King Edward VIII called French Canadians 'rotten' in private letter

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A vitriolic letter written by the future King Edward VIII in which he branded the French Canadians 'rotten' and 'the completest passengers' during a tour of the country has emerged 96 years later.


The Prince of Wales - the eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary - could not hide his resentment towards the French Canadians in the private letter he penned on a visit to Quebec.


In the letter written a few months after World War One to his mistress Freda Dudley Ward, the 25-year-old Edward expresses his disgust at their reluctance to support the British Empire.


He added: 'They really aren't worth all the trouble I've taken to be out of the way polite to them, as they are shirkers in everything particularly in war as they all voted against conscription.'


The First World War divided Canada, with the French-speaking population accused of not doing enough to fight against the Germans.


Later on in the letter to the married socialite, the Prince of Wales derided the attractiveness of the local women.


He described one of his hostesses as 'pompous and interfering'.


Detailing a formal dinner he had attended, he quipped: 'Few of the women are worth dancing with and far less are in any way attractive.'


At another party at a yacht club, he complained how there were '100 very plain women' there.




Edward was an army officer during the First World War. Although as heir to the throne he was prevented from fighting, he made a number of moral-boosting trips to the Western Front and was very popular with the troops.


Edward was the Prince of Wales from 1911 until 1936 when he became King, a reign that only lasted 11 months when he abdicated so he could marry American Wallis Simpson.


The Prime Minster and many others opposed the union because Wallis had already been divorced once and was in the process of divorcing her second husband, so the King chose to abdicate instead of giving up his lover.


His younger brother George, who served in the Royal Navy during the war, succeeded Edward as King in 1936, the details of which are popularised in the film 'The King's Speech' starring Colin Firth.



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Vitriolic letter in which future Edward VIII blasted locals in Quebec | Daily Mail Online
 
B00Mer

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tay

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Seems Eddy was different..........






The King and Hitler: The fascinating relationship between Edward VIII and the Führer






He was terrified of Alois, his violent alcoholic father who would regularly beat him and his gentle mother Klara when he arrived home from the Biergarten, fists swinging.


A troubled adolescent, Adolf Hitler found refuge from his father’s rages in the world of fantasy, dreaming of one day becoming a great artist.


Later he would lose himself for a time in the make-believe constructed by Hollywood.


Even as Führer he was fanatical about film, delaying meetings with his generals in order to watch the latest release, usually procured by his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.


Disney cartoons were his favourite – he endlessly watched the antics of Mickey Mouse and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was based on a German fairytale.


When Goebbels presented him with a dozen Mickey Mouse films one Christmas he was thrilled.


But he set aside his favourite cartoons when one man appeared on the Pathé newsreels: King Edward VIII.


Hitler saw the new king overseeing funeral arrangements for his late father George V, and later watched newsreels, not shown in Britain, of Edward on a Mediterranean cruise with his paramour, twice-married American Mrs Wallis Simpson.


He even commented that Mrs Simpson’s figure, who was photographed in a one-piece bathing suit, was “not bad”.


Almost from the day he became German Chancellor in 1933, Hitler was intrigued by Edward, then Prince of Wales.


He even tried to play royal matchmaker, ordering his right-hand man, diplomat Joachim von Ribbentrop, to suggest a match between the prince, now nearly 40, and Princess Friederike, teenage daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Brunswick.


Even though the ducal couple were fervent Nazis they drew the line at a dynastic union with the House of Windsor, telling the Führer that their daughter was too young.


Hitler then sent a small army of Nazi-supporting German aristocrats to woo the Windsors and convince Edward that Hitler was a man he could do business with.


His favourite pro-Nazi propagandist Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe lived in the same apartment block as Ernest and Wallis Simpson.


It was not long before the king, prime minister Stanley Baldwin and other top politicians and courtiers suspected that the princess and Wallis were in cahoots as Nazi spies.


Certainly Mrs Simpson’s relationship with von Ribbentrop raised eyebrows in London and Berlin.


Though married to a wealthy heiress, Ribbentrop took to sending Mrs Simpson 17 carnations – some say roses – every day.


The news spread like wildfire among the diplomatic community and even Hitler quizzed Ribbentrop about the stories.


Later the well-connected Duke of Württemberg, known as Father Odo, claimed the number of carnations corresponded to the occasions the couple had had sex.


It was a story Wallis vehemently denied but which haunted her for the rest of her life.


Edward, meanwhile, proved a willing accomplice, admiring Hitler from afar.


He was impressed by the way the Nazi leader had brought the chaotic Weimar regime under control – even if it meant, to his mind, banging a few Jewish and trade union heads together.


Appalled at the idea of another war, Edward promoted appeasement and conciliation with the Germans, seeing Soviet Russia as the real enemy, for murdering his godfather Tsar Nicholas II and his family.


When Hitler invaded the Rhineland in March 1936, Edward didn’t just sit on his hands, he actively encouraged Baldwin to keep Britain above the fray.


With such a solid ally on the throne, Hitler was devastated when Edward abdicated so that he could marry the now twice-divorced American.


One man wanted to build a new German empire, the other had given up an empire for the sake of a woman who, by his own admission, he had never even slept with.


Still Hitler kept faith, in October 1937 inviting the now Duke and Duchess of Windsor to see the new Germany for themselves.


Billed as a tour of housing projects it was in reality the chance for Edward to show his new bride, now a figure of loathing in Britain, what it was like to be treated as royalty.


Finally the two men got to meet, the couple enjoying a private 50-minute conversation at Hitler’s mountain retreat.
Hitler was duly impressed.


“She would have made a good queen,” he told his translator as the ducal couple drove off.


Hitler had every intention of making that come true.




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New book reveals the fascinating relationship between Edward VIII and the Führer | Books | Entertainment | Daily Express
 
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Cliffy

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B00Mer said:
...and they still are "the completest passengers" riding on the good fortunes of Western Canada..

Look at the transfer payments they get.. and what have they given back to Canada, besides a fattening side dish Poutine.

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Ah, but you have never stood on any corner on St. Catherine Street and watched the parade of some of the most beautiful and sensuous women in the world walk by in the thousands. The French Canadian women rival those of Latin America.
 
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