ELIZABETH AGAINST HITLER

In 1926, the birth of the future Queen Elizabeth II coincided with Hitler's complete takeover of the NSDAP. The Nazi leadership had just validated his position as the sole and undisputed leader of the party.

 

Thirteen years later, the Second World War broke out. The princess is at a crossroads. How to grow up when Buckingham, threatened by Luftwaffe aerial bombardment, is vigorously resisting Hitler? King George VI and Queen Consort Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, parents of the young Elizabeth, will stay in London to support the British people. In Athens, Alice of Battenberg, mother of Philip Mountbatten, future Duke of Edinburgh, hid a Jewish family while her son fought against the Axis powers in the Navy.

 

However, some members of the British royal family did not oppose the Nazi regime. Edward VIII, former King of England and uncle of Elizabeth, was an admirer of Hitler, as were Prince Philip's brothers-in-law, who fought in the Wehrmacht. The most fervent adherent was the German cousin of the Windsors, Charles-Edouard of Saxe-Coburg, who was loyal to the Führer until the capitulation of Nazi Germany.

 

By cross-checking archival material and gathering all the information known to date, Walter J. Hoffmann paints an unprecedented portrait of the youth of Elizabeth II, the longest reigning sovereign in British history.