The British royal family has spent decades distancing itself from its German roots, but the historical record tells a far more complicated story. In 2015, private family footage from 1933 surfaced in the press showing a six-year-old future Queen Elizabeth II in a garden with her mother, younger sister, and uncle, laughing and giving Nazi salutes to the camera. A decade earlier, a rebellious 20-year-old Prince Harry caused an uproar by wearing a Nazi uniform to a party he attended with his brother William. These episodes hint at a much deeper web of connections between the British and German royal houses and, in some cases, to Adolf Hitler himself.
For most of its history, Germany was not a single nation but a loose collection of small kingdoms and duchies, each with its own ruling family. The seven constituent princes of the Holy Roman Empire held the right to vote for the next emperor and were known as electors. One of them, the elector of Hanover, became king of Great Britain in 1714 when his cousin Queen Anne died without an heir, and a law was passed requiring everyone in the British line of succession to be a descendant of his mother, Sophia of Hanover.
For the next 200 years, the British royal family almost exclusively married members of the various German royal houses. The small German town of Coburg became known as the stud farm of Europe. Both Queen Victoria's mother and her husband belonged to the Saxe-Coburg royal house.
In 1871, the many kings and dukes of Germany unified into one nation. They offered the title of kaiser, or emperor, to the dominant king, Frederick William IV of Prussia, who became Kaiser Wilhelm I of the German empire. The new united Germany was more powerful than ever and became a strong competitor to other European nations, particularly in the scramble for colonial domination.
Over the following decades, the European powers forged alliances meant to extend their own might and limit the reach of others. This built-up tension came to a head during the reign of Wilhelm I's grandson, Wilhelm II. His mother was Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Victoria, and the British queen was thrilled when her daughter's marriage lined up to make her child the future empress of Germany.
Wilhelm was born during a difficult delivery in which the obstetrician had to break the baby's shoulder to get him out. The prince's left arm was paralyzed and several inches shorter than his right. His mother was ashamed of having a disabled child and pushed doctors to cure him. Wilhelm endured years of torturous experimental medical treatments, including braces and electroconvulsive therapy. The results were a deeply traumatized, bitter, rude, and tactless young man who learned to hate his mother and her English family.
Victoria and her husband, Prince Frederick, were liberal and supported peace in Europe and the rights of common people. But Frederick died of throat cancer at 56 after just three months on the throne in 1888, and his 29-year-old son became Kaiser Wilhelm II. In rebellion against his parents, he had turned deeply conservative and racist.
The new kaiser often made alarming public statements and came into immediate conflict with his ministers, particularly Otto von Bismarck, who advocated peaceful relations with other European heads of state. Wilhelm wanted to prove his might by expanding his empire and building up the army and navy, including implementing the dreaded U-boat. While flexing his muscles, he alienated everyone, especially France, Russia, and his British cousins King Edward VII and King George V. He deeply embarrassed the German people, and there were even calls for his abdication, but he was the rightful kaiser, so there was little anyone could do.
Wilhelm did still have one friend: the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was just as conservative and racist as he was. Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on June 28, 1914, by Serbians, and the kaiser was deeply affected. He pressured Austria to go after Serbia in retaliation for the murder and promised to back them up. Egged on by the kaiser, Austria declared war on Serbia. Their ally Russia mobilized to defend them, so Kaiser Wilhelm declared war on Russia. The British and French joined in with Russia, and thus World War I began.
King George V distanced himself from his cousin Wilhelm and all of his German relatives. He changed the royal dynasty's name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor, the name of his favorite English castle. He allowed his children to marry non-royals, ending the long tradition of wedding German princes and princesses, and he removed British titles from relatives who sided with the kaiser.
Despite his deafening bark, Kaiser Wilhelm had little bite when it came to military campaigns. He allowed his generals to make the decisions while he watched military parades and awarded medals. His manic-depressive moods swung wildly as the war dragged on for four years, leaving 22 million soldiers and civilians dead.
Germany had to fight enemies on both the eastern and western fronts, and once the U.S. military entered the conflict in 1917, it was clear that Germany had little choice but to surrender. On November 11, 1918, the war came to an end, and the Americans barred the kaiser from participating in peace negotiations. The German people were sick and tired of their emperor, whose arrogance had rained destruction, death, and shame upon them, and of the entire aristocratic system that had allowed the war to happen.
But Wilhelm refused to abdicate. He hoped to at least retain his title as king of Prussia. Fed up, the German people revolted, and instead of just removing Wilhelm, they brought down all 22 constituent German monarchies. Families that had ruled since the Middle Ages were forced to abdicate their thrones. The Weimar Republic and universal suffrage were established.
Wilhelm was finally forced to abdicate. He was labeled a war criminal but escaped prosecution by fleeing to the Netherlands, which refused to extradite him. The former kaiser, now known as Mr. Hohenzollern, retired to an estate in the Dutch countryside.
Back in Germany, things were not going well. The Treaty of Versailles heaped all the blame for the war and a massive war debt on the nation. Hyperinflation, poverty, and starvation pulled Germany into a tailspin. This climate of desperation was an ideal environment for the rise of another barking racist strongman: Adolf Hitler. He spoke of the rise of the great German people to once again dominate Europe, and to a hungry and defeated populace, this had a lot of appeal.
Wilhelm followed events in his former kingdom closely. He held out the vain hope that once Hitler restored Germany to its rightful place at the top of Europe, he would naturally restore the monarchy to its rightful place at the top of Germany. Wilhelm became increasingly alarmed as he learned of the Nazi party's murderous actions, but his first priority was his crown. He wrote to Hitler, congratulating him and expressing hope that under his leadership the German monarchy would be restored completely.
But Hitler was not ruthlessly building up power in order to hand it over to the former kaiser. He hated Wilhelm, blamed him for the war, and called him an idiot. Wilhelm died in 1941 at the age of 82. Hitler ordered his body returned to Berlin for a state funeral so that he could demonstrate to the people that the Third Reich was the continuation of the German empire and that he was the heir to the kaiser. But Wilhelm's will stipulated that he would never return to Germany until his monarchy was restored. The Netherlands refused to hand over his corpse, and he was buried at his Dutch estate.
Kaiser Wilhelm's actions tore a rift between the British and German halves of the once tightly knit royal family, and there were many other family members who found themselves cut off from their British titles, homes, and loved ones. The kaiser's younger sister, Margaret, Landgravine of Hesse, maintained close relations with her many English cousins. In 1918, her husband, Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, was elected king of Finland after the nation won independence from Russia, but with the German defeat and the overthrow of the aristocracy, Frederick was forced to renounce his throne after only two months. The war also cost the family two of their sons, Frederick and Maximilian, who were killed in action.
During Hitler's rise, Margaret invited him to tea and flew the swastika flag over Kronberg Castle. Hitler was happy to use the support of Germany's old noble families, even promising some of them that he would restore their thrones when the time was right. During the war, Princess Margaret buried her jewelry in the basement of the castle before being forced to flee by the U.S. military. The castle was used as an officer's club, and the manager, Captain Kathleen Nash, and her future husband, Colonel Jack Durant, discovered the jewels, stole them, and left Germany. When Margaret was finally able to return to dig up her fortune, she discovered it was gone and informed the authorities. Nash and Durant were arrested, but only one-tenth of the two million dollars' worth of jewels was recovered and returned to the former royal family.
Two more of Margaret's sons joined the Nazi party. Prince Philip of Hesse was married to Princess Mafalda of Savoy, daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. He became an important go-between for Hitler and the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Philip made introductions between aristocrats and high-ranking Nazis and even sold some of Hitler's paintings to his wealthy friends. When Philip realized the realities of Nazism, he became disenchanted with the party and used his position on the inside to provide passports for Jews escaping Germany.
His brother, Prince Christopher of Hesse, was made a director in the Third Reich's air force. He was married to Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, the sister of Prince Philip, who was at the time fighting for the British. By 1941, Hitler had begun to turn against the nobles in his ranks. He ordered that former princes could no longer hold positions in the party, state, or armed forces.
Meanwhile in Italy, Philip's father-in-law, King Victor Emmanuel, arrested Mussolini. Hitler was furious and blamed his ally's fall on Philip. He ordered his arrest and sent him and his wife to different concentration camps. The munitions factory next to Mafalda's camp was bombed, and she was killed at the age of 41. Now that Hitler had turned on his family, Prince Christopher was planning his own escape, but he was killed in a plane crash at the age of 42. Prince Philip was liberated from Flossenbürg at the end of the war. The Nuremberg trials charged him with murder, but the charges were later dropped.
Queen Victoria's grandson Charles Edward was born four months after his father, Prince Leopold, died of hemophilia. He inherited his father's title, Duke of Albany, and his estate, Claremont House. Victoria was particularly fond of the only son of her favorite child, so when her son Alfred died with no male heir, she wanted to give his duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Charles Edward. The 16-year-old prince had no desire to leave his family or his beloved England, but one couldn't really say no to Queen Victoria.
Once installed in Germany, his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm took him under his wing and enrolled him in a spartan German military academy. The English schoolboy was thoroughly transformed into a German soldier. Wilhelm hand-picked his bride, Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein. At the outbreak of World War I, Charles Edward had little option but to side with the man who had made him. In 1917, the British Titles Deprivation Act stripped all titles of royalty and nobility from anyone who had taken up arms against His Majesty. Charles Edward was stripped of the title he had held since birth and exiled from his homeland. Next he lost the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the revolution of 1918.
In 1922, he received a visit from his sister and mother. They were shocked to find that the downtrodden former prince had been radicalized by the conservative, nationalistic Völkisch party. In 1932, Charles Edward's daughter Sibylla married Prince Gustav Adolf, eldest son of the crown prince of Sweden. The following year, Charles joined the Nazi party, prompted by Hitler's hints that he might restore his throne. Hitler sent the prince on diplomatic missions to Japan to meet the emperor and to Washington to meet President Roosevelt. He spied at the funeral of his cousin King George V, and while there he met with the new king, Edward VIII, in order to build his budding friendship with Hitler.
Hitler made Charles Edward head of the German Red Cross, which meant that he almost certainly knew about the Action T4 euthanasia program, during which over 10,000 mentally ill and disabled people were killed. And after the horrors of Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938, when thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were vandalized and 3,000 Jewish men were taken to concentration camps, there could be no illusions about the brutal intentions of the regime.
In 1939, Hitler invaded Poland and Britain declared war yet again, but now the prince was too old to fight. Three of his sons served, and one, Hubertus, was killed in action. Charles Edward remained faithful to Hitler despite the many atrocities he committed. By the end of the war, 11 million people had been murdered by the Nazis.
When the war was all but lost, Hitler sent a telegram with concern for the prince, saying that he should not fall into enemy hands. Days later, the führer committed suicide rather than face capture and punishment for his crimes. Charles Edward was arrested and charged with crimes against humanity. His age and infirmity allowed him to avoid imprisonment, but he was sentenced to pay heavy fines, which left him impoverished. In 1953, he watched the coronation of his cousin Queen Elizabeth II of the UK in a local cinema. He died of cancer the following year at age 69. His grandson, Carl XVI Gustaf, is the current king of Sweden.
Not all the German royals who lost their thrones followed Hitler's siren song of reestablishing their monarchies. George, crown prince of Saxony, became a Catholic priest after his father lost his throne. He gave numerous public lectures in opposition to the Nazis, stating that love was the order of the day toward Jewish fellow citizens, and he helped many Jews escape the country. George was shattered by the Gestapo, and in 1943 he died while swimming in a lake in Berlin. The death was ruled an accident, but many, including his father, believed he had been murdered.
Rupert, crown prince of Bavaria, was the son of the king of Bavaria and a popular war hero. He strongly disliked Hitler and told his distant cousin King George V of the UK over lunch that he thought he was insane. A plan to make Rupert dictator of Bavaria in opposition to Hitler gained public support but never came to pass. The prince and his family became targets of the Gestapo and fled to Hungary. The Nazis invaded Hungary and arrested his wife, children, and grandchildren. They were taken to Dachau concentration camp, where they suffered for seven months until they were liberated at the end of the war. His wife, Princess Antonia, never recovered from the ordeal and died in Switzerland a few months later at the age of 54. Rupert spoke to the American authorities about having his throne restored and assured them that he would be their ally as he rebuilt southern Germany. They declined, but General Eisenhower provided a special plane to fly the crown prince back to Munich. He died there ten years later and was given the state funeral of a monarch.
Ernst August, duke of Brunswick, was the son and heir of the crown prince of Hanover. He married Kaiser Wilhelm's only daughter, Princess Victoria. Their wedding in 1913 was the last time Kaiser Wilhelm, King George V, and Tsar Nicholas of Russia met before declaring war. Two imprisoned British spies were released by Germany as a wedding present. Ernst served as a major general in the German army during World War I. He was a great-grandson of King George III of the UK and was stripped of his British title, duke of Cumberland, along with the Hanoverian throne.
Regardless, he and his wife still valued their British family ties and pushed for reconciliation with the UK after the war. Adolf Hitler asked the couple to arrange a marriage between their daughter Frederica and Edward, the prince of Wales, but they refused to do Hitler's bidding, especially since the prince was 23 years older than their daughter. She instead married her cousin Paul and became queen of Greece.
But Hitler was able to get the prince of Wales under his influence through another woman. In 1936, King George V died and his eldest son became King Edward VIII. The 41-year-old was obsessed with his mistress, American Wallis Simpson, and he wanted to make her queen, but as she was twice divorced, Wallis was not considered an acceptable royal consort. Secret government documents published decades later revealed another compelling reason the government had for keeping Wallis away from the throne: she was a Nazi sympathizer. While she was seeing the prince, she was also having an affair with the German ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop, whom Hitler had sent to seduce her. Wallis shared tactical secrets with Ribbentrop, and he sent her 17 carnations every day to represent the number of times they had slept together.
Wallis didn't have a hard time talking Edward over to the Nazi way of thinking. The prince firmly believed in eugenics and had expressed racist views since his youth. The prime minister gave the king an ultimatum: give up Wallis or give up the crown. Edward chose Wallis and announced his abdication to a shocked nation after just 11 months on the throne. His younger brother became King George VI.
Edward and Wallis married in a small ceremony in France in October 1937. The duke and duchess of Windsor visited Nazi Germany and met Adolf Hitler. They were hosted by Prince Charles Edward and shown a marvelous time full of pomp and ceremony. Hitler mourned the abdication of the king who would have been an ally to him and the Nazi cause.
Once war broke out, Edward and Wallis were oblivious to the people suffering and dying around them. They left occupied France to vacation in Spain and Portugal. They requested that the Nazis look after their French villas, and Wallis even asked that her favorite bathing suit be couriered to her across the war zone by American soldiers. Putting Edward back on the throne became a central part of the Nazis' plan for their conquest of the UK. There was even a plot to kidnap him and make him a puppet king.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill needed to get Edward off the continent, but he didn't want him in the UK making waves with his pro-fascist views, so in 1940 he appointed Edward governor of the Bahamas. There he continued to express racist views and called the island a third-class colony. The couple were monitored by both British and American spies to make sure they didn't do anything to seriously undermine the war effort. Edward told friends that he thought the Roosevelts and the Jews were to blame for the war and that he never thought Hitler was such a bad chap.
Next to Edward in that footage of the royal family giving Nazi salutes was the wife of Edward's brother, the future Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. In 1933, she would not have known what the Nazi party would become or the horror and murder that gesture would come to represent, but she would soon wise up. She read Hitler's book Mein Kampf and found it disturbing.
After Edward abandoned his duty and George VI became king, he and Elizabeth worked steadfastly to fight the Nazis. They both tirelessly traveled the country to keep up morale, and they refused to leave London even after Buckingham Palace was bombed and they narrowly escaped. Hitler saw the British queen's popularity as a serious threat and called her the most dangerous woman in Europe. After World War II was won and Hitler defeated, the royals hit new heights of popularity.
On November 20, 1947, Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. His family had lost their throne when he was a baby. Philip had been raised in England by his grandmother, but his four older sisters were brought up on the continent and all were married to German princes. Margarita, Cecilie, and Sophie joined the Nazi party, and their husbands all played roles in the party or the military, while Theodora and her husband tried to distance themselves from the Nazis.
Philip served in the British navy and was a decorated war hero, but Elizabeth's parents were still wary of the future queen marrying the brother-in-law of three Nazis. Elizabeth was determined that Philip was the man for her, and eventually they agreed to the match, but none of Philip's sisters were invited to the wedding.
Though Hitler never did keep his promises to re-establish the monarchies, the families that once sat on the thrones of Germany still exist. They keep track of their defunct titles and still own a great deal of wealth and historic properties. The British royal family have tried hard to sever their ties with their German past and rebrand themselves as thoroughly British. Despite four state visits to Germany, Queen Elizabeth has never once visited Coburg, the home of so many of her ancestors.