The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Churchill tried to halt release of duke’s files
Wartime PM feared Nazi telegrams could damage former king
Winston Churchill sought to block the release of secret Second World War documents revealing Nazi plans to install the Duke of Windsor as king in the event of a successful German invasion, according to newly-released government files.
Captured German telegrams showed foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop hoped to lure the duke to Spain where he would be offered the throne as part of an elaborate plan to persuade Britain to make peace.
After the war, historians sought to publish the exchanges as part of an official academic programme by the victorious Allies to release key Nazi documents.
However, files released by the National Archives in Kew, west London, show how Churchill tried to delay their release for up to 20 years amid concerns they would cast doubt on the true loyalties of the former king.
The telegrams revealed a convoluted plot to entrap the duke – who had visited Hitler following his abdication in 1936 so as to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson and who Ribbentrop believed strongly favoured peace with Germany.
In the summer of 1940, following the fall of France, the duke and duchess had taken refuge in Lisbon, the capital of neutral Portugal.
Ribbentrop wanted to entice them across the border to Spain where, with the help of General Franco’s regime, he hoped they could be persuaded to cooperate.
The plot included an elaborate charade to convince the couple that Churchill would order their assassination by British intelligence if they left Europe.
After the war, however, Churchill realised the release of the telegrams would be highly damaging to the duke.
In 1953, he even wrote to US President Dwight Eisenhower, appealing to his sense of “justice and chivalry” to delay their publication for another 10 or 20 years.
“If they were to be included in an official publication they might leave the impression that the duke was in close touch with German agents and was listening to suggestions that were disloyal,” he wrote.
Despite Churchill’s misgivings, the telegrams were finally published in 1957 after the historians in charge of the release programme threatened to resign.