A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
MOST people with whom I discussed the announcement of the projected visit of the Duke of Windsor to Germany felt, as I did, a little dubious about the wisdom of it. The Duke would be plunging into the intensest propaganda atmosphere in the world, and on the other hand his visit might easily be so interpreted, as most foreign visits of importance are, as to add prestige to the Nazi regime. There seems to be little ground for such doubts. The Duke has gone to Germany for a specific purpose—the study of social conditions, a subject in which he is known to have been deeply interested for twenty years,—and he has a remarkable flair for saying and doing the right thing on such occasions ; it is to be noted, for example, that he has refrained from gratifying his hosts by giving the Nazi salute (except once, in response to that form of greeting from a young gentleman aged three). Now the Duke and Duchess go to the United States,—and then what ? That, of course, is their affair, but those who most appreciated the spirit of the Duke's appeal for peace and quietness after his wedding cannot but wonder whether those blessings are best achieved by an endless pilgrimage from castle to castle and hotel to hotel. The circumstances are unique ; it would be difficult for the Duke and Duchess to make their home in this country at present ; but to wish the Duke well means w:shing for him a settled home somewhere—perhaps in the Austria which so obviously attracts him.
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