Talk:Edward VIII

Claims that Edward VIII encouraged the continuation of the Blitz

An article from the CBC (see section "Captured documents suggest the duke encouraged the Germans to bomb Britain"), quotes biographer Andrew Lownie's interpretation of a cable in the Marburg Files. This cable, apparently sent in 1940, would have been sent during the Blitz. I am not a habitual contributor to pages on historical figures, but perhaps this would be a good addition to the penultimate paragraph of Edward_VIII#Second_World_War? RSXS (talk) 23:59, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

For what it's worth, I did a cursory skim and couldn't find any scholarly reviews of the book, or any evidence it had been peer reviewed prior to release. It seems that he hasn't been given much credence by historians of the period—which is telling, because contrary to what many will insist, academics love arguing with public dilettantes and cranks if it makes their field more visible for a moment. That is to say, I wouldn't call Lownie a crank, I haven't read his book, but I would need to see some scholarly engagement with it before including it in the article. Remsense诉 00:54, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

It's already in Marburg Files#Contents with a suitable rejoinder. Typically, Nazi (or any totalitarian) sources are not given much credence by proper historians, because they are often untruthful. DrKay (talk) 06:44, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

It wasn't during the Blitz, which started in September 1940, it was a cable from the German ambassador in Portugal to Ribbentrop on 10 July, asserting, 'The Duke believes with certainty that continued heavy bombing will make England ready for peace.' (Cited by Lownie to DGFP [Documents on German Foreign Policy] AA-B15/B002549, Vol.X, p.152.) This is, of course, a Nazi diplomat telling his superior what he thinks the superior wants to hear, but it is probably true, since there are so many accounts of Windsor's defeatism and Nazi sympathies at the time. He was a foolish person and he seems to have believed that Britain could not win, that the government would fall, his brother Bertie, George VI, would abdicate and he would be re-enthroned, to a rapturous public reception, as what his brother the Duke of Kent (among others) satirically called a 'Gauleiter'. The odd thing in the cable is the reference to 'continued heavy bombing', since the Germans were not doing much bombing of Britain at the time -- they started attacking Channel convoys on 10 July (a day on which the RAF lost only three Hurricanes, one of them due to an accident), but did not attack Fighter Command airfields till August, or London till September. Khamba Tendal (talk) 19:30, 4 July 2024 (UTC)

Comma

I don't want to get into a revert war for the sake of a comma as I don't find it productive, however with the comma included the sentence can be taken to mean all historians, not just historians such as the one cited. Therefore I felt removal of the comma appropriate to clear this ambiguity. Also, please only revert when necessary. For a reversion to be appropriate, the reverted edit must actually make the article worse. WP:ONLYREVERT Itsziggyp (talk) 12:33, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

Wallis Simpson

You describe Wallis Simpson as Edward’s “former” wife. She was his wife. Kindly correct. Thank you. 2603:6080:A308:2986:A060:E47B:9D9E:F8F (talk) 03:21, 30 October 2024 (UTC)

The text plainly uses "former spouse" to refer to Simpson's previous husband, not to Edward. Remsense ‥ 论 03:35, 30 October 2024 (UTC)