Authors: Jim Wilson
Meanwhile, Britain’s secret intelligence services were stepping up their surveillance of the princess. Referring to her friendship with a number of society figures, the MI5 file particularly mentions Lady Asquith (wife of the former Liberal Prime Minister) and Lady Snowden (wife of a Labour chancellor of the exchequer). The princess’ correspondence was being routinely intercepted and monitored, and the implications of her friendships in British society with rich and influential people were being carefully recorded. A further note in her MI5 file says:
Princess Hohenlohe has given us a great deal of work owing to the fact that she is frequently the subject of denunciation to the effect that she is, or has been, a trusted political agent and personal friend of Herr Hitler; that she is a German political spy of a very high order; and that she was given the Schloss Leopoldskron by Herr Hitler for signal services rendered for him.
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In March 1939, as the certainty of war in Europe loomed closer, MI5 began taking an interest in the forthcoming court case between the princess and Lord Rothermere, which had the potential to rapidly turn into a public scandal if the supportive letters that had passed between Rothermere and Nazi leaders were exposed in open court. A passport control officer at Victoria Station intercepted Stephanie’s Hungarian lawyer, Erno Wittman, as he arrived in the British capital. He was carrying correspondence relating to the case, and it included a bundle of the deeply incriminating letters from Rothermere to Hitler, and from him to others in the Nazi leadership. These were copies of Rothermere’s letters Berlin had passed to the princess to help her in her case – and stir up the maximum trouble within Establishment and political circles in Britain. The correspondence was of substantial interest to the British government and it confirmed just how extensive, and, in the eyes of some, downright disloyal, the contact had been between Rothermere and the highest levels of the Nazi leadership. The passport control officer wrote: ‘This was astonishing; it appeared to be copies of documents and letters which passed between Lord Rothermere, Lady Snowden, Princess Stephanie, Herr Hitler and others.’
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This considerable bundle of letters was secretly circulated within the intelligence services and to senior civil servants in key government ministries. Among them was a highly indiscreet communication to Hitler from Rothermere congratulating the Nazi leader on his annexation of Czechoslovakia – Hitler having sent his troops into the Czech capital earlier in 1939 in breach of the 1938 Munich Agreement. Rothermere’s note urged Hitler to follow up this ‘triumph’ by sending his troops into Romania.
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Nothing could be more revealing of the press baron’s continued support of the Nazi Führer as the inevitable conflict drew closer, but it appears MI5 shied away from actually taking action against the press baron. Certainly there is nothing in the derestricted files to indicate whether Rothermere was warned to cease his correspondence with Berlin, though some information in the files still remains undisclosed. The Foreign Office could easily have brought pressure personally on Rothermere to be more discreet via his powerful friends with close contacts in Whitehall. The MI5 file makes it clear that the secret service had warned the government that copies of this correspondence would be produced in open court, which would embarrass not only Rothermere but also a number of other notable members of the British aristocracy, and that these disclosures would shock the British public.
In September 1939, ten days after Britain had declared war on Germany, alarm bells were set ringing anew when the head porter at London’s Dorchester Hotel called at a West End police station to give what he described as important information to the War Office. What he had to say was rapidly in the hands of MI5. Princess Stephanie’s MI5 case officer recorded that the porter suggested it would be worthwhile for the police Special Branch to interview the princess’ Austrian maid, Anna Stoffl. The porter had been speaking to Miss Stoffl, who had alleged her employer was operating in Britain as a very active and dangerous agent for the Nazis. The princess met many influential people in Britain, the maid had told him, and regularly reported back to Hitler’s agents. She had direct access to the highest authorities in Germany. The police informed MI5 that the maid was very embittered against the princess, and if she was approached discreetly by a British intelligence officer she would be willing to give details of the princess’ contacts in Britain.
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The maid was duly interviewed. Her mother and sisters were still in Austria and she was fearful they would suffer if it was known that she had spoken against the Nazi regime. Although she still held a German passport, she told the intelligence officer that she was anti-Nazi. The file records:
Miss Stoffl is in no doubt Princess Hohenlohe was acting as a German agent. She had lived with her for about a year in this country and travelled with her on the Continent. For a time she had lived with the princess at a castle in Salzburg, placed at her disposal by the German authorities. During that time there had been a good deal of entertaining. The princess had paid a visit to Berlin when she was at the castle and had told the maid she had had an interview with Hitler.
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The maid added that the princess was always careful to keep as much from her as possible. When visitors were expected, the princess generally sent the maid out of her apartment. She was in no doubt that Princess Stephanie was engaged in deep intrigue, and that visitors were giving her information which she then passed straight on to Berlin. The MI5 officer recorded in the secret file:
At the time of the German entry into Czechoslovakia the princess had expressed disapproval of the Nazi action. Wiedemann, Hitler’s former confidant and friend of the princess, had taken a similar line. The maid understood Wiedemann’s fall from grace and his transfer by Hitler to San Francisco were the result of his attitude on the Nazi coup.
Shortly after these revelations to the British authorities by the princess’ personal maid, there is a note in Stephanie’s MI5 file stating that a letter had been sent to the Home Office recommending that the princess’ stay in the United Kingdom should be curtailed in view of her close contact with leading Nazis. It is followed by a detailed biographical document on her background marked ‘most secret’. It noted that she had first come to the attention of British intelligence as far back as 1928, three years after Annabel Kruse had introduced her to Rothermere. The intelligence services had taken an interest in her because of the considerable influence she was exerting on the press baron. MI5 revealed that a man named Andre Rostin, ‘not of good repute and strongly suspected of being a German secret agent’, had been involved in helping to engineer the princess’ introduction to Rothermere. The file gives no indication of the exact role Rostin played.
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It is possible that on instructions from Berlin, Rostin had ‘used’ my great-aunt, an unsuspecting friend of Princess Stephanie, to ensure the crucial introduction took place. It is unlikely Annabel Kruse was in any way knowingly complicit in a German plot. The British intelligence service’s records throw no light on the mystery. But the reference to Rostin as a German agent strongly suggests that Rothermere was targeted, and that the meeting over the gaming tables in Monte Carlo was not as innocent and unplanned as it appeared at the time.
MI5’s biographical notes go on to record that the princess had been on the most intimate terms with Lady Snowden since 1928, and since 1933/34 she had become acquainted with Lady Oxford and Lady Cunard; through them she had infiltrated society circles in London. Among her friends, the file details, were Lady Austin Chamberlain, Lord and Lady Londonderry, Sir Barry Domville and Sir Horace Rumbold. Sir Horace had been British ambassador in Berlin at the time of Hitler’s rise to power. ‘On her visits here she has always lived in a most expensive way, staying usually at the Dorchester or taking a flat in Mayfair,’ the file continues.
She gives extravagant presents of dresses and jewellery to her friends. Princess Hohenlohe has acted as a link between Nazi leaders in Germany and society circles in this country. At Schloss Leopoldskron she has entertained prominent Nazis and introduced them to English friends. She had also played a part in arranging meetings between Lord Runciman and the Sudeten Nazis.
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The file then records that at the end of 1938, or the beginning of 1939, she had been in Syria with a Wilhelm von Fluegge, where both were suspected of working as German agents. She had also been reported as mixing with German and Italian contacts in Istanbul. MI5 goes on to record that: ‘Hitler counts on the help of Princess Hohenlohe, his Vienna born friend and talent spotter. He appreciates her intelligence and advice.’
As the international situation began to move inevitably towards war, further intelligence began to be whispered into the ears of MI5 officers. And at this point the name of Kruse re-enters the story. The princess’ MI5 file records that, in response to a telephone tip-off, an officer met with an unnamed source who had a great friend called ‘Capt. J.F.C. Kruse’ (Jack Kruse), living at Ridge House, Sunningdale; a former private secretary to Lord Rothermere:
Kruse is very friendly with the princess and had known her for a number of years. On 26 June 1939 Kruse saw the princess who showed him a letter from a contact writing from the Hotel Bieux Dolen in the Hague, that stated the Führer had told Ribbentrop he must make it plain to the British prime minister that a gesture from Britain must definitely be made very soon, independent of the Cabinet if necessary, and that he must permit Germany to occupy Danzig.
Kruse told MI5 officers that since Wiedemann’s transfer abroad, the princess’ contact with the Nazi leadership was via Ribbentrop. Princess Stephanie, it was alleged, now intensely disliked Hitler – perhaps because of the way he had treated her lover – but although now anti-Hitler, she was emphatically not anti-German.
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With these revelations reaching the Home Office it is not surprising there were further moves inside government to expel her from Britain. ‘In view of this women’s record and known activities,’ wrote one nameless senior civil servant, ‘there seems no real reason why we should give ourselves the trouble of looking after her and allowing her to pay such frequent and extensive visits to this country.’ But with the High Court case now pending, it was decided the government would have to allow her to remain in the UK for about six months to enable the hearing to take place, although, it was stressed, she would remain under continuous covert surveillance.
Meanwhile, the virtual certainty that, when the case eventually went to the High Court, details of the indiscreet letters between Rothermere and the Nazi high command would come out, was starting to seriously worry Rothermere and his advisers. The letters, if disclosed in court, would be highly embarrassing, if not incriminating. They undoubtedly would call into question the press baron’s loyalty to his country and his motives in conducting the lengthy relationship with the Nazis. The letters were capable of revealing Rothermere as someone who, despite exercising considerable influence on the public through his newspapers and in government circles, had been actively and, arguably treacherously, working against British interests. In a confidential report, dated 25 September 1939, three weeks after the declaration of war with Germany, Rothermere’s lawyers attempted to have the legal action stopped. A member of his law firm, Charles Russell & Co., went to the Home Office to say that Rothermere had finally reached the conclusion that the princess was a German agent and she had probably been double-crossing him well before he had terminated his contract with her towards the end of 1937. Lord Rothermere had also come to the view that it was undesirable for the princess to remain in the UK.
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Belatedly for the press baron, the truth had sunk in. The approach by his lawyers appeared to be as much a device to protect Rothermere as it was a move to act in the interests of the public.
The press baron’s lawyer subsequently argued to Home Office officials that it would not be in the public interest for the case to proceed. It was certain to receive huge publicity; it could undermine public morale and it was inappropriate it should be heard openly in the High Court when Britain was officially at war. The lawyer urged the Home Office to approach the Attorney General and obtain his fiat that the case should be stopped. The Home Office came to the conclusion that it would be improper to intervene, however, and the case finally reached the High Court, before Mr Justice Tucker, on 8 November 1939. It lasted for six days in a packed courtroom in the King’s Bench Division, and attracted huge press interest. In Berlin, watching what was going on with some mischievous satisfaction, Goebbels wrote in his diary on 15 November with evident delight: ‘In London a legal wrangle is in progress, Rothermere against the Princess Hohenlohe concerning an allowance that this “lady” is demanding from his lordship. All kinds of painful revelations, including some to do with Wiedemann!’ Goebbels added: ‘Nevertheless, I don’t believe that the Hohenlohe woman has been spying. It is true that she has intervened in our favour on many occasions.’ Spy, agent, intriguer, manipulator, adventuress – the label differed whether you were in Berlin or London.
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Sometime before the court hearing began, Princess Stephanie rang my father in Norfolk. What the exact purpose of the call was is by no means clear. How my father could have been associated with the allegations which formed the basis of her claims against Rothermere is a mystery. But the telephone call was significant enough to be brought up in cross-examination early in the hearing. I guess it was something to do with publishing the princess’ story in an effort to bring pressure on Rothermere to drop the case. She knew that at one point in the early 1930s my father had worked for an agency in London which specialised in representing writers and journalists. Questioned about the phone call by Sir William Jowitt KC, Rothermere’s barrister, the princess denied the call had been anything to do with Rothermere. She said it was to do with a publicity job she thought my father might be able to undertake for someone she had met. She denied she had told my father that the matter was of great interest and she wanted to discuss it with him. She even said she had no idea my father was managing a property in Norfolk for Lord Rothermere. All of this rang as hollow as her comment to Sir William that her understanding of the contract with the press owner was that she would be paid £5,000 a year for life by Rothermere, whether she was working for him or not.
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