Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s 1937 tour of Germany

Edward, Duke of Windsor and Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, visited Nazi Germany in October 1937. The Duke had abdicated the British throne in December 1936, and his brother George VI became king. The couple visited factories, many of which were producing materiel for the war effort, and the Duke inspected German troops. They dined with high-ranking Nazis such as Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Albert Speer.

About Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s 1937 tour of Germany in brief

Edward, Duke of Windsor and Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, visited Nazi Germany in October 1937. The Duke had abdicated the British throne in December 1936, and his brother George VI became king. The couple visited factories, many of which were producing materiel for the war effort, and the Duke inspected German troops. The Windsors were greeted by the British national anthem and Nazi salutes. They dined with high-ranking Nazis such as Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Albert Speer, and had tea with Hitler in Berchtesgaden. The tour was intended to have been followed by one of the United States, but Nazi repression of working-class activists in Germany led to a wave of disapproval for the Windsors in the American labour movement. Modern historians tend to consider the 1937 tour as a reflection of both the Duke’s lack of judgement and of his disregard for the advice he received. It can be viewed as a poor decision, although with hindsight it was not out of place for the time of the time. It was fashionable to go to Germany and many respectable people accepted invitations to go and many people accepted Hitler’s invitation to go. The British government was unable to affect the course of events and forbade its diplomatic staff in Germany from having any high-level interaction with the Duke and Duchess. British popular opinion of the tour was muted, most viewing it as in poor taste to disrupt the first year of George’s reign. It is uncertain what they discussed as the minutes of their meeting were lost in the war.

The Duchess took afternoon tea with Adolf Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess. Hitler was sympathetic to the Windsor and treated the Duchess regally. Edward VIII became king on his father’s death in early 1936. Almost immediately, he announced his intention to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American. On both political and moral grounds she was unacceptable as a royal consort to the British government and royal family. As king, Edward was the titular head of the Church of England, which forbade the divorced to remarry during the lifetime of their former spouse; but both of her previous husbands were still alive. The proposed marriage, believed critics, was in breach of Edward’s coronation oath, and weakened his position as constitutional monarch. Edward knew that Stanley Baldwin’s government would almost certainly resign en masse if the King forced the issue. He remained an intriguing international celebrity, his marital turmoil only enhancing the iconic mystery surrounding the man. Even his mock Cockney accent with a touch of American seemed more down-to-earth and unaffected than the disdainful patrician tones of a man like Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden. The Duke was viewed as beingModern, progressive, vigorous, and accessible. He was also rearming the previous few years rearming England, although there was a sense of unease towards the future and an expectation of war and appeasement.

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