One of the joys of writing historical fiction as opposed to non-fiction is that the author can take a well-reasoned conspiracy theory and run with it, imagining how such deliciously scandalous events might have unfolded. That is exactly what I have done in my new novel, The Royal Windsor Secret.
The British Royals have been the focus of speculation over the centuries, but in the past fifty years or more, there has been no family on the planet who has received more intense and relentless scrutiny than the Windsors. In The Royal Windsor Secret, Cleo Davenport suspects she is the secret, illegitimate child of the infamous French courtesan, Marguerite Meller, and Edward VIII, the King who abdicated the British throne in order to marry American divorcée, Wallis Simpson. He was later given the title of the Duke of Windsor.
In real life, several people have claimed to be the Duke of Windsor’s love children, but the former King’s penchant for enjoying liaisons with various women all over the Commonwealth was not the only reason he found himself at the center of conspiracy theories over the years. To this day, the Duke of Windsor remains one of the most controversial royals in history.
If you are prepared to take all of the following theories with a hefty grain of salt, read on!
Conspiracy theory 1: The Royal Family interfered in a Trial to allow a Murderer to go free
When the Duke of Windsor was still the Prince of Wales, he was stationed in France during the First World War. While in Paris on leave, he met and enjoyed a liaison with a high-class courtesan, Marguerite Meller. They were together for less than a year, but during their relationship, the Prince wrote many love letters to Marguerite. There is evidence that when he ended things with Marguerite, she wrote him a “filthy” letter and the Prince discussed with an advisor how much he should pay her to buy her silence.
Fast forward several years, and the Prince’s indiscreet letters to Marguerite were alleged to have come back to haunt him. His erstwhile mistress shot her new husband dead at London’s Savoy Hotel and is said to have embroiled the Prince in the affair when she stood trial for murder at the Old Bailey. It is not known for certain whether Marguerite blackmailed the Prince with his love letters, which incidentally were believed to contain rants about British military incompetence and complaints about his father, the King, as well as indiscretions of a more intimate nature. Equally, there is no direct evidence that the Royal Family interfered in Marguerite’s trial to ensure that the Prince’s relationship with her was not made public. Nevertheless, Marguerite, who shot her husband point-blank several times (once in the head) managed to walk away from the trial a free woman.
Conspiracy theory 2: Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII aided and abetted the Nazis
It seems to be accepted by historians that the American socialite whose romance with Edward VIII precipitated his abdication had previously enjoyed a liaison with the German Ambassador to Great Britain and later Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop. Von Ribbentrop was said to have sent Wallis 17 red carnations—one for every time they had been to bed together.
When he was King, Edward VIII troubled his courtiers considerably by leaving the top secret contents of his “red boxes” lying around his house for anyone (including Wallis) to read. The theory is that the Nazis were kept well-informed by using Wallis to spy on Edward. Worse, it is even claimed that the Duke of Windsor passed on crucial reports he had prepared about the weak spots in France’s defenses to the Germans via a known informant, thus assisting them to invade France successfully.
Conspiracy Theory 3. The Nazis cooked up a plot to kidnap Edward VIII
In the early days of World War II, the Duke of Windsor was embarrassingly vocal about his support for Hitler and the Nazi Party. He had a deep love for Germany, having spent part of his youth there with family, and he had gained a horror of war from his experience in World War I.
Hitler liked Britain and admired the royal family. He dearly wished to persuade the Duke of Windsor to support him in “making peace” with Britain, which in Hitler’s mind entailed occupying Britain and setting up the Duke of Windsor as King with Wallis as Queen. This idea is said to have appealed strongly to the duke, who had been appalled and hurt by the royal family’s failure to acknowledge his new wife in any meaningful way and their refusal to grant her the title of “Her Royal Highness.”
While the duke and duchess were in Portugal, waiting to leave war-torn Europe for his governorship in the Bahamas, the Führer apparently ordered his men in Portugal to kidnap the duke. This was a task the men on the ground seem to have deliberately bungled, and after a few scares and strange occurrences, the Windsors set sail for the Bahamas. Whether the duke ever seriously considered accepting the role Hitler had in mind for him is in dispute, but some historians argued that the Duke of Windsor had told the Germans he’d be ready at a moment’s notice to return to England if called upon to do so—presumably in the event Hitler gained control of that country and wanted to restore him as King.
Conspiracy theory 4. A Soviet Mole was sent to Retrieve the Duke of Windsor’s indiscreet letters.
Of course, the call from Hitler to return to an occupied Britain never came. With the duke’s dalliance with Fascism fresh in their minds, at around the time of the D-Day landings, the Queen Mother’s third cousin, Sir Anthony Blunt, was allegedly sent to retrieve a collection of letters incriminating the Duke of Windsor as a Nazi conspirator. Blunt was chosen because he was a member of the Security Services and thought to be discreet.
Blunt later turned out to be a traitor who had been spying for the Soviets since before the war, a member of the infamous “Cambridge Five.” Subsequently the royal family was said to have covered up Blunt’s traitorous behavior for a decade after he confessed his treason. He is thought to have passed those incriminating letters written by the Duke of Windsor to the Soviets.
Conspiracy theory 5. The Duke of Windsor was a war profiteer
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor sailed for the Bahamas in August 1940, where the duke took up his new post as governor. Despite what they perceived as their exile, they pursued an extravagant lifestyle and they were always short of money. Enter Axel Wenner-Gren, an arms dealer based in the Bahamas, whom British Intelligence suspected to be supplying Germany with arms. Through Wenner-Gren, it is believed the Duke of Windsor entered into currency speculation, a practice forbidden during wartime, which netted him a fortune.
There is enough truth at the heart of each of these theories to paint an unflattering picture of one of the most divisive members of the British Royal Family. It is not difficult to believe another conspiracy theory—that the British Establishment were so averse to Edward VIII’s reign, they saw his impending marriage to Wallis Simpson as an excellent excuse to be rid of him, once and for all.
For further reading:
The Prince, the Princess, and the Perfect Murder by Andrew Rose
17 Carnations: The Royals, the Nazis, and the Biggest Cover-Up in History by Andrew Morton
Edward VIII: Britain’s Traitor King by Andrew Lownie
***
