The Nassau Secret (The Lang Reilly Series Book 8) (27 page)

AUTHOR’S NOTES

              Following his father’s death in 1936, Edward VIII became King of England. As alluded to in the story, a constitutional crisis occurred when the yet to be coronated Edward announced his intent to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American who was in the process of divorcing her second husband. Since the English monarch is also the head of the Church of England and the church prohibited marriage where one of the parties had a living spouse, Edward was faced with a choice. He chose to abdicate “for the woman I love.” He took the title His Royal Highness, the Duke of Windsor. His wife was not accorded “Royal Highness” status, something she resented the rest of her life as she did what she perceived as being snubbed by the family and court of George VI, Edward’s younger brother who was crowned in his stead.

              The descent of the royal family into scandals and adultery in the 1990’s may make it difficult to understand what all the brouhaha was about. I can only say the mores and morals of the first half of the Twentieth Century was more like a continuation of the Nineteenth than the latter half.

              Nearly eighty years after the abdication, fascination with the subject and its principals endures. By my count a new book on the subject comes out every three years or so. Some have a new historical perspective, some read like the supermarket tabloids. A common theme of the latter is that Edward and Wallis Simpson were both sexually inadequate. One of Edward’s former mistresses unkindly described him as being very small and subject to premature ejaculation. Wallis Warfield Simpsons’s square jaw and male-like figure, according to one source, is consistent with mal formation with parts of the female anatomy.

              What is undisputed is that she was absolutely charming when in the company of men, able to pick up and carry any number of conversations.  

              Edward (called David by family members) and his wife made no secret of their pro-German sympathies, a reason Churchill whisked them away to the Bahamas after a rumored Nazi plot to kidnap the couple from Fascist Spain for propaganda purposes. In 1984, Robert Wagner starred in the film
To Catch a King,
a fictionalized account of the plot.

              There is no evidence of which I am aware that the Windsors either gave aid to the enemy or were party to Harry Oakes’s murder although the botching of the investigation can be laid at the Duke’s feet as described in the story. This is, after all, a work of fiction.                                  

              Sometimes you really cannot make things up because they are true. I needed a villain for this tale, preferably a rabid patriotic group who were fervent enough to have Princess Diana murdered rather than see her embarrass the royal family by marrying Dodi Fayed, a Moslem and potential father of Islamic half siblings to the future king of England.

              I dreamed up The Saint George Society.

              Guess what? There really is a Royal Society of St George with chapters throughout England and elsewhere. Although their membership seems weighted toward present and former politicians and military, their web site indicates they are much more into luncheons, black-tie dinners and charity events than mayhem.
Past members of note include Winston Churchill, Margret Thatcher, Bernard Montgomery and Edward VIII.

              My apologies.

              Cavanuagh Hall doesn’t exist as such. It is an amalgamation of several magnificent East Anglia seventeenth and eighteenth century country homes such as Blickling House and Robert Walpole’s Houghton Hall. The brief sketch of Jews in the English nobility is accurate. Rufus Isaacs, first Marquess of Reading, was a real person, one of the first British Jews to gain titled status.

              For those World War II buffs who note such details, the so-called neutrality patrols such as the one described herein would not have included the Bahamas until after Germany declared war on the United States. The air wing stationed in Key West actually patrolled from Dry Tortugas to the Yucatan Peninsula.

              The Abacos in the Bahamas today are about 50 percent white. When the island nation was about to become independent of Great Britain in 1973, there was a substantial movement for the Abacos to become independent of the Bahamas. The Independence Party sought help from a number of Americans including one Mitch Werbel, a known international arms dealer. Werbel’s association with the movement brought a perceived if not actual possibility of armed rebellion and the fear of violence sounded the death knell of the separatist idea.

              The shoddy investigation of the murder by the two American cops really took place pretty much in the manner described. The actions Edward, Duke of Windsor, Royal Governor General took (or did not take) are also accurately described according to the accounts of the time. In this age when cover-ups  by those in power are common, the former king’s likely interference with the investigation certainly attracts suspicion. Whom was he trying to save?

              There is a healthy list of suspects: Sir Harry’s son-in-law, who was acquitted and the mafia who might well have wanted to remove a vocal opponent of casino-type gambling in the Bahamas come to mind. Then there is the difficult to accept story that Christe heard nothing although the murder took place in the next room. As noted, there is reason to question his testimony that he never left the house that evening.     

              As I write this in March, 2014, Dr. Rountree’s real life counterpart, former Atlanta School Superintendent Beverly Hall may not fare as well as Lang’s client. As dozen or so of the indicted school principals, teachers and support staff had been allowed to plead guilty to reduced misdemeanor charges with probation only in exchange for their testimony that Dr. Hall specifically directed changing of test answers and threatened to fire those who did not comply. Although a number of the guilty will escape justice, Dr. Hall may be the guest of the State for some time to come.             

              For the sake of brevity, I have reduced the nearly three week murder trial to the testimonty of a few key witnesses as well as let Francis fill in the gaps. Though the testimony may not be word for word, it accurately reflects the facts as they developed. One bit of literary license: Dr. Hugh Quackenbush was the examing physician, not the (unnamed) fingerprint expert. The name was too Dickenesque not to use. 

              Finally, a few “thank-you’s”:

              First, my wife Suzanne whose ideas have led to the plot of more than one book, this one included.

              Thank you Jo Ann Bosch of the (British) National Trust. You made it easy to get us into Blickling House on a cold, rainy November day.

              Equally, my agent, Chris Fortunato. He is as quick to detect a plot that won’t work as he is to spot one that will. He is a hard taskmaster but the book is always better for his thoughts and insights.

GL

March, 2014

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