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Authors: Greg King

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The King also asked Rowland Thomas Baring, second Earl of Cromer, to remain in his position as Lord Chamberlain. The Earl of Crawford recorded in his diary: “Cromer did not quite take it as a compliment; for he knows that war was in effect declared against the old gang; but it is possible that H. M. is beginning to realize the paucity and meagreness of his own entourage—perhaps he now sees how small is their fund of experience and
savoir-faire
—hence a reaction in favour of King George’s staff.”
22
The older aristocracy that filled the ranks of Court officials had never been terribly fond of the new King. Even in his days as Prince of Wales he had seemed too liberal, too impatient to suit their tastes. In truth, there was little danger that David would do any serious damage to the British throne or its traditions. He believed in the idea of the monarchy, supported by a privileged aristocracy. To these men, however, the King’s determination to reform the monarchy and the court seemed to threaten their very way of life.
There were dramatic, if somewhat harmless, instances of the King’s desire to break with the past. With each reign, royal coins depicting the new monarch’s profile were minted; it was tradition that with each reign the monarch face in the opposite direction from his or her predecessor. George V had been depicted in left profile, and so, according to custom, Edward VIII should be seen from the right. But David, who had to sit for both left- and right-profile portraits, disliked his right profile so much that he insisted that Sir Robert Johnson, the deputy master of the Royal Mint, alter tradition and depict him in left profile on the coins and stamps.
Another of his first acts as king provoked untold resentment. He instituted a 10 percent wage cut for all of those in the royal household and staff. This simply seemed further indication of David’s parsimony, and most suspected that it had been done in order that he could shower his mistress with even more luxurious jewels. In fact, as Michael Bloch points out, British civil servants had been required to take a similiar cut in pay due to the depression four years earlier, and David was now simply trying to bring the royal household in line with other official institutions.
23
This was standard practice at the beginning of each new reign. “He was doing no more than follow precedent,” wrote Marguerite Peacocke, “for both his father and grandfather had taken advantage of the opportunity afforded by a new reign for a certain amount of reform.”
24
David’s day was now filled with duties. He had a steady stream of ceremonies, inspections, visits, and appointments, along with his daily job of “doing the Boxes,” the specially locked red-leather cases filled with Foreign Office dispatches, ministerial reports, telegrams, and empire communications, all of which he had to read, understand, approve, and sign. One of the boxes contained the secret minutes of the cabinet meetings, to keep him updated on all that was happening with the government. The King also automatically became the admiral of the fleet as well as field marshal of the army and marshal of the Royal Air Force, each of which required specific duties. In addition, he had his own household and staff to supervise, with its administrative detail, along with the complexities of the court and the management of the royal estates.
Perhaps no one was more uncomfortable with the new King than his prime minister, Stanley Baldwin. Baldwin’s father had been chairman of the Great Western Railway and head of Baldwins, Ltd., an iron-and-steel works. He had also served as a member of Parliament, and his son succeeded him in all three endeavors. Baldwin entered civil service as private parliamentary secretary to Andrew Bonar Law; when Bonar Law retired in 1923 owing to illness, King George V selected Baldwin as his successor over fellow Conservative Lord Curzon. His first term as prime minister lasted less than a year, and he was replaced by the Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald. Baldwin returned in 1924 with a tremendous majority, struggled through the general strike of 1926, ran for reelection in 1929, and lost. By 1935 he was back again as prime minister.
At the time Edward VIII acceded to the throne, Baldwin was seventy years old, tired, and nearing the end of his political career. His critics thought him humorless and without personality, and Baldwin himself took pride in his traditional views and unobtrusive character. Such a man was undoubtedly destined to clash sooner or later with Edward VIII, and Baldwin had the additional difficulties of being high-strung, nervous, and suspicious. “Within him storms a chaos,” his secretary once declared.
25
Those who knew him well agreed that he had little sense of proportion and a diminished ability to deal with stress. “Every burden becomes a nightmare,” his secretary noted.
26
At the beginning of the new reign, he was close to a nervous breakdown, and his doctors insisted that he take a rest for several months.
Together, these two men—king and prime minister—would face growing international pressures. Edward VIII has often been accused of harboring Fascist tendencies, but in this he was largely in accord with the mood of his subjects at the time of his accession. Even with the increasing tensions surrounding Italian and German aggression in Europe, few supported active intervention. Isolationist policies, along with a growing call for disarmament, had even led Baldwin to deliberately ignore the European question in his political campaign of a year before. He later admitted that had he raised the issue of preparing England for a possible European confrontation, the mood of the voters was such that he would undoubtedly have lost the election.
Nor were the new King’s views too terribly different from those of his father. In 1935, Italy had invaded Abyssinia. George V was not prepared to confront Mussolini and vehemently declared: “I will not have another war.
I will
not. The last one was none of my doing and if there is another one and we are threatened with being brought into it, I will go to Trafalgar Square and wave a red flag myself sooner than allow this country to be brought in.”
27
It was to be Edward VIII’s dealings with Nazi Germany which were to cause so much controversy and be the subject of later accusations of treachery. His German heritage played a natural part in his sympathies, as did his fear of the spread of communism. But there was also a very real admiration for what Hitler had managed to accomplish as well as his expressed aims. Hitler had managed to restore in large measure the respect which Germany had lost in the years following the Treaty of Versailles. Through his national socialist programs, unemployment had been reduced, youth and sports festivals were shaping a future generation of leaders, and government-sponsored works were constructing autobahns and an admirable infrastructure. The Nazi agenda still professed respect for borders and the sovereignty of other nations, and Hitler repeatedly denied that Germany sought anything more than her due. The King was attracted to this orderly regime and the manner in which Hitler had succeeded against such vast odds. As yet there was but little hint of the brutal horrors still to come.
Such views as the King possessed toward Nazi Germany were largely shared by many others. Baldwin’s government, through the Foreign Office, was quietly pursuing warmer relations with Berlin, and many influential members of the government and the aristocracy—faced with an efficient German Fascist state, which continually sought improved relations with the United Kingdom, and Communist Russia, which appeared to threaten the world order—clearly sided with the Nazis. Historian Sir John Wheeler-Bennett has rightfully termed these “the ‘respectable years’ of the Nazi Revolution, and Hitler took full advantage of them. He indulged in no more outbursts of international violence but confined himself to activities of diplomacy.”
28
Edward VIII also suffered from an inflated German perception of his own favorability to their ideas and aims. After he became king, the German ambassador in London, von Hoesch, reported to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin: “You are aware from my reports that King Edward, quite generally, feels warm sympathy for Germany I have become convinced during frequent, often lengthy, talks with him that these sympathies are deep-rooted and strong enough to withstand the contrary influences to which they are not seldom exposed . . . . I am convinced that his friendly attitude toward Germany might in time come to exercise a certain amount of influence on the shaping of British foreign policy. At any rate, we should be able to rely upon having on the British Throne a ruler who is not lacking in understanding for Germany, and in the desire to see good relations established between Germany and Britain.”
29
Hitler was clearly anxious to continue cultivating the sympathies of Britain’s new King. He knew little of Edward VIII’s actual power, but reports from his agents in London did nothing to lessen his belief that the key to securing his position in Europe lay in the actions of the British monarch. Such ideas were commonly expressed, as evidenced by a dispatch from Ribbentrop to the Führer: “If the King were to give his support to the idea of Anglo-German friendship, his great popularity might well help to bring about an understanding.”
30
This attempt to win over the new King began with the death of his father. Hitler himself planned and attended an elaborate memorial service for George V in Berlin, at which he sat alongside Crown Princess Cecilie, Heinrich Himmler, Josef Goebbels, and Hermann Goering.
To represent his interests in England, he dispatched Edward VIII’s second cousin Carl Eduard, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Duke, born in Britain and educated at Eton, had inherited his German title at the age of sixteen. He quickly became enamored of Hitler’s Nazi Party and joined the SS; at George V’s funeral, he proudly wore his SS uniform as he walked behind the coffin through the streets of London.
Coburg had several talks with his cousin the King, the subjects of which would inspire controversy The Duke claimed that the King had declared that a British-German alliance was of the utmost urgency and a necessity for maintaining a lasting European peace; that the League of Nations was a farce and that he wished to curb England’s participation in it in the future; and that he wished to concentrate the business of British government more on himself and away from the Prime Minister and the Foreign Office. “To my question whether a discussion between Baldwin and Adolf Hitler would be desirable for future German-British relations, he replied in the following words: ‘Who is King here? Baldwin or I? I myself wish to talk to Hitler, and will do so, here or in Germany.’ “
31
When this report was made public a generation later, Harold Nicolson commented: “Coburg was an awful snob who was very concerned to impress Hitler with his high connections. Edward certainly felt his role in life was to help his country to reach an understanding with Germany, and I often argued with him about the practicability of this, considering the nature of the regime. What he dreaded was war. Perhaps he believed more than he should have in German integrity, and perhaps he exaggerated his chances of influencing the course of events. But so did many other people. He was always perfectly frank with everyone about his views, and there was nothing discreditable or unconstitutional about it.”
32
The first test of Edward VIII’s reaction came on March 7, 1936, when German troops marched into the demilitarized Rhineland, an open breach of the Locarno Treaty that might have meant Allied military intervention. The King’s role in what happened next comes, it must be admitted, from the report of a source whose credibility is suspect. Fritz Hesse, press attaché of the German embassy in London, later claimed to have eavesdropped on a conversation between Ambassador von Hoesch and the King. Hesse declared: “I was with von Hoesch when the telephone rang. Von Hoesch whispered to me: ‘The King!’ and handed the second receiver to me, so that I could listen to the conversation.
“‘Hallo,’ a voice called, ‘is that Leo? David speaking. Do you know who’s speaking?’
“‘Of course I do,’ replied von Hoesch.
“‘I sent for the Prime Minister and gave him a piece of my mind. I told the old so-and-so that I would abdicate if he made war. There was a frightful scene. But you needn’t worry There won’t be a war.’
“Von Hoesch put down the receiver. He jumped up and danced round the room. ‘I’ve done it, I’ve outwitted them all, there won’t be a war! Herr Hesse, we’ve done it! It’s magnificent, I must inform Berlin immediately.’ “
33
Although this version has been widely repeated, its veracity is open to doubt. In particular, Frances Donaldson points out that it is unlikely the King would have spoken in such strong terms and that he would have referred to himself as “David” when speaking with an ambassador.
34
Von Hoesch himself later declared that he had only had indirect contact with the King over the Rhineland question, although certainly the two men discussed the situation. Ribbentrop reported on March 11 that the King had issued “a directive to the Government ... that no matter how the details of the affair are dealt with, complications of a serious nature are in no circumstances to be allowed to develop.”
35
This was exactly the news for which Hitler had been waiting. Albert Speer, who happened to be with him, recalled that on receiving the cable, Hitler “sighed with relief.” “At last!” Hitler declared jubilantly. “The King of England will not intervene. He is keeping his promise.’ “
36
BOOK: The Duchess Of Windsor
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