How Queen Victoria's Grandson Became Hitler's Favourite | Absolute History

in 1953 an almost blind and crippled old man sat in a cinema in Germany to watch newsreel footage of queen elizabeth ii correlation and as he places it upon the queen's head and removes his hands the assemblage in one voice cries god save the queen but for an extraordinary twist of fate Batman a British prince born in England and Queen Victoria's youngest grandson would have played his part at the ceremony instead he had been branded a traitor peer and was a convicted Nazi who had helped Hitler's rise to power my great-grandfather was a casualty of the Royal system if someone had been able to stand up to queen victoria his life would have been very different Prince Charles Edward is a close blood relation to the newly crowned and first cousin to her grandfather George delivered the story of his journey from the heart of the British royal family to Hitler's inner circle has been carefully guarded by a royal family keen to erase it from their history for the most damning fact of all was his association with the Nazi extermination program for the disabled and mentally ill while he's only a footnote in history but I think he was a big Nazi who got away is it in fact the full account of his life has never been told in its entirety until now [Music] how did a British Prince end up as one of Hitler's staunchest allies the story begins in Victorian England on the 19th of July 1880 4th Prince Leopold Charles Edward 2nd Duke of Albany Earl of Clarence and parents Tata was born at Claremont House itial sorry he was part of the most powerful royal family in the world his first cousins looking George v Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas the second men who would shape 20th century Europe chose Edward was born at a time when monarchy was the unchallenged form of government from Lisbon to Vladivostok what was always seemed to be the kind of the great golden era of European monarchy but Charles Edwards birth was marred by tragedy just three months and his hemophiliac father Prince Leopold died after falling down some stairs the fact of his father dying while he was still in the womb made a tremendous difference this child is doubly precious because its father has died there won't be any more so you would expect little clouds of tension around him he said to have been a nervous baby the death of Charles Edwards father Leopold was a terrible blow to Queen Victoria he was her favorite the one most like her beloved Prince Albert the grandfather Charles Edward would never know after Leopold's death the great matriarch transferred her care and affection to his family Charles Edward his elder sister Alice and their mother the Duchess of Albany Queen Victoria his grandmother was a it was a great supporter of the daughters of Albany I'm very very fond of her and she kept a very watchful eye I think constantly on the Albany family and was very supportive of the Duchess in bringing up basically two children on her own [Music] despite these circumstances Charles Edward had an idyllic childhood from the moment he was born his older sister Alice was his best friend and greatest protector they were so close that they're family nickname was the Siamese twins he was a very happy little boy he loved his home he loved England he loved his mother and he loved his sister their world revolved around Claremont and Windsor Castle where grandmother Queen Victoria needed they would arrive at Windsor and they will be escorted by Cuddy's Whisperer in attendance and endless corridors till they reach the finish anthem of Queen Victoria's Apartments and then at the door before the door was opened and the rest were to say you know mind you curtsy at the door my new crisp grandma's hand mind that you're not too noisy and behave yourself and mind you're clean and the door would open and in they would walk and they'd be faced by this tiny little woman all dressed in black and Elias talked about Queen Victoria and she was really fun to have as a grandmother she loved telling little jokes and having fun with the children and grandchildren and always for smiling in those days we respected our endless so we had great respect to her she was wonderful when she'd often dice when we lost our first teeth she always used to give us a pound though he was terribly clean one time I hadn't seen her for some time I lost three and I brought these three eight at Sheila's and she said oh yeah that's very expensive Charles Edward and Alice's world of privilege came with royal pressures and responsibilities from birth their mother instilled in moment about everything we do to cool new country always came first [Applause] but what came natural to Alice was more difficult for her younger brother I think Charlie felt sometimes rather intimidated by his mother that her demands and her expectations were too high and his sister certainly felt that it had led Charles to hide things from his mother it led him to evade independent decisions as he got older in 1897 aged 39 Charles Edward took part in his first major role about so in Victoria the widow of Windsor Road passed in her carriage and celebrated her Diamond Jubilee a whole world friend and foe lifted it cap but for Charles Edward performing royal duties was something to be endured rather than enjoyed while riding in a carriage with his cousin Prince Arthur of Connaught nerves overcame him in a very public and embarrassing way because he forgot the breakfast I really forgot to be ready they were put into their kilts only just time to stop and had no breakfast my brother was sick on the route - that's it terrible to do I'm so glad he was I will did the carriage with you as a minor British Prince Charles Edward was destined for a largely uneventful life in royal worlds that seemed assured and unchanging everything is like I said of great European house party it's all sort of you know the Yaak turd cows and sea bathing at Corfu and life as a sort of Lake Victoria middle the Sun always shines as always honey fatigue everything is in its place everything is to cure everything is stable Rama McQueen at Windsor has been waiting for as long as anybody can remember and it's all fantastic and it'll all go on forever but for Charles Edward the Idul would end abruptly a decision made by his grandmother Queen Victoria would put him in the wrong place at the wrong time sending his life in a direction that she could never refuse queen victoria's youngest grandson Prince Charles Edward 2nd Duke of Albany with one day inherit Claremont house and could look forward to a life of royal service but now he was a carefree 14 year old Eton schoolboy his mother's most pressing concern was that he understood his royal duties and responsibilities and lived up to the memory of his father in a letter she wrote Charlie please remember what I tell you don't forget work and duty over your pleasures don't be lazy and indolent if my words read hard understand that they come out of a very full heart full of love and anxiety to help you become a good man so that you bring no shame and the bars name but shame was to be his legacy the reason lay hundreds of miles from Eton in a chocolate box German town called Coburg it was not part of Queen Victoria's worldwide Empire but it holds a very special place in and in 1899 events there became a huge concern Coburg Zoo is seen to be significant Queen Victoria because I was her husband Prince Albert came from although it was geographically a tiny little town was seen to be very important for Victoria for emotional reasons but also it was in some senses the center of the dynasty it was also the center of her world for Queen Victoria Hobart was more than just a town in Germany it was part of her surname sack Zuckerberg Gautam and absolutely central to our identity [Music] that farm of Europe and with good reason nearly all the crowned heads including in Victoria herself for either descended from or married to Coburg princes and princesses when the reigning Duke of Coburg died leaving no legitimate heirs a succession crisis loomed she was determined to keep control of Coburg within her direct family and decreed that one of her sons or grandsons should become the next Duke the next in line was Arthur Duke of Connaught who was very much known as a linguish soldier and very much a favorite son of Queen Victoria but the Duke O'Connell definite didn't want to go to Co but he wanted to stay in Britain there was a little bit of doing in Frey with the Duke of Connaught and his son also Prince Arthur of Connaught but Prince Arthur was no more King than his father the next in line was the unfortunate Charles Edward so the story goes that Prince Arthur of Connaught sought out his cousin Charles Edward because they were both had eaten together and said to him if you don't put yourself forward as a candidate for the Coburg inheritance i'ma give you a thrashing the New York Times gleefully reported his head was not punched cousin threatened to whip him Queen Victoria was adamant Charles Edward should go his mother was adamant that he should stay the Duchess did tried to stop him Victoria she explained that he has a duty to look after his estate and the Queen said no your duty is to the Queen he has to go Queen Victoria believed it was her absolute right to make life-changing decisions on behalf of her children and grandchildren Charles Edward was left with no choice he didn't know anything about Germany and so too suddenly to be sent there as a young boy he loved his school he couldn't even speak the language he certainly would have said no he didn't want to go Queen Victoria forth Charles Edward to take the title and with it came great wealth and huge responsibility 30u castles in Germany and Austria hunting lodges hotels a power station plus tens of thousands of hectares of farmland and forest in Bavaria the annual income of production was worth the equivalent of 17 million pounds today all this now belongs to her 14 year old grandson and he didn't want any of it I went on a trip to to Germany when I was about between 16 and 18 I just saw this enormous enormous building right on top of the hill I thought at that time what my great-grandfather must have thought as a young boy being taken away from England and placed in this position and there must been both or inspiring and as he terrifying for him [Music] the Germans new home was ambassador community a far cry from his life in England [Music] he was now under the watchful eye of his cousin Kaiser bill home who enrolled him at the Lister felt military cadet school the German equivalent of Sanders was a training ground for oppression officers and it was a fairly hard regimen very different than beaten the cadets would rise very early five o'clock in the morning they would take cold showers they would be marching around the parade ground very strict discipline they were trained to become leaders but that hard military officers and for this sensitive English young man to be thrown into into this situation I can imagine was very very traumatic in 1916 Charles Edward Duke of Albany became Karl Edward Duke of saxe-coburg and Gotha his transformation from English schoolboy to German aristocrats was group elite just six months later his grandmother Queen Victoria died his first official engagement as Duke of Coburg was to attend the funeral of the very person who ordered him there to be the head of the saxe-coburg-gotha family was a very important significant position he was near or at the top of European royalty and certainly one could expect that he would marry into the best families but even in this he was not allowed to choose his own bride it was the Kaiser who picked out the perfect German princess for him his niece Victoria Adelheid after a ball where he was told she had to go in a room where the young lady was and he had to ask if he if she would marry him and that was the girl and it was a great success [Music] korbo cassavas left her because they said she's one of us this guy might be English but at least his wife is a reliable German on the arranged marriage was a happy one but his most treasured relationship remained with his Siamese twin and beloved sister Alice she was now also married her husband Prince Alexander of Teck was Queen Mary's brother and Alice was now at the heart of the royal family hundreds of miles away her brother was dutifully doing as he was told and turning himself into the perfect German Duke he put the finances of the Duchy in order for the finances of the dynasty in order he was very interested in things like the theater and he's very interested in the architecture and the history of lots of the residences which he which he inherited and he put those into good order as well and he I think he was seen by the people the Duchess as a very competent and hard-working champ Charles Edward made the best of his new German life and by 1912 had four children danced Sybilla Hubertus and Caroline but his dual nationality and Tomatis political events were about to place him in an impossible position basically Britain and Germany were economic and political rivals that that fueled conflict not the interpersonal or family relations between the Kaiser and the Tsar or between king george v and the kaiser that europe really had died twenty odd years ago once again Charles Edwards destiny was to be determined by a more powerful relation the kaisers lust for power would directly destroy his english-born cousins family bonds and ties in Britain in June 1914 Charles Edward had returned to Windsor Castle to see his mother and sister Alice when news came through of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and that event would trigger the First World War and put Charles Edward in an agonizing position it is 1914 war has been declared all over the world men pledge themselves to fight to their dying friend and now they march to the field of glory when war broke out there were certainly a great deal of hostility to the English born Duke he faced hostility here as a traitor but also hostility in Germany because he wasn't German born yet again Charles I think was in the wrong place at the wrong time and this time the Kaiser expected him to do mischief he had no other option than to fight visa dr. de Remy but he was adamant thanks for districts he was posted to the Eastern Front where he faced the Russian army and Prussia and Poland the positive royal status charles edward was made caramel in chief of the 95th infantry and a general in the saxon cavalry [Music] total allegiance to the guys that was what was expected of him but his personal loyalties made us [Music] obviously Charles Edward and his sister Alice worked on different sides during the war but I don't think in the end it affected them as brother and sister I think that the the family connection for both of them was strong enough and was seen as strong enough that there was in a sense family loyalty and there was national loyalty in Britain anti-german feeling reached fever pitch and the royal family became its focus their surname the unmistakably German is Saxa Coburg Goethe was turning the country [Music] george v distanced himself from his german groups and relations and changed his family name to loser Charles Edward Duke of saxe-coburg and Gotha was effectively being written out of his own family's history and at the same time other members of the family were translated and rebranded into Englishman Battenberg became Mountbatten and the house of Tech from which Queen Mary came and they all became Cambridge's and athlone it was a very clever thing to do but it was it necessary to do it to get rid of everything German and and become much more identified as British by November 1918 when the first world war ended more than eight million were dead and the map of Europe had changed forever gone with a huge European empires and the royal dynasties who ruled them believed the people had died and those that were left said well what is the point in Royal Europe been having this Europe of families if they're not able to prevent appalling conflicts and that I thought really was a death now if you like of gymnastic Royal Europe the winds of change were sweeping across Europe the 1917 Russian Revolution it a communist spark that now to hold in a people Germany angry Germans and returning troops formed powerful socialist soldiers and workers persons and began to revolt Charles Albert was one of our targets he takes it very very personally he had thought of himself as a populist as a leader who really cared for his population and to see these workers rise up against him to come to the gates of his castles and and and physically try and overthrow him and to break down the doors and and almost carry him out again very very traumatic for him Charles Edward was allowed to keep his castles but stripped of his titles and political power the Kaiser abdicated Germany became a republic and all film appearances became ordinary citizens some of them I think decided that they would simply be landowners that they would accept the days of monarchy were over I think this charred wood that was a very difficult thing to do I mean he had given up a lot he come from Britain he'd become a good German he'd seen a country which he was now very proud of Germany defeated he wasn't a person who would simply stand on one side stripped of his German titles worse was to come in Britain along with three other German princes Charles Edward was branded a traitor pierre by an act of parliament and stripped of his British titles and royal status this is the titles deprivation Act their Lordships do humbly report to your majesty that the person's hereinafter named adhered to your Majesty's enemies during the present war His Royal Highness Leopold Charles Duke of Albany Earl of Clarence and Baron Arklow I've seen photographs when he was a little boy where he signs his name Albany that was who he was and to have that taken away and told you're our enemy that must have been a huge blow to his self-esteem because it's like somebody taking away your identity [Music] while Charles Edwards place within the royal family was taken from him his sister Princess Alice was the living embodiment of the life he would have led had he stayed in Britain she was becoming a firm favorite with the British public and for Charles Edward it was painfully clear their lives could only lead in very different directions [Music] carl edwards says and one of his letters to his sister remember in 1914 when we saw each other for the last time war broke out ending our happiness Charles Edward was a lost soul in Britain and Germany everything he'd ever believed in or talk to value had been taken from him disillusioned and depressed the life he knew had disappeared forever but a beguiling savior would soon emerge Adolf Hitler by 1922 Charles Edward had lost everything he valued he had been stripped of his British and German titles been branded a traitor pierre and was no longer welcome at Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle Germany was in crisis and fear of communism to behold there was uppermost in Charles Edwards Rush's the key if you want to understand why he turns so right-wing you have to understand that he was terribly scared of this red threat the bloody 1917 Russian Revolution and shaken Charles Edward - the call his cousin tsar nicholas ii had been murdered with his family by the Bolsheviks in Germany a socialist uprising had robbed him of his titles and land chaos reigned and for Charles Edward the answer lay in extreme right-wing politics they were very much radicalized German aristocracy after the first world war had lost so much in status and money and power so they turned to movements they wouldn't have looked at before before the war he's a kinder gentler sort of leader and you can see the the lot he throws himself in with after the war they're a very nasty group of people and he becomes complicit in some some very violent some some very troublesome activities Germany was awash with right 20 parties vying for power one of the smallest but fastest growing was led by the charismatic these right-wing organizations often resorted to murder political murders and between 1918 and 1922 was killed over 370 politicians these were the people with whom Charles Edward was associating for Charles Edward the right wing offered a return to order and strength but at a price beneath the surface was lawlessness and menace he knew he was in dangerous territory he writes to his sister and he probably won't to grieve as my involvement in this group so he knows that she sings with absolute madness his right-wing militancy stood against everything Princess Alice believed him while he was unwelcome in England she could go to Germany and in 1922 took their elderly mother to visit it was a bittersweet reunion only days after arriving their mother died suddenly he was in a very emotional state of mind as returned to Coburg we can speculate psychologically perhaps he felt somewhat liberated that his mother that this English princess was now gone and and that he was now truly his own man but not for long three weeks after his mother's death Hitler came to Coburg for the first time until 1922 German national day had been a peaceful event where rival left and right-wing political parties held their rallies this year Hitler hijacked it he stormed into town with 800 brown shirts outmuscled his left-wing opponents and claimed the day as his own Charles Edward had found the strong leader and he had been looking for Charles Edward greeted Hitler and all the Congress participants and made a speech where he said that he supported their project which was to overthrow the very public but then Hitler and Charles Edward proceeded to take a walk up into the castle and along the walls and all of the participants were watching the body language as Charles Edward was showing him the beautiful landscape and then they shook hands it was clear that he was supporting Adolf Hitler it was an extraordinary act bold I mean even reckless this made Charles Edward the first Prince in all of Germany to support the National Socialist Hitler of course promised Slyke every politician everything to everyone and what he promised to the stock receive was that they would now get back to jobs in the military they could have influence again on a political level and especially the higher stock recei could play a great part as a diplomat Carl Edwards says in one of his letters to Ellis it's so wonderful that one is still needed these days he felt really wanted for the first time after 1918 somebody needed him by giving Hitler his aristocratic seal of approval Charles Edward elevated him above the other right-wing leaders and was instrumental in helping his rise to power Coburg became synonymous with the history of the Nazi Party not only had Hitler established himself as the principal right-wing leader there but it also became the first town in Germany to elect a Nazi mayor but Charles Edwards wife Victoria Adelaide didn't share Kohlberg's or her husband's enthusiasm for the Nazis she didn't join the party she never wanted to be in a party that she was frightened of anything to do with a party and so she was always worried about him in early 1933 Hitler achieved his goal and was elected Chancellor of Germany he created a new image for the country as a vibrant modern nation driven by science and technology Charles Edward prism and had a brainwave he would show the world the glamour and but has this idea to invite all the British journalists Danish journalist all the international press corps to cool Bob and wants to entertain them journalists especially the ones from the Daily Mail overwrought and say this is so terribly impressive so it's a great success a great PR campaign Hitler realized Charles Edward could help deflect a teaching visual as increasing military strength and aggression he appointed him a president of the newly formed anglo-german fellowship to spread the word that Hitler saw Britain as an alarm Charles Edward jumped at the chance for a man branded a traitor and spurned by the establishment he could now return to Britain with his head held high and he owed it all to Hitler Charles Edward is the ideal dorapin are the ideal icebreaker to send him over to Britain seems to be the solution for Hitler he will talk to the Prince of Wales he will encourage pro-german feeling in Britain and that's what he uses him for of course with the leader he had supported now in power a role which took him back to the country here Pineville and a growing family his life was full of purpose my gun father was quite a shy man was quiet but she was also funny serious sometimes but with us children he was completely gentle [Music] mealtimes were really what he needed to have the same thing what he had in England which was always porridge and his tea and his toast and once a week he had this horrible eyeless chew which I still don't like and his afternoon tea was again his English tea and had to be a trifle cloth now overjoyed to be making regular trips to England Charlie had felt that in the Prince of Wales had found a real enemy both cousins shared an admiration of Hitler and an optimistic Charles Edward reported back that the future king of England did not want Britain to go to war with Germany Aled Wirt thinks that he has this great influence on the Prince of Wales and then meets the Prince of Wales and says we have to settle this we have to work out some plans German British relations have to improve and he's really treating him like a small relative because calidad sings of himself as the head of the house and he forgets that the Prince of Wales is of course in the hierarchy are much higher up than he is in 1936 while Charles Edward was on an official visit to England his first cousin George the fifth died and it was at the Kings funeral that the widening political gulf between Charles Edward and his British family became glaringly obvious all of them were in ceremonial uniform with great cocked hats and great deal of braids and medals and they all look fantastic and wonderful but at the back of the procession was Charles Edward with his metal hat on and of course by that time the poor chap was also suffering from rheumatism and arthritis Lee was rather bent over as well and he cut a very sorry spectacle at the event I think I was rather felt to let the side down but of course what else could he wear because after all george v had removed his his garter had removed his dukedom by that stage he was a German and in his British uniforms had been taken away he had no right to wear them and say that's why he would have been dressed as he was he had no alternative did the new king on the throne Charles Edwards optimism and sense of his own importance in the world stage grew he was proving back home in Germany that he was an important envoi and could be used as such because he had the ear of the king but his hopes were soon dashed just months after he became King Edward the eighth abdicated and with Charles Edwards only British Royal allied gone he once again found himself ostracized after the abdication of Edward the eighth I don't think that there's any evidence that George the six and Queen Elizabeth had any time for him at all with no role left in Britain Charles Edward threw himself into another Hitler had hijacked the German Red Cross and made him president and he now became embroiled in the darker side of the Nazi regime now the German Red Cross was a massive organization over 400,000 women about a hundred and seventy thousand men including five thousand physicians and doctors although Charles Edward was largely a symbolic figure it was after all his organization and people reported to him including his deputy Ernst Robert Kravitz who was also an SS officer all officials and nurses now gave the Nazi salute and wore military-style uniforms but the organization was hijacked for more sinister deeds the doctors were the ones who were implementing the Nazis racial policy he so called euthanasia the t4 program where those deemed unworthy of life were murdered in asylums and in the t4 program between seventy thousand a hundred thousand people are murdered in Germany and these physicians they participated in the cover-up as they would tell families that that their loved ones had died of natural causes or what-have-you and and they were complicit in these murders and from Charles Edwards one of his closest associates and Robert Kravitz was one of the people who implemented a t4 program Kravitz was a real killer and was a fanatic the barbaric t4 program was an exercise in mass murdering the weak and disabled including children more than a hundred thousand were gassed in an extermination program that was the precursor to the horrors of the camps [Music] a symbolic figurehead of the German Red Cross Charles Edwards knowledge of t4 is debatable but Hitler's anti-semitic policies were becoming more of and impossible to ignore in November 1938 he declared open war on Germany's Jewish population in events known as Kristallnacht Kubrick was I mean the synagogue was destroyed in Coburg and so one could have no illusions after that about what kind of regime this was [Music] over three days more than 30,000 Jewish men and women rounded up and taken to concentration homes shops and businesses were vandalized while the population is stood by after Kristallnacht no Jew in Germany was safe it was ported all over the world said all over Europe people couldn't believe that a government could could inflict such horror on its own citizens [Music] before please donate there were 233 Jews by 1942 there were and the town was officially declared June I'm sure he knew about it it's a small town and it can't have escaped him I think that of course I led what was anti-semitic and this has something to do with his anti Bolshevism again because for him Bolshevism and Jewishness is more or less the same if his real intentions could no longer be ignored he was terrorizing Jews in Germany had marched into Austria and annexed the Sudetenland at the end of August 1939 he invaded Poland days later Britain declared war this country is at war with Germany for a second time Charles Edward faced the agony of being at war with the country of his birth and this time there would be no going back now the sense of duty instilled since childhood ensured his commitment to the Third Reich he was absolute he was too old and ill to fight but his three sons anst who Bertus and Leopold was sent off to war during the war child Edward keeps a very low profile I mean he's clearly not fit for a military service because of his age and because of his physical condition childhood has no real power during during the Third Reich he sits in his office in Berlin and is looking for a purpose but increasingly he's being marginalized by Hitler and the Nazi leaders the war brought personal tragedy to Charles Edward in 1943 his favorite son Hubertus was killed in a plane crash on the Eastern Front they lost the most wonderful man he was first well he wasn't married he was a vey good-looking man everybody loved him he was a wonderful father a wonderful son when we saw him he was bought something and had fun with us so it was we all were really devastated the Allies were now advancing into Germany Hitler's days were numbered and Charles Edward would pay a heavy price for his faithful allegiance to Hitler the former British prince who had been warned by his mother that the worst thing he could do was bring shame on his father's name had nothing but disgrace awaiting him as the Second World War ended Charles ed would receive out the dying days in his castle of Cobo while Hitler had gone to ground in his bunker rewarding [Music] but just days before committing suicide Hitler was still looking out for Charles Edward Hitler sent a telegram from the bunker saying that Karl Edward shouldn't fall into enemy hands and this shows a certain affection for the man he must have valued him and sort of him highly it is bizarre that he'd love you as we all know didn't have a close relationships with anybody except his dog was caring for Karl Edward but Hitler couldn't save him American troops were advancing on Coburg and Charles Edward watched them with his family including his 10 year old granddaughter of Victoria you could see from the castle because it stands very high up Americans were advancing and seeing where the bombardment started we were all sitting in the cellar one of the senior Americans came and said they would like to have a word was my grandfather and they'll bring him back later on but I think it's so striking though is the fact that he felt the need to put on a uniform he was still a prince he was still a military man he had this notion of honor and dignity and how his other uniform seemed inappropriate so he put on this hunting Association uniform and he presented himself to the Americans my grandmother waited the dinner or lunch waited and he didn't turn up he didn't turn up for 2-3 days I think it might have been even a week and she was by that time really worried he wanted to know where he was he'd needed miss medicine he needed his clothes the American troops have no idea of the prize they had captured a senior Nazi who was also related to King George the six even when the truth was known he got no special treatment he was held in the harshest internment camps while he was investigated he's in a dreadful situation he's been imprisoned for ages and he's riddled with arthritis and he's starving and he's not properly housed and his wife's having to walk three miles over the field to get to him each day Charles Edward couldn't expect any help from his British family apart from the one person who had always stood by him Princess Alice and her husband flew to Germany to try to rescue her brother she was horrified to discover him scavenging on a rubbish dump to find a tin to eat from they won't and dined various American generals to try and persuade them to to look more favorably and sympathetically at Charles Edward think she felt that he will always her brother that she loved him and that she understood why he'd done the things he'd done Princess Alice's pleas fell on deaf ears when Charles Edward faced his tribunal he pleaded not guilty he said that he had acted honorably and had no proof of any crimes of the regime his wife Victoria Adelheid took to the stand to defend him she acknowledges that subordinates had come to him and expressed the belief that people were being killed in a euthanasia program and she's her husband had just dismissed these rumors and couldn't believe them and she says the same thing applied to the concentration camps but I do think he had clear knowledge about about the crimes of the regime perhaps not the gas chambers but he knew that millions of people were perishing in the East and and despite that he stuck by Hitler and the regime the tribunal found him guilty though he was exonerated of having taken part in war crimes he was judged to have been an important Nazi his houses and estates were confiscated and he was almost bankrupted by heavy fines only his failing health saved him from a jail sentence this prince who all his life had been used to great wealth and luxury was now a penniless convicted criminal [Music] my grandfather when he came back from prison he was a very frail and very sick man and by that time my grandmother was given a chauffeur's cottage and and he thought it was wonderful he had everything what he loved he had his wife had pictures yes as a dog and it didn't matter how small it could have been even one room it would have been happy not to be in prison anymore Charles Edwards health was in serious decline he had cancer was crippled by arthritis and was blind in one eye I found it it's heartbreaking because it was a stronger person before he left and then he was completely different but he was still he could make it little Jake [Music] he was exiled forever from Britain but was unable to let go of what might have been in 1953 he made a last trip from his house to the cinema in Coburg to watch his cousin being crowned Queen Elizabeth the second the assemblage in one voice cries God Save the Queen I think he would have cried and seeing all his relation and especially his sister there and he would have thought so sad that I can't be there with them and it could have been me sitting there too and it was for him I think must have been the worst time in his life the man ordered to leave his home as a 14 year old boy climb onto the mementos of England he had brought with him one in particular had special meaning he always slept in a particular bed which was spread from Claremont he said it was a stupid of England as he could never come to England again this is a one place of England I'm going to die and he died in that bed Charles Edward former Duke of Coburg died on the 6th of March 1954 his sister Princess Alice became one of the best-loved members of the royal family her final appearance was in 1977 almost 90 years to the day when she first stood there with her brother at Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee she died four years later by contrast the shame of Charles Edward and Coburg are a forgotten footnote in the Royal Family's history despite four state visits to Germany and family connections Coburg remains one town the Queen has never visited [Music] you

Channel: Absolute History

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Keywords: history documentaries, quirky history, world history, ridiculous history, behind the scenes of royalty, royal drama, royal family channel, conspiracy theories, british royalty, world war two, nazi germany, hitler's reign, hitler's favourite royal, real royalty channel, prince charles edward, princess diana conspiracy theories, queen victoria, british history, prince william and prince harry, prince william and kate middleton, prince harry and meghan markle, queen elizabeth

Id: HtqbXDgyFF0

Length: 48min 37sec (2917 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 07 2020