Moniek Bloks's Blog, page 144

Supporting the Queen: The Duchess of Gloucester at 75

The current Duchess of Gloucester was born Birgitte Eva van Deurs Henriksen as the daughter of Asger Henriksen, a lawyer, and Vivian van Deurs, on 20 June 1946 in Odense, Denmark. She was educated in Odense and also attended school in Lausanne and Cambridge. She took on her mother’s name of van Deurs in January 1966 when her parents separated. In due time, both her parents remarried.

She met her future husband, then known as Prince Richard of Gloucester, in the late 1960s at Cambridge. He was an undergraduate in architecture, and he was the younger son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. After Birgitte finished a three-year term in Commercial and Economic Studies in Copenhagen, she moved to the United Kingdom to work as a secretary at the Royal Danish Embassy in London.

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Their engagement was announced in February 1972. The New York Times wrote,

“Queen’s Cousin will wed a secretary

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester announced the engagement at Kensington Palace today and declared themselves “simply delighted” with the young woman their son had chosen to be his bride. She is a commoner – the daughter of a lawyer – who has studied languages in this country and has been working as a secretary in the Danish Embassy in London since 1970. Queen Elizabeth met Miss van Deurs a few days before she left on her Southeast Asia tour and gave her consent. The engagement was formally approved by the Privy Council on Feb. 41. […] After the wedding, the bride will be known as Princess Richard of Gloucester.”2

The wedding was set for 8 July 1972 at St Andrew’s Church, Barnwell. The New York Times reported the day after, “Informality was the keynote despite the presence of members of the royal family. They were outnumbered by friends and family of the couple.[…] The Queen, Prince Philip and Princess Anne are in Scotland and did not attend. But Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, as well as the Prince of Wales, Princess Margaret and other members of the royal family, were among the 75 relatives and guests.”3

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Unfortunately, Prince Richard’s father was not well enough to attend the ceremony but he met up with the rest of the guests at the reception. Birgitte was given away by her father, while Prince Richard’s elder brother Prince William acted as best man. There were no bridesmaids or pages. Birgitte wore a white swiss organdie dress with bands of lace trimming and a white veil. She also carried a bouquet of white flowers. The rain made it impossible for them to do a planned walk to greet well-wishers, and instead, they travelled by car.

Just six weeks after their wedding, Prince Richard’s elder brother Prince William was killed in an aeroplane crash. This meant that Prince Richard was now the heir to his father’s dukedom. Birgitte reportedly commented upon hearing the news, “But what is going to happen to my Richard? I don’t want him to change.”4 Prince Richard had planned for a life outside of the royal family, and his brother’s death meant that he would have to take up royal duties. For a time, Richard and Birgitte combined royal engagements with his job as an architect. Though he found a strong ally in Birgitte, she too disliked the limelight the royal duties brought and especially disliked making speeches. Like her husband, she would grow into her unexpected role.

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Prince Henry died on 10 June 1974, and Richard and Birgitte became the new Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Birgitte’s mother-in-law asked to be known as Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, in order to distinguish her from her daughter-in-law.5

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At the time of Prince Henry’s death, Birgitte was pregnant with her first child. She gave birth to a son named Alexander on 24 October 1974. He was born via caesarean section, and as the heir apparent to the Dukedom, he has the courtesy title of Earl of Ulster. Under the 1917 Letters Patent, he is not entitled to the style of HRH or the title of Prince. As such, when he succeeds to the dukedom, it will cease to be a royal dukedom. Two daughters, Lady Davina and Lady Rose, followed in 1977 and 1980, respectively. Birgitte reportedly also suffered several miscarriages.6

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In 1980, her husband was interviewed about a volume of photographs that had been published, and he quipped about his title of Duke, “That’s rather a shame, really. Not for me, but for my wife. Being a Duchess sounds like someone old and haughty, whereas one thinks of a princess as being young and beautiful and living in a tower.”7

Since becoming a member of the British royal family, Birgitte has represented The Queen on many occasions. She has travelled all over the United Kingdom and the world with her husband to support various charities and patronages.

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She was quoted as saying, “As members of the Royal Family and in our public life, The Duke and I have the huge privilege of continuously meeting people greatly committed to their work with charitable causes – many individuals being volunteers, doing all kinds of good works, giving of their time, talents and expertise.”8

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And despite now being well above retirement age, both she and her husband are still active members of the royal family. They have even recently completed a month-long walking challenge to raise awareness for prostate cancer. She is also a grandmother of six.

The post Supporting the Queen: The Duchess of Gloucester at 75 appeared first on History of Royal Women.

Book News July 2021

The Imperial Women of Rome: Power, Gender, Context

Hardcover – 1 June 2021 (US) & 22 July 2021 (UK)

The Imperial Women of Rome explores the constraints and activities of the women who were part of Rome’s imperial families from 35 BCE to 235 CE, the Roman principate. Boatwright uses coins, inscriptions, papyri, material culture, and archaeology, as well as the more familiar but biased ancient authors, to depict change and continuity in imperial women’s pursuits and representations over time. Focused vignettes open each thematic chapter, emphasizing imperial women as individuals and their central yet marginalized position in the principate.

Pirate Queen: The Life of Grace O’Malley 

Paperback – 6 July 2021 (US) & 6 May 2021 (UK)

In a life stranger than any fiction, Grace O’Malley, daughter of a clan chief in the far west of Ireland, went from marriage at fifteen to piracy on the high seas. She soon had a fleet of galleys under her command, but her three decades of plundering, kidnapping, murder and mayhem came to a close in 1586, when she was captured and sentenced to hang.

Saved from the scaffold by none other than Queen Elizabeth herself – another powerful woman in a man’s world – Grace’s life took another extraordinary turn when it was rumored she had become intelligence for the queen’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham. Was this the price of her freedom?

Judith Cook explores this and other questions about the life and times of this remarkable woman in a fascinating, thrilling and impeccably researched book.

Royal Witches: Witchcraft and the Nobility in Fifteenth-Century England

Paperback – 13 July 2021 (US & UK)

In Royal Witches, Gemma Hollman explores the lives and the cases of these so-called witches, placing them in the historical context of fifteenth-century England, a setting rife with political upheaval and war. In a time when the line between science and magic was blurred, these trials offer a tantalizing insight into how malicious magic would be used and would later cause such mass hysteria in centuries to come.

Zenobia (WOMEN IN ANTIQUITY) 

Paperback – 30 July 2021 (US & UK)

Hailing from the Syrian city of Palmyra, a woman named Zenobia (also Bathzabbai) governed territory in the eastern Roman empire from 268 to 272. She thus became the most famous Palmyrene who ever lived. But sources for her life and career are scarce. This book situates Zenobia in the social,
economic, cultural, and material context of her Palmyra. By doing so, it aims to shed greater light on the experiences of Zenobia and Palmyrene women like her at various stages of their lives. Not limiting itself to the political aspects of her governance, it contemplates what inscriptions and
material culture at Palmyra enable us to know about women and the practice of gender there, and thus the world that Zenobia navigated.

The Women of the Medici

Paperback – 8 July 2021 (US) & 1 July 2021 (UK)

When this book was first published in 1927 there was a dearth of material written in English about the leading women of Florence at the time of the Renaissance. This volume, based primarily on their own letters, filled that gap. As well as discussing the characters and domestic life of these influential women, the book includes many of their most significant letters.

Daughters of Edward I 

Hardcover – 30 July 2021 (UK) & 30 September 2021 (US)

In 1254 the teenage heir to the English throne married a Spanish bride, the sister of the king of Castile, in Burgos, and their marriage of 36 years proved to be one of the great royal romances of the Middle Ages. Edward I of England and Leonor of Castile had at least fourteen children together, though only six survived into adulthood, five of them daughters. Daughters of Edward I traces the lives of these five capable, independent women, including Joan of Acre, born in the Holy Land, who defied her father by marrying a second husband of her own choice, and Mary, who did not let her forced veiling as a nun stand in the way of the life she really wanted to live. The women’s stories span the decades from the 1260s to the 1330s, through the long reign of their father, the turbulent reign of their brother Edward II, and into the reign of their nephew, the child-king Edward III.

The Mistresses of George I and II: A Maypole and a Peevish Beast 

Hardcover – 30 July 2021 (UK) & 30 September 2021 (US)

When George I arrived in England he found a kingdom in turmoil. Mistrustful of the new monarch from Hanover, his subjects met his coronation with riots. At George’s side was his mistress, Melusine von der Schulenberg, whilst his ex-wife languished in prison. Known as the Maypole, thanks to her eye-catching figure, Melusine was the king’s confidante for decades. She was a mother to his children and a queen without a crown. George II never forgave his father for tearing him from his mother’s arms and he was determined to marry for love, not duty. Though his wife, Caroline of Ansbach, proved to be a politically gifted queen, George II turned to another for affection. She was Henrietta Howard, the impoverished Countess of Suffolk, and she was desperate to escape her brutish husband. As the years passed, the royal affair became a powerplay between king and queen and the woman who was mistress to one and servant to another. Melusine and Henrietta’s privileged position made them the envy of every courtier. It also made them a target of jealousy, plotting and ambition. In the tumultuous Georgian court, the bedroom and the throne room weren’t so far apart.

The post Book News July 2021 appeared first on History of Royal Women.

The Year of the Duchess of Windsor – The early years

“Mine is a simple story – or so I like to think.”1

On 19 June 1896, the future Duchess of Windsor was born Bessie Wallis Warfield as the daughter of Teackle Wallis Warfield and Alice Montague. Her parents had settled in Blue Ridge Summit for the summer, and she probably arrived a little earlier than expected as a physician had to be hastily called to help with the delivery. The birth was not registered, which has led to some outrageous rumours that Wallis was born with both male and female genitalia. This was denied by the doctor who cared for her until her death.2 There was no legal requirement in Pennsylvania to register a birth.

Wallis, as she preferred to be known, was named Bessie after her mother’s older sister and Wallis in honour of her father. At the time of her birth, he was already quite ill with tuberculosis, and when the new family returned to Baltimore at the end of the summer, he was becoming increasingly ill. They moved into the Brexton Residential Hotel, and it would be his final home. Little Wallis was kept in an adjoining room for fear of infection, and as his end neared, he asked for a photograph of his daughter. He commented, “I’m afraid, Alice, she has the Warfield look. Let us hope that in spirit she’ll be like you – a Montague.”3 On 15 November 1896, Teackle Wallis Warfield died at the age of 27.

The penniless Alice and young Wallis soon moved in with her Teackle’s widowed mother, Anna Emory Warfield. Wallis’s uncle Solomon also lived there – he was unmarried but was probably the most successful of his siblings. Wallis later wrote of him, “For a long and impressionable period, he was the nearest thing to a father in my uncertain world, but an odd kind of father – reserved, unbending, silent. Uncle Sol was destined to return again and again to my life – or, more accurately, it was my fate to be obliged to turn again and again to him, usually at some new point of crisis for me and one seldom to his liking. I was always a little afraid of Uncle Sol.”4

Young Wallis was known to be a healthy and happy child. In her early years, she had an Irish governess who had served the Warfield family for many years. She lacked for nothing, and her life revolved around her formidable grandmother. She learned Wallis to respect her southern roots and implored her to “never marry a Yankee.”5 However, Alice was unhappy living from her late husband’s family charity, and she never seemed to gain their approval. In 1901, Alice packed her bags and took the five-year-old Wallis with her.

Alice’s family had disapproved of her marriage with Teackle, so she could not turn to them either. She returned to the Brexton Residential Hotel, where she and Wallis shared a double room. Every month, Solomon sent her checks, but the amounts varied all the time, and she never knew if she would have enough to cover her expenses. Alice eventually joined the Women’s Exchange in Baltimore, where she received a small weekly salary making clothing for the poor. After a year of this, she finally accepted an invitation to come live with her widowed sister Bessie.

In 1902, Wallis was sent to a private school after Alice convinced Solomon to pay for the education of his niece. Wallis did well there and became a star pupil. She left the school in 1906 and entered the Arundell School for Girls. Every month, Wallis presented her report cards to uncle Solomon for inspection. By 1908, Alice had found her footing again, and they left Bessie’s house to move into a suite of room in the Preston Apartment House. Not much later, they moved to an actual house at 212 Biddle Street. Her mother had been quietly seeing a man named John Freeman Rasin, but when she informed Wallis that they were to marry, Wallis threatened to run away. She was finally convinced to attend the wedding by aunt Bessie and a cousin.

Alice and John were married on 20 June 1908 in the parlour of the Biddle Street house. Wallis duly appeared, dressed in a gown with embroidered batiste laced with blue ribbons. Halfway through the ceremony, she slipped out and tore apart the wedding cake. Her new stepfather found her, but instead of punishing her, he grabbed her, twirled her around and laughed. Although Wallis could never call him anything other than Mr Rasin, she finally accepted him into her life.

Her new stepfather did not work and lived on an income from his trust fund, which also allowed Alice to play the hostess again. Wallis was put up with piano lessons, which she hated. She was finally allowed to stop the lessons after a terrible recital performance. On 17 April 1910, Wallis was confirmed into the Episcopal church and later that year, she attended the Burrlands Summer Camp. Here she had her first crush – his name was Lloyd Tabb, and he was 17 years old.

Wallis left Arundell in 1911 to attend one of the local finishing schools. She attended Oldfields in Glencoe, which was also a boarding school. She became friends with Mary Kirk (who would later marry Ernest Simpson). At first, Wallis enjoyed Oldfields, but she soon came to resent the strict regime and began to fake various illnesses to get out of lessons.

Tragedy soon came knocking again. On 4 April 1913, Wallis’s stepfather died of Bright’s disease. Her mother was devastated, and it was Wallis who took charge of the funeral arrangements. The two were now once again at the mercy of their more wealthy relatives. Alice was forced to move from Biddle street to an apartment. In early May, Wallis completed her schooling at Oldfields – she was almost 18 years old. None of her friends continued their schooling, and neither did Wallis. Her only focus became her debut, and with some money from uncle Solomon, she was able to buy new dresses.

The ultimate event was the Bachelor’s Cotillon, which was only for a lucky 47 debutants, and Wallis was one of the lucky ones. The event took place on 7 December 1914, and Wallis had two dates; her mother’s cousin’s husband, George Barnett (a major general in the US Marine Corps) and her cousin Henry Warfield. The night was a great success.

One of her first serious boyfriends was Carter Osborne. He later recalled, “I think for a while we were in love with each other. […] Between ourselves, we said we were engaged. We thought we were serious and planned to marry.”6 They never married.

In December 1915, Wallis’s grandmother died, and she was surprised to learn that she had been left four thousand dollars in her will. However, the money would not be hers until her 21st birthday. During the mourning for her grandmother, she was asked by her cousin Corinne to join them in Florida for a holiday. She left Baltimore in April 1916, and it was through Corinne’s husband that she would meet her future first husband – Earl Winfield Spencer Jr, known as Win. She wrote to her mother, “I have just met the world’s most fascinating aviator…”7 It was the beginning of a new life.

The post The Year of the Duchess of Windsor – The early years appeared first on History of Royal Women.

Book review: Elizabeth I’s Last Favourite: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex by Sarah-Beth Watkins

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*Review copy*

Sarah-Beth Watkins has written a number of biographies on well-known Tudors, and the latest on Robert Devereux follows her tried and tested format yet introduces a man not as well known as some of Queen Elizabeth I’s other favourites.

Robert Devereux was the stepson of Elizabeth I’s favourite Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester; though this did not always work in Devereux’s favour as his mother and stepfather had married without the permission of the queen and following an affair. After inheriting little more than a title from his father, Devereux was known as the poorest Earl in England and had to use his own wit and a lot of borrowed money to make his way in the world. Though this book is pretty short at 167 pages which may disappoint some, I would say there is little that is not covered, and this concise work gives insight into all aspects of Robert Devereux’s life.

We follow Robert chronologically through his life in the book from childhood to his death, and the text is backed up by the use of a large number of original sources, including letters, quotations and poems. All of the sources are fully referenced, and a good bibliography is provided so that the reader can always choose to look further into the topic if they so wish. While much of the book focuses on Robert’s tempestuous relationship with Queen Elizabeth I and how he was forever in and out of favour, this is not the only side of the 2nd Earl of Essex that we see. I appreciated, in particular, the detail on the Earl’s upbringing and the mentions of the relationships with his sisters. On top of this, we see Robert rise in status from a poor schoolboy to a celebrated soldier in the wars in the United Provinces. From here, Robert went on to become a Privy Counsellor and became very close to the Queen. We see how at times, he seemed indispensable to Queen Elizabeth but then other times; he is in trouble for making a silly mistake or falling further into debt.

Robert’s final major posting in 1599 was as Lieutenant Governor-General of Ireland; this, of course, was a great position but one Robert did not want to take, as it removed him from the heart of court life, and he was unable to hold influence over the ageing Queen. The book covers what happened after this posting and Robert’s downfall in detail. Another nice touch was the fact there is a chapter on his descendants and what happened to his children; this is often left unmentioned in such biographies.

Though the book is a little short, and I would have appreciated some larger, colour pictures, these are just minor negative points. This work has been thoroughly researched, and well-written and the reader comes away with a knowledge of the wars in the period, court hierarchy and religious conflicts, as well as reading up on Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading historical biographies, and I would say whether you have read widely on the Tudor period or just getting started, this book is a great read.

Elizabeth I’s Last Favourite: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex by Sarah-Beth Watkins is available now in the UK and the US.

The post Book review: Elizabeth I’s Last Favourite: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex by Sarah-Beth Watkins appeared first on History of Royal Women.

When Empress Hermine met Harold Lloyd

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The Eye Film Museum recently shared two videos from the archives relating to Empress Hermine, the second wife of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. The first one shows her meeting American actor Harold Lloyd as he visits her charity bazaar, while the second video shows her, Wilhelm, and also briefly her two daughters, as they go about their day in July 1931.

My book Hermine: An Empress in Exile can be bought here.

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Bianca Maria Sforza – The unloved Empress

Bianca Maria Sforza was born on 5 April 1472 as the third child but the eldest (legitimate) daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, and Bona of Savoy. She had two older brothers, Gian and Hermes, who were three and two at the time of her birth. Her last full sibling, Anna, was born in 1476. She also had several illegitimate half-siblings.

Bianca Maria and Anna spent most of their time in the Sforza residences in Milan, Pavia, Vigevano and Abbiategrasso. Tragically, she would barely know her father. He was assassinated on 26 December 1476 when Bianca Maria was only four years old. Her mother Bona became regent for her brother Gian until 1481 when her brother-in-law Ludovico Maria Sforza seized power, although Gian remained Duke in name. Bianca had been betrothed to Philibert I, Duke of Savoy at a very young age, but he died at the age of 17 in 1481. Bianca Maria was then betrothed to the son of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, but this betrothal too fell through.1

In 1491, Bianca Maria’s sister Anna left Milan to marry Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, and she would die in childbirth six years later – still only 21 years old. That same year, Bianca Maria was considered for a brilliant match that would have seen her become Queen of Scots as the wife of King James IV. However, a more brilliant match was waiting for her.

In 1493, the 34-year-old Archduke Maximilian, son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and widower of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, was recently coming out of a failed betrothal to Anne, Duchess of Brittany. Bianca Maria’s uncle sent Maximilian an offer of a dowry of 400,000 ducats in exchange for the renewed investiture of Milan. Maximilian agreed but kept the offer a secret as his father lay dying. When his father indeed died in August 1493, he called for Bianca to come to Innsbruck. Her mother was said to be delighted with the brilliant match and soon began to prepare for the proxy wedding, which had been set for November.

On 7 November, two ambassadors from Maximilian, then known as the King of the Romans as he had not been crowned with the imperial crown yet, reached Milan and met with Bianca’s uncle and her brother, the Duke. On 30 November 1493, Bianca rode through the city of Milan in a carriage drawn by four white horses. She was magnificently dressed in a crimson satin vest, embroidered with gold thread and covered in jewels. She also had a large train, and the sleeves of her dress looked like two wings.2 The proxy ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of Milan, and during the ceremony, she was presented with a ring and a crown.

Just three days later, Bianca Maria began her journey to Innsbruck – her brother Hermes was amongst those travelling with her. It was not an easy journey, and one envoy wrote, “Our gracious lady bears herself well on the whole, but she constantly complains that I deceive her, for each morning when she mounts her horse I tell her that she will not find the path so rough that day, and then by ill-fate, it is worse than ever.”3 They finally arrived at Innsbruck on Christmas Eve, only to find that Maximilian was not there to greet them. She did find Catherine of Saxony, the wife of Archduke Sigismund of Austria, who tried to entertain her with balls and parties.

Bianca Maria and Maximilian finally met on 9 March the following year. Though he was kind to her and he considered her more beautiful than his first wife, he also thought she was not as wise. He also soon became annoyed with her extravagance and often left her for weeks at a time at Innsbruck. In October 1494, Bianca Maria’s brother Gian died, and their uncle swooped in to take over the title. However, he was soon taken captive by the French and spent the last eight years of his life as a prisoner.

Her uncle’s sons spent much time at the court of Bianca Maria, and she was reportedly also close to her stepchildren, Philip and Margaret. However, she and Maximilian would not have any children of their own, though she reportedly did suffer several miscarriages. From 1502, Maximilian spent less and less time with her and over the next eight years, they probably were only together for about a year and a half. When Maximilian was, at last, crowned as Emperor, Bianca Maria was not by his side.

Bianca Maria died on 31 December 1510, after being ill for quite some time. She was still only 38 years old.4

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Historic Newspapers – William and Kate: A Royal Ten Years Review

*review copy*

Can you believe it has been ten years since Prince William married Catherine Middleton in Westminster Abbey? It seems like only yesterday that we watched the fairytale wedding on TV!

Historic Newspapers have now released a special edition William and Kate book to commemorate their anniversary. It includes newspaper coverage from their wedding but also included the next ten years of their married life and the important events that shaped their marriage.

The William and Kate newspaper book can make a perfect present as it can be personalised by having the recipient’s name appear in gold embossing on the cover and you can have their name and a message added to the opening page.

Click to view slideshow.

Not being from the UK, I really enjoyed reading through all the newspaper articles as there were many that I had not seen before. The book feels really luxurious and well-made. I love that it came in a box as well, making it even better to give as a gift.

You can order your own William and Kate book here or have look through their other newspaper books!

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The Duchess of Windsor – Was she a nazi sympathiser? (Part two)

Read part one here.

The ‘state visit’ to Nazi-Germany

After the abdication and their subsequent marriage, the newly minted Duke and Duchess of Windsor visited Hitler’s Germany. In October 1937, the German government paid for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to visit Germany. They went against the advice of the British government, but there was little they could do to prevent it. Just before the trip, King George VI’s private secretary wrote, “Eden had discussed the matter with the Prime Minister, and it was agreed that nothing could, of course, be done to stop the contemplated tour.”

The Duke and Duchess needed to do something to restore their image, but the decision to go was very foolish, indeed. The trip would be used as evidence that they were incipient Nazis indeed. On 11 October 1937, the Duke and Duchess arrived at the Friedrichstraße station, and they were treated like it was a state visit. The visit included an inspection of a Nazi training school in Pomerania, where they were greeted by an SS-band playing the British national anthem.

The Duke and Duchess also visited Carinhall – Hermann Göring’s estate – where they had tea. During a dinner with Joachim von Ribbentrop in Berlin, they also met Albert Speer and Joseph and Magda Goebbels, who were very impressed. Joseph later wrote in his diary, “The Duke is wonderful – a nice sympathetic fellow who is open and clear and with a healthy understanding of people… It is a shame he is no longer King. With him, we would have entered into an alliance.”1

On 19 October in Nuremberg, the Duke and Duchess had dinner with the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who was a male-line grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Before the trip, he had written to the Duke of Windsor, “Dear David! I hear that you are coming to Germany… I naturally would be delighted if you could take this opportunity to see me; perhaps I could introduce you to a couple of interesting personalities whom you otherwise wouldn’t meet during your trip.”2 Over 100 guests were in attendance at the Grand Hotel.

The Duke and Duchess then met Hitler himself at the Berghof in Obersalzberg on 22 October. They were thrilled because Hitler addressed the Duchess with “Royal Highness”, which had been denied her in England. Afterwards, Hitler escorted the couple to their car, and one reporter noted, “The Duchess was visibly impressed with the Führer’s personality, and he apparently indicated that they had become fast friends by giving her an affectionate farewell. Hitler took both their hands in his saying a long goodbye, after which he stiffened to a rigid Nazi salute that the Duke returned.” According to Hitler’s translator, he said of Wallis, “She would have made a good Queen.”3

Their final evening of the trip was spent at the home of Rudolf and Ilse Hess, who hosted a dinner party for 14 people.

Even the Germans were somewhat confused about the reason for the trip. Afterwards, the British consul wrote, “Germans here were much puzzled about the reasons for the tour which many of them attributed to the Duke’s supposed strong pro-Fascist sympathies. This belief was strengthened by the words which H.R.H is alleged to have used to sum up his impressions of the tour, and which was rendered by Dr Ley to a recent meeting of the German Labor Front in Leipzig as follows: ‘I have travelled the world, and my upbringing has made me familiar with great achievements of mankind, but that which I have seen in Germany I had hitherto believed to be impossible. It cannot be grasped and is a miracle; one can only begin to understand it when one realizes that behind it all is one and one will.'”4

The Duke and Duchess’ visit attracted the interest of the FBI. In September 1940, a report to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover said, “For some time the British Government has known that the Duchess of Windsor was exceedingly pro-German in her sympathies and connections and there is strong reason to believe that this is the reason why she was considered so obnoxious to the British Government that they refused to permit Edward to marry her and maintain the throne.”5

The Duke of Windsor’s equerry, Dudley Forwood, later said, “Whereas the Duke, Duchess and I had no idea that the Germans were or would be committing mass murder on the Jews, we were none of us averse to Hitler politically. We felt that the Nazi regime was a more appropriate government than the Weimar Republic, which has been extremely socialist.”6

The Marburg Files

In 1957 plans were made to publish the so-called Marburg files under the title “Documents on German Foreign Policy, Volume X, Series D.”7 These files, found at the German Castle of Marburg shortly after the war, contained a file of around 60 pages of concerning the Duke of Windsor. This included correspondence concerning a plot called Operation Willi which, if successful, meant that the Duke would have been offered the throne of the United Kingdom as a puppet King. One telegram even claimed that this plan to reinstate the Duke as King was discussed with the Duke and Duchess.

Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin did not believe it was in the public interest to release the Duke’s file in 1945. He wrote, “The documents have no bearing on war crimes or the general history of the war […] a disclosure would, in my opinion, do grave harm to the national interest.”8

When the file finally saw the light of day in 1957, both the government and the Duke of Windsor released statements denying the claims in the German telegrams. While the Duke did acknowledge that pro-Nazi sympathisers did try to delay him in Europe, he insisted that he treated it “with the contempt that it deserved.” He said that the telegrams were “in part complete fabrications” and “in part gross distortions of the truth.”9 The British Foreign Office stated that the Duke, “never wavered in his loyalty to the British cause… The German records are necessarily a much-tainted source. The only firm evidence is of what the Germans were trying to do in this matter and how completely they failed.”10

It is quite possible that the telegrams were truthful and that the Duke was willing to take the best deal possible, but the fact remains that the telegrams are second-hand accounts of what he is alleged to have said.11 There is no (surviving?) evidence in his (or their) own hand in the plot.

Wallis herself had been distrusted from the very beginning of her relationship with the Duke, and it is perhaps no surprise that any indication of trustworthiness was exploited. Wallis enjoyed the attention being paid to her by the German diplomats, but she was probably no more pro-Nazi than many in the cabinet at the time. Prime Minister Baldwin never accused her of having German sympathies, either at the time or after.12 

It is quite telling that any mention of the Duchess is, after all these years, still followed by the accusation of her being a Nazi or having Nazi sympathies. Were they foolish when they visited Germany in 1937? Absolutely. However, neither she nor the Duke were ever members of the Nazi Party, and while they may have favoured the early regime over a socialist government, it can hardly be said that they supported the atrocities that followed.

The evidence here is not enough for a conviction.

The post The Duchess of Windsor – Was she a nazi sympathiser? (Part two) appeared first on History of Royal Women.

The Year of the Duchess of Windsor – Her reputation as a Nazi sympathiser (Part two)

Read part one here.

The ‘state visit’ to Nazi-Germany

After the abdication and their subsequent marriage, the newly minted Duke and Duchess of Windsor visited Hitler’s Germany. In October 1937, the German government paid for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to visit Germany. They went against the advice of the British government, but there was little they could do to prevent it. Just before the trip, King George VI’s private secretary wrote, “Eden had discussed the matter with the Prime Minister, and it was agreed that nothing could, of course, be done to stop the contemplated tour.”

The Duke and Duchess needed to do something to restore their image, but the decision to go was very foolish, indeed. The trip would be used as evidence that they were incipient Nazis indeed. On 11 October 1937, the Duke and Duchess arrived at the Friedrichstraße station, and they were treated like it was a state visit. The visit included an inspection of a Nazi training school in Pomerania, where they were greeted by an SS-band playing the British national anthem.

The Duke and Duchess also visited Carinhall – Hermann Göring’s estate – where they had tea. During a dinner with Joachim von Ribbentrop in Berlin, they also met Albert Speer and Joseph and Magda Goebbels, who were very impressed. Joseph later wrote in his diary, “The Duke is wonderful – a nice sympathetic fellow who is open and clear and with a healthy understanding of people… It is a shame he is no longer King. With him, we would have entered into an alliance.”1

On 19 October in Nuremberg, the Duke and Duchess had dinner with the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who was a male-line grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Before the trip, he had written to the Duke of Windsor, “Dear David! I hear that you are coming to Germany… I naturally would be delighted if you could take this opportunity to see me; perhaps I could introduce you to a couple of interesting personalities whom you otherwise wouldn’t meet during your trip.”2 Over 100 guests were in attendance at the Grand Hotel.

The Duke and Duchess then met Hitler himself at the Berghof in Obersalzberg on 22 October. They were thrilled because Hitler addressed the Duchess with “Royal Highness”, which had been denied her in England. Afterwards, Hitler escorted the couple to their car, and one reporter noted, “The Duchess was visibly impressed with the Führer’s personality, and he apparently indicated that they had become fast friends by giving her an affectionate farewell. Hitler took both their hands in his saying a long goodbye, after which he stiffened to a rigid Nazi salute that the Duke returned.” According to Hitler’s translator, he said of Wallis, “She would have made a good Queen.”3

Their final evening of the trip was spent at the home of Rudolf and Ilse Hess, who hosted a dinner party for 14 people.

Even the Germans were somewhat confused about the reason for the trip. Afterwards, the British consul wrote, “Germans here were much puzzled about the reasons for the tour which many of them attributed to the Duke’s supposed strong pro-Fascist sympathies. This belief was strengthened by the words which H.R.H is alleged to have used to sum up his impressions of the tour, and which was rendered by Dr Ley to a recent meeting of the German Labor Front in Leipzig as follows: ‘I have travelled the world, and my upbringing has made me familiar with great achievements of mankind, but that which I have seen in Germany I had hitherto believed to be impossible. It cannot be grasped and is a miracle; one can only begin to understand it when one realizes that behind it all is one and one will.'”4

The Duke and Duchess’ visit attracted the interest of the FBI. In September 1940, a report to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover said, “For some time the British Government has known that the Duchess of Windsor was exceedingly pro-German in her sympathies and connections and there is strong reason to believe that this is the reason why she was considered so obnoxious to the British Government that they refused to permit Edward to marry her and maintain the throne.”5

The Duke of Windsor’s equerry, Dudley Forwood, later said, “Whereas the Duke, Duchess and I had no idea that the Germans were or would be committing mass murder on the Jews, we were none of us averse to Hitler politically. We felt that the Nazi regime was a more appropriate government than the Weimar Republic, which has been extremely socialist.”6

The Marburg Files

In 1957 plans were made to publish the so-called Marburg files under the title “Documents on German Foreign Policy, Volume X, Series D.”7 These files, found at the German Castle of Marburg shortly after the war, contained a file of around 60 pages of concerning the Duke of Windsor. This included correspondence concerning a plot called Operation Willi which, if successful, meant that the Duke would have been offered the throne of the United Kingdom as a puppet King. One telegram even claimed that this plan to reinstate the Duke as King was discussed with the Duke and Duchess.

Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin did not believe it was in the public interest to release the Duke’s file in 1945. He wrote, “The documents have no bearing on war crimes or the general history of the war […] a disclosure would, in my opinion, do grave harm to the national interest.”8

When the file finally saw the light of day in 1957, both the government and the Duke of Windsor released statements denying the claims in the German telegrams. While the Duke did acknowledge that pro-Nazi sympathisers did try to delay him in Europe, he insisted that he treated it “with the contempt that it deserved.” He said that the telegrams were “in part complete fabrications” and “in part gross distortions of the truth.”9 The British Foreign Office stated that the Duke, “never wavered in his loyalty to the British cause… The German records are necessarily a much-tainted source. The only firm evidence is of what the Germans were trying to do in this matter and how completely they failed.”10

It is quite possible that the telegrams were truthful and that the Duke was willing to take the best deal possible, but the fact remains that the telegrams are second-hand accounts of what he is alleged to have said.11 There is no (surviving?) evidence in his (or their) own hand in the plot.

Wallis herself had been distrusted from the very beginning of her relationship with the Duke, and it is perhaps no surprise that any indication of trustworthiness was exploited. Wallis enjoyed the attention being paid to her by the German diplomats, but she was probably no more pro-Nazi than many in the cabinet at the time. Prime Minister Baldwin never accused her of having German sympathies, either at the time or after.12 

It is quite telling that any mention of the Duchess is, after all these years, still followed by the accusation of her being a Nazi or having Nazi sympathies. Were they foolish when they visited Germany in 1937? Absolutely. However, neither she nor the Duke were ever members of the Nazi Party, and while they may have favoured the early regime over a socialist government, it can hardly be said that they supported the atrocities that followed.

The evidence here is not enough for a conviction.

The post The Year of the Duchess of Windsor – Her reputation as a Nazi sympathiser (Part two) appeared first on History of Royal Women.

The Duchess of Windsor – Was she a nazi sympathiser? (Part one)

During the early years of their relationship, Wallis and the Prince of Wales were guests in the home of the German Ambassador, Leopold von Hoesch, who – on Hitler’s orders – lavishly entertained the pair to press the German interests and policies. There was some speculation that Wallis was paid by the Germans to ensure that the Prince would take note of the German ideas, but there is no evidence of that. In fact, she didn’t have a need to do so as the Prince of Wales was already sympathetic to the German cause.

Hitler hoped to achieve an understanding with the British and watched carefully with each step he took as he was determined not to go to war with England. He was convinced that he found the best guarantee for British support in the Prince of Wales. In June 1935, the Prince of Wales gave a speech at the Annual Conference of the British Legion, declaring that the best way to ensure peace was to “stretch forth the hand of friendship to the Germans.”1 His father, King George V, was angry when he heard of the speech as he had failed to seek prior authorisation for his remarks and had strayed into political territory – even though his own beliefs were not that different from the Prince’s.2 The Prince of Wales had seen what war could do, and he was determined to prevent it from happening again. Adolf Hitler was utterly convinced he now had someone he could do business with, and such delusions would haunt the reputations of both the Duke and the Duchess of Windsor for the rest of their lives.

Joachim von Ribbentrop and the 17 carnations

In June 1935, Wallis and the Prince of Wales met Joachim von Ribbentrop – a politician who later served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945 – at a gathering at the home of Lady Cunard, a society hostess and a supporter of Wallis. Also present was Winston Churchill, who soon became bored with von Ribbentrop’s droning about Hitler’s achievements. It has been reported that von Ribbentrop then began to carefully cultivate a relationship with Wallis, which included sending her carnations (or roses) on a regular basis. Speculation even included that they were lovers. This seems doubtful, considering how deeply involved Wallis was with the Prince, and she had seen how he had responded when his previous favourite Thelma was rumoured to have a relationship with Aly Khan. Why would Wallis risk her position by having an affair with a German politician? Wallis herself later declared that she had only met von Ribbentrop twice and denied that she been used as a tool by the Nazis.3

It was also at Lady Cunard’s home that Wallis was introduced to the politics making the rounds in society. Lady Cunard was not afraid to introduce controversial topics in her house, and there she met Russian exiles who did not see Hitler as the madman but as an anti-communist who would save their country.4 Other acquaintances included Sir Oswald Mosley, who later married Diana Mitford in a secret ceremony in the Berlin home of the German Minister for Propaganda Josef Goebbels and his wife, Magda. Among the wedding guests was Adolf Hitler.

When the Prince of Wales became King, he was accused of harbouring Fascist tendencies, but this was “largely in accord with the mood of his subjects.”5 His German sympathies lay largely in his German heritage, as did his fear of communism. But he also really admired Hitler for how he managed to restore Germany in the years following the Treaty of Versailles. For now, the Nazis still respected borders and the sovereignty of other nations, and Hitler continued to deny he wanted anything more than Germany’s due.

Then came the rumours that Wallis had access to all the state papers and should be seriously suspected of passing state secrets to the Germans. The new King apparently left his red boxes open and barely bothered to read them as he found them “complete drudgery”6 and this was apparently translated to mean that instead Wallis was actively reading them and passing the content on. Weekend guests at Fort Belvedere observed the King’s apparent reluctance to see to the red boxes but also commented on Wallis’ efforts to get him to attend to them. “Wallis must not get too bossy,” wrote Diana Cooper. “I had rather she had not said to him at dinner that she wanted to encourage his reading his papers and documents, that he was inclined to have them read to him – but that it was essential he should learn to master the points in them.” Conveniently, Wallis’ attempts to positively influence the King did not make it to the rumour mill.7

Charles Bedeaux

After the abdication in December 1936, Wallis and the former King remained apart while Wallis’s divorce was not yet absolute. Wallis had left England at the beginning of December 1936 just as the British press began to write about the crisis. She had called her friends Herman and Katherine Rogers, who lived in Cannes and asked to stay with them. However, in early March, it was time to move on and begin to plan for the future with the now abdicated King. It was Herman Rogers who introduced her to Charles Bedaux, a French-American businessman, who owned an old château named Candé, near Tours.

It was surrounded by a large wooded park, which would guarantee their privacy. Wallis discussed the idea with the Duke, and Herman asked Charles if he had any skeletons in his closet as the press would certainly find them and the couple could not afford any embarrassment. Even King George VI was consulted, and with royal approval, Charles officially lent them the Château de Candé. They would be married there in June.

It turned out Charles did have skeletons in his closet. Though not a Nazi, his views were a mix of communist and fascist. His best friend was Dr Robert Ley, the leader of the Nazi National Labor Front. His biographer later wrote, “But it is preposterous to think that the British government did not check out Bedeaux. Therefore, they either found something ‘on’ him or they did not. If the government determined that Bedeaux was undesirable and permitted the marriage to take place at Candé, then it must be concluded that they were setting up the unfortunate Duke.”8

Their association with Bedeaux became awkward when he was charged with treason in 1943. Though no evidence was ever discovered, Bedeaux committed suicide in his American jail cell. His name was later cleared, though it would be too late for him. For the Duke and Duchess, he became another reason for people to become suspicious of them.

Read part two here.

The post The Duchess of Windsor – Was she a nazi sympathiser? (Part one) appeared first on History of Royal Women.