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Edward VIII was king for less than a year because he wanted to marry a twice-divorced American and the Church of England wasn’t fucking having it. Good thing, too. He abdicated and got demoted to Duke of Windsor and got married and visited Germany to pal around with Hitler and his murderous henchmen.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: October 11, 1937--
The UK government did not approve, but the fucker and his duchess wife Wallis Simpson went anyway, arriving in Berlin on October 11, 1937 for a 12-day tour of Germany. Ostensibly Edward said it was to research the social and economic conditions of the working classes by touring various German factories, but the former king was totally a fucking Nazi sympathizer. This was late 1937. People knew what kind of guy Hitler and the fucking Nazis were. And Ed said hey they’re my kind of people let’s honeymoon with Hitler. Douche.
Part of his motivation was spite. The haughty British establishment was all hey we don’t care if you were king for a minute, we’re not accepting your divorcee American bride into our exclusive club. I said good day! So he was all fuck you guys Ima take her to Germany cuz Hitler will give her a grand official state welcome and I’m a petty snotgoblin so there. The British government said hey dude Germany is just gonna use this for propaganda purposes and we’re probably going to end up going to war with them before long so please don’t. But he did.
The factories the couple toured? Lotta them were making weapons that would soon be used to kill his fellow Brits. And Ed was all oh nice tanks you got there. They attended fancy dinners with Hitler’s top aides Goebbels, Göring, Speer, and von Ribbentrop. They also had tea with the short-mustachioed motherfucker Hitler himself. Look at the smiles in that photo. You can’t undo that shit. Fucking Nazis.
Duke douchebag, who was fluent in German and greatly admired the nation, had a lengthy and private conversation with Hitler, but it is unknown precisely what they discussed. Probably Nazi bullshit. Ed was proud of the German blood that “flowed strongly in him.” The Duke had been encouraging of Hitler expanding German territory into Eastern Europe. By the way, Wallis Simpson was also believed to hold Nazi sympathies. Again, that fucking smile.
For their part, the UK government held firm, refusing their diplomats in Germany to have any contact with the Duke and Duchess during their tour. Most in Britain weren’t impressed, believing that a former king who quit the job to marry someone the establishment didn’t approve of should maintain a low profile. Knowing the Duke and Duchess were less than reliable, at the outbreak of World War II the crown sent the pair to the Bahamas to run the governorship to keep them as far away from Europe as possible.
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