Sixty photographs showing the Duke of Windsor and his wife Wallis Simpson meeting Nazi leadership in 1937 have sold at auction for £6,830. The images, compiled by his equerry Sir Dudley Forwood, depict the couple in a relaxed environment with Nazi officials. The unofficial royal visit to Germany has long fueled accusations that the former King Edward VIII was a Nazi sympathiser.
Royal historian Carolyn Harris argues the duke's motives were peaceful, driven by a desire to secure a role for himself and ensure his wife was treated as a full member of the Royal Family. She noted that the duke was frustrated at being expected to live quietly in exile after his abdication in 1936. The British government did not support the trip and would have preferred the couple to maintain a low profile.
Timothy Medhurst of Duke's Auctions in Dorchester described the album as a unique piece of history compiled as the Nazi war machine prepared for European conquest. The duke's equerry later stated the visit was not intended to support the Nazi regime but to allow the duchess to experience a state visit. Royal biographer Andrew Morton said the duke was thrilled at the time but later realised the visit was a ghastly mistake after upsetting American trade unions and Jewish organisations.
Despite this, Morton added that the duke remained sympathetic to Hitler even after the war and held anti-Semitic views. In 1939, the duke contacted Hitler hoping to negotiate peace, drawing on their rapport from the 1937 visit. Harris said his ties with Nazi Germany made him a liability, leading to his appointment as Governor of the Bahamas to remove him from Europe. Even there, the couple caused anxiety for the British government due to the duke's pessimism about an English victory.
