User Reviews

The love-affair between the Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson has provided material for several television dramas, notably EDWARD AND MRS. SIMPSON (1978) and W.E. (2011). Both follow the orthodox interpretation of events, wherein the lovers become a romantic duo forced to choose between romance and duty. The Prince of Wales opts for the former and has to abdicate as a result. The entire episode has been read as a rehearsal for the struggles experienced six decades later by Diana, Princess of Wales and her husband Prince Charles.

EDWARD VIII: THE TRAITOR KING puts a very different spin on events. With the help of evidence "unearthed from the archives," as the program-makers claim, plus interviews with some of the people around at the time of the Abdication and its aftermath, co-directors David Hart and Nick Raid claim that the Duke of Windsor regularly acted against the national interest. He consorted with Adolf Hitler, enjoyed Nazi hospitality at a time of increasing political strain between Britain and Germany, and subsequently interacted with several Nazi sympathizers and agents. During the Second World War the Duke of Windsor fled from Paris to the south of France and thence to Spain, where he continued to associate with Nazi agents. It was alleged that he became part of a master-plan whereby Hitler would restore him to the throne, once Britain had been conquered, and subsequently become part of a puppet regime similar to that of Vichy France.

Exasperated, Winston Churchill consigned the Duke of Windsor to a job as Governor-General of Bermuda. Yet still the Duke continued to be a thorn in Britain's side, as he tried to inveigle a journalist into talking to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and subsequently using Roosevelt as part of a grand plan to create a negotiated peace settlement, giving Hitler most of his territorial gains. It was hardly surprising in view of the Duke's behavior that he should have been ostracized by the Royal Family.

What the program lacked was a plausible explanation of why the Duke should have behaved like this. He was undoubtedly resentful at the way he had been treated by the British government, as well as his brother King George VI. Although the program-makers did not suggest it, perhaps the Duke's principal shortcoming was overweening self- interest. He seldom took other people's attitudes into account: everything had to be done for himself. By consorting with Hitler he hoped to be considered a great statesperson; likewise his desire for a negotiated settlement was provoked out of a desire to re-assume the kingly role. The fact that such schemes were contrary to the national interest never entered his mind.

Despite his behavior, the overwhelming feeling produced by this documentary was one of sympathy; that such an emotionally and intellectually immature personality should have been placed in such difficult social and political situations. He was clearly unsuited to the role of King; nor could he ever be considered an effective figurehead for Britain and its interests.

I was guessing that this was just a routine pom-bashing exercise, but it turned out to be something far more searching and revealing.

From the evidence, it is clear that the Duke of Windsor was up to his neck in secret dialogue with the Third Reich, supporting a 'Peace plan' that meant nothing more nor less than a new Nazi order throughout Europe.

As soon as he had abdicated, promising to 'quit altogether public affairs', he was actually busy trying to manipulate them, at the expense of the country that had bred him and honoured him. But even before that, he had made clear his approval of the Führer. Apparently his tacit support for the Rhine invasion tilted the odds in favour of this high-risk operation, which gave Hitler his first scent of appeasement. And as a major-general in Paris in 1939-40, he apparently used his position to pass tactical information to the enemy, the most shocking of all the revelations - if true, that is.

One reason to doubt this claim is that the intelligence services had long since sized him up as a man not to be entrusted with sensitive documents. Boozy and indiscreet, he could be no more than a figurehead in uniform. This leads us to consider the role of Wallis, a far shrewder and more unscrupulous character than her husband, and a far likelier spy. Remembering her reaction to the Battle of Britain - "I can't say I feel sorry for them" - she may have been the one motivated to hit back at the country that had rejected her. Whether or not she was Ribbentrop's lover (possible but unlikely, given the short overlap when they were both in England), she would have had ample opportunities to charm any number of the double-agents who were swarming around Paris at that time. And of course the other reason for putting Wallis in the frame is that Edward was so hopelessly in her thrall that it was really Wallis doing the talking, and just his mouth moving.

It's obvious that this 98-minute video was first issued as three separate programmes, two of them headed with a brief section summarising 'the story so far'. These sections have not been edited-out, and they interrupt what is otherwise a smooth and professional job. The narration by Nigel Anthony is professional enough, though the early part does sound rather like a school history-lesson. More disappointing are the various interviewees, recalling the events of the time. Obviously they're very elderly, but I don't think this quite explains the dreariness of the speech. I think we are catching echoes of 1930's upper-class vocal delivery, and mighty ponderous it sounds today. Fortunately the chief commentator is a younger man, John Costello, and he more than makes up for this, with his crisp authority, able to give the discussion some kind of edge.

Wallis once said "You have no idea how hard it is to live a fairy-tale." But it was even less of a fairy-tale than we had thought.