![Vincenzo Laviosa - Duke and Duchess of Windsor - Google Art Project](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Vincenzo_Laviosa_-_Duke_and_Duchess_of_Windsor_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
Operation Willi was the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
code name for the unsuccessful attempt by the
SS to
kidnap
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...
Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor in July 1940 and induce him to work with German dictator
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
for either a peace settlement with
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, or a restoration to the throne after
the German conquest of the United Kingdom.
Background
Edward, the son of
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
, assumed the throne in January 1936, when his father died. But it was already clear by then that he wanted to marry the
American Wallis Simpson
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a ...
, and, since the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
proscribed the marriage because she was
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
d, he stunned the world by abdicating his throne less than a year later in favour of his brother Albert, the
Duke of York, who became
George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...
.
The ex-king and Mrs. Simpson were married in France and, as the
Duke and Duchess of Windsor, toured
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
in October, 1937 as personal guests of Adolf Hitler, fanning speculations that they were sympathetic to
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...
. The trip was paid for by the Nazi government, which believed that the duke was a potential ally.
In Germany, "they were treated like royalty ... members of the aristocracy would bow and curtsy towards her, and she was treated with all the dignity and status that the duke always wanted," according to royal biographer
Andrew Morton, quoted by
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
. The Duke admired the economic achievements of the fascist regime, such as the reduction in unemployment, at a time before the Nazi brutality had been revealed. Still, he "closed his eyes to much of what he did not want to see".
When
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
broke out in September, 1939, the Duke became liaison officer with the British military mission to the French Army High Command. He actually served as an agent for British
military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
, which wanted information on French defences: specifically, the
Maginot Line. His reports gave a very accurate assessment of
French unpreparedness, but they were ignored.
After the fall of France in June, 1940, the Windsors made their way to neutral Spain through
Biarritz to escape capture by the Germans.
Beginnings of a plot
On June 23, the German
ambassador to
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
,
Eberhard von Stohrer Eberhard von Stohrer (5 February, 1883 – March 7, 1953) was a career German diplomat who served during World War I and World War II. The son of an Army General from Württemberg, he studied at Leipzig University, receiving a Doctor of Law degr ...
, a career diplomat, telegraphed
Joachim von Ribbentrop, the Nazi
Foreign Minister, that the Spanish Foreign Minister, Colonel
Juan Beigbeder y Atienza, was inquiring on how to deal with the Duke, who was on his way to
Lisbon, with the possibility of detaining him.
Ribbentrop instructed von Stohrer the following day to forward the suggestion that the Duke and Duchess be detained for two weeks, but not let it appear that the suggestion came from him. Stohrer replied that Beigbeder would do as Ribbentrop asked. The Spanish Foreign Minister then wired Ribbentrop on July 2 that he met with the Duke and reported the Duke's alleged antagonism against the Royal Family due to the treatment meted to his wife, as well as criticising
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
and his wartime policies.
The Windsors then proceeded to Lisbon, where they arrived on July 3. The British government got wind of the Duke's alleged indiscreet remarks with Beigbeder, and as a result Churchill sent the Duke a telegram, ordering him back to Britain. Churchill pointed out that the Duke was under military authority, and unless he obeyed, he would be subjected to a
court-martial.(The Duke had the temporary rank of
major general
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...
.) Then came another telegram designating him as
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...
and ordering him to assume this post at once. Nevertheless, the Windsors stayed a month in the villa of Ricardo do Espirito Santo Silva, a banker (
Banco Espírito Santo
Banco Espírito Santo (BES) was a Portuguese bank based in Lisbon that on 4 August 2014 was split in two banks: Novo Banco, which kept its healthy operations, and a "bad bank" to keep its toxic assets.
It once was the second-largest listed Por ...
) said to have pro-Nazi sympathies.
The German minister to Lisbon, Baron
Oswald von Hoyningen-Huene, reported this to Ribbentrop on July 11 and added that the Duke "intends to postpone his departure as long as possible... in hope of a turn of events favourable to him," and basically reiterated what was reported by Minister Beigbeder.
Ribbentrop took this as an encouraging sign, and cabled the German embassy in Madrid to try to prevent the Duke from going to the Bahamas by being brought back to Spain — preferably by his Spanish friends — and be persuaded, even compelled, to remain in Spanish territory. He further intimated that the "British Secret Service" was going "to do away" with the Duke as soon as he arrived in the Bahamas.
The emissary
The next day, July 12, von Stohrer saw
Ramón Serrano Súñer Ramón or Ramon may refer to:
People Given name
*Ramon (footballer, born 1998), Brazilian footballer
* Ramón (footballer, born 1990), Brazilian footballer
*Ramón (singer), Spanish singer who represented Spain in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest
...
, Spanish Minister of the Interior, who promised to get his brother-in-law Generalissimo
Francisco Franco in on the plot and carry out the following plan: the Spanish government would send a friend of the Duke, Miguel Primo de Rivera, leader of the
Falange
The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS; ), frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco ...
and son of
Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquess of Estella (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a dictator, aristocrat, and military officer who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during Spain's Restoration era. He deepl ...
, a former dictator, as an emissary. Rivera would invite the Duke to Spain for a hunting trip and also to discuss Anglo-Spanish relations. There he would also be informed of the "plot" by the British secret-service to liquidate him. If the Duke would agree to stay, he would be given financial assistance to permit him in maintaining a lifestyle befitting his station. (Reportedly 50 million Swiss francs were set aside for this.)
Rivera agreed to the task, although he was not told of German involvement in this. He visited the Windsors on July 16 and presented the offer to the Duke; while he was receptive to the offer, the Duke also expressed reservations for several reasons, not least of which were the telegrams from the British government urging him to leave for the Bahamas. Another visit on July 22 gave similar results.
It was during the time of the last visit by Rivera that the Nazis were drawing up the plan to kidnap the Windsors. Hitler personally assigned
Walter Schellenberg
Walter Friedrich Schellenberg (16 January 1910 – 31 March 1952) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. He rose through the ranks of the SS, becoming one of the highest ranking men in the '' Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD) and eventually a ...
to handle the operation.
Schellenberg's role
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Alber-178-04A, Walter Schellenberg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101III-Alber-178-04A%2C_Walter_Schellenberg.jpg)
Schellenberg, who was awarded the
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia es ...
for his role in the
Venlo Incident the year before, flew from Berlin to Madrid, conferred with von Stohrer, then went on to Portugal to begin work. The final plan would be to entice the Windsors over the border to Spain (with the collusion of cooperative border officials, since they did not have passports) and keep them there to "protect them from plotters against their lives, specifically the British Intelligence Service".
He carried out scare tactics to induce the Duke's willingness to leave the villa while trying to pin the blame on the British. Schellenberg arranged for some stone-throwing against the windows of the villa while circulating rumours among the servants that the British were responsible. A bouquet of flowers was also sent to the Duchess warning her of "the machinations of the British intelligence service". Another scare tactic, the firing of shots resulting in the harmless breaking of the windows, scheduled for July 30, was not carried out due to possible psychological effects on the Duchess.
![Walter Monckton cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Walter_Monckton_cropped.png)
On that same day, Schellenberg reported that
Sir Walter Monckton, an old friend of the Duke, had arrived, evidently charged by the British government to speed the Windsors toward the Bahamas as soon as possible. Moreover, the German ambassador reported that the Windsors would be leaving on August 1 for the small British possession. According to Schellenberg in his memoirs, when Hitler learned of this, he urged Schellenberg to take away all pretence and abduct them outright.
Failure of the plot
Even while the Spanish ambassador to Lisbon was prevailed upon to make a last-minute appeal to the Windsors, the automobile carrying the ducal baggage was "sabotaged", according to Schellenberg, so the luggage arrived at the port late. A bomb threat on the liner
''Excalibur'' was also spread by the Germans, which further delayed its departure while Portuguese officials searched the ship.
Nevertheless, the Windsors departed that evening. While Schellenberg blamed the failure of the plot on Monckton, the collapse of the Spanish plan and the alleged "English mentality" of the Duke, it was also probable that Schellenberg deliberately refused to carry out the plan, which seemed doomed from the start. Even he admitted in his memoirs that his role in the affair was a ridiculous one.
Suspicions of pro-Nazi sentiment
Many historians have suggested that Hitler was prepared to reinstate the Duke of Windsor as king in the hope of establishing a fascist Britain, had Edward agreed to do so after reaching Spain. Documents recovered from the Germans in 1945 near
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
, later called the
Marburg Files as well as The Windsor Files, included relevant correspondence about the planned outcome of Operation Willi.
A telegram from
Joachim von Ribbentrop indicated that the Duke of Windsor would be offered the throne of the United Kingdom (as a puppet king) if the Operation succeeded and Edward reached Spain. Another telegram indicates that the plan to reinstate the Duke as king had been discussed with the Duke and Duchess:
The Duke was appointed to the Bahamas post in 1940 as a means of removing him from Europe,
as his suspected ties with the Nazis "made him a liability", according to royal historian Carolyn Harris.
[
]
See also
* Cultural depictions of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Further reading
* Bloch, Michael. ''Operation Willi: The Nazi Plot to Capture the Duke of Windsor''. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984.
* Patterson, Harry. ''To Catch a King''. 1979. In this novel Jack Higgins
Henry "Harry" Patterson (27 July 1929 – 9 April 2022), commonly known by his pen name Jack Higgins, was a British author. He was a best-selling author of popular thrillers and espionage novels. His novel '' The Eagle Has Landed'' (1975) so ...
gives a fictionalized account of Operation Willi. The author postulates that the Duke of Windsor passed the planned date of Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (german: Unternehmen Seelöwe), was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Following the Battle o ...
on to the British, after tricking the would-be German abductors into revealing it.
References
{{Reflist
Edward VIII
July 1940 events
Operation Willi