would France have fallen so quickly in WW2 if King Edward VIII had not given away so many secrets to the Nazis?
http://odeo.com/episodes/25552811-Who-would-have-been-the-Nazi-king
I heard the whole blog, and truly wanted to believe what was stated…but just to be fair, and to start with,…after the war, the Duke admitted in his memoirs that he admired the Germans, but he denied being pro-Nazi. Be that as it may, the record says it all…and here are some facts:
The former Austrian ambassador, Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein, who was also a second cousin once removed and friend of George V, believed that Edward favoured German fascism as a bulwark against communism, and even that he initially favoured an alliance with Germany.
Edward’s experience of “the unending scenes of horror” during World War I led him to support appeasement. Hitler considered Edward to be friendly towards Nazi Germany and thought that Anglo-German relations could have been improved through Edward if it were not for the abdication.
Even Albert Speer quoted Hitler directly: “I am certain through him permanent friendly relations could have been achieved. If he had stayed, everything would have been different. His abdication was a severe loss for us.”
In February 1940, the German Minister in The Hague, Count Julius von Zech-Burkersroda, claimed that the Duke had leaked the Allied war plans for the defence of Belgium. When Germany invaded the north of France in May 1940, the Windsors fled south, first to Biarritz, then in June to Spain. In July the pair moved to Lisbon, Portugal, where they lived at first in the home of Ricardo de Espírito Santo, a Portuguese banker with both British and German contacts. During the occupation of France, the Duke asked the German forces to place guards at his Paris and Riviera homes. This request was accomodated by the Wehrmacht.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill threatened the Duke with a court-martial if he did not return to British soil. In August, a British warship dispatched the pair to the Bahamas, where in the view of Churchill the Duke could do the least damage to the British war effort.
The Duke of Windsor was installed as Governor. He did not enjoy the position, and referred to the islands as “a third-class British colony”. The British Foreign Office strenuously objected when the pair planned to tour aboard a yacht belonging to a Swedish magnate, Axel Wenner-Gren, whom American intelligence WRONGLY believed to be a close friend of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring.
Lord Caldecote wrote to Winston Churchill just before the couple were sent to the Bahamas, “(the Duke) is well-known to be pro-Nazi and he may become a centre of intrigue.” The latter, but not the former, part of this assessment is corroborated by German operations designed to use the Duke. The Allies became sufficiently disturbed by the German plots that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered covert surveillance of the Duke and Duchess when they visited Palm Beach, Florida in April 1941. Duke Carl Alexander of Wurttemberg (then a monk in an American monastery) had convinced the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the Duchess had been sleeping with the German ambassador in London, Joachim von Ribbentrop, had remained in constant contact with him, and had continued to leak secrets. This is not true or have never been proven as fact.
Some authors have claimed that Anthony Blunt, an MI5 agent, acting on orders from the British Royal Family, made a successful secret trip to Schloss Friedrichshof in Germany towards the end of the war in order to retrieve sensitive letters between the Duke of Windsor and Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis. What is certain is that George VI sent the Royal Librarian, Owen Morshead, accompanied by Blunt, then working part-time in the Royal library as well as for British intelligence, to Friedrichshof in March 1945 to secure papers relating to the German Empress Victoria, a daughter of Queen Victoria. Part of the castle’s archive, including surviving letters between daughter and mother, as well as other valuables were stolen by looters, some of which were only later recovered in Chicago after the war. The papers rescued by Morshead and Blunt, and those returned by the American authorities from Chicago, were deposited in the Royal Archives.
But despite these intrigues and other stories, the Duke of Windsor didn’t have special access to all the defensive war plans of the Allies. The blunt truth is that France lost the will to defend their country from the onslaught of a traditional enemy simply because of defeatism and the memories of how she was almost bled white during WW1. Apologists for France’s defeat during WW2 have nowhere to go but home.
Edward VIII The Traitor King (part 1 of 11)
| | Great Britain 1936 EVIII 1d inverted watermark SG 458 u/mint $4.74 |
| | GB 1936 KE8 POSTAGE DUE 2/6 SGD26 FU BLOCK of 9 cv £108 $39.52 |
| | OXO TIN MONEY BOX CORONATION EDWARD VIII 1936 ADVERTISING TREASURE CHEST ROYALTY $9.47 |
| | Edward VIII set of definitives Used $0.55 |
| | EDWARD VIII CORONATION PORCELAIN CHINA COMMEMORATIVE MUG CUP ENGLAND $25.00 |
| | EDWARD VIII CORONATION PORCELAIN CHINA COMMEMORATIVE CUP ENGLAND LANCASTER LTD $25.00 |
| | EDWARD VIII CORONATION PORCELAIN CHINA COMMEMORATIVE MUG CUP ENGLAND $25.00 |
| | EDWARD VIII CORONATION PORCELAIN CHINA COMMEMORATIVE MUG CUP ENGLAND $25.00 |
| | EDWARD VIII CORONATION PORCELAIN CHINA COMMEMORATIVE MUG CUP ENGLAND $25.00 |
| | EDWARD VIII CORONATION PORCELAIN CHINA COMMEMORATIVE MUG CUP ENGLAND $37.50 |
| | Edward VIII,1894- 1972,Prince of Wales leaving Buckingham Palace,London,20 years $8.99 |
| | 1936 EDWARD VIII MAUNDY SET (Pattern) STERLING SILVER $47.41 |
| | Hong Kong China Group Of Edward VIII Revenue Stamps $21.50 |
| | Vintage Bulwer’s Works by Edward Bulwer Lytton Vol VIII $9.99 |
| | EDWARD VIII 1d POSTAGE DUE SG D20 UNMOUNTED MINT BLOCK OF 4 $13.07 |
| | EDWARD VIII 3d POSTAGE DUE SG D22 UNMOUNTED MINT BLOCK OF 4 $1.56 |
| | GEORGE V & EDWARD VIII BRITISH OFFICES ABROAD, MOROCCO AGENCIES MINT $1.56 |
| | EDWARD VIII “CORONATION” PIN DISH – BY GRINDLEY $7.89 |
| | GB KEVII 1902-13 £1 Green (SG266 Cat £800) Spacefiller Example, LOOK! $21.66 |
| | GB KEVII 1902-13; 2/6d Dull-purple (SG260 Cat £140) Spacefiller Example, LOOK! $1.56 |
| | King Edward VIII Commemorative Dish, Royal Albert Crown China $14.00 |
| | 2009 King Edward VIII Copper Medallion $25.00 |
| | early stamp with overprint $0.97 |
| | RARE British West Africa 1936 Edward VIII Coin One Tenth of a Penny Good Cond. $23.69 |
| | GB Edward VIII Accumulation Of 27 1½d Stamps Used 2B51 $2.36 |
| | GB Edward VIII Accumulation Of 42 ½d Stamps Ideal For Specialization 2B46 $2.36 |
| | GB Edward VIII Accumulation Of 30 1d Stamps Used 2B48 $2.36 |
| | GB Edward VIII Accumulation Of 41 1d Stamps Used 2B50 $2.36 |
| | 1937 3d DULL VIOLET POSTAGE DUE CONTROL F39 M/M $55.31 |
| | 1936 Edward VIII Coronation Lapel Button-RARE!!! $24.61 |
| | GB Edward VIII 1936 set of 4 sg 457/460 $0.77 |
| | HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES (future King Edward VIII), c1935 $7.89 |
| | Topo Postcard Broad Street Oxford Sheldonian Theatre 1937 King Edward VIII Stamp $3.15 |
| | Postcards Rottingdean Pond 1960-1937 Rottingdean postmark King Edward VIII Stamp $3.15 |
| | RPPC,Great Britain,King Edward VIII, in Uniform,C.1930s $8.95 |
| | CORONATION OF EDWARD VIII COMMEMORATIVE MUG $1.56 |
| | SG. 459. P3. 1½d Red-brown. A superb UNMOUNTED MINT. $466.31 |
| | King EDWARD VIII England Coronation Plate May 12th, 1937 Queen Elizabeth Father $7.50 |
| | SG. 459. P3. 1½d Red-brown. Control A36. Cylinder 16. $9.48 |
| | SG. 459. P3. 1½d Red-brown. Control A37. Cylinder 20. $9.48 |
| | SG. 459. P3. 1½d Red-brown. Control A37. Cylinder 17. $17.78 |
| | SG. 459. P3. 1½d Red-brown. Control A37. Cylinder 20. $11.86 |
| | SG. 457. P1. ½d green. Control A36. Cylinder 7. $9.48 |
| | SG. 457. P1 b. ½d green. Control A36. Cylinder 10. $35.57 |
| | SG. 457. P1. ½d green. Control A37. Cylinder 22. $9.48 |
| | SG. 458. P2. 1d Scarlet. Control A37. Cylinder 14. $101.09 |
| | SG. 458. P2. 1d Scarlet. Control A37. Cylinder 13. $29.64 |
| | SG. 459. P3. 1½d Red-Brown. Control A37. Cylinder 13. $9.48 |
| | GB – Set of 4 – Edward VIII – postally used, 1936 Rare( 100) $99.99 |
| | SG. 457. P1. ½d green. Control A36. Cylinder 12. $28.45 |
| | SG. 459. P3. 1½d Red-brown. Control A36. Cylinder 4. $9.48 |
| | 1936 Press Photo King Edward VIII $27.88 |
| | British West Africa 1936 Edward VIII Penny 1d $1.56 |
| | (478) PAIR OF 4 EDVII 1/2d GREEN (sg457) UNMOUNTED MINT $1.56 |
| | 1937 KING EDWARD VIII AND 1897 QUEEN VICTORIA COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS. $3.48 |
| | A Rare private photograph album of King Edward VIII Visit to India Circa 1920’s $1.56 |
| | GB Edward VIII 1936 set of 4 sg 457/460 $0.77 |
| | 1936 Edward VIII Tangier O/P Cyl Blocks Of 6 All A36 Unmounted Mint SC1049 $8.69 |
| | BRITISH ROYALTY Future Edward VIII Visits Johnsons Dye Works In Bootle Postcard $3.79 |
| | EDWARD VIII 1936 FIJI PENNY $1.64 |
| | GB,SG#478,10sh,used $7.00 |
| | GB,SG#471-473,MH $7.00 |
| | A PAIR OF DANBURY MINT ROYAL CRYSTAL CAMEOS { GEORGE III AND EDWARD VIII }MIB $7.89 |
| | Great Britain Edward VIII FDI Envelope 1/2d 1 1/2d & 2 1/2d Stamps 1936 Windsor $12.57 |
| | ABDICATION BY BRIAN INGLIS-Account of Edward VIII-1ST P $19.99 |
| | DUKE & DUCHESS OF WINDSOR HOMES JEWELS FASHION STYLE EDWARD VIII MRS SIMPSON HCD $49.95 |
| | 1936-1996 EDWARD VIII AUSTRALIAN MEDAL $29.59 |
| | GB Edward VIII Silver Sterling Medal 10mm 1.18gr $0.97 |
| | WEST AFRICA EDWARD VIII HALF PENNY 1936 A10 – 5 $2.53 |
| | 1936 British West Africa BU half penny Edward VIII (See Note) $2.95 |
| | 1936 British West Africa BU Penny King Edward VIII (See Note) $3.95 |
| | 1902 King Edward BOARD OF EDUCATION Overprint 1d Scott O68 SCV$40.00 – SGO84 $8.95 |
| | U.K 1951 HIGH VALUES SET OF USED STAMPS $13.99 |
| | U.K 1939-48 HIGH VALUES LOT OF USED STAMPS $19.99 |
| | 3x lovely books on the Queen, The Coronation, George V, George Vi & Edward Viii $31.60 |
| | LONDON STAMP EXHIBITION COVER 2ND YEAR 1937..INTERESTING ITEM $11.99 |
| | ROYALTY MONTHLY VOL 5 No 10 JULY 1986 ANDREW & SARAH + CHARLES/DIANA EDWARD VIII $1.98 |
| | EDWARD VIII – SET OF 4 LIGHTLY MOUNTED MINT STAMPS – SG457/60 $1.03 |
| | Sterling Silver Platter / Salver – Antique Edward VIII $2,679.29 |
| | SG. 459. P3. 1½d Red-Brown. Control A36. Cylinder 8. $9.48 |
