Royals Miffed Old Picture Of Child/Current Queen Giving Nazi Salute Released

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WhatInThe

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The Royals are miffed that and old picture of the queen and royal family members giving the Nazi salute probably in fun was released. It shows a 7 year old queen and other family members giving the salute which was right after Hitler took power and was apparently not taken too seriously.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...-release-of-heil-hitler-video-by-tabloid.html

It's a 75 year old picture, who cares, most realize times were different. But this is actually an important piece of history because it does show how lightly they took Hitler and the Nazi's before World War II. Keep in mind without social media or tv back then this was learned behavior from adults.
 

I was born in '38.

We regularly gave the Nazi salute when playing as kids, even in the dark days of 41 - 43.

Similarly, Stalin was universally known as Uncle Joe.

Piece of damned nonsense!
 

Everything that is historical needs to be examined in context.

It's well known that prior to WW II National Socialism was looked on favourably by the Prince of Wales and some members of the upper classes, simply because they were concerned about the spread of Communism. My enemy's enemy is my friend? Later the reverse was true. Communism and Stalin were the good guys until the Nazis and Fascists were defeated.
 
The same year as the Oxford Union passed the motion "that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country,"

Just a few years before they died in their thousands doing just that.
 
decades of conspiracy theories

I think one of the reasons the Royals are upset is that for decades their have been rumors of collaboration or sympathy with Hitler/Nazi Germany. I recently viewed one of the history channels where it was speculated that a Royal family member arranged to meet Rudolph Hess and negotiate a peace. That is why Hess flew where he did heading towards a Royal's property/farm. Also when the current Iran deal is being compared to Chamberlin's deal with Hitler I guess they want out of the headlines fast.

Any way you put it that picture and time is ancient history at this point so again what's the fuss.
 
I realize Queen Elizabeth was a child and she didn’t know what was going on in that photo. And I’m certainly not saying she should be vilified. And of course the Royals are upset about it!

However, I’m reminded of the “Oh shucks, that was in the past, get over it” excuse which is sometimes used to sweep something under the rug or shrug something off when it’s exposed long after it took place.

There have been many cases where Nazi death camp criminals are tried and convicted for their actions decades later – there was such a case recently. Should they have just been left alone because it was so long ago? I don’t think so.
 
I can understand that Brits would be very protective of their royals, however, if one were to do a bit of research online and utube there is lots of newsreel footage of royals in the company of nazis in the 30s, going to nazi gatherings and the Windsors and Pr. Phillips German ancestry and Nazi past. I've also read things about speculations about UK leaders pre-WWII and their connection with Germany. Although it is in the past and maybe not relevant now, but world history is much more complicated and convoluted than we think.
 
applecruncher said:
I realize Queen Elizabeth was a child and she didn’t know what was going on in that photo. And I’m certainly not saying she should be vilified. And of course the Royals are upset about it!

However, I’m reminded of the “Oh shucks, that was in the past, get over it” excuse which is sometimes used to sweep something under the rug or shrug something off when it’s exposed long after it took place.

There have been many cases where Nazi death camp criminals are tried and convicted for their actions decades later – there was such a case recently. Should they have just been left alone because it was so long ago? I don’t think so.
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I'm more worried about the adults in the picture because they are the ones that not only didn't take Hitler seriously but very well could've been sympathizers. Heck Charles Lindbergh was a US sympathizer. I think the reactionary stance of the Royals is not just about perception but some very old deep dark secrets they still want secret.
 
Cookie said:
I can understand that Brits would be very protective of their royals, however, if one were to do a bit of research online and utube there is lots of newsreel footage of royals in the company of nazis in the 30s, going to nazi gatherings and the Windsors and Pr. Phillips German ancestry and Nazi past. I've also read things about speculations about UK leaders pre-WWII and their connection with Germany. Although it is in the past and maybe not relevant now, but world history is much more complicated and convoluted than we think.
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In 1985 they found that a Princess Micheal had a German Nobleman who joined the SS and not just the army or party. This is an article from 1985 which I'm using to show there were already proven links between the Royals and Nazi's before the age of the internet and conspiracy.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...stine-von-reibnitz-princess-michael-ss-member

And as pointed when doing research online Nazi-Royal links are not some out there theory. Read one blog where the Royals lived or had homes in places like Bavaria/Germany pre war with apparent co mingling of the upper ends of society.
 
I can understand that Brits would be very protective of their royals,
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Well, Cookie, I really don't understand that. I agree that history can be very complicated and convoluted. But that would be another discussion.

People romanticize Edward VIII giving up the throne to marry Wallis Simpson – “the woman he loved”. Yeah, real romantic.

But I’ve seen footage of Edward kissing Adolf Hitler’s butt, almost literally.

Then there’s this:

http://nypost.com/2015/03/01/how-britian-covered-up-the-friendship-between-hitler-edward-viii/
 
applecruncher said:
Well, Cookie, I really don't understand that. I agree that history can be very complicated and convoluted. But that would be another discussion.

People romanticize Edward VIII giving up the throne to marry Wallis Simpson – “the woman he loved”. Yeah, real romantic.

But I’ve seen footage of Edward kissing Adolf Hitler’s butt, almost literally.

Then there’s this:

http://nypost.com/2015/03/01/how-britian-covered-up-the-friendship-between-hitler-edward-viii/
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Interesting. Duke was promised to be the king in Nazi occupied England after the invasion-wonderful. Rumors of a hit after he refused Churchill's orders to go govern the Bahamas? When you make Churchill nervous there must be fire below that smoke.
 
All Brits are not protective of the royals. I'm just naturalised British but my husband was born British. Many are not royalists, especially in Scotland. I understand those who hate parting with long traditions, but it's the 21st century.

I noticed on visiting Henry Ford's old home in Dearborn that there were photos of himself and Edward VIII. I was curious and found that Ford was well known as being anti-semitic and a Hitler supporter. I don't find anything romantic about Edward and Wallis Simpson. He was just too lazy to take responsibility.
 
Ameriscot said:
All Brits are not protective of the royals. I'm just naturalised British but my husband was born British. Many are not royalists, especially in Scotland. I understand those who hate parting with long traditions, but it's the 21st century.

I noticed on visiting Henry Ford's old home in Dearborn that there were photos of himself and Edward VIII. I was curious and found that Ford was well known as being anti-semitic and a Hitler supporter. I don't find anything romantic about Edward and Wallis Simpson. He was just too lazy to take responsibility.
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Ford wasn't living in a country that was less than 50 miles from the enemy or the machinations of pre war Germany includng the Spanish Civil War in which Hitler propped a government and tested and fine tuned his military. Proximity can explain away pre war activity but proximity means the royals should've been privy to more detail about the regime as well. The most famous US Nazi sympathizer pre war was Charles Lindbergh.

Should note many big companies were later have found to done business with war time Nazi Germany through companies in places like South America. This this about the Royals who were much closer to danger from their 'friends'.
 
"for decades their have been rumors of collaboration or sympathy with Hitler/Nazi Germany."

A bit more substantial than rumour in the case of of Edward VIII and Wallis. She was very close to Ribbentrop for a while and he certainly would have been head of state in any Vichy style partition of an invaded UK. Some believe the reason he was shunted as far as the Bahamas was to ensure the Nazis could not install him in the Channel Islands as a figurehead.

Although much is made of Phillip's German ancestry, he was, in fact a prince of the Greek and Danish courts. Yes he was a Battenberg, but so was Prince Louis, the Queen's uncle, a distinguished WWII vet, murdered by the IRA.
 
I think proximity, vacations, travel etc have as much to do with the links to Nazi Germany although being friends with those in high places might get the sanitized version of events & policy. Some of the articles read said that some of the Royals saw WWII as an inconvenience to their travel. Here's just one blog/post on Royal-German connections going back over a century.

http://www.jacobite.ca/essays/ww2.htm
 
WhatInThe said:
Ford wasn't living in a country that was less than 50 miles from the enemy or the machinations of pre war Germany includng the Spanish Civil War in which Hitler propped a government and tested and fine tuned his military. Proximity can explain away pre war activity but proximity means the royals should've been privy to more detail about the regime as well. The most famous US Nazi sympathizer pre war was Charles Lindbergh.

Should note many big companies were later have found to done business with war time Nazi Germany through companies in places like South America. This this about the Royals who were much closer to danger from their 'friends'.
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If you are under the impression I'm defending the royals you are wrong. It wasn't just a 7 year old who was making the salute, it was also her mother.
 
Ameriscot said:
If you are under the impression I'm defending the royals you are wrong. It wasn't just a 7 year old who was making the salute, it was also her mother.
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Exactly. Children frequently imitate what they see from adults. The Queen shouldn't be squeezed for this. But her parents & family are another but old story.
 
WhatInThe said:
Exactly. Children frequently imitate what they see from adults. The Queen shouldn't be squeezed for this. But her parents & family are another but old story.
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No, the queen shouldn't be. It was 82 years ago! Although I really hated having to pledge allegiance to the queen and her heirs when I became a citizen (I wasn't allowed the pledge which is simply to the UK), I've come to admire the queen for doing her duty faithfully. She had to appear a cold, emotionless person as that was how she was raised to portray herself. Now I see her as a nice grandma and I will be sad when she dies.
 
All this fuss over a seven second film which was taken in 1933 is a lot of silly nonsense.

I can remember boys in the U.K. doing the Nazi salute and goose stepping and nothing was thought of it.
 
I think this is a bit different than little boys playing. Its the royal family, being filmed, are they playing or mocking or practicing - for the camera. Not judging, but it invites questions. And with so much information now available online for everyone to read, it becomes interesting to history buffs.
 
Put it this way Cookie, there is more fuss being made on here than on a large U.K. forum I belong to and the majority of the older folk in the U.K. already know the history without having to look on line for it.

I did learn on that U.K. forum though, about the Bellamy salute where a similar salute was once used to pledge allegiance to the American flag or to America.
 

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