Edward & Wallis: The Bahamas Scandals is a documentary film which premiered in 2024.
It is about Edward (Duke of Windsor) and his wife Wallis Simpson (Duchess of Windsor) with special focus on the time when Edward was the governor of the Bahamas (1940-1945).
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Rachel Jardine
** Narrator: Nimmy March
** Historical consultant: Dr Andrew Lownie
** Available on the SBS website
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 63 minutes
Several persons are interviewed in this film
Here are the names of the participants
Listed in alphabetical order
** Alex Churchill – a historian
** Dr Tessa Dunlop – a historian
** Mark Hollingsworth – an author, a reporter
** Dr Andrew Lownie – University of Buckingham
** Dr Onyeka Nubia – University of Nottingham
** James Owen – a historian
** Anna Pasternak – a royal biographer
** Michael Pye – a historian
Archive footage is used between the talking heads.
Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements made by the participants.
Archive footage is used when the narrator is speaking.
Archive footage allows the viewers to meet some persons who were no longer alive when this film was made, including the following:
** Harry Oakes
(1874-1943)
** Axel Wenner-Gren
(1881-1961)
** Alfred de Marigny
(1910-1998)
** Two American police officers from Miami (Florida) who were invited to conduct an official investigation when an important person was murdered in the Bahamas in 1943: James Barker and Edward Melchen
Harry Oakes was a rich man who lived in the Bahamas. He was perhaps the richest man in this island country.
The Duke and the Duchess stayed at his house when they first arrived in 1940, because they refused to stay at the governor’s mansion.
They said the governor’s mansion was not fit for a governor. The place had to be renovated before they could move into the mansion.
Axel Wenner-Gren was a Swedish entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest men in the world in the 1930s. During World War II, he lived in the Bahamas.
He was a friend of the Duke and the Duchess. He was fascinated with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. According to some observers, he was a secret German agent.
In 1943, Harry Oakes was killed. The Duke of Windsor declared that this case was too big for the local police.
He invited two American police officers from Miami to come to the Bahamas in order to conduct an official investigation of this case.
James Barker and Edward Melchen quickly found a suspect: Alfred de Marigny. According to Barker and Melchen, they found his fingerprint in the room where Harry Oakes had been killed.
Alfred de Marigny was arrested, but when it was revealed that the fingerprint had been planted by the two American police officers, the suspect was released and allowed to leave the island country.
Who killed Harry Oakes? This question has never been answered. The person responsible has never been found.
This mysterious murder case has been the subject of several books and four films.
In this film, the focus is on Edward and Wallis and their lives during the time when the Duke of Windsor was the governor of the Bahamas.
The Duke and the Duchess did not want to go to the Bahamas. Edward did not want to be the governor of this island country. But they had to go.
The British government wanted to get the couple as far away from Europe as possible.
Why?
Because the Duke and the Duchess were fascinated with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
In 1937, after Edward’s abdication, the couple travelled to Germany where they were given a warm welcome by the German government. They even had a private meeting with Adolf Hitler.
The British government was not pleased to see a close connection between the former king of the UK and the new leader of Germany.
While Edward was governor of the Bahamas, he and his wife made several visits to the US. They went to Florida and to New York.
While they were in the US, they met with Americans who supported American neutrality. Americans who wanted the US to stay out of the war in Europe.
The British government was not pleased to see a close connection between the former king of the UK and members of the movement called America First.
The Duke of Windsor was a former king. He felt he was entitled to live like a king. He and his wife had a lavish life style. They spent a lot of money, while the people who lived in the UK were suffering because of the war.
The contrast between the lavish life style of the Duke and Duchess and the people who lived in the UK was strong.
But the Duke and the Duchess did not mind. They did not care about that.
** The Duchess wanted to have fresh flowers in the governor’s mansion. Fresh flowers had to be flown in from Miami!
** The Duchess had to have her hair done from time to time. But she could not accept a hairdresser from the local community. Her hairdresser was flown in from New York when she wanted to have her hair done!
What do reviewers say about this film?
This question is not easy to answer
The film is listed on IMDb, but there is no rating
There are no user reviews
The film is not available on Amazon
There are no customer reviews.
The story of Edward and Wallis, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, is important. It deserves to be told, and in this film, it is done very well.
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
PS. Edward, Duke of Windsor, lived 1894-1972. His wife Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, lived 1896-1986.
Edward was King of the UK for less than one year, from January to December 1936. Edward and Wallis were married in France in June 1937.
REFERENCES
# 1. Items available online
Carolyn M. Cash
“The Windsors in the Bahamas: Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson after the Abdication,”
carolynmcash.com.au
14 April 2016
Brigit Katz
“Prince Edward and Wallis Simpson’s Sprawling Bahamas Estate is up for Sale,”
Smithsonian Magazine
13 March 2020
Andrew Lownie
“The Duke of Windsor and the Duchess of Windsor in exile in the Bahamas,”
The Mail Online
23 March 2024
# 2. Books
King Edward VIII:
A Biography
By Philip Ziegler
(1991 = hardcover)
(2012 = paperback)
The King Who Had to Go: Edward VIII, Mrs. Simpson and the Hidden Politics of the Abdication Crisis
By Adrian Phillips
(2017 = hardcover)
(2018 = paperback)
The American Duchess:
The Real Wallis Simpson
By Anna Pasternak
(2019 = hardcover)
(2020 = paperback)
Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
By Andrew Lownie
(2022)
# 3. Film and video
Edward VIII: Britain’s Traitor King
A documentary film which premiered in 2022
** Run time = 47 minutes
** Rating on IMDb = 70 percent
It was shown on Canadian and Swedish television
It is available on YouTube
Wallis Simpson:
The Queen of a King’s Heart
77 minutes – YouTube
What You Didn’t Know about Wallis Simpson
12 minutes – YouTube
Wallis Simpson: Kingmaker
43 minutes – YouTube
The Untold Truth about Wallis Simpson
11 minutes – YouTube
The Heartbreak Behind the Marriage
51 minutes – YouTube
*****
Edward & Wallis:
The Bahamas Scandal Revealed
A documentary film which premiered
in 2024
*****
Traitor King:
The Scandalous Exile of the
Duke and Duchess of Windsor
By Andrew Lownie
(2022)
*****
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