Gay for Hitler

Okay, so this is spawned by the general idea that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were Nazis or Nazi sympathizers. I do not expect people on the internet to know anything about the Windsors. I generally don’t expect Americans to know anything about royalty at all, except that Prince Harry is hot and Princess Diana is dead. Naturally on royal related sites this is a bit different. One thing I am getting sick of is the universally excepted idea that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor supported the Nazis.

I have been seeing this one EVERYWHERE. Literally, everywhere.  I’m on Perez Hilton’s blog reading about how Madonna is making a movie about them (I hope it’s a musical!) and that’s the only historical related comment to be found. I am reading a cracked.com article about stupid propaganda posters, and there it is again. The title for this post comes from a delightful conversation I had with a young man who lives near my grandfather.

I was staying with Grandpa last summer and managed to come across the great book The People’s King by Susan Williams in a used bookstore. So, I was sitting on his porch reading it when his neighbor (who sometimes helps with repairs) came to the door and asked me about what I was reading.

“Oh, it’s about King Edward VIII.” I replied, resting the book on my lap and hoping I wouldn’t be asked if he was the one “with all the wives”.

“That guy? Wasn’t he, like, gay for Hitler?” The young man replied. I had heard such accusations before, but he didn’t seem like the type who would bother thinking about those types of things. I didn’t know what to say so I just told him that he was actually thinking of Henry Ford*.

It’s gotten to the point where I’m reluctant to admit in I’m interested in Wallis and Edward lest people think I’m like Michelle McGee or something. BTW, I’m totally not. Even if I wanted to be, I’m terrified of needles and think Jesse James is skeevy. Anyway, I decided to go into the Windsors and whether or not they were Nazis in what will probably be a two or three-part post. Mainly because I might need to take a trip to the library for this one.

So, last week I watched the documentary Edward on Edward on VHS (we were partying like it was 1999 and I had totally forgotten how you have to rewind those things before you can watch them again) and it went into their dealings during World War II in detail. Now, Edward on Edward isn’t exactly what I would call a nice documentary.  It was made by Prince Edward, and very much presents the royal family’s side of things. And Prince Edward says he was looking quite hard to find dirt on the Nazi thing and didn’t find any. Now, conspiracy theorists assume what you like, but I just don’t see what motive he would have had to cover anything up. Also, he was going for ratings, and Nazis tend to bring the ratings. He had clearly done a lot of research and went through the royal archives (which I’d pay good money to look through) and interviewed a lot of people. Of the people he interviewed, they all said the Duke of Windsor did not collaborate or support the Nazis in any way. One man he interviewed was the Spanish spy who had informed the Windsors of Hitler’s desire to put them on the throne. He said the Duke laughed at the suggestion and insisted he was loyal to Britain.

Now, beyond that documentary, I would also trust the word of Aline Griffiths, who says they weren’t Nazi sympathizers. Here’s a link.

The persistent rumors branding the Windsors themselves as Nazi sympathizers are “preposterous,” the countess says. “I know those stories backwards and forwards, and they’re absolutely untrue. The duchess was extremely American, and one of the most patriotic women I’ve ever known. I would only involve someone in a mission if I felt they were totally conscientious and trustworthy.”
So why would her word be trusted? Because she worked for the OSS and her entire job revolved around working undercover to find and catch Nazi collaborators. Among other things. Apparently she could kill a man with her bare hands.

Now, for me, the strongest evidence against any serious Nazi connections is their letters. There’s no Nazi stuff in there. Hell, there’s no political stuff in there. Except some complaints about war being bad and concern that communists were going to take their stuff. Wallis and Edward were completely apathetic about politics and current affairs in general. They also weren’t exactly geniuses. They lived in very interesting times, but you wouldn’t know it from what they wrote. Their attitudes towards the social and political events of their era ranged from complete apathy to ignorance. If they were around today, they’d be those idiots who never vote or follow elections and who’s only response upon finding out Barack Obama became president was “Oh, is he the black guy or the old one?” and then a vague comment about that one hot chick who looked like Tina Fey. In fact, if I found hard evidence the Windsors supported Hitler, I’d suspect it was because Wallis thought his moustache was cool. But still, I couldn’t find one reference to Nazism, except one vague remark from Wallis to her aunt that she hoped her estranged husband Ernest Simpson wouldn’t be arrested or anything during a trip he made to Germany. Now, outside of their letters, there’s some evidence they supported appeasement (which looks bad now, but was very popular at the time and the attitude of the rest of the royal family) and that they saw Stalin as a bigger threat before the war. But whatever their beliefs, they didn’t really care all that much except in regards to what effected them and their friends.

Okay, I am really tired. Later I will post part two, which will focus on the evidence that’s been presented over the years that they were Nazi supporters, as well as the story behind that famous picture of Wallis shaking hands with Hitler. And possibly also the Nazis plot to kidnap the Windsors. And why this one allegation (among the many that have been made) has stuck to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in recent years. Perhaps I’ll also go into Edward VIII’s relatives and their feelings on Nazism. Damn, this is probably going to be like a five-part post.

*I have no idea if Henry Ford was gay for Hitler or what the deal was with him.

Book Review: Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes by Elizabeth Longford

I apologize for the painfully girly layout. I want to make my own eventually, but I’m still figuring things out.

So, the first thing I’m going to review is one of my favorite books. This is a book you need to have if you like British royalty from any period in history. It is full of funny and interesting stories about Kings and Queens from ancient to modern times.  For the royals I’m interested in (and there are quite a few from medieval times on) I already know their life story. I already know what political things they were involved with and the important dates of their life. What I want is to know who they were. What sort of things they liked to do, what type of person they were, who they liked. That sort of thing.  This is a book for someone who already owns some royal books. I would love to see more books like this. I wish there would be some biographers out there who would write for people who already know the basic details and already know the life story and the important stuff, and focus on the little stuff.

The Oxford Book of Anecdotes compiled by Elizabeth Longford is a good start. It takes the interesting stories from other sources and prints them in one book. I only wish there would be more individualized versions with new research. They could divide it up by dynasties, perhaps starting with the Tudors (that one would sell big). But this is the best for now.

Like most books that rely heavily on first hand accounts, you can’t believe all of it, but I’ve learned by now not to trust everything I read and to anticipate that between 25%-50% of what’s published isn’t totally true. Perhaps that percentage is a bit too high, but you really can’t know what happened unless you were there, and even then human memory isn’t always reliable.

Anyway, on to the book. The tl;dr version is that they published the best bits of other books into one awesome book. I’ll give you some quotes:

On Queen Alexandra:

No one who heard it was quite sure whether it was due to deafness or a deliberate leg pull.

“Did you know, Ma’am, that His Majesty has a new car?”

“A new cow?”

“No, Ma’am, a new car.”

“Yes, yes, I hear you. I understand the old one has calved.”

On Edward VII and Edward VIII:

Prince David was so little afraid of him, in fact, that he was even capable, on one occasion at least, of interrupting his conversation at table. He was reprimanded, of course, and sat in silence until given permission to speak. “It’s too late now, grandpapa,” Prince David said unconcernedly. “It was a caterpillar on your lettuce but you’ve eaten it.”

This book is also pretty easy to find if you frequent used book stores. I know I’m going to Charleston, SC next week and alread looked up some named of bookstores to check out. If you like royalty and want to find books (and the best ones are out of print) I’d reccomend checking out the used bookstores in your town, and then checking in advanced for at least one to hit up whenever you travel. Also, library sales are awesome.

My new blog.

Okay, I am Augusta Rose, and I have decided to write a blog on the Windsor dynasty. Well, the early part of the Windsor dynasty, at least. I adore William and Harry, but am so sick of hearing about them as well as the Charles and Diana drama that’s too stale to be interesting yet too recent to be looked at objectively. Though I’m team Diana in case you’re wondering. I also have nothing against Camilla, so perhaps I’m not fit to comment on all that anyway. For the time being I’d like to focus on the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and all that relates to them, but I do plan on covering quite a bit outside that. My mind is just a bit one track so when I want to write about something it’s hard to get me to write about something else. I’ve read so many wonderful royalty and history blogs over the years without ever commenting or writing my own. I’ve decided to change all that now and try to get myself involved on both sides a bit more. I’m also going to try starting with some reviews of books I’ve read over the years.

Thank you, and you’re a dear for reading.