Category: Nazi Sympathies

• The King Edward VIII Nazi Coup

  The King Edward VIII Nazi Coup theory held that the 1936 abdication crisis was not primarily about Edward VIII’s desire to marry Wallis Simpson, but about the danger that he was moving toward a pro-Nazi realignment of Britain and might eventually support, facilitate, or front a constitutional coup in favor of a German-friendly settlement. The theory became stronger retrospectively because later wartime documents, especially the Marburg Files and Operation Willi material, showed that Nazi authorities did regard the former king as a potentially useful figure. In its strongest form, the theory claims that Edward’s removal in 1936 was preventative rather than romantic. The love story, under this interpretation, was the public cover for an emergency dynastic intervention.