May 29, 2026 • 9 mins
The royals can seem like a bunch of people with too much money but with good intentions for their nation and their people. The scandals involving Charles and Diana . . and Harry and Megan are great tabloid fodder. But the 1936 abdication of King Edward VIII had a much darker backstory. It turns out he had a deeply close relationship with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis during World War II, and the royals had to do everything in their power to bury it.
Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So here's the thing. We're either fascinated, amused, or bored
when it comes to stories about the royals, but everybody
has an opinion. Well, guess what, that's nothing new. The
sex scandals, family squabbles, weddings, new royal babies get a
lot of attention. But one of the biggest stories of
the past one hundred years seems pretty similar to a
(00:20):
recent royal scandal. A guy walks away from the royal
life and the boatloads of money that comes with it
so he can live the life he chooses with the
woman he loves. That's Prince Harry and Megan Markle in
twenty twenty, and we all thought it was a repeat
of the abdication of King Edward the Eighth when he
gave up the throne in nineteen thirty six to marry
(00:41):
another American divorce a Wallace Simpson. But not so fast.
I'm Patty Steele. Was King Edward pushed off the throne
because he was a Nazi sympathizer. That's next on the backstory.
The backstory is back. Prince Harry and Megan Markle have
(01:01):
been gossiped about for going on ten years now. Some
of the snarkiness is deserved, and some just the price
you pay for royalty money and international attention. They've frequently
been compared to Harry's great great uncle, King Edward the Eighth,
who got demoted to Duke of Windsor after he left
the throne. But for him, it seems his departure was
(01:23):
less about love and more about his Nazi sympathies. Here's
his story. Before his mega scandal, Edward was the golden Prince,
the handsome future king. Thanks to the press and the
new world of film, he was really the first celebrity Royal.
Women adored him, crowds chased him through the cities. He
(01:44):
was treated like a movie star in royal uniform. Edward
was charming in a way that old school royals rarely were.
He was relaxed, funny, stylish. During World War One, soldiers
loved him because he seemed human. He visited them in
the trenches. He shook hands, he smoked, joked and listened
to their stories. By the nineteen twenties, he was arguably
(02:07):
the most famous man on earth, but privately, there were
some warning signs that he may not take his role
as king as seriously as everybody hoped. He hated paperwork,
hated rules, hated restraint, and more disturbingly, he talked about
admiring strong leadership, and he complained that democracy was messy
(02:28):
and weak. Of course, when his father, King George, died,
Edward was immediately made king. He was definitely a bit
of a narcissist. In fact, when new coins were minted
for a new king, they were traditionally posed in profile,
facing the opposite direction of the king or queen before them,
but Edward insisted on facing in the same direction as
(02:50):
his father had because he wanted to show off the
part in his hair anyway. Then that same year, in
nineteen thirty six, Edward threw away his throne he only
had over eleven months, ostensibly for love. When the British government,
the Church of England, his entire empire, freaked out over
his engagement announcement, Edward decided to abdicate. He told the
(03:13):
entire world he couldn't effectively run the British Empire without
the woman he loved by his side. That woman was
Wallace Simpson. Just like Megan Markle, she was divorced. In
Megan's case, it was just from one guy. In Wallace's
she was divorced from one and about to divorce another,
so she was still married when her love affair with
(03:33):
Edward heated up. So the red hot couple was given
the titles Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Romantic right, well,
not so much. At least that's the version most people know,
But it seems the story was a whole lot messier
and darker. Edward's life behind the scenes involved secret meetings,
(03:54):
German spies, intercepted letters, and plenty of evidence that the
former King of England may have been willing to work
with Adolf Hitler during World War II. It's the Nazi
connection the royal family spent decades trying to bury. Before
the abdication behind palace walls, there were whispers that Edward
had shown unusual sympathy toward Nazi Germany, so they needed
(04:18):
him out of power. Problem is, even after leaving the throne,
those sympathies appeared to deepen, maybe especially because he'd been
forced out in nineteen thirty seven, less than two years
before World War II began. The Duke and Duchess of
Windsor traveled to Germany. What happened there shocked parts of
the British government. The couple were treated like royalty by
(04:41):
the Nazi regime. Crowds saluted them, Senior Nazi officials escorted
them through factories, military sites and ceremonies, and then came
the most infamous moment of all. The Duke of Windsor,
the former King of England, was filmed giving a full
on Nazi salute. It was in an accident, it was
(05:02):
clear the Windsors spent time with Adolph Hitler personally at
his mountain retreat in Bavaria. Hitler obviously believed Edward could
become very useful to Germany, very useful, and German diplomatic
records uncovered after the war showed Nazi officials felt Edward
was very friendly toward Germany and hostile toward the British government.
(05:26):
Some Nazi leaders even said Edward should be restored as
king after a German victory, and the British government was
extremely nervous. When World War II began in nineteen thirty nine,
the Duke was technically still a senior royal figure, but
British intelligence saw him as a wild security risk. Then
France collapsed, Edward and Wallace fled to Spain. And then Portugal,
(05:50):
but the Nazis were still calling. They knew Edward was
criticizing the British war effort and even encouraging the Germans
to keep bombing to force a peace agreement favoring the Germans.
Winston Churchill wanted him as far away from Europe as possible,
so they made him the governor of the Bahamas. It
was exile, and Edward hated it, calling the Bahamas a
(06:12):
third class British colony, but there they lived for a while.
After the war ended, Allied forces discovered massive collections of
captured German documents showing the Nazis believed Edward supported their cause.
The British royal family panicked when they saw the physical evidence.
It could have destroyed the monarchy after what the nation
(06:33):
had endured during World War II. The documents had to
be hidden, and for years they were at least from
the public. Some disappeared, others stayed classified. The Palace said nothing,
and even now historians argue over one thing. Was Edward
really a trader or was he naive, vain and dangerously stupid.
(06:55):
Some think it's the latter, that he simply underestimated Hitler
without actually providing any hard espionage, but he clearly felt
disturbingly comfortable around one of history's most brutal dictators and
his regime. Some think Edward only cared about himself, his
loss throne, his resentment toward the royal establishment, and in
(07:16):
some ways, his glamorous social world and that perfect part
in his hair. His weakness is the thing. The possibility
that a former king, raised to symbolize stability and duty
became so bitter, so self absorbed, and so disconnected from
reality that he drifted toward one of the darkest governments
on earth is astounding. After the war, the Duke and
(07:39):
Duchess mostly lived in Paris, elegant parties, fashionable dinners, high society,
but the royal family kept them at a distance. Edward
died in nineteen seventy two, but time has become less forgiving.
Today his abdication is looked at as a warning about
celebrity and power, and about how vulnerable democracy becomes when
(08:00):
influential people start thinking dictatorship is necessary. The terrifying thing
about the Duke of Windsor story is this, He didn't
look like a villain to the public. He looked like
a prince a romantic hero for a long time, but
for one moment in history, one of the most admired
men in the world stood dangerously close to the Nazi machine.
(08:23):
I hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please
leave a review. I'd love it if you'd subscribe or
follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also
feel free to dm me if you have a story
you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele
and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The
(08:46):
Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis
Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Mike Pieseglia.
Our writer is Jake Kushner. New episodes are out every
Tuesday and Friday, and feel free to reach out to
me with comments and story suggestions on Instagram at reel
Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for
(09:08):
listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of
history you didn't know you needed to know.
So here's the thing. We're either fascinated, amused, or bored
when it comes to stories about the royals, but everybody
has an opinion. Well, guess what, that's nothing new. The
sex scandals, family squabbles, weddings, new royal babies get a
lot of attention. But one of the biggest stories of
the past one hundred years seems pretty similar to a
(00:20):
recent royal scandal. A guy walks away from the royal
life and the boatloads of money that comes with it
so he can live the life he chooses with the
woman he loves. That's Prince Harry and Megan Markle in
twenty twenty, and we all thought it was a repeat
of the abdication of King Edward the Eighth when he
gave up the throne in nineteen thirty six to marry
(00:41):
another American divorce a Wallace Simpson. But not so fast.
I'm Patty Steele. Was King Edward pushed off the throne
because he was a Nazi sympathizer. That's next on the backstory.
The backstory is back. Prince Harry and Megan Markle have
(01:01):
been gossiped about for going on ten years now. Some
of the snarkiness is deserved, and some just the price
you pay for royalty money and international attention. They've frequently
been compared to Harry's great great uncle, King Edward the Eighth,
who got demoted to Duke of Windsor after he left
the throne. But for him, it seems his departure was
(01:23):
less about love and more about his Nazi sympathies. Here's
his story. Before his mega scandal, Edward was the golden Prince,
the handsome future king. Thanks to the press and the
new world of film, he was really the first celebrity Royal.
Women adored him, crowds chased him through the cities. He
(01:44):
was treated like a movie star in royal uniform. Edward
was charming in a way that old school royals rarely were.
He was relaxed, funny, stylish. During World War One, soldiers
loved him because he seemed human. He visited them in
the trenches. He shook hands, he smoked, joked and listened
to their stories. By the nineteen twenties, he was arguably
(02:07):
the most famous man on earth, but privately, there were
some warning signs that he may not take his role
as king as seriously as everybody hoped. He hated paperwork,
hated rules, hated restraint, and more disturbingly, he talked about
admiring strong leadership, and he complained that democracy was messy
(02:28):
and weak. Of course, when his father, King George, died,
Edward was immediately made king. He was definitely a bit
of a narcissist. In fact, when new coins were minted
for a new king, they were traditionally posed in profile,
facing the opposite direction of the king or queen before them,
but Edward insisted on facing in the same direction as
(02:50):
his father had because he wanted to show off the
part in his hair anyway. Then that same year, in
nineteen thirty six, Edward threw away his throne he only
had over eleven months, ostensibly for love. When the British government,
the Church of England, his entire empire, freaked out over
his engagement announcement, Edward decided to abdicate. He told the
(03:13):
entire world he couldn't effectively run the British Empire without
the woman he loved by his side. That woman was
Wallace Simpson. Just like Megan Markle, she was divorced. In
Megan's case, it was just from one guy. In Wallace's
she was divorced from one and about to divorce another,
so she was still married when her love affair with
(03:33):
Edward heated up. So the red hot couple was given
the titles Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Romantic right, well,
not so much. At least that's the version most people know,
But it seems the story was a whole lot messier
and darker. Edward's life behind the scenes involved secret meetings,
(03:54):
German spies, intercepted letters, and plenty of evidence that the
former King of England may have been willing to work
with Adolf Hitler during World War II. It's the Nazi
connection the royal family spent decades trying to bury. Before
the abdication behind palace walls, there were whispers that Edward
had shown unusual sympathy toward Nazi Germany, so they needed
(04:18):
him out of power. Problem is, even after leaving the throne,
those sympathies appeared to deepen, maybe especially because he'd been
forced out in nineteen thirty seven, less than two years
before World War II began. The Duke and Duchess of
Windsor traveled to Germany. What happened there shocked parts of
the British government. The couple were treated like royalty by
(04:41):
the Nazi regime. Crowds saluted them, Senior Nazi officials escorted
them through factories, military sites and ceremonies, and then came
the most infamous moment of all. The Duke of Windsor,
the former King of England, was filmed giving a full
on Nazi salute. It was in an accident, it was
(05:02):
clear the Windsors spent time with Adolph Hitler personally at
his mountain retreat in Bavaria. Hitler obviously believed Edward could
become very useful to Germany, very useful, and German diplomatic
records uncovered after the war showed Nazi officials felt Edward
was very friendly toward Germany and hostile toward the British government.
(05:26):
Some Nazi leaders even said Edward should be restored as
king after a German victory, and the British government was
extremely nervous. When World War II began in nineteen thirty nine,
the Duke was technically still a senior royal figure, but
British intelligence saw him as a wild security risk. Then
France collapsed, Edward and Wallace fled to Spain. And then Portugal,
(05:50):
but the Nazis were still calling. They knew Edward was
criticizing the British war effort and even encouraging the Germans
to keep bombing to force a peace agreement favoring the Germans.
Winston Churchill wanted him as far away from Europe as possible,
so they made him the governor of the Bahamas. It
was exile, and Edward hated it, calling the Bahamas a
(06:12):
third class British colony, but there they lived for a while.
After the war ended, Allied forces discovered massive collections of
captured German documents showing the Nazis believed Edward supported their cause.
The British royal family panicked when they saw the physical evidence.
It could have destroyed the monarchy after what the nation
(06:33):
had endured during World War II. The documents had to
be hidden, and for years they were at least from
the public. Some disappeared, others stayed classified. The Palace said nothing,
and even now historians argue over one thing. Was Edward
really a trader or was he naive, vain and dangerously stupid.
(06:55):
Some think it's the latter, that he simply underestimated Hitler
without actually providing any hard espionage, but he clearly felt
disturbingly comfortable around one of history's most brutal dictators and
his regime. Some think Edward only cared about himself, his
loss throne, his resentment toward the royal establishment, and in
(07:16):
some ways, his glamorous social world and that perfect part
in his hair. His weakness is the thing. The possibility
that a former king, raised to symbolize stability and duty
became so bitter, so self absorbed, and so disconnected from
reality that he drifted toward one of the darkest governments
on earth is astounding. After the war, the Duke and
(07:39):
Duchess mostly lived in Paris, elegant parties, fashionable dinners, high society,
but the royal family kept them at a distance. Edward
died in nineteen seventy two, but time has become less forgiving.
Today his abdication is looked at as a warning about
celebrity and power, and about how vulnerable democracy becomes when
(08:00):
influential people start thinking dictatorship is necessary. The terrifying thing
about the Duke of Windsor story is this, He didn't
look like a villain to the public. He looked like
a prince a romantic hero for a long time, but
for one moment in history, one of the most admired
men in the world stood dangerously close to the Nazi machine.
(08:23):
I hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please
leave a review. I'd love it if you'd subscribe or
follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also
feel free to dm me if you have a story
you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele
and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The
(08:46):
Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis
Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Mike Pieseglia.
Our writer is Jake Kushner. New episodes are out every
Tuesday and Friday, and feel free to reach out to
me with comments and story suggestions on Instagram at reel
Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for
(09:08):
listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of
history you didn't know you needed to know.
Host
Patty Steele
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