Breaking Where did Edward VIII’s money come from? Former monarch lied to get £25,000 a year from his brother after 1936 abdication despite having nearly £50million in the bank – cash he and Wallis Simpson used to fund luxurious lifestyle, writes ANDREW LOWNIE EnglishHeadline

It’s usually assumed that it was the Abdication that poisoned relations between Edward Vlll and his household however much less well-known is that cash performed an important half.

After he selected to abdicate in December 1936, it was organized that he would obtain £25,000 per yr.

However it was shortly found that the ex-king had not been open about his monetary scenario and that he was far wealthier than he had claimed.

He had informed George Vl he had just below £100,000, when, in reality, he had some £800,000 – some £47million now – on deposit overseas, a lot of it managed by Mrs Simpson.

This huge wealth allowed the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to stay an opulent life-style, renting a mansion in Central Paris and taking a ten-year lease on the Chateau de la Croe on Cap d’Antibes, later owned by Aristotle Onassis, Stavros Niarchos and Roman Abramovich. 

They employed sixteen servants, together with two chauffeurs, all wearing a private livery designed by the Duke , and travelled with a lot baggage – as much as 73 items – that it usually needed to be saved in lodge corridors.

It’s usually assumed that it was the Abdication that poisoned relations between Edward Vlll and his household however much less well-known is that cash performed an important half, writes ANDREW LOWNIE. Above: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor in 1941

Chateau de la Croe villa in Antibes, as soon as owned by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor

Their extravagant expenditure continued through the battle and, given foreign money restrictions, attracted curiosity from the press and authorities. In 1941, after the Windsors visited America, the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, enquired of the British Authorities concerning the supply of their wealth.

Three weeks later, the British Ambassador in Washington, Halifax, in a ‘Most Secret’ telegram to the International Workplace, reported: ‘As far as I can confirm, the one banking accounts in the US within the title of the Duke or Duchess of Windsor are two accounts with Chase Financial institution within the title of the Duchess. One account covers securities to the worth of 9,000 {dollars}, whereas the opposite account had a credit score stability of 29,931 {dollars} on 14 June this yr as in contrast with a stability of 1,197 {dollars} on the identical date final yr.’ The query everybody was asking was the place this cash was coming from.

Based on the author Charles Higham: ‘The encompassing paperwork are lacking from Lord Avon’s recordsdata on the Public File Workplace in London, however it’s clear from this memorandum that the gravest suspicions had but once more been aroused of the Windsors’ improper use of foreign money towards all of the restrictions in pressure on the time. Paperwork situated within the Nationwide Archive in Washington, DC point out that the couple had obtained much more black market foreign money by means of Wenner-Gren.’

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor in Paris

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor obtain a royal welcome upon their arrival in Miami, Florida, 1941

In 1941, after the Windsors visited America, the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau (pictured above with US President Fanklin D Roosevelt), enquired of the British Authorities concerning the supply of their wealth

Reporters collect outdoors Salona Farm, the childhood house of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, in Baltimore County, Maryland, October 12, 1941. She arrived quickly afterwards throughout her go to with the Duke

Amid enthusiastic, cheering crowds, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor bid adieu to Miami after a quick week-long go to

In July 1942, a secret State Division memo had famous that Swedish businessman Axel Wenner-Gren – a neighbour of the royal couple within the Bahamas and suspected German agent – had $2,500,000 frozen on deposit within the Bahamas, ‘made on the specific request and partially for the advantage of the Duke of Windsor’

The Duke of Windsor smokes a cigar as he seems alongside Wallis Simpson on the American Nationwide Theater in New York

In July 1942, a secret State Division memo had famous that Swedish businessman Axel Wenner-Gren – a neighbour of the royal couple within the Bahamas and suspected German agent – had $2,500,000 frozen on deposit within the Bahamas, ‘made on the specific request and partially for the advantage of the Duke of Windsor’.

In 1941 Wenner-Gren had arrange a Mexican financial institution, the Banco Continental, and this was the car wherein a monetary syndicate had hoped to avoid foreign money rules and use the cash both in America or for investments in Mexico.

The syndicate consisted of the Duke of Windsor, a property developer within the Bahamas, Harold Christie, and the richest resident of the island Sir Harold Oakes.

It has been urged by one skilled, Pat Wertheim, that after the 1943 homicide of Harry Oakes – a case which stays unsolved – some $15 million was lacking from Oakes’ property and that this cash had been divided between the Duke, Christie and the banker Maximinio Comacho, the one individuals conscious of the fee.

This is able to maybe clarify why the Duke as Governor was so anxious to shut down the investigation into Oakes’s homicide and the supply of a part of his wealth.

Andrew Lownie is the creator of Traitor King (Bonnier Books Ltd, £10.99 and £25). To order a replica at particular promotional costs of £9.89 (paperback) or £22.50 (hardback) go to www.mailshop.co.uk/books or name 020 3176 2937. Free UK supply on orders over £25.