UNPARDONABLE PRINCE

I found the article last week by Professor Bernard Wasserstein ( How far did the UK’s aristocracy’s love of the Nazis really go? JC, July 24) both fascinating and interesting.

I was also delighted to see next to it a short note of how much the Jewish community support Her Majesty the Queen.

When I was executive director of Norwood, I knew of the great support that the royal family gave to it as well as to the many other Jewish organisations and therefore the publication of the “Nazi salute” picture was unjust and the discussion it brought totally out of all proportion.

However, I was also fascinated by the picture showing the Duke and Duchess of Windsor meeting Hitler in 1937. It reminded me of the trips taken by the Duke and Duchess, then Prince and Mrs Simpson in the winter and autumn of 1935.

These provided a welcome change and some unexpected pleasures and historical curiosity in respect of the life of the Prince and Mrs Simpson. That year, they both found themselves twice to be travelling to Budapest, arriving incognito at the city’s East Station under his title Earl of Chester.

During the visit, the Prince had a meeting with Admiral Horthy, the Regent of Hungary, which lasted for 80 minutes and took place in the presence of the British Ambassador to Hungary.

The press reported that the talks were entirely private and unofficial, but as Horthy was a great friend of Franco’s and was in close contact with Hitler, one can only speculate about what was discussed.

In my opinion, the Prince’s associations were the main cause of his abdication rather than the reason given of his love and marriage to Mrs Simpson.

The story of this historic visit came to my attention some time ago when I was researching the life of one of my cousins, Bela Kornitzer, a respected reporter for the Magyar Hirlap, later a biographer of Nixon and Eisenhower among others and who was also a talented artist. There was a small incident which involved Bela Kornitzer’s sketch of the Prince who was sitting in the famous Budapest café called New York.

As one of the bodyguards pounced on Kornitzer, the Prince noticed the commotion and asked what was happening, following which Kornitzer presented him with the sketch. The Prince liked the drawing and rewarded Kornitzer with a smile and signed the picture.

The curious episode of the picture and the historical visit confirm the saying that we can choose our friends but we cannot choose our family.

Rabbi Dr Thomas Salamon Westminster Synagogue, Kent House, Rutland Gardens London SW7