Churchill tried to cover up Nazi plan

Documents show Britain’s former king discussing his desire for peace with Hitler

Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower tried to suppress captured Nazi documents that showed Britain’s former King Edward VIII discussing his desire for peace with Adolf Hitler, according to files newly released in London.

The National Archives published more papers yesterday from the UK government’s secret basement storeroom in the Cabinet Office where papers deemed “too difficult, too sensitive” for the regular filing system were hidden away. They include a 1953 memo from Churchill, marked “top secret,” explaining the existence of a series of German telegrams carrying reports of comments by the Duke of Windsor, as Edward VIII was known after he abdicated in 1936.

“He is convinced that had he remained on throne war would have been avoided and describes himself as firm supporter of a peaceful compromise with Germany,” reported a telegram from Lisbon in neutral Portugal, where the duke was staying in July 1940. “Duke believes with certainty that continued heavy bombing will make England ready for peace.”

The government in Madrid, formally neutral but sympathetic to Germany, asked for guidance from Berlin as to what should be done with them. German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop replied, asking if they could be kept there. Then he ordered a watch on their house.

Ribbentrop’s interest was piqued when he was told, a few days later, that in private “Windsor spoke strongly against Churchill and against this war.”

“The duke should return to Spain under all circumstances,” Ribbentrop wrote, adding that they should then be “persuaded or forced” to stay there. His plan was then to offer the duke “the granting of any wish,” including “the ascension of the English throne.”

The telegrams describing their operation were found in 1945 as Hitler’s regime collapsed. When they were passed to the British government, Clement Attlee wrote to his predecessor Churchill, saying that their publication “might do the greatest possible harm.” Churchill replied, agreeing.

After Churchill returned to power in 1951, he was horrified to learn Attlee had changed his mind. In 1953, Churchill wrote to Eisenhower, expressing his concern that “they might leave the impression that the duke was in close touch with German agents and was listening to suggestions that were disloyal.”