<P> The former Austrian ambassador, Count Albert von Mensdorff - Pouilly - Dietrichstein, who was also a second cousin once removed and friend of George V, believed that Edward favoured German fascism as a bulwark against communism, and even that he initially favoured an alliance with Germany . According to the Duke of Windsor, the experience of "the unending scenes of horror" during the First World War led him to support appeasement . Hitler considered Edward to be friendly towards Germany and thought that Anglo - German relations could have been improved through Edward if it were not for the abdication . Albert Speer quoted Hitler directly: "I am certain through him permanent friendly relations could have been achieved . If he had stayed, everything would have been different . His abdication was a severe loss for us ." </P> <P> The Duke and Duchess settled in France . In May 1939, the Duke was commissioned by NBC to give a radio broadcast (his first since abdicating) during a visit to the battlefields of Verdun . In it he appealed for peace, saying "I am deeply conscious of the presence of the great company of the dead, and I am convinced that could they make their voices heard they would be with me in what I am about to say . I speak simply as a soldier of the Last War whose most earnest prayer it is that such cruel and destructive madness shall never again overtake mankind . There is no land whose people want war ." The broadcast was heard across the world by millions . It was widely seen as supporting appeasement, and the BBC refused to broadcast it . It was broadcast outside the United States on shortwave radio and was reported in full by British broadsheet newspapers . </P> <P> On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Duke and Duchess were brought back to Britain by Louis Mountbatten on board HMS Kelly, and Edward, although an honorary field marshal, was made a major - general attached to the British Military Mission in France . In February 1940, the German ambassador in The Hague, Count Julius von Zech - Burkersroda, claimed that the Duke had leaked the Allied war plans for the defence of Belgium, which the Duke later denied . When Germany invaded the north of France in May 1940, the Windsors fled south, first to Biarritz, then in June to Spain . In July the pair moved to Portugal, where they lived at first in the home of Ricardo Espírito Santo, a Portuguese banker with both British and German contacts . Under the code name Operation Willi, Nazi agents, principally Walter Schellenberg, plotted unsuccessfully to persuade the Duke to leave Portugal and return to Spain, kidnapping him if necessary . Lord Caldecote wrote a warning to Winston Churchill: "(the Duke) is well - known to be pro-Nazi and he may become a centre of intrigue ." Churchill threatened the Duke with a court - martial if he did not return to British soil . </P> <P> In July 1940, Edward was appointed Governor of the Bahamas . The Duke and Duchess left Lisbon on 1 August aboard the American Export Lines steamship Excalibur, which was specially diverted from its usual direct course to New York City so that they could be dropped off at Bermuda on the 9th . They left Bermuda for Nassau on the Canadian steamship Lady Somers on 15 August, arriving two days later . The Duke did not enjoy being governor and referred to the islands as "a third - class British colony". The British Foreign Office strenuously objected when the Duke and Duchess planned to cruise aboard a yacht belonging to a Swedish magnate, Axel Wenner - Gren, whom British and American intelligence wrongly believed to be a close friend of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring . The Duke was praised for his efforts to combat poverty on the islands, although he was as contemptuous of the Bahamians as he was of most non-white peoples of the Empire . He said of Étienne Dupuch, the editor of the Nassau Daily Tribune: "It must be remembered that Dupuch is more than half Negro, and due to the peculiar mentality of this Race, they seem unable to rise to prominence without losing their equilibrium ." He was praised, even by Dupuch, for his resolution of civil unrest over low wages in Nassau in 1942, even though he blamed the trouble on "mischief makers--communists" and "men of Central European Jewish descent, who had secured jobs as a pretext for obtaining a deferment of draft". He resigned from the post on 16 March 1945 . </P>

When did duke of windsor return to england