To Catch a King

‘Our man there is a German industrialist who operates under the cover of a flourishing import-export business. In Abwehr files he is called A 1416.’

‘Yes, I met him when I was last in Lisbon.’

‘The British Secret Service know him, I believe, as Hamlet.’

‘A double agent? Then why don’t you have him eliminated?’

‘Because he serves my purposes. Feeds them the kind of information I want them to have on occasion. It’s a “we know that you know, that we know that you know” situation. Needless to say I couldn’t possibly give him the Windsor affair. He’d put the British straight on to it.’

‘And is that your only reason?’

‘No – I think the whole thing a nonsense. A number of incidents concerning the Duke have been hopelessly misconstrued. To give you an example; a speech he made some years ago at a British Legion rally suggesting that the time had come for British veterans of the First World War to hold out the hand of comradeship to German veterans, is taken by some of the more fatuous amongst our leaders to be an indication of his approval of National Socialism. Wishful thinking. I also believe the Führer mistaken in seeing in the Duke’s tour of our country in nineteen-thirty-seven any evidence of similar approval. May I remind you that a distinguished list of world leaders has visited the Reich. Does that make them all incipient Nazis?’

‘So – your opinion of the Duke is that he wouldn’t have the slightest interest in our overtures?’

‘He has a considerable amount of German blood in him, he speaks our language fluently and I believe he likes us. But it is my opinion, for what it’s worth, that this liking does not extend to the Nazi Party. There, have I shocked you?’

‘Not at all, Herr Admiral. I asked for your opinion and you have been good enough to give it to me. I shall respect the confidence.’

They started back towards the car. Canaris said, ‘My final word. Examine the Duke’s record in the First World War. Gallant in the extreme. In spite of his father’s orders that he was to be kept out of action when on the Western Front, he loved nothing better than being with the Tommies, which was why they knew him and came to love him. A basic reason for his extraordinary popularity. He always made straight for the trenches. Did you know that his aides once made an official complaint? They said it was all right for him, but the trouble was they had to follow him into the shellfire too.’

‘Now that, I like,’ Schellenberg said. ‘That tells me more about the man than anything.’

‘Walter, in this matter the Führer is hopelessly wasting his time. Here is a man who renounced a throne rather than betray the woman he loved. Do you really imagine that such a man could betray his country?’

At Estoril, in the pink stucco villa above the sea, the Duchess of Windsor sat beside the swimming pool. She was reading Wuthering Heights, one of her favourite novels, and was so absorbed in the action that she was not immediately aware that the Duke had emerged from the house on to the terrace and was standing beside her.

She glanced up and removed her sunglasses. ‘Why, David, you startled me.’

‘What are you reading?’

‘Wuthering Heights.’

‘Good God, that Bronte woman again. How many times is that?’

‘It’s like an old friend. Extremely comforting in times of travail.’ He sat down in the deckchair opposite and she reached for the glass jug on the tray. ‘Lemonade?’

‘I could do with something a little stiffer, but why not?’

‘Nonsense, David, you know you never drink before seven o’clock. What’s happened?’

She reached across the table and took his hand. He forced a smile. ‘You always know, don’t you, Wallis? I’ve had a telegram from Winston. He’s finally found me a job. Governor of the Bahamas. Nicely tucked away three thousand miles from the action.’

‘Will you take it?’

‘I’ll have to. I won’t have them push us into a bottom drawer. It must be the two of us together. Man and wife with the same position. They don’t seem to be willing to offer us that in England. So, the Bahamas it is.’

‘My dear David,’ she said. ‘There’s a war on and I’m sure the question of my position doesn’t loom very large on the agenda.’

‘But it does with me, Wallis, don’t you see? I can never alter on that score.’ He shrugged. ‘It hurts a little, that’s all, that they can’t find anything of more importance for me to do.’

He got up and walked to the terrace and stood there gazing out to sea. As she watched him, the sense of waste was so overwhelming that she had to fight to hold back the tears.

4

Schellenberg was back in his office within half an hour. As he was taking off his coat Frau Huber entered. She was considerably agitated.

‘We’ve been looking for you everywhere. You didn’t give any indication of where you’d gone. General Heydrich is very angry.’

Schellenberg said calmly, ‘I thought he knew every move I made before I did. Where is he now?’

‘With Reichsführer Himmler. I phoned through the moment you came in. They’re waiting for you.’

She was trembling a little for she liked Schellenberg more than she dared to admit; for some strange reason admired the fact that nothing seemed to matter to him.

‘Calm yourself, Ilse.’ He kissed her gently on the mouth. ‘I’ll manage. Not just because I’m cleverer than they are, which I am, but because I don’t take it seriously. I’ll be back for coffee within the hour, you’ll see.’

When he was ushered into the ornate office on the first floor at Prinz Albrechtstrasse, he found Himmler seated behind a large desk, a stack of files in front of him, a surprisingly nondescript figure in a grey tweed suit. The face behind the silver pince-nez was cold and impersonal, and it was difficult to imagine what went on behind those expressionless eyes. In many ways he was a strangely timid man who could be kind to his subordinates, loved animals and was devoted to his children and yet a monster, responsible for almost all of the terror and repression which the Reich visited on its victims.

Heydrich was standing by the window and he turned, his face angry. ‘Where on earth have you been, Walter?’

Before Schellenberg could reply, one of the several telephones rang. Himmler answered it, then said, ‘I’m not to be disturbed now,’ and replaced the receiver.

He removed his pince-nez and rubbed a finger between his eyes, an habitual gesture. ‘So, General, your conversation in the Tiergarten with the Herr Admiral Canaris was interesting?’

‘So that’s where you’ve been?’ Heydrich said. ‘Playing cat and mouse with that old fool again? I gave you a certain task, Walter, as you well know.’

‘Which I was following through.’

Himmler said, ‘The Windsor affair, I presume? You may talk freely. General Heydrich and I are as one in this matter.’

‘Very well,’ Schellenberg said. ‘I made out a report of my meeting with Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop as you suggested.’

‘Yes, I’ve already received it,’ Heydrich said impatiently.

‘Then I worked my way through the Windsor file to form an opinion in the matter.’

‘And?’

‘It was not enough,’ Schellenberg said. ‘It occurred to me that it would be a good idea to sound Admiral Canaris on his view. I happen to know that most Thursday afternoons he goes riding, so I went to the Tiergarten and found him there.’

‘You had no authority to do such a thing,’ Heydrich exploded.

Himmler stilled him with a wave of the hand. ‘What was your primary reason for doing this?’

Schellenberg took his time in replying, playing it very carefully indeed. ‘A difficult question, Reichsführer. A matter of some delicacy.’

‘My dear Schellenberg, I respect your tact in this matter, but within the walls of this office there is nothing you cannot say. Not only because I am your Reichsführer, but also because we are all three men of the SS. Members of a common brotherhood.’