Bing Crosby’s latest hit was Pennies from Heaven and Hitchcock’s espionage thriller Sabotage was on release, but it was hardly peace on Earth at Christmas, 1936. Civil war was raging in Spain and Hitler’s grip on Germany strengthened after his re-occupation of the Rhineland. Britain was starting to recover from the malaise of the Great Depression, but hardship was widespread. The Jarrow Crusaders marched on London only to be ignored by the government and the ‘tithe wars’ raging between tenant farmers and the Church were sputtering to a disappointing end.
The year began inauspiciously with the death of King George V, but the people were cheered by the accession of his son, the dashing and modern Edward VIII. The people, that was, who didn’t know him well. To the ruling National Government and senior civil servants who had to deal with him, and the Church of England who viewed his morals with horror, the new monarch threatened to be a disaster. Not very bright, lazy and worryingly close to the Nazis, Edward became the king who had to go.
At the start of December, the Bishop of Bradford used a sermon to break shocking news. The king intended to marry Mrs Simpson, an American in the throes of her second divorce. It came as a surprise to most people in Britain, as although US newspapers had been carrying the story for weeks, the British press barons had agreed to stay silent. Worse, key members of the government opposed the marriage and were pressuring the king to abdicate.
The nation was suddenly riven by controversy. Crowds gathered outside 10 Downing Street and booed Prime Minister Baldwin, chanting slogans in favour of the king.
“2-4-6-8 The king must not abdicate!”
Other crowds milled around the flat rented by the king for Mrs Simpson, hurling abuse, and even a stone.
As plots swirled around the king and his mistress, opportunists sprung to his defence; Winston Churchill, Lloyd George and Lord Beaverbrook. Infamously, Sir Oswald Mosley mobilised his British Union of Fascists in a ‘Stand by the king!’ campaign. The police feared public disorder if the king was forced to abdicate, or if he stood his ground and brought down the government by calling its bluff. Or if Mosley seized upon the crisis to fill the streets of the capital with his paramilitary army of Blackshirts.
It did not snow before Christmas that year and carollers altered the words of their songs:
“Hark the herald angels Sing, Mrs Simpson stole our king!”
So much is history, before we introduce Hugh Clifton, Sissy and the agents of Room Z, determined to get to the bottom of a web of conspiracies. A shadowy force is attempting to manipulate British history for its own end, and the agents are forced to make a choice; do they stand by the king or help bring him down?
Blackshirt Conspiracy is published by the Historia Imprint of Level Best Books and is available worldwide in paperback or ebook.
Leave a Reply