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vivee
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I always see lots of criticism based on the fact that the Duke of Windsor was a Nazi sympathizer, but I barely ever see anyone talking about how he helped cover up a murder!
While he was the governor general of the Bahamas, the richest man in the British "Empire", Sir Harry Oakes, was brutally murdered. The Duke of Windsor, though he was friends with Oakes, tried to keep the press from reporting on the murder and didn't let any local police investigate the crime. He instead called in two detectives from Miami, who framed Oakes' son-in-law using falsified evidence. The evidence was planted right after the Duke met with the detectives. Everything came to light during the son-in-law's trial, and he was exonerated. The Duke of Windsor still banished him from the Bahamas, though. The investigation into Oakes' murder was dropped and no one knows what really happened.
No one agrees on the level of involvement that the Duke of Windsor had in the murder. Was he covering up for a friend? Was he just trying to cover up the crime to make himself look like he had things under control? Or... did he know about the murder before it occurred?
It's a fascinating case that leads you down quite a rabbit hole. Personally, I think the Duke of Windsor knew who had ordered the murder, and wanted to protect him. Interestingly, the man who most people think ordered the murder, Harold Christie, was later knighted by the Queen.
I just thought I'd mention it in this thread since not many people talk about it! One author referred to this as the Duke's "biggest blunder".
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rosella
Banned
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Yes, totally disgusting. The Oakes murder is fascinating. I don't know about Christie as murderer (though I don't think Oakes's playboy son in law did it either, though everyone was eager to have him charged.) The Duke of Windsor couldn't wait to bypass the local police or get Scotland Yard out (which admittedly would have been difficult in wartime.) He decided on the Miami detectives because he'd met them before. It's on a par with all their behaviour in the Bahamas though. He and Wallis regarded it as the equivalent of Siberian exile and couldn't get out of there quick enough at the end of the war.
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fairy
Most Exalted Member
Reputation: 4376
 Offline
Posts: 19429
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Yes, I don't think the Royal family's lawyers were worried about Wallis producing a family. There'd been two marriages and several affairs (including the one with the car salesman at the same time as the one with King Edward) and no sign of any babies. And she was already in her forties.
I think the great worry was if this marriage didn't last (and she had already had two divorces, of course) Edward might in his loneliness marry again (perhaps to another 'adventuress') and produce a child or two. That could well lead to an unholy mess when the elder reached twenty one. If that clause about heirs hadn't been put in that person could have challenged King George's right to the throne through the courts and the House of Lords. It would have been catastrophic, and that's what I always think of when people suggest William could do the same with his children.
And here again, I think nobody worried, I think it was pretty clear that Edward was infertile just as much as his wife. In those days, there was not that much you could do in terms of contraception and there was never even talk about a mistress falling pregnant. Mind you all his mistresses (or most of them) were married, so that any pregnancy would be veiled as a legitimate one. But there was nothing. |
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Mary's life motto: "if I had the choice between world peace and a Prada handbag, I'd choose the latter one" Marian Keyes.  |
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Lady Liebe
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Explosive confidential letter from Edward VIII lays bare the Royal rift sparked by his marriage to American divorcee Wallis Simpson 81 years on - detailing fears Queen Mary would shun US socialite during visit to Britain https://www.dailymail.co....-Simpson-81-years-on.htmlI read this as a bit of the world according to the Duke of Windsor. It's more of how he would like the world to be rather than how it was - at least in some ways. The author of the article makes one very glaring error at the end of article: The couple remained living in France for the rest of their lives. In 1952 Edward returned to Britain for his brother's funeral and again in 1965. |
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Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. Daniel Patrick Moynihan
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AutumnOpal
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It always throws me off when he's called Edward, yeah that's his actual and Regnal name but with so many shows/movies like The Crown and The Kings Speech where they call him David--I'm just so used to that now, he's David!
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anastasia beaverhausen
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Explosive confidential letter from Edward VIII lays bare the Royal rift sparked by his marriage to American divorcee Wallis Simpson 81 years on - detailing fears Queen Mary would shun US socialite during visit to Britain https://www.dailymail.co....-Simpson-81-years-on.htmlI read this as a bit of the world according to the Duke of Windsor. It's more of how he would like the world to be rather than how it was - at least in some ways. The author of the article makes one very glaring error at the end of article: The couple remained living in France for the rest of their lives. In 1952 Edward returned to Britain for his brother's funeral and again in 1965. Congratulations on 3,000 posts LL!  |
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Lady Liebe
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Thank you AB and CyrilSebastian!  |
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Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. Daniel Patrick Moynihan
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Lady Liebe
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Thank you karma! It's good to have you back too!  |
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Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. Daniel Patrick Moynihan
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