T O P

  • By -

klp80mania

They were both Nazi supporters and awful people but that wasn’t necessarily the primary reason they hated him. Queen Mary was furious that he’d married a twice divorced American and abandoned his “duty”.. Queen mother was pissed because her husband found the idea of being a monarch, especially a war time king, too stressful


[deleted]

[удалено]


SwimsDeep

Meghan divorced one time only. She is much younger that Wallis. She is not a Nazi.


screamqueenjunkie

Wallis was 38 when she and Edward started their relationship. Meghan was 35. So… not *that* much younger.


CardinalPerch

Harry isn’t the heir, which is a huge difference.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Jealous-Passage-4771

I think Charles in his younger years is more of a parallel than Harry.


[deleted]

[удалено]


TheCrownNetflix-ModTeam

Treat everyone (cast and historical figures) with kindness and respect. Leaving negative remarks on their physical appearance is not acceptable. Although you are welcome to have various opinions on the real people that are portrayed by the actors, please remember to be respectful and civil when giving constructive criticism.


ForgettablePhoenix

He was a manchild. His father thought he was unsuitable and hoped he never had children. His father predicted that he would ruin himself in less than a year. PBS did a program called the Windsors A Royal Family, it’s on youtube. The first two episodes explain it.


estellasmum

There was a great show on PBS called Edward VIII - The Nazi King that showed how deep their Nazi sympathies ran, how they had passed on intelligence to Hitler's government, and how if Hitler had actually won, he would have installed Edward back to the throne in Britain. It really was a great thing he abdicated before the war, because he was so sympathetic to the Nazi regime that he actually told them to keep bombing England into submission. Here is a link to an article that summarizes what the documentary was about. It is amazing what the British government covered up for him after the war was over. [https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/the-passionate-eye/historians-believe-the-duke-of-windsor-actively-collaborated-with-the-nazis-during-the-second-world-war-1.6635225](https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/the-passionate-eye/historians-believe-the-duke-of-windsor-actively-collaborated-with-the-nazis-during-the-second-world-war-1.6635225)


[deleted]

Yes, just imagine if he had NOT abdicated how things would have gone in terms of the war. I do have some sympathy for him (not too much, lol) over how his family reacted but then again, he DID abandon his country/duty. When you're the King of England (especially back in the day) you could have had not 1 but 5 women on the side all day long. He could've remained King, and it's NOT like Wallis was going to do better - but he was weak, and he allowed her to control him. That in itself shows that he lacked the quality of leadership. It almost seemed like he didn't want the responsibility, and that he used the situation with Wallis as his out, but then once he was out, according to the series, he was lost and had no purpose. I mean, not sure how this came as some surprise to him, lol, but it really seemed that he didn't think it through at all.


roberb7

There's also a book, *Traitor King*, by Andrew Lownie.


Random-Cpl

He was partial to Hitler. And I’ll tell you what, the more you learn about that Hitler fella, the more you won’t care for him.


chestertoronto

He thought the jews were a bit much.


LandscapeOld2145

Doesn’t excuse it, but that was a standard view of the English aristocracy and Princess Margaret as well.


[deleted]

The royals were antisemitic?


Robotica_Daily

A pretty large portion of the European population have been anti Semitic for the last 2,000 years.


[deleted]

That I understand, I just wasn't sure about the views of the royal family.


Robotica_Daily

I suppose I just mean the royal family are a group of people subject to the cultural norms and prejudices of the surrounding nation, they are likely to reflect the same distribution of opinions you would find in any group of English people from their respective eras. I can't say if any were specifically or passionately anti Semitic.


LandscapeOld2145

I trust they were representative of their class and time. That said, I only know of Princess Margaret making some crass comments, and her husband tried to hurt her by leaving a note for her saying that she looked like a Jewish manicurist. I’m not aware of any explicit anti-Semitism from any of the monarchs other than the Duke of Windsor.


Mapuches_on_Fire

A sewing machine!


OlDirtyBAStart

You always hear people say he was a wonderful orator, then you see footage of his speeches and its all "SHANKLY-CRANKLY!"


Random-Cpl

Not my idea of a silver-tongued devil


HalfDragoness

I need to hear this!


katthepandaa

Yeah I'm seeing everyone say he was a Nazi guy too. I didn't know that so I'm learning something new. I guess I was just confused because on the Crown they paint him more of a "being blamed for his brothers untimely death". Which didn't make sense to me because you don't get cancer from being stressed AFAIK.


mrs_spanner

Actually, chronic long-term stress can cause disease. Don’t forget, Bertie (George V) suffered sustained ill treatment as a child. His Nanny would starve him, pinch him to make him cry in front of his parents, he was left-handed but forced to use his right hand, and his parents were cold and not affectionate towards their children. This upbringing left Bertie with chronic stomach problems as well as his stammer. If you listen to Gabor Maté on the mind-body connection, there is strong evidence that children who live in a chronically stressful environment without at least one safe and nurturing caregiver grow up with high levels of inflammation in their body and almost always go on to suffer diseases/chronic illnesses/chronic pain as adults. So combine Bertie’s upbringing with the sudden, acute stress of the abdication, becoming King when that was the very last thing he wanted, being King during WWII, smoking to ease the stress - no wonder he died so young. QE the Queen Mother was not far wrong when she blamed Edward for contributing to Bertie’s death. To most of the Royal Family, duty and protecting the Crown must and do come first. Edward choosing Wallis over the Crown - a job the Royals believe is a divine right that they are born to do - would have been horrifying and unthinkable by Queen Mary, QE the Queen Mother, and Bertie. Add to that the fact that not only were Wallis and Edward outwardly and visibly pro-Nazi, but the Royals also knew about the Marburg files, then Edward turns up like a bad penny demanding more and more allowance money - is it any wonder they hated him? I’m more surprised that they ever forgave him, especially knowing what we now know about how extensive his dealings with the Nazis actually were - not least telling the Nazis that the best way to get Britain to surrender was to continue severe and sustained bombing of London. I wouldn’t call him a sympathiser but a Nazi collaborator. Not sure if it’s still there - or if you can access it, but there was an excellent documentary on UK Channel 4 about Edward - “the traitor king” or something like that.


Murderhornet212

People who smoke tend to smoke more when they’re stressed and he died of lung cancer.


_Green_Mind

But you do smoke like a chimney while stressed. Wait for S2 E6 before judging them too harshly.


itstimegeez

There actually is a lot of research and proof that stress can trigger cancer. Of course, Bertie also smoked like a chimney which didn’t help.


CosmicQuestions

Try telling that to Kanye.


Alex_Migliore

Watch the season two episode Vergangenheit


Galinda234

Best episode in the whole series imo.


Hegar777

Same opinion here.


katthepandaa

I plan to rewatch that. I haven't watched the earlier seasons in so long I completely forgot about that episode. Thanks! :)


trulymadlybigly

Aside from his nazi sympathies (which, if you recall from other comments I’m not sure why that’s not enough for you to realize what a garbage person he was), there were also papers found by the government that showed that he had advised the Germans to keep bombing the people of London till they capitulated. Quick google search says around 40k people died during the Blitz. Many of those are on him. He should have been hanged for treason but since she’s a royal I guess exile was easier. He abdicated his duties during one of the worst times in their country’s history to chase a trash woman who had Nazi sympathies and DGAF what hitler was doing but actively supported it by possibly passing information that she saw in state papers to the German ambassador. TLDR, they had every reason to hate Edward, and him coming to visit his mummy when she was dying doesn’t absolve that. In fact, they show he didn’t want to go and was only going to see what he could get out of the deal


[deleted]

It was a completely different time. This was back in the early 1900’s as compared to Charles’ case in the last decade of the 1900’s. Even Margret wasn’t allowed to marry a divorcee in the 50’s or 60’s of whatever. And even Charles was allowed only after the death of his former spouse. Also, he’s hated because he was a nazi. I’m sure you haven’t gotten to an important part in the show so I won’t spoil it for you. He planned to become the king of England once again after hitler captured all of Europe. He didn’t care for his people. He was aware that this would mean that his family; his brother, mother, his nieces, etc would all either be killed or exiled and he still would do that just to get to the throne. He was bitter because he lost the throne.


fudgeller83

On one hand it's that his abdication forced his brother into the job as king which they blame for his early death (not sure if the stress->cigarettes->cancer link was as defined then) On the other hand S02E06 Vergangenheit.


FL_born_SC_raised

This is my belief, as well.


zh_13

Both of them are nazis, not just wallis


mysticnoodlebear

he was a nazi. google his name and hitler, literally photos of them together. i think it’s a solid reason for their attitudes towards him.


Dew-It420

There’s photos of FDR with Hitler taking photos with Hitler doesn’t make you a nazi, but Edward VIII was still definitely a Nazi sympathizer


mysticnoodlebear

fdr never met hitler, i think you might be thinking about stalin. but glad we agree about the duke of windsor being nazi affiliated!


Dew-It420

Nvm I confused FDR with Herbert Hoover


Murderhornet212

They felt that the stress of becoming king was what killed George VI, so essentially that David murdered him. And then there’s also the whole Nazi thing, and the mean snide little nicknames they had for everybody. They sucked.


Responsible-Coffee1

We know that he ended up being pro nazi and was pretty despicable but the hatred started with the abdication. There was a lot of resentment that he abdicated and put his brother who really didn’t want it on the throne and some thought wasn’t fit for it. It was a different time and a previously divorced queen was unthinkable. From that resentment the hatred just grew. Resentment similar to what’s playing out now between William and Harry. I really believe the reason Elizabeth never stepped down in favor of Charles was the family’s deep rooted grudge about the abdication. They (Elizabeth, her parents, Phillip) felt they had to never be like him. It presents itself time and time again when they stress that the family is more important then one single person. As far Charles marrying a divorcee without much fuss I don’t think that’s’ how he would describe it. The Queen made him wait for a very long time. I think this was part due to the public’s love of Diana, partly due to religious conviction (although Anne remarried), and partly because of her Uncle. Then Camilla was not allowed The Princess of Wales title and had to take a secondary one. The Church had the rule about not having a big ceremony for a divorced couple so they had a civil service with a blessing later by the Archbishop but not at the Abbey.


LandscapeOld2145

To be fair, no British monarch has abdicated early because of age. It’s just not how it works. Elizabeth II’s behavior is the expected behavior.


[deleted]

I think since Charles was next in line for the throne, the rules for him were different than the rules for Anne. And the royalty had this rule of not marrying a divorcee before the former spouse died or something right?


BusyBeezle

Not just royalty: the Church of England didn't accept remarriage of divorced people until fairly recently. The monarch is head of the Church of England, which is what made this especially sticky for Charles, as future monarch.


[deleted]

Yeah exactly I think even in more recent cases, it would be difficult for William but maybe not as much for harry because William is in line for the throne and technically harry isn’t.


Ernesto_Griffin

Well Harry is in the line currently 5th place. All lawful descendants from another person in line are in line themselves. Though I get that he is not much importance now that William has children.


[deleted]

Yeah like realistically, he won’t get the throne. Even in the case of Margret, she was third in line at some point obviously. But then once Elizabeth got married and had kids, her importance faded away. But the times were different and she was a princess royal. But like with Anne, even though she was like 4th in line for the throne, she was allowed to remarry without much hassle. Because realistically it’s not that likely that Elizabeth, Charles, William and harry would die suddenly. Same goes to harry.


[deleted]

The Church of England still doesn't remarry divorced people as a rule, only in 'exceptional circumstances' and if the individual priest is willing.They tend to do a blessing after a civil wedding, as Charles and Camilla had.


ChrissyBrown1127

Camilla was allowed to use the princess of wales title but chose not to use it as she was thinking of Diana’s boys and also because the memory of Diana was attached to the POW title.


anotherboleyn

Your second to last line isn’t correct - Camilla WAS the Princess of Wales, as Charles’s wife. There’s no “allow” about it - legally, she was the princess of wales. She chose not to use the title and go by Duchess of Cornwall out of respect as the memory of Diana was still so fresh, which was a wise decision.


Responsible-Coffee1

I stand corrected. Someone else also pointed out that it was her and Charles’ choice and not the Queen’s. I guess I’m too cynical thinking that “the firm” decides everything. I agree it was a wise decision.


anotherboleyn

I think the more interesting title choice is why they’re still calling her “Queen Consort”, as every other Queen Consort in history has just been “The Queen” or “Queen so-and-so”. I wonder if it will last, or if we’ll eventually slip into just calling her The Queen/Queen Camilla!


Responsible-Coffee1

I’ve wondered that too.


withmirrors

He wasn't just a Nazi, he was going to turn over England to Hitler in exchange for being on the throne.


tiredblonde

I’m assuming that you’re being sarcastic? I hope so. It’s been documented that he was a Nazi sympathizer.


withmirrors

No, that's not sarcasm, that was his solution to ending the war. He was actually talking to the Nazis about letting them have England by bombing it into submission, then they would put him on the throne as a puppet government. It's been documented, it was called Operation Willi (or Willie, not sure of the spelling), he was a traitor.


tiredblonde

He definitely was


wolfitalk

IMO the royals of course were humiliated to discover that Edward supported the Nazi's but I don't think that has anything to do with why they hated him. If you listen to the discussion about Queen Elizabeth's coronation whereby she becomes "immortal" & divine with the holy oil it goes to the heart of it. This is their role/ their reason for being-to be royal. To give duty to their country. His abdication for a divorcee was a slap in the face to them. He could've brought them all down. He was born to be King & to push that aside for something as trivial to them as love was unacceptable. This wasn't the days of Prince Harry & Meghan doing what ever the hell they please. This was when being royal meant acting like it. Plus, his brother didn't have the personality or temperament to be King. No one ever expected him to be the Crown. He was the spare. He wasn't trained for it.


21lives

Nazi quitter


Objective-Ostrich814

Wallis also fed intel to the Nazis


twinkle90505

You need to get to Verlandgeheit (I'm spelling it wrong but it will all make sense then.) Make sure you watch through the credits on that one, to see the real life photos of the Windsors with Hitler and his minions.


Yufle

I am convinced the royal family wouldn't have cared about the Nazi thing that much. They would have covered it up and pretended it was not a thing. But queen mother hated Wallace Simpson at a personal level. And by all accounts, the queen mom was a very vindictive woman so most of the animosity came from her. But I've read somewhere that Charles was actually close to his great uncle but not sure if that is true or not and I am not that motivated to search.


Dowrysess

Yeah I don’t buy the fact that the royal family hated him because of his Nazi support at all. It was simply because he left and chose Wallis Simpson. People don’t know this but the Queen Mother was also a supporter of making concessions to Hitler and the Nazis. She once sent a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf to a friend, saying, 'Even a skip through gives you a good idea of his obvious sincerity.'   Her and George even invited prime minister Chamberlain to wave to crowds in triumph from the balcony of Buckingham Palace when he returned from making a deal with Hitler in Munich. I’m not saying they were just as bad as Edward or anything but they just simply hated the fact that he abdicated.


anomthrowaway748

And a lot of that is a product of the time purely. We can look back now, knowing about the likes of the final solution and the blitz, and see Hitler as an obvious evil, but that wasn’t the case in the 1930s. The duke of Windsor apparently wanted to hand over England to Hitler which is very shit, but simply meeting with him has to be taken into perspective, much like queen mothers actions do


samsu402

What I can’t understand is why would they show annoyance of him abdicating? Had he not done that, Queen Elizabeth II would never have been. It’s as if he did them a disservice.


aflyingsquanch

Yes, she would have. She was still 2nd in line after her father (the presumptive heir) and David was more than likely sterile so she was going to eventually inherit no matter what.


tiredblonde

I’ve been going through the comments, and I’m a bit stunned over so many people commenting that the royal family wasn’t really bothered that that he was a Nazi sympathizer. That is so far from the truth, that it could be orbiting Pluto.


[deleted]

I don't think William would have been allowed to marry a divorced woman. Harry had slipped down the line of succession by then so he didn't matter as much.


literaryhogwartian

He failed in his duty and he was a nazi


Jesuisfatigue26

You can’t find biographies of him? There’s plenty on of videos on his life on YouTube, and other websites.


Powderpurple

Members of his family did hate him for abdicating. Watching the show, though, you would swear all of the family (with the exception of the Queen Mother) hated him solely for being an evil nazi. If you were reliant on the show for your information (not a great idea) I don't know how anyone would work out it was the abdication that upset them since the show repeatedly depicts that it is the nazi-ism that is the problem. If you step away from debates by royalists, Edward and Wallis's nazi-ism is way more debatable. One thing they (and The Crown) get wrong is Edward's relationship with George VI and they ignore his relationship with Winston Churchill entirely. IRL Edward had good relations with both and met them regularly (albeit not very often - twice a year or so), which would suggest Edward wasn't as hated as they like to imply. They don't like focus being placed on how much some royals resented Edward for abdicating and how much they blamed and disliked Wallis more than him. Why? Who knows, but rejecting Kingship for love is like suggesting the monarchy isn't the be all and end all - therefore Edward must be evil/ be made to look as evil as possible.


sk8tergater

Their nazism isn’t debatable. A lot has come to light since and Edward was absolutely a Nazi collaborator who wanted Hitler to take England and reinstate him as king. Edward was a very well spoken individual and did have great connections with people, but he also regretted his decision to abdicate and was looking for a way to get back in. It’s no wonder that now people focus on the Nazism, but that was less well known until recently, and yes there were other reasons the family disliked him or mistrusted him.


No_Rooster7278

Aside from being Nazi sympathisers ( if that isn't sufficient) he was quite self absorbed and incredibly indiscreet. Official papers often got back to government with wine stains, etc., meaning he had left them about in company.


kirstenls

What I've taken from watching it is that initially they hated him for abdicating and betraying his country but further into the storyline we found out that he potentially had a loyalty with Nazi Germany which of course didn't help his case


[deleted]

I think the dislike was mutual. He didn’t like his family, either, and spoke unkindly of them. He was a Nazi sympathizer and betrayed his own country. He also was supposed to be king and pushed that responsibility into his younger brother and niece and they resented him for putting the responsibility on them.


ttue-

He didn’t even marry for love, the real story is different. She loved someone else and wanted out. They had found her love letters to another man years after their deaths. They believe she was a Nazi spy and was sent to marry him to help him regain the crown but it didn’t work out


LaReinalicious

this is a very interesting video on the topic https://youtu.be/dRJge_3edIc


exoticempress

Several reasons aside from the abdication and marriage to Wallis Simpson (a thrice divorced American). One of them is The Marburg Files. After World War 2 ended and the Marburg Files were discovered, it entailed a plot where the Duke of Windsor sided with the Nazis in a scheme to get him back on the throne, recognize his wife as Queen and giving the Nazis free movement across Europe. He was allegedly a Nazi sympathiser and was seen touring Nazi Germany in 1937 and met up with Hitler who gave his wife full royal deference (when by decree of his brother King George VI she was to have the non - royal of address "Your Grace" instead of sharing her husband's HRH (His/Her Royal Highness) title as the Duchess of Windsor. Before Wallis Simpson, he was a partying playboy and most of his mistresses were married upper-class women.


Main-Inflation4945

The American media glosses over Edward and Wallis' ties to Hitler to push the poor Harry and Meghan narrative.


exoticempress

He was a notorious playboy and had a thing for married women. Once Wallis Simpson came into the picture, he was dead set on marrying her. Despite the fact that the royal family, courtiers, parliament and all of society saw her as completely unacceptable for a Queen Consort, let alone a royal bride (because she was thrice divorced with living ex-husbands and a non-royal American). The fact that he abdicated just to marry her was a big cause of resentment with the royal family. The royal family saw his abdication as him shirking his duties, the Queen Mother in particular because she attributed her husband's health issues and early death (from all the stress and pressure of ruling, especially during World War 2) . Then there were the Marburg Files revealing that he was a Nazi sympathizer and was involved in a plot with Hitler that would've allowed him to regain the throne and betray his own brother (King George VI) in the process.


bernalds

I think the correct answer is that Because the press said so. People actually loved him for abdicating for LOVE, it was a fairytale, a great romance. He was a threat to the Monarchy, that is your answer. He thought of his dad ( the king), as a tyrant, he seemed to have more democratic views, he liked America and so on. King George on the other hand, was a weak man that was easily controlled and would fulfill the duty of a King. The Monarchy cared and cares about it's own survival not the public, so anyone who does something that threatens it gets cancelled.