The disturbing history of the royal family’s infatuation with Hitler
That is the talk of the Western world. On October 22, 1937, Edward, Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated as King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom less than a year before, spent an hour meeting privately with Adolf Hitler at his lair. his mountain peak in the Bavarian Alps. Interpreter Paul Schmidt: “Apart from a few words of appreciation for the measures taken in Germany in the field of social welfare, the duke did not discuss political issues.” has been withdrawn. “He was outspoken and friendly towards Hitler, and displayed the social charm that made him known around the world.”
But Windsor’s cautious words had little effect. After the meeting, Hitler drank tea with the first duke and his American-born wife, Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor. As the Nazi cameramen took pictures, the trio smiled at each other like old friends. “[Hitler] He took both of their hands and said a long goodbye,” said a reporter remember, “then he stiffened at the stiff Nazi salute and the duke returned.”
Windsor seemed to leave with deep respect for both Germany and the leader of the Third Reich. “I have traveled all over the world, and my upbringing has made me familiar with the great achievements of mankind, but what I saw in Germany, I still believed to be impossible,” exclaimed the duke. The King’s Betrayal: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor via Andrew Lownie. “It is intangible and a miracle; One can only begin to understand it when one realizes that behind it all is a person and a will.”
Hilter was extremely disappointed in what could have been. Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels said: “It’s a pity he’s no longer king.” wrote about the duke. “With him, we were able to enter into an alliance.”
This week-long trip to Germany would haunt the Windsor family throughout their long, aimless, and unprincipled lives. The visit was a coup for the Nazi propaganda machine and satisfied the Windsors’ short-sighted need to be celebrated in grand royal style. “This couple fell easy prey for someone who showed them the attention and respect they craved,” writes Alexander Larman IN The Windsors at War: The king, his brother and a family are torn apart.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were not the only royals and former royals who leaned towards the Nazi Party in the 1930s and 40s. Lost in a new world that cared less about lineage and worldly privilege generation, the Nazis represented a way to regain the power and respect that, for royalty and nobility, had largely dissipated after World War I.
Several members of the royal family including those from Italy, Spain, Denmark and England would become Nazis or enthusiastic sympathizers. Even members of the Hohenzollern dynasty, which had been forced from power by the German revolution of 1918, would become part of the Nazi machine. These included German Prince August Wilhelm, son of deposed Emperor Wilhelm II, who was derisively nicknamed “Auwi the Little Brown Shirt.” IN Royalty and Empire: The Princes of von Hesse in Nazi Germany, Jonathan Petropoulos depicts August’s rise within the Nazi ranks. He eventually became a popular speaker at rallies, as well as a member of the German Reichstag and the Prussian State Council. He did this out of spite truth that his father, former King Wilhelm II, “thought Hitler was a fool.” But the former emperor also received financial rewards from the German state and did nothing to prevent Hitler’s rise.
The numbers are staggering. In finality Royalty and Empire, Petropoulos estimates that about 270 members of Germany’s aristocratic families alone joined the Nazi Party. These princely cottages were stripped of power after World War I and some of their lands were confiscated. Feeling oppressed by progressive groups, no longer assured of progress in the military and government, they were enticed by the Nazi promise of “law and order” and turning return to Germany’s idealized “traditional” past.
Many of these minor royals also failed professionally before they founded the National Socialist Party. Petropoulos notes Hereditary Prince Ernst of Lippe may have been the first prince to become a card-carrying Nazi in 1928. He later became a senior member of the Settlements and Strains Headquarters. infamous SS clan.
