NOT INTERESTED IN DUKE OF WINDSOR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 251, 22 October 1937, Page 8

NOT INTERESTED IN DUKE OF WINDSOR

ATTITUDE OF ENGLAND N.Z. CHURCHMAN’S BELIEF OBLIVION, NOT MARTYRDOM [ Per Press Association. ] AUCKLAND, Oct. 21. “England is not interested in the Duke of Windsor. One hears a good deal about him in this part of the world, far more than one does in England, but the average man in London gives scarcely a thought to him, and I believe the average American is of like opinion.” So stated Canon H. MortimerJones, of Hastings, who returned to the Dominion by the Rangitiki. He said that while he was in England he met a number of representative Americans and they expressed the opinion that, in spite of what had been said to the contrary, American* were not anxious that the Duke and Duchess should settle there. The general attitude of Americans was lukewarm, and the same could be said of the general run of Englishmen.

“I think the best illustration of what I mean could be taken from an attempted sale of books dealing with the Duke's life,” said the canon. ‘ I have it on good authority that a number of men tried to sell cheap editions of a certain book to crowds waiting outside English theatres. There was practically no sale for them and I think that the lack of response is characteristic of what the English public thinks about the whole business.”

Instead of becoming a martyr the canon suggested that the Duke had passed into obscurity and his place was taken by a man in King George VI., who seemed likely to become one of England’s most popular monarchs. He had already gained the warm affections of his people.

One heard very little, if anything, of the Rev. R. Anderson Jardine, who married the Duke and Duchess. He had left the church and no one seemed interested in his doings.