were nervous about David's loyalties. The Bahamas 302 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:42,439 Speaker 1: were as far as they could ship him off to 303 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:47,400 Speaker 1: ensure he stayed away from Hitler. He and Wallace accepted 304 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,840 Speaker 1: the post unhappily and stayed in the Bahamas until the 305 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:55,359 Speaker 1: end of the war in nineteen There are a lot 306 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 1: of rumors about this period that David knew of the 307 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,879 Speaker 1: Allies war planned in Belgium and leaked them to the Germans, 308 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: That David wanted the Germans to bomb England his own country, 309 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: That President Roosevelt ordered surveillance on him when he and 310 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: Wallace visited Florida, in that the FBI had heard that 311 00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 1: Wallace was sleeping with a German ambassador. All this, of course, 312 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 1: the Duke and the Crown have denied as misinterpretation or 313 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: misquoting or hearsay. What then, can we absolutely know well 314 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:36,240 Speaker 1: that the former King of England definitely had more sympathy 315 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: for the Nazis during World War Two than could possibly 316 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: be comfortable for England or for us today, and that 317 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: basically covers the extent of the What what remains for 318 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:55,000 Speaker 1: us to understand is the why? Was it simply naivete 319 00:22:55,119 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: or lack of foresight? Was the salute just instinctual politeness? 320 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:05,200 Speaker 1: After all, in nineteen thirty nine, Roosevelt himself sent to St. 321 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:09,560 Speaker 1: Louis a ship of Jewish refugees back to Europe to 322 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: be killed in the camps. Only one month after the 323 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:17,679 Speaker 1: Duke's visit to Hitler, A teenaged Prince Philip, later to 324 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:22,919 Speaker 1: become Queen Elizabeth's husband, was also photographed alongside Nazis at 325 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: his sister's funeral in Germany. But maybe the source of 326 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 1: the support was something deeper. Was it David's deep desire 327 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: for peace among the nations? Maybe he genuinely thought a 328 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: dictatorship was a better governing system than a democracy or 329 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:45,000 Speaker 1: a weakened constitutional monarchy after witnessing the horrors of World 330 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:48,680 Speaker 1: War One. Maybe he thought appeasing Hitler was the way 331 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:54,200 Speaker 1: toward peace, But of course the Nazis were far from peaceful. 332 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:59,199 Speaker 1: If David's noble goal was less suffering, then we have 333 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:05,240 Speaker 1: to ask for who which brings us of course to racism. 334 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 1: David was known to make derogatory comments about Jewish people, 335 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:15,320 Speaker 1: Indigenous Australians, and who he called quote the Negro, though 336 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:19,520 Speaker 1: he and Wallace Simpson did also work to improve labor 337 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: rights and infant health for the largely black population of 338 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:25,919 Speaker 1: the Bahamas, where they would spend much of the Second 339 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:29,879 Speaker 1: World War. It feels strange to even try to tease 340 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 1: out how racist a person's individual views are when they 341 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,239 Speaker 1: were rubbing elbows with Hitler. But when we're trying to 342 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:41,159 Speaker 1: figure out David's motivations here, I think it's worth noting 343 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 1: that on a personal level, David probably wasn't in full 344 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: philosophical alignment with how vile and violent Hitler's ideas on 345 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:56,159 Speaker 1: racial purity were. But David was more than willing to 346 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:01,840 Speaker 1: overlook those horrific policies and socialize with an Nazi high brass. 347 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:08,119 Speaker 1: So why though David told himself a narrative about preserving peace, 348 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,159 Speaker 1: In my opinion, at the end of the day, it 349 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:15,720 Speaker 1: was a matter of ego and self interest. David's much 350 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:18,840 Speaker 1: loved bride was never treated well by his family or 351 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:22,680 Speaker 1: the British Royals, but over in Germany, Hitler was all 352 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 1: too happy to flatter her. Rumor had it that David 353 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:31,000 Speaker 1: dreamed of actually being reinstated as king with Wallace as 354 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:35,560 Speaker 1: queen after Hitler's victory with the support of German troops 355 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: against the British people. The two of them felt so 356 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: excluded by the British monarchy that Hitler and the Germans 357 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: represented a promise to be included. But before you feel 358 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:53,239 Speaker 1: even a moment of sympathy for David or pity for 359 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 1: his naivete, remember David's very presence was serving as a 360 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:01,440 Speaker 1: support to Hitler and origin gime that would go on 361 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:05,960 Speaker 1: to slaughter six million Jews in concentration camps during the Holocaust, 362 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:12,159 Speaker 1: a regime that would methodically murder Romani people, homosexuals, political dissenters, 363 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 1: and people with disabilities. By the time that David arrived 364 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: in Germany in nineteen thirty seven, the reich Stock had 365 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 1: already passed laws restricting citizenship to only quote racially pure Germans. 366 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:31,520 Speaker 1: They had already banned intermarriage and sexual relationships between Jewish 367 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:35,719 Speaker 1: people and those of quote German or related blood in 368 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:40,199 Speaker 1: order to protect their racial purity. By nineteen thirty seven, 369 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:45,679 Speaker 1: Jewish businesses were being quote orionized, Jewish employees dismissed, and 370 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: Jewish business owners forced to sell their licenses for pennies 371 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: to non Jewish Germans. Jewish lawyers had their licenses revoked, 372 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:58,920 Speaker 1: and Jewish doctors were forbidden from practicing medicine on non Jews. 373 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,719 Speaker 1: The very next year, all Jewish Germans with names that 374 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:08,000 Speaker 1: weren't explicitly Jewish would be forced to add either Sarah 375 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: or Israel as middle names. Legally, when David arrived in Germany, 376 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 1: he would have seen the signs across the country reading 377 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:23,560 Speaker 1: Juden sent here unevencht. Jews are not wanted here, and 378 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:28,879 Speaker 1: still David smiled for the cameras. Whether or not David 379 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,480 Speaker 1: was thinking about the horrors that were currently happening in 380 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:36,399 Speaker 1: Germany at the time, or simply permitting himself not to 381 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 1: think about them, those horrors were absolutely already present, and 382 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: David was willing to happily turn the other cheek in 383 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:50,160 Speaker 1: order to serve his own personal interests. Perhaps he would 384 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 1: be reinstated king one day, seated next to his beloved 385 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,440 Speaker 1: twice divorced Queen, even if he had to be put 386 00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:06,920 Speaker 1: there by force. After the war, David did not retake 387 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,720 Speaker 1: the throne, he settled in France with Wallace. After all 388 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:14,480 Speaker 1: his many affairs, he likely wound up faithful and ever 389 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 1: adoring towards Wallace, even as the rumors of her philandering 390 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:23,359 Speaker 1: never stopped. His brother Bertie died in nineteen fifty two, 391 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:28,280 Speaker 1: and Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne, the unlikely monarch 392 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:32,440 Speaker 1: queen only because of David's abdication, which would also pave 393 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 1: the way for Charles and Diana and William and Harry 394 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 1: and all of the tabloid royals we know today. Queen 395 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 1: Elizabeth did have some small relationship with her uncle David, 396 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 1: but he was never admitted back into the royal fold. 397 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty one, David wrote a memoir of his 398 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:56,000 Speaker 1: early life, The King's Story, which was absolutely torn to 399 00:28:56,040 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: shreds critically descriptions like inconceivable anality and monumental artificiality pepper 400 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:08,240 Speaker 1: the reviews, but the audience score was certified fresh and 401 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: the book was a best seller. Not to be outdone, 402 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 1: Wallace wrote her own teller, The Heart Has Its Reasons, 403 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: which went through multiple ghost writers who accused her of 404 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 1: dishonesty before the book sold terribly. Finally, following one last 405 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:29,840 Speaker 1: bedside visit from Queen Elizabeth in Paris. The Duke of Windsor, 406 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:35,800 Speaker 1: David died of throat cancer on May seventy two. He 407 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: was seventy seven years old. He was buried in the 408 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 1: Royal Burial Ground in England. Wallace outlived him by fifteen 409 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 1: years before being buried beside him. As of only seven 410 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,280 Speaker 1: years before his death, they had been planning to be 411 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 1: buried at the Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, final resting 412 00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: place of famous American trader John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, 413 00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:05,800 Speaker 1: and those photos of the Duke with Hitler, which live 414 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: on more than anything. There a vision of an alternate 415 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:13,520 Speaker 1: path that history could have taken, the sheer unlikelihood of 416 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 1: the path we did take. To think, had Wallace's earlier 417 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 1: marriage been happy, perhaps we would have had a King 418 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:25,960 Speaker 1: of England who supported the Nazis. Perhaps the world order 419 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: would look unrecognizable to us today. Hitler himself said so 420 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:35,400 Speaker 1: quote if he had stayed meaning on the throne, everything 421 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:39,640 Speaker 1: would have been different end quote. But also, as David 422 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 1: said on CBS while promoting those tell Alls, quote, we 423 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:47,280 Speaker 1: both feel that there is no more wasteful or foolish 424 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:51,640 Speaker 1: or frustrating exercise than trying to penetrate the fiction of 425 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:55,440 Speaker 1: what might have been end quote. As for the most 426 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 1: scandalous of those photos, the image of David raising his 427 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:04,520 Speaker 1: arm in the Nazi salute in when that photo went 428 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:16,640 Speaker 1: up for sale at auction, nobody bought it. That's the 429 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:20,240 Speaker 1: story of the short reign of England Nazi king. But 430 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 1: stick around after a brief sponsor break to hear a 431 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 1: little bit more about the wild history of the Marburg Files. 432 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,520 Speaker 1: As I was researching this episode, something kept sticking out 433 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 1: to me the speed at which people do conflate a 434 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 1: Nazi sympathizer king with the possibility of a Nazi England. 435 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 1: And yes, those photos of Edward the eight are shocking. 436 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:59,960 Speaker 1: But I'm an American and I'm here thinking was an 437 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:04,600 Speaker 1: England even then meant to be a representative democracy? Isn't 438 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 1: it the Prime Minister Chamberlain and then Churchill who made 439 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 1: the political decisions while the monarchy was just a figurehead. 440 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:17,000 Speaker 1: I mean, the parliament serves the people right. Well, nothing 441 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:21,360 Speaker 1: shows the clash of the American versus the British government's 442 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,640 Speaker 1: approach to monarchy quite like the history of the Marburg Files. 443 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:30,480 Speaker 1: These were the four hundred tons of Nazi Germany's Foreign 444 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 1: ministry archives discovered in and assembled in Marburg Castle. This 445 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: is not the castle that inspired Disney. That honor belongs 446 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: to a different German castle covered in this podcast, but 447 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:47,760 Speaker 1: it looks like a cousin. Within this massive trove of 448 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:54,200 Speaker 1: archives were the Windsor Files, documents pertaining to David's activities 449 00:32:54,280 --> 00:33:00,160 Speaker 1: during the war. Unsurprisingly, these files suggested Nazi sympathy on 450 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: the part of the former king. Unsurprisingly, the British royal 451 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: family wanted the files suppressed. Perhaps more surprisingly, though, the 452 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 1: Royals weren't alone. The people and entities pushing American historians 453 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:21,240 Speaker 1: not to publish the documents ranged from Winston Churchill to 454 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:25,480 Speaker 1: Dwight D. Eisenhower. The U. S. State Department got word 455 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:29,800 Speaker 1: that the British government would simply inform the American editors 456 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: which documents to leave out in deference to the feelings 457 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 1: of the widowed queen mother David Mom. Churchill himself told 458 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:46,320 Speaker 1: Eisenhower the quote historical importance of the document was quote negligible, 459 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: while publishing them would cause the Duke quote distress and injury. Essentially, 460 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: U S editors and academics were treated as though they 461 00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: were operating at the pleasure of the hurt feelings of 462 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: the British monarchy. Didn't we fight a revolution about this? 463 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:08,360 Speaker 1: Were American historians really meant to defer to the English 464 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:13,320 Speaker 1: royal sense of embarrassment? Parliament, the Crown, the White House. 465 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,479 Speaker 1: They all cited a duty to the grievance and pain 466 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:20,439 Speaker 1: of the powerful royal family. I would argue, what about 467 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,799 Speaker 1: a duty to history and the many, many victims of 468 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:28,640 Speaker 1: World War two wartime? Ally ship can only go so far. 469 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 1: The Windsor files were finally published in nineteen fifty seven. 470 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:39,320 Speaker 1: As far as we know, editor Paul R. Sweet says 471 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:43,000 Speaker 1: they're intact. He also notes that they were published with 472 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:48,200 Speaker 1: a statement from the Queen's Stationary Office quote, the German 473 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:54,560 Speaker 1: records are necessarily a much tainted source. This is undoubtedly correct. 474 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:59,520 Speaker 1: They are German wartime documents. They likely have an agenda, 475 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,040 Speaker 1: but it is odd to spend so much energy on 476 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:23,440 Speaker 1: covering up a thing that isn't true. Noble Blood is 477 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:26,400 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild 478 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:30,720 Speaker 1: from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Danishwartz. 479 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:35,040 Speaker 1: Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, 480 00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:39,360 Speaker 1: Mira Hayward, Courtney Sunder and Laurie Goodman. The show is 481 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:44,160 Speaker 1: produced by rema Il Kayali, with supervising producer Josh Thane 482 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. 483 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,120 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I 484 00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:55,719 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 485 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:56,600 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.