Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

Duke of Windsor

On March 8, 1937, George VI created his brother, the former king, Duke of Windsor. George VI actually created his brother Duke of Windsor and re-created him a Knight of the Garter on December 12, 1936 at his Accession Privy Council because he wanted this to be the first act of his reign, but the formal documents were not signed until March 8 of the following year. During the interim, however, Edward was universally known as the Duke of Windsor after December 12. However, letters patent dated May 27, 1937, which re-conferred upon the Duke of Windsor the "title, style, or attribute of Royal Highness," specifically stated that "his wife and descendants, if any, shall not hold said title or attribute." Some British ministers suggested that Edward should no longer carry any royal title or style, as an abdicated King. However, George VI insisted that Edward should revert to his previous title of prince. The decision to create Edward a duke also ensured he could not sit in the House of Commons, lest he have the idea to stand for election, nor could he, by convention, speak or vote in the House of Lords.

Related Topics:
March 8 - 1937 - Duke of Windsor - Knight of the Garter - Letters patent - May 27 - Duke - House of Commons - House of Lords

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The Duke of Windsor married Mrs. Simpson, then known as Wallis Warfield, in a private ceremony on 3 June 1937 at Chateau de Candé, Monts, France. None of the British royal family attended. The denial of the style "HRH" to the Duchess of Windsor, as well as the financial settlement, strained relations between the Duke of Windsor and the rest of the royal family for decades. The Duke had assumed that he would settle in Britain after a year or two of exile in France. However, King George VI (with the support of his mother Queen Mary and his wife Queen Elizabeth) threatened to cut off his allowance if he returned to Britain without an invitation. The new King and Queen were also forced to pay Edward for Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle. These properties were Edward's personal property, inherited from his father, King George V on his death, and thus did not automatically pass to George VI on abdication.

Related Topics:
3 June - Monts - France - Queen Elizabeth - Sandringham House - Balmoral Castle

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In 1937, the Duke and Duchess visited Germany as personal guests of the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, a visit much publicised by the German media. The couple then settled in France. When the Germans 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 a banker with close German Embassy contacts. 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 considered to be a close friend of Hermann Goering, one of Hitler's top lieutenants. A "defeatist" interview with the Duke that received wide distribution may have served as the last straw for the British government: in August a British warship dispatched the pair to the Bahamas. The Duke of Windsor was installed as Governor, and became the first British monarch to ever hold a civilian political office. He enjoyed the position and was praised for his efforts to combat poverty on the island nation. He held the post until the end of World War II in 1945. The couple then retired once again to France, where they spent much of the remainder of their lives.

Related Topics:
1937 - Adolf Hitler - 1940 - Biarritz - Spain - Lisbon - Portugal - Axel Wenner-Gren - Hermann Goering - Bahamas - Governor - Poverty - World War II - 1945 - France

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In recent years, some have suggested that the Duke (and especially the Duchess) sympathised with Fascism before and during World War II, and had to remain in the Bahamas to minimise their opportunities to act on those feelings. These revised assessments of his career hinge on some wartime information released in 1996, and on further secret files released by the U.K. government in 2003. The files had remained closed for decades, as Whitehall judged that they would cause the Queen Mother substantial distress if released during her lifetime. U.S. naval intelligence revealed a confidential report of a conference of German foreign officials in October 1941, that judged the Duke "no enemy to Germany" and the only English representative with whom Hitler would negotiate any peace terms, "the logical director of England's destiny after the war". President Roosevelt had ordered covert surveillance of the Duke and Duchess when they visited Palm Beach, Florida, in April 1941. The former Duke of Wurttemberg (then a monk in an American monastery) convinced the FBI that the Duchess had been sleeping with the German ambassador in London, Joachim von Ribbentrop, had remained in constant contact with him, and continued to leak secrets.

Related Topics:
Fascism - 1996 - 2003 - Queen Mother - 1941 - President Roosevelt - Palm Beach - Florida - Duke of Wurttemberg - FBI - Joachim von Ribbentrop

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In later years, the Duke of Windsor met with other members of the royal family on several occasions. The Duke and Duchess hosted parties and travelled extensively, and it was largely a prosperous (if lonely) existence of the two of them. The Duke died following a battle with throat cancer in 1972 at Paris, and his body was returned to Britain for burial at Frogmore, near Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Windsor, on her death a decade and a half later, was buried alongside her husband in Frogmore.

Related Topics:
Paris - Frogmore - Windsor Castle

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The Duke and Duchess had no children, though an Australian magazine, the Australian Women's Weekly, published an article (with photographs depicting startling likenesses) purporting that the Duke, as Prince of Wales, had an affair with a young Australian woman named Mollee Little and produced a son, known as David Anthony Chisholm (1921-1987). Chisholm later had a daughter, Barbara, with an aborigine mistress; his grandson by this daughter, and presumably the Duke's great-grandson, is Australian footballer Scott Chisholm.

Related Topics:
Mollee Little - David Anthony Chisholm

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