The shocking reason Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII spent WW2 exiled in the Bahamas

Today marks 39 years since Wallis Simpson, the woman who became Duchess of Windsor after King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry her, died at the age of 89.

She played a notorious role in the greatest royal controversies of the 20th century but in her final years, Wallis was beset by illness, bedridden and unable to walk and talk. 

Wallis and her husband, who died in 1972, lived out their final years in Paris. But before they settled in France the jet-setting couple travelled the world.  

As the Second World War raged in 1940, Wallis and Edward were shipped thousands of miles across the Atlantic so that the Duke of Windsor could take up the post of governor of the Bahamas. 

Instead of spending the war in London alongside the rest of the Royal Family with German bombs showering the capital every night, Wallis and Edward enjoyed the sun-kissed shores of the Caribbean.

But despite their picturesque surroundings and year-round sunshine, Wallis and Edward’s time in Nassau was far from happy. 

Wallis despised living in the tropical paradise so much that she referred to it as ‘St Helena’ –  the barren rock in the Atlantic where Napoleon was banished in the 19th century. 

And the Duchess of Windsor dubbed the house the couple stayed in as a ‘shack by the sea’. 

The Duchess of Windsor described the couples’ Bahamas house as a ‘shack by the sea’. It was in fact the sprawling 15,000sq ft Sigrist House, pictured in 2020

Wallis and Edward were shipped thousands of miles across the Atlantic so that the Duke of Windsor could take up the post of governor of the Bahamas 

Wallis in 1936. The Duchess played an important role in one of the greatest royal controversies of the 20th century 

This so-called shack was in fact the sprawling 15,000sq ft Sigrist House which was given to the couple while their official residence, Government House, was renovated.

It was a bizarre posting for a member of the Royal Family, even for one who had been effectively ostracised, but it served a purpose with Britain at war with Nazi Germany –a regime many believed that Wallis and Edward were sympathetic towards.

Winston Churchill had good reason to be concerned about the couple’s political leanings as Edward had spent much of the late 1930s flirting with Fascism.

In 1937, shortly after his abdication, Edward and Wallis visited Germany on an unofficial visit where he met Adolf Hitler and greeted him with a full Nazi salute – according to biographer Frances Donaldson in her book Edward VIII. 

After the ‘wonderful time’ spent with the Führer at his mountain retreat in Bavaria, Edward wrote a thank you letter. It read: ‘To the Führer and [Chancellor], the Duchess of Windsor and I would like to thank you sincerely.

‘Our trip through Germany has made a great impression on us. Many thanks to you for the wonderful time that we had with you at the [mountainside retreat] Obersalzberg.’

A month before the war broke out, the Duke of Windsor recorded a message to the British public – although the BBC refused to air it. 

Reportedly, he urged Britain to do all it could to ‘come to terms with Nazi Germany,’ according to AN Wilson, author of Hitler: A Short Biography. 

In 1937, shortly after his abdication, Edward and Wallis visited Germany on an unofficial visit where he met Adolf Hitler and greeted him with a full Nazi salute – according to biographer Frances Donaldson in her book Edward VIII 

The pair spent a ‘wonderful’ time with the Führer at his mountain retreat in Bavaria

Wallis was also known for her Nazi sympathies. So much so that the American was tracked by the FBI who in a report wrote that ‘the Duchess of Windsor was exceedingly pro-German in her sympathies and connections.’

Unsurprisingly, when war broke out the British Government were wary of the Duke and Duchess.

King George clearly harboured the same suspicions against his brother for a while. During the so-called ‘Phoney War’ of 1939 – the eight-month period between war being declared and fighting beginning – the King gave Edward a military appointment in France with strict instructions that he ‘not be shown secret documents’.

So it served a purpose to put a literal ocean between the couple and the United Kingdom as a precaution. 

However, despite being over 4,000miles away, they still caused controversy at home.

Wallis was blasted by the press for a spending spree in the United States at a time when Brits endured rationing and constant bombings. 

Edward also reportedly told a journalist at the time that ‘it would be a tragic thing for the world if Hitler was overthrown’.  

At the end of the war, King George and the government’s suspicions were vindicated when American diplomats uncovered files buried in the forest near Marburg Castle, including around 60 documents that appeared to contain correspondence between the Duke of Windsor and Nazi Germany.

Wallis and Edward dancing at a party in New York. The jet-setting couple were known for travelling across the world 

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor after their wedding in France in June 1937 

Now known as the Marburg, or Windsor, Files the documents contain details of a Nazi-devised plan to gain control of Britain, overthrow the monarchy and reinstate the Duke as King.

It is clearly stated that Edward was seen as a better ally than his brother King George, with the Duke urging the Nazis to bomb Britain ‘to make England ready for peace’. 

In the event of a successful invasion, the alleged plan was for Edward to rule a German-occupied Britain as a puppet monarch for Hitler. 

A cable from the German ambassador in Lisbon to Berlin reads: ‘[The Duke of Windsor] is convinced that if he had remained on the throne, war would have been avoided, and he characterizes himself as a firm supporter of a peaceful arrangement with Germany. 

‘The Duke definitely believes that continued severe bombing would make England ready for peace.’

After Edward’s tenure as governor ended in 1945, the couple led the life of the idle rich, attending parties in France and America and going on lavish holidays with close friends.

Though she lacked the status of an actual queen, it was the kind of high life that American Duchess had always sought.

But when the Duke died aged 77 in 1972, Wallis was left alone, bereft of the man who had worshipped her.

The Queen, with whom she had had minimal contact in the decades since her husband’s abdication, hosted her at Buckingham Palace when she arrived for his funeral.

The two had previously met when Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip visited the Duke in Paris in his final days. 

It was a sign of the Queen’s willingness to put differences to one side for the sake of the greater good. 

When Wallis died over a decade later, her funeral service at Windsor’s St George’s Chapel was attended by senior royals including the Queen, Prince Philip and the Queen Mother. Her name was not mentioned during the service.

Wallis was buried next to her husband at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore. The burial was attended by only the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Princess Diana and eight of Wallis’s aides and friends 

The service lasted for less than half an hour and was stripped of nearly all the pomp and ceremony that usually marks a royal death.

Other members of the 100-strong guest list included the then Prince Charles and his wife Princess Diana, along with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Labour leader Neil Kinnock.

On her coffin was a single wreath of white, orange and yellow lillies left by the Queen.

Wallis was buried next to her husband at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore. The burial was attended by only the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Princess Diana and eight of Wallis’s aides and friends. 

The Queen Mother, who had once called Wallis the ‘lowest of the low’, did not attend the burial, after being asked to stay away by the Queen.

However, there was one alleged flicker of emotion that perhaps signalled how, despite all that happened, feelings could be complicated.

According to Princess Diana, the Queen shed a tear as the Duchess was laid to rest. She claimed it was the only time she had seen the monarch weep.

The laying to rest of the the Duchess of Windsor marked the final chapter in a marriage that had captivated and scandalised in equal measure.

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