In episode 2 of Channel 4's Spying on the Royals Professor Richard Aldrich, of the University of Warwick’s Department of Politics and International Studies, about how in the United States spies tapped Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson's phone and how Edward’s own brother, George VIII, paid for him to be surveilled.

• Click here to catch up with Episode 1.

Delving into the archives of the Metropolitan Police Professor Aldrich says that "there is no doubt that after the abdication the King [George VI] is paying for the surveillance of the Duke of Windsor [previously Edward VIII]”.

Speaking about the when the UK authorities received information regarding Duke of Windsor’s planned trip to Nazi Germany in 1937 Professor Aldrich, author of Black Door: Spies, Secret Intelligence and British Politics, said that it must “have been electrifying”.

“It is a concern for Downing Street, a concern for the Foreign Office – it’s also a concern for the palace.”

Click here to watch on Channel 4's All 4 / 4oD:

12 April 2017

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