Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The racist prince
Edward VIII in vile rant on Australia’s indigenous people
EDWARD VIII described Aborigines as the most “revolting creatures” he had ever seen, and compared them to monkeys.
He wrote the racist comments in letters during his royal tour of Australia in 1920 when he was the Prince of Wales.
His 49 days in Oz were to thank the nation’s people for their support during the First World War.
The prince wrote: “They showed us some of the native Aborigines at a wayside station in the great plain..., though they are the most revolting form of living creatures I’ve ever seen.
“They are the lowest known form of human beings and are the nearest thing to monkeys I’ve ever seen.”
He wrote with his thoughts to his then mistress, married British socialite Freda Dudley Ward.
His comments on the indigenous people are to be featured in a documentary on Australian TV on Sunday night.
The film-makers found 10 letters from his trip. They were bought by the State Library of New South Wales in 2006.
Letters he wrote to Freda Dudley Ward during his goodwill tour of Barbados in 1920 revealed a similar view.
He described the country as “ugly” and said he found the “coloured population” to be “revolting”.
Edward, the eldest son of George V and Queen Mary, became king in January 1936, but abdicated in December of that year so he could marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
The pair, who became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, were criticised in 1937 for their tour of Nazi Germany.
They met Adolf Hitler and his inner circle, and the duke gave Nazi salutes. He died in 1972 aged 77.
The documentary – The Crown and Us: The Story of the Royals in Australia – also vows to shed new light on an affair between married Australian woman, Sheila Chisholm, and the Queen’s dad George VI, before he was king.