Much comment appeared in the media following the publication on July 18 of a film clip which showed the Queen as a young girl and her mother, the then Duchess of York, giving Nazi salutes in 1933 with her uncle, the future Edward VIII, in the background. In a letter published in The Daily Telegraph on July 20, Alistair Lexden explained some of the factors which influenced the Royal Family’s attitudes towards Nazi Germany at the time.
SIR--In 1933 the Nazis were novelties, Hitler having come to power in January. Three months later the then Duchess of York (later the Queen Mother) received a letter from her former German governess who was running a school in Munich. The British press, she wrote, was “horribly biased” against Hitler.
The Duchess became much more critical of Germany in 1934 when her ex-governess, a Jew, was sacked.
The future Edward VIII, her brother-in-law, thought co-operation with Nazi Germany was necessary to stave off a greater evil. In November 1933 he said that “we are in great danger from Communism”.
Lord Lexden
London SW1