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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
informative
fast-paced
This is a fairly thorough and damning review of the evidence concerning the Windsors' dealings with Nazi Germany, and the aftermath. The author quotes chapter and verse from official sources, leaving little doubt as to the probability of these allegations being accurate. There is also a long discussion of their aimless and (if you believe this book) dissolute lives after the war, which strictly wasn't germane to the central argument and really drifted off into the area of gossip. However over all this is a compelling read.
A very interesting take on the Windsors post-abdication.
The Duke is pitiable for the most part and the Duchess has moments where you really do wonder "was she completely awful all the time".
The Duke is pitiable for the most part and the Duchess has moments where you really do wonder "was she completely awful all the time".
Very good! They were both truly horrible people but they are fascinating (and shocking!) to read about. The book is very well documented.
First of all, that’s quite a title.
In polite company, one doesn’t throw around the word ‘traitor’ very casually. But Lownie has written about traitors before (I really enjoyed his book about Guy Burgess) and here he sets out to convince us that Edward and Wallis were not just naive people who might have been manipulated by some clever Nazis, not just ordinary British aristocrats who didn’t particularly enjoy Jewish company, but were in fact conscious and willing supporters of Hitler and his criminal regime.
He succeeds. He succeeds because he dug deep into the archives — both the British archives and more interestingly the German, Spanish and others. There he learned that the idea of Edward returning to the throne as a Nazi puppet ruler of a defeated Britain was one that the Duke could live with. It gets worse. After the abdication, Edward and Wallis travelled abroad, including a trip in 1937 to Germany where he was feted by the Nazi regime. There, among other things, he had very nice chat with Hitler at his Alpine retreat, the Berghof. And while much of the trip is well documented, there is no record of what they said.
Meanwhile, there is some evidence that Mrs. Simpson had an affair with Ribbentrop, the future Nazi foreign minister, while he was the German ambassador to London. Ribbentrop was not just a diplomat. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Nuremburg tribunal and was hanged 75 years ago.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were anti-Semites and would have played the role of puppet rulers exactly as Pétain did in France, or Quisling in Norway.
Fortunately, thanks to the RAF, they never got the chance.
In polite company, one doesn’t throw around the word ‘traitor’ very casually. But Lownie has written about traitors before (I really enjoyed his book about Guy Burgess) and here he sets out to convince us that Edward and Wallis were not just naive people who might have been manipulated by some clever Nazis, not just ordinary British aristocrats who didn’t particularly enjoy Jewish company, but were in fact conscious and willing supporters of Hitler and his criminal regime.
He succeeds. He succeeds because he dug deep into the archives — both the British archives and more interestingly the German, Spanish and others. There he learned that the idea of Edward returning to the throne as a Nazi puppet ruler of a defeated Britain was one that the Duke could live with. It gets worse. After the abdication, Edward and Wallis travelled abroad, including a trip in 1937 to Germany where he was feted by the Nazi regime. There, among other things, he had very nice chat with Hitler at his Alpine retreat, the Berghof. And while much of the trip is well documented, there is no record of what they said.
Meanwhile, there is some evidence that Mrs. Simpson had an affair with Ribbentrop, the future Nazi foreign minister, while he was the German ambassador to London. Ribbentrop was not just a diplomat. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Nuremburg tribunal and was hanged 75 years ago.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were anti-Semites and would have played the role of puppet rulers exactly as Pétain did in France, or Quisling in Norway.
Fortunately, thanks to the RAF, they never got the chance.
3.5 out of 5- interesting book on the Duke and Wallis Simpson. A lot of the information comes from diaries and correspondence from those close to the two.
I had known very little about the two coming in to this book but it was very fascinating (and angering) to find out how truly sympathetic they were to the nazis during WWII. Had he still been king, Britain would be on the side of Germany, it is said in the book…. Yikes. To think what would have been is terrifying.
If you’re not in to the royal family or a history buff, this book will definitely be a bore for you, but I did find most of it to be rather interesting.
I had known very little about the two coming in to this book but it was very fascinating (and angering) to find out how truly sympathetic they were to the nazis during WWII. Had he still been king, Britain would be on the side of Germany, it is said in the book…. Yikes. To think what would have been is terrifying.
If you’re not in to the royal family or a history buff, this book will definitely be a bore for you, but I did find most of it to be rather interesting.
The first few chapters had me comparing Meghan Markle to the Duchess of Windsor. The story sounded too familiar. But, when it got into WWII and the German connection between the Duke and Duchess to the Nazis, the possibility of being used by another country became even more real. I highly recommend this book. It is historical, but seems current.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced