Churchill tried to suppress Windsors' links with Hitler

Winston Churchill tried to hush up a Nazi plot to reinstate Edward VIII to the throne in return for his support during World War II, newly declassified cabinet papers reveal.

Files released by the National Archives include telegrams documenting German plans to kidnap the Duke of Windsor, the title granted to the king after his abdication, and his wife Wallis Simpson while the couple were in Portugal. They had fled there from France following the German invasion in 1940.

The messages, which date from the 1950s, show Churchill pleading with US President Dwight Eisenhower and French authorities not to release intercepted German cables which, he said, would leave the misleading impression the Duke "was in close touch with German agents and was listening to suggestions that were disloyal".

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Churchill wrote: "The late King [George VI], who had seen the documents, confined himself to insisting that if publication could not be avoided, the Duke of Windsor should be given full and timely warning."

Despite his efforts, "Churchill succeeded only in delaying the publication of the telegrams for a few years", says The Guardian.

However, when they did come to light, in 1957, the Duke denounced them as "complete fabrications".