On the outbreak of the First World War Stephanie volunteered to work as a nurse on the Eastern Front. According to her biographer, Jim Wilson: "She was no ordinary nurse; she was conspicuously accompanied wherever she went in the theatre of war by her butler and her chambermaid. This retinue ensured she did not last long nursing close to the front line. But in 1917, minus her servants, she accompanied the Austrian Army as a Red Cross nurse as they advanced to confront the Italians at the battle of Isonzo River. There she served in field hospitals and witnessed Austria's defeat in June 1918 on the River Piave." (4)

Princess Stephanie and her husband were divorced in 1920. According to her son she was very good at seeking favours from men. (5) Her biographer has argued: "Cunning and opportunistic, but radiating personality and charm, the princess cut a fascinating figure. It was not just her title and her confidence that impressed, it was the daring way she behaved. Few aristocratic, titled ladies in society had the nerve to openly smoke Havana cigars as Stephanie did. It was a habit she had picked up to avoid the stench of festering wounds when she was nursing on the front line in the First World War. But she added to the outrageous image by striking her matches on the soles of her shoes." (6)

In 1922 she moved to Nice where she began a relationship with the Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster. She also became friendly with John Warden, an immensely rich American businessman from the family who owned Standard Oil. In 1925 she took an exclusive apartment at 45 Avenue George V in Paris where she employed a household staff of nine servants. During this period she became the mistress of British insurance tycoon Sir William Garthwaite. (7)

Stephanie von Hohenlohe met Lord Rothermere in Monte Carlo in 1927. The owner of several newspapers, his personal wealth was around £25 million and he was estimated to be the third richest man in Britain. According to a FBI file, Stephanie had targeted Rothermere. It said that "she was reputedly immoral, and capable of resorting to any means, even bribery, to get her ends." They both enjoyed gambling and she described Rothermere as "a fabulous plunger at the casino tables". (8)

Princess Stephanie persuaded Rothermere that the defeated nations had been badly treated by the Treaty of Versailles. Rothermere was impressed by her arguments and her understanding of the problem. Rothermere agreed to write an editorial on the subject. On 21st June, 1927, The Daily Mail argued: "Eastern Europe is strewn with Alsace-Lorraines. By severing from France the twin provinces of that name the Treaty of Frankfurt in 1871 made another European war inevitable. The same blunder has been committed on a larger scale in the peace treaties which divided up the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. They have been created dissatisfied minorities in half a dozen parts of Central Europe, any one of which may be the starting point of another conflagration." (9)

Lord Rothermere also called for the restoration of the Hungarian monarchy. Rothermere was an ardent monarchist and argued that a monarchic constitution was the best bulwark against Bolshevism in Europe and hoped to restore both the Hapsburg and Hohenzollern thrones. According to Martha Schad, the author of Hitler's Spy Princess (2002): "A group of active monarchists even offered the crown of Hungary to Lord Rothermere himself, an idea that for a moment he took seriously." (10)

Rothermere continued the campaign in his newspaper. He wrote to Princess Stephanie in April 1928: "I had no conception that a recital of Hungary's sufferings and wrongs would arouse such world-wide sympathy. Now from all parts of the world I am in receipt of such a flood of telegrams, letters and postcards that the work entailed in connection with the propaganda is rapidly absorbing all my energies." (11)

Jim Wilson has pointed out: "Rothermere, although estranged from his wife and still devastated by the loss of his two eldest sons in the war, was not averse to the attentions of attractive young women. Indeed, throughout his life he had many lady friends, some of whom were his mistresses. Despite his brusqueness he could be a vivacious companion and a good mixer, overcoming his inherent shyness... The press baron was a complex character who liked to have familiar faces around him. One of his biographers described him as having a generous nature, although he never believed his own value extended beyond what he could give to another person." (12)

Unknown to Rothermere, MI6 was intercepting Princess Stephanie's correspondence and tracking her movements in and out of the country since early in 1928. It seems that some of this information was leaked to journalists and in December 1932 a number of European newspapers had carried allegations of espionage against Princess Stephanie. The French newspaper, La Liberté, claimed that she had been arrested as a spy while visiting Biarritz. It asked the question: "Is a sensational affair about to unfold?" Other newspapers took up the story and described her as a "political adventuress" and "the vamp of European politics". These stories were probably the result of leaks from the French intelligence services. (13)

In an article published in The Daily Telegraph in 2005, following the release of previously classified files, it was claimed that: "In 1933, the year that Hitler gained power, MI6 circulated a report stating that the French secret service had discovered documents in the princess's flat in Paris ordering her to persuade Rothermere to campaign for the return to Germany of territory ceded to Poland at the end of First World War. She was to receive £300,000 – equal to £13 million today if she succeeded." (14)

Princess Stephanie now moved to London where she took an apartment on the sixth floor of the Dorchester Hotel. An American banker, Donald Malcolm, spent a great deal of time with Stephanie and advised her to negotiate a contract with Rothermere: "Clinching the contract was not difficult to achieve. She reminded Rothermere of the success of her intervention over Hungary, and persuaded the press baron to appoint her as his emissary in Europe. She argued - and this was undoubtedly true - that she had the contacts to gain admittance to many of Europe's most powerful people, and that she could open doors to almost every exclusive social circle on the Continent." It was later revealed that Rothermere paid the Princess Stephanie £5,000 a year (equal to £200,000 in 2013) to act as his emissary in Europe. (15)

In the General Election that took place in September 1930, the Nazi Party increased its number of representatives in parliament from 14 to 107. Adolf Hitler was now the leader of the second largest party in Germany. James Pool, the author of Who Financed Hitler: The Secret Funding of Hitler's Rise to Power (1979) points out: "Shortly after the Nazis' sweeping victory in the election of September 14, 1930, Rothermere went to Munich to have a long talk with Hitler, and ten days after the election wrote an article discussing the significance of the National Socialists' triumph. The article drew attention throughout England and the Continent because it urged acceptance of the Nazis as a bulwark against Communism... Rothermere continued to say that if it were not for the Nazis, the Communists might have gained the majority in the Reichstag." (16)

According to Louis P. Lochner, Tycoons and Tyrant: German Industry from Hitler to Adenauer (1954) Lord Rothermere provided funds to Hitler via Ernst Hanfstaengel. When Adolf Hitler became Chancellor on 30th January 1933, Rothermere produced a series of articles acclaiming the new regime. The most famous of these was on the 10th July when he told readers that he "confidently expected" great things of the Nazi regime. He also criticised other newspapers for "its obsession with Nazi violence and racialism", and assured his readers that any such deeds would be "submerged by the immense benefits that the new regime is already bestowing on Germany." He pointed out that those criticising Hitler were on the left of the political spectrum: "I urge all British young men and women to study closely the progress of the Nazi regime in Germany. They must not be misled by the misrepresentations of its opponents. The most spiteful distracters of the Nazis are to be found in precisely the same sections of the British public and press as are most vehement in their praises of the Soviet regime in Russia." (17)

Adrian Addison, the author of Mail Men: The Unauthorized Story of the Daily Mail (2017) claims that Rothermere "began to fully embrace the Nazi cause". Rothermere now wrote a series of articles in support of Hitler. These articles were sometimes reprinted in the Nazi Party's own newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter. (18) Rothay Reynolds, the Daily Mail journalist, was granted personal access to Hitler who told him that "Lord Rothermere possesses the true gift of intuitive statesmanship". (19)

In November, 1933, Lord Rothermere gave Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe the task of establishing personal contact with Adolf Hitler. Princess Stephanie later recalled: "Rothermere came from a family that had experienced the novel possibility of influencing international politics through newspapers and was determined to sound out Hitler." Stephanie went to Berlin and began a sexual relationship with Captain Fritz Wiedemann, Hitler's personal adjutant. Wiedemann reported back to Hitler that Stephanie was the mistress of Lord Rothermere. Hitler decided that she could be of future use to the government. (20)

The following month Wiedemann arranged for Princess Stephanie to have her first meeting with Hitler. According to Jim Wilson, the author of Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stephanie Von Hohenlohe (2011): "The Führer appears to have been highly impressed by her sophistication, her intelligence and her charms. At that first meeting she wore one of her most elegant outfits, calculating it would impress him. It seems to have done so, because Hitler greeted her with uncharacteristic warmth, kissing her on the hand. It was far from usual for Hitler to be so attentive to women, particularly women introduced to him for the first time. The princess was invited to take tea with him, and once seated beside him, according to her unpublished memoirs. Hitler scarcely took his piercing eyes off her." (21)

Princess Stephanie handed Hitler a personal letter from Rothermere, and passed on a verbal message. According to Stephanie on the day the outcome of the Reichstag election in 1930 had been announced, Rothermere told some of his staff: "Remember this day. Hitler is going to rule Germany. The man will make history and I predict that he will change the face of Europe." Hitler responded by kissing her and presenting her with a personally addressed reply, asking her to convey it direct to Lord Rothermere. (22)

Lord Rothermere sent Princess Stephanie back with a gift for Hitler. It was a portrait photograph of Rothermere, mounted in a solid gold frame, made by Cartier of Paris and worth more than £50,000 at today's prices. On the reverse of the frame was a reprint of the page from The Daily Mail of 24th September 1930, which reproduced Rothermere's initial editorial, hailing the success of Hitler in the General Election. Hitler was delighted as Rothermere was clearly delivering the propaganda he sought and Fritz Wiedemann was authorised to give Princess Stephanie up to 20,000 Reichsmarks as a maintenance allowance. (23)

In 1933 British intelligence circulated a note from their French counterparts, who had found documents in her flat in Paris in which the Nazis ordered her to persuade Rothermere to campaign for territory lost to Poland after the First World War, for which they'd pay her £300,000 (something like £19 million today). As Adrian Addison, the author of Mail Men: The Unauthorized Story of the Daily Mail (2017) has pointed out that Lord Rothermere was also paying her "an annual retainer of £5,000 (around 314,000 today) to liaise with the Nazis." (24)

In the letter Adolf Hitler thanked Lord Rothermere for supporting his policies: "I should like to express the appreciation of countless Germans, who regard me as their spokesman, for the wise and beneficial support which you have given to a policy that we all hope will contribute to the final liberation of Europe. Just as we are fanatically determined to defend ourselves against attack, so do we reject the idea of taking the initiative in bringing about a war... I am convinced that no one who fought in the front line trenches during the world war, no matter in what European country, desires another conflict." (25)

Lord Rothermere also had several meetings with Adolf Hitler and argued that the Nazi leader desired peace. Rothermere made his first visit to Hitler in December 1934. He took along with him his favourite journalist on The Daily Mail, the veteran reporter, George Ward Price. At the first meeting Hitler told Rothermere that "Lloyd George and your brother won the war for Britain. This was a reference to the Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Lord Northcliffe, who it was claimed made sure that the British Army received enough munitions on the front-line during the later stages of the First World War. That evening Hitler held his first major dinner party he had given for foreign visitors at his official residence in Berlin since he had taken office. The high-level guests included Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goering and Joachim von Ribbentrop. (26)

On 20th December, 1934, Lord Rothermere returned the hospitality, hosting a dinner at Berlin's famous Hotel Adlon. Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe was placed in charge of the arrangements. Twenty-five guests attended including Adolf Hitler, Germany's Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath, Joseph Goebbels, Magda Goebbels, Hermann Goering, accompanied by the actress Emmy Sonnemann. Also invited was British banker Ernest Tennant, one of the principal founders of the Anglo-German Fellowship. (27)

As Richard Griffiths, the author of Fellow Travellers of the Right (1979) has pointed out: "Rothermere visited Hitler on a number of occasions, and corresponded with him. As we have seen, Hitler's first major dinner party for foreigners, on 19th December 1934, had as its guests of honour Rothermere, his son Esmond Harmsworth, and Ward Price, together with Ernest Tennant. Rothermere's subsequent article in the Daily Mail was violently enthusiastic about what Hitler had done for Germany. Hitler wrote a number of important letters to Rothermere in 1933 and 1934, but the most interesting of them, because of its subsequent fate, was the one written on 3 May 1935 in which he advocated Anglo-German understanding as a firm combination for peace. Rothermere circulated this to many politicians, convinced that his personal contact with Hitler had produced a real breakthrough." (28)

In August 1935 Princess Stephanie was invited by Hitler, along with her friend, Ethel Snowden, to attend the Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally. She later wrote about the "tribal excitement of Nuremberg... a shrine of Nazidom... an orgy of dedication to the Nazi creed." Snowden wrote an account of the rally in the Daily Mail. Soon afterwards an MI5 agent recorded that Princess Stephanie and Lady Snowden had formed "a most intimate friendship". (29)

In the summer of 1936 European newspapers began running articles suggesting Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe was a spy. She turned to Rothermere for advice on how she could clear her name over the damaging newspaper reports. Rothermere advised her to do nothing about it. He told her that he had been in the newspaper business long enough, he said, to realise that a denial usually resulted in merely refreshing the story, and was likely to stir up new rumours. Later, Stephanie urged him to sue when his name was being used in these stories. He replied that "the libels were of such a preposterous character that my lawyers advised me that you and myself should treat them with the contempt they deserved." (30)

Lord Rothermere met Adolf Hitler again in September 1936. On his return he sent Princess Stephanie to Berlin with a personal gift of a valuable Gobelin tapestry (worth £85,000 today). In a letter accompanying his gift, Rothermere wrote that he had selected the tapestry guided by the thought of Hitler the "artist", rather than Hitler the "great leader". Rothermere added that he was pleased to hear from Stephanie that "he was in high spirits and excellent health". He signed off the letter "in sincere admiration and respect". (31)

Lord Rothermere, Princess Stephanie and George Ward Price were invited to spend time with Hitler at his holiday retreat, The Eagle's Nest, in the mountains above Berchtesgaden. Also invited was Joseph Goebbels. He wrote in his diary: "Rothermere pays me great compliments... Enquires in detail about German press policy. Strongly anti-Jewish. The princess is very pushy. After lunch we retire for a chat. Question of Spain comes up. Führer won't tolerate a hot-bed of communism in Europe any longer. Is ready to prevent any more pro-Republican volunteers from going there. His proposal on controls seem to astonish Rothermere. German prestige is thus restored. Franco will win anyway... Rothermere believes British government also pro-Franco." (32)

Lawrence James, the author of Aristocrats: Power, Grace And Decadence (2009) has pointed out that Lord Rothermere was part of a group that saw an immensely powerful union between Communism and the Jewish people as a world conspiracy that could be thwarted only by Fascism. “Visceral anti-Semitism permeated the upper classes between the wars. Jews were vilified as flashy and pushy arrivistes with a knack of enriching themselves when the aristocracy was grumbling about an often exaggerated downturn in their fortunes.... What emerges is a picture of a knot of peers adrift in an uncongenial world, united by paranoia, pessimism and panic... but what made the anti-Semitic ramblings of figures like Westminister so odious was that they continued long after Hitler's persecution of Germany's Jews had become public knowledge.” (33)

Adolf Hitler told George Ward Price: "He (Lord Rothermere) is the only Englishman who sees clearly the magnitude of this Bolshevist danger. His paper is doing an immense amount of good." One newspaper, The Sunday Times, attempted to explain Rothermere's support for Hitler: "He saw him as a sincere man who had defeated Communism in his own country." Hitler was kept informed about what British newspapers were saying about him. He was usually very pleased by what appeared in The Daily Mail. On 20th May 1937 he wrote to Lord Rothermere: "Your leading articles published within the last few weeks, which I read with great interest, contain everything that corresponds to my own thoughts as well." (34)

Hitler remained fascinated with Princess Stephanie and gave her the magnificent palace, Schloss Leopoldskron, that had been confiscated from Max Reinhardt, who had fled from Austria in 1937 after criticising the Nazi government. Hitler wanted her to use it as a home and a "political salon". One of the first people she tried to entertain in the palace was Lord Runciman, the man who had been appointed by the British government as its official mediator in the dispute between the Czech and German governments over the Sudetenland.

As Martha Schad, the author of Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) has pointed out: "In the summer of 1938 he (Lord Runciman) was sent to the Sudetenland to sound out sentiments there, and it was suggested to Princess Stephanie – probably by Wiedemann – that she should invite him to Leopoldskron as well. The groundwork was laid and Runciman spent several delightful days at the Schloss." Schad believes that Princess Stephanie did a good job as Runciman reported to the British government that "Sudetenland is longing to be taken over by Germany , and the Sudeten Germans want to return to their homeland". (35)

In 1937 Princess Stephanie and Ethel Snowden, once again attended the Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally. She later wrote about the "tribal excitement of Nuremberg... a shrine of Nazidom... an orgy of dedication to the Nazi creed." Snowden wrote an account of the rally in The Daily Mail. Soon afterwards an MI5 agent recorded that Princess Stephanie and Lady Snowden had formed "a most intimate friendship". (36) This impressed Joseph Goebbels who recorded in his diary: "Lady Snowden writes an enthusiastic article on Nuremberg. A woman with guts. In London they don't understand that." (37)

Princess Stephanie's attendance at the Nuremberg Rally upset Unity Mitford, as she saw Stephanie as a romantic rival. Princess Carmencita Wrede claims that Unity Mitford was very jealous of Hitler's relationship with Princess Stephanie: "She complained that Stephanie Hohenlohe was Jewish, and how she had told Hitler, Here you are, anti-Jewish yet you have a Jew around you the whole time, this Princess Hohenlohe. Hitler said nothing. She simply hated the Hohenlohe for a rusée, going to tell Lord Rothermere what Hitler was up to. I asked her why she got so upset about it and the answer was short: jealousy again." (38)

Princess Stephanie admitted in her unpublished memoirs that her relationship with Adolf Hitler upset those around him: "Every visit of mine to the Reich Chancellery seemed to them an impudent encroachment upon their sacred privileges, and every hour that Adolf wasted upon me was an hour which he might have spent to so much greater advantage in their devoted company.... His manners are exceedingly courteous, especially to women. At least that is how he has always been towards me. Whenever I arrived or left he always kissed my hand, often taking one of mine into both of his and shaking it for a time to emphasise the sincerity of the pleasure it gave him to see one, at the same time looking deep into my eyes." Princess Stephanie admitted that they were physically intimate but they were never lovers. She claimed this was because Hitler was homosexual. (39)

On 25th November 1937 Princess Stephanie arrived in New York City with her lover, Fritz Wiedemann. They were received by the German Consul General, but there was also a hostile crowd at the dockside, some carrying banners reading, "Out with Wiedemann, the Nazi spy." The following day the couple travelled to Washington where they stayed at the German Embassy. The couple then visited branches of the German-American Bund, a Nazi-front organisation that had been established by a German-born American citizen Fritz Julius Kuhn (he was later imprisoned as a German agent). (40)

On her return to Germany she sent a present to Adolf Hitler. He replied: "I would like to thank you most warmly for the books about American skyscraper and bridge construction, which you sent me as a Christmas present. You know how interested I am in architecture and related fields, and can therefore imagine what pleasure your present has given me. I have been told how staunchly and warmly you have spoken up in your circles on behalf of the new Germany and its vital needs, in the past year. I am well aware that this has caused you a number of unpleasant experiences, and would therefore like to express to you, highly esteemed Princess, my sincere thanks for the great understanding that you have shown for Germany as a whole and for my work in particular." (41)

Time Magazine reported in January, 1938: "Titian haired, 40 year old Stephanie Juliana Princess Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfurst, confidante of the Führer and friend of half of Europe's great is scheduled to sail from England to the US this week. Since the fall of Austria, Princess Stephanie, once the toast of Vienna, has lent her charms to advancing the Nazi cause in circles where it would do the most good. As a reward the Nazi government permitted her to take a lease on the sumptuous Schloss Leopoldskron near Salzburg, taken over from Jewish Max Reinhardt after Anschluss. During the Czecho-Slovak crisis she did yeoman service for the Nazi campaign. When Mr. Chamberlain sent Lord Runciman to gather impressions of conditions in Czechoslovakia Princess Stephanie hurried to the Sudetenland castle of Prince Max Hohenlohe where the British mediator was entertained." (42)

Hitler was deeply impressed by Princess Stephanie but there were people in Hitler's immediate circle who resented the favours the Führer was showing her. This included Ernst Hanfstaengel who warned Hitler that Stephanie was a "professional blackmailer and a full-blooded Jewess". Hitler promised Hanfstaengel he would have the princess' family history researched. Hitler later told Hanfstaengel that the Gestapo had investigated her background thoroughly and had found the allegations that she was Jewish totally unfounded. (43)

Princess Stephanie later wrote: "He hardly ever smiles, except when making a sarcastic remark. He can be, he often is, very bitter. I think I can truthfully say that with the exception of his very intimate circle I am one of the few persons with whom he held normal conversations. By that I mean one where both parties speak in turn: a conversation of two human beings. Usually this is not the case. He either makes a speech and one has to listen, or else he sits there with a dead serious face, never opening his mouth... He once told me when I expressed my astonishment at his never learning English that the reason he would not be able to learn any other language outside of German was his complete mastery of the latter, which was an all time job. But I have never found that Hitler speaks or writes German as well as he claims or thinks. I have had many occasions to read letters of his, where all he did was revel in heavily involved Teutonic sentences. A single sentence often attains as much as eight or ten lines The same is true of all his speeches." (44)

Princess Stephanie however was having doubts about Hitler. In a letter written to Lord Rothermere in February, 1938, she argued for him to change his policy towards Nazi Germany: "It is important to know what is currently going on in Germany. The Germans are going through a serious crisis. Changes are taking place, which are of the greatest importance for the future of Europe. All the conservatives are being thrown out and only extremists are keeping their jobs or being recruited. You must be very careful in future. I do not see how it will be possible for you, under these new conditions, to continue to support Hitler in future and at the same time serve the interests of your own country." (45)

Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe decided to move to London and resumed her relationship with Lord Rothermere. She also began intimate relationships with several members of the aristocracy. This included Philip Henry Kerr (Lord Lothian), Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild and Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster. According to Jim Wilson, the author of Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stephanie Von Hohenlohe (2011): "Rothermere and Lothian were just two from the ranks of the Establishment who fell for these pro-Nazi overtures. The Duke of Westminister, who Princess Stephanie had befriended, having met him in France some years before, was another. The duke even took her on holiday to Scotland and it is clear that for a time romance blossomed between them." (46)

Adolf Hitler asked Princess Stephanie to meet Hermann Göring in Germany. Göring told her "that it was no bluff, that Hitler would soon declare war". Only he, Göring, could prevent this if he had a meeting with Lord Halifax, the British Foreign Secretary. However, there were some senior figures in the Nazi Party who were against the idea of negotiations with Britain, and so she had to keep it a secret from Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister. On her returned to London and asked her friend, Lady Ethel Snowden, also a Nazi sympathiser, to arrange a meeting with Lord Halifax. (47)

Halifax wrote in his diary on 6th July 1938: "Lady Snowden came to see me early in the morning. She informed me that, through someone on the closest terms with Hitler - I took this to mean Princess Hohenlohe - she had received a message with the following burden: Hitler wanted to find out whether H.M. Government would welcome it if he were to send one of the closest confidants, as I understand it, to England for the purpose of conducting unofficial talks. Lady Snowden gave me to understand that this referred to Field-Marshal Goering, and they wished to find out whether he will come to England without being too severely and publicly insulted, and what attitude H.M. Government would take generally to such a visit." (48)

Lord Halifax was initially suspicious of Princess Stephanie. He had been warned the previous year by Walford Selby, the British ambassador in Vienna, that Stephanie was an "international adventuress" who was "known to be Hitler's agent". (49) He had also heard from another source that she was a "well known adventuress, not to say blackmailer". Despite this, after obtaining permission from Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, he agreed to meet with Hitler's representative, Fritz Wiedemann. (50)

The meeting took place on 18th July at Halifax's private residence in Belgravia. Halifax noted in a memorandum: "The Prime Minister and I have thought about the meeting I had with Captain Wiedemann. Of especial importance to us are the steps which the Germans and the British might possibly take, not only to create the best possible relationship between the two countries, but also to calm down the international situation in order to achieve an improvement of general economic and political problems." (51) It has been claimed that Halifax told Wiedemann that the British government was in sympathy with Hitler and that he had a vision that "Hitler would ride in triuumph through the streets of London in the royal carriage along with King George VI". (52)

Someone leaked details of the meeting to The Daily Herald. When it appeared in the newspaper on 19th July, it created a storm of controversy. The French government complained that the meeting had been arranged by Princess Holenlohe, who according to their intelligence services was a "Nazi agent". Jan Masryk, the Czech ambassador in London, wrote to his government in Prague on 22nd July: "If there is any decency left in this world, then there will be a big scandal when it is revealed what part was played in Wiedemann's visit by Steffi Hohenlohe, née Richter. This world-renowned secret agent, spy and confidence trickster, who is wholly Jewish, today provides the focus of Hitler's propaganda in London." Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary: "Wiedemann's visit to Halifax on the Führer's instructions continues to dominate the foreign press more than ever." (53)

Walford Selby, the British ambassador to Austria, was also shocked by this meeting that had been arranged by Princess Stephanie. He warned the government that he had information that her suite at the Dorchester Hotel in London had become a base for Nazi sympathisers and an "outpost of German espionage", and that she had been behind much of the German propaganda circulating in London since she first moved to England. (54) The Daily Express published an article about the man who had met Lord Halifax in secret. The newspaper described Fritz Wiedemann as Hitler's "listening-post, his contact man, negotiator, a checker-up, a man with a job without a name and without a parallel". (55)

On his return to Germany, Wiledemann was met by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of German military intelligence, Abwehr, told Fritz Wiedemann that the foreign press were reporting that Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe was a Nazi spy. Wiedemann wrote to Canaris: "Princess Hohenlohe wishes to put an end once and for all to the gossip about her, and to answer the latest reports by foreign newspapers, by picking on one of the papers and taking legal action to force it to withdraw the false statements... However, in order to pursue this action. I would be most obliged to you... if you could for the time being pass over to me all the newspaper reports about Princess Hohenlohe that have appeared in the last six months." (56)

British intelligence was also becoming very concerned about the activities of Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe. A report said: "She is frequently summoned by the Führer who appreciates her intelligence and good advice. She is perhaps the only woman who can exercise any influence on him." They also reported that she seemed to be "actively recruiting these British aristocrats in order to promote Nazi sympathies." (57)

In August 1938 French intelligence, the Deuxième Bureau, told MI6 that it was almost certain that Princess Stephanie was an important German agent. According to MI5 the list of people she had been associating with over the last few years included the Duke of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, Prince George, Duke of Kent, Lady Ethel Snowden, Philip Henry Kerr (Lord Lothian), Geoffrey Dawson, Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry, Ronald Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket, Lady Maud Cunard and Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild. (58)

MI5 also interviewed Princess Stephanie's maid, Anna Stoffl. 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 traveled 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." (59)

The journalist, Bella Fromm, who worked in the 1930s for the German newspaper, Berliner Zeitung, who had high-level contacts within the government, and had spent time researching the subject, was convinced that Princess Stephanie was a Nazi spy: "One of the most fanatical exponents of National Socialist ideology was Stephanie, Princess Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst... She became a princess by marriage... She was one of the first female agents sent abroad by the Nazis before they came to power." (60)

Princess Stephanie had a deepening understanding of Hitler's personality. She recalled an incident that took place with Unity Mitford: "In 1938 during the September crisis Hitler sent for Unity Mitford. When she arrived he told her that in view of the gravity of the situation he wanted her to leave Germany. Though it would seem that such a gesture was prompted only by friendly concern towards one of his most ardent admirers, his intention was of a different nature. His real purpose in sending for Unity Mitford was to make her return to England and impress her people and all those she would naturally talk to with the gravity of the situation. This is an example of his cunning and supreme ability to make use of even the slightest incident. He is a master at the understanding of, and playing upon, the psychology of people, which I consider his greatest gift and asset." (61)

In September 1938, Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, met Adolf Hitler at his home in Berchtesgaden. Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovakia unless Britain supported Germany's plans to takeover the Sudetenland. After discussing the issue with the Edouard Daladier (France) and Eduard Benes (Czechoslovakia), Chamberlain informed Hitler that his proposals were unacceptable. (62)

Nevile Henderson pleaded with Chamberlain to go on negotiating with Hitler. He believed, like Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, that the German claim to the Sudetenland in 1938 was a moral one, and he always reverted in his dispatches to his conviction that the Treaty of Versailles had been unfair to Germany. "At the same time, he was unsympathetic to feelers from the German opposition to Hitler seeking to enlist British support. Henderson thought, not unreasonably, that it was not the job of the British government to subvert the German government, and this view was shared by Chamberlain and Halifax". (63)

Benito Mussolini suggested to Hitler that one way of solving this issue was to hold a four-power conference of Germany, Britain, France and Italy. This would exclude both Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, and therefore increasing the possibility of reaching an agreement and undermine the solidarity that was developing against Germany. The meeting took place in Munich on 29th September, 1938. Desperate to avoid war, and anxious to avoid an alliance with Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union, Chamberlain and Daladier agreed that Germany could have the Sudetenland. In return, Hitler promised not to make any further territorial demands in Europe. (64)

On hearing the news Lord Rothermere sent a telegram to Hitler: "My dear Fuhrer everyone in England is profoundly moved by the bloodless solution to the Czechoslovakian problem. People not so much concerned with territorial readjustment as with dread of another war with its accompanying bloodbath. Frederick the Great was a great popular figure. I salute your excellency's star which rises higher and higher." (65)

However, this view was not shared by those who opposed appeasement. One newspaper, The News Chronicle, argued: "There is nothing in modern politics to match the crude confusion of the Rothermere mentality. It blesses and encourages every swashbuckler who threatens the peace of Europe - not to mention direct British interests - and then clamours for more and more armaments with which to defend Britain presumably against his Lordship's pet foreign bully." (66)

After the signing of the Munich Agreement, Captain Fritz Wiedemann sent a letter to Lord Rothermere stating: "You know that the Führer greatly appreciates the work the princess did to straighten relations between our countries... it was her groundwork which made the Munich agreement possible." Princess Stephanie wrote to Hitler at the same time congratulating him on his achievement: "There are moments in life that are so great - I mean, where one feels so deeply that it is almost impossible to find the right words to express one's feelings - Herr Reich Chancellor, please believe me that I have shared with you the experience and emotion of every phase of the events of the last weeks. What none of your subjects in their wildest dreams dared hope for - you have made come true. That must be the finest thing a head of state can give to himself and to his people. I congratulate you with all my heart." (67)

At the end of 1938 Adolf Hitler began to turn against Princess Stephanie. Officially it was because he had discovered that she was Jewish. However, he had in fact known about this for at least three years. Hitler told Fritz Wiedemann that he should break off all contact with her. Leni Riefenstahl suggested that Wiedemann's "relationship with Hitler became more distant because of his half-Jewish girlfriend." However, we know from other sources that Hitler had known she was Jewish since 1934. (68)

Fritz Wiedemann had tried to get Adolf Hitler to tone down some of his more extremist policies. Wiedemann's advice on the negotiations at Munich was also badly received. In his diary on 24th October 1938, Joseph Goebbels wrote: "The Führer tells me incidentally that he really has to get rid of Wiedemann now. During the Munich crisis he apparently did not perform well and lost his nerve completely. And when things get serious he has no use for men like that." (69)

According to Martha Schad, the author of Hitler's Spy Princess (2002), Hitler discovered that Wiedemann was having an affair with Stephanie von Hohenlohe: "Early in January 1939 the game of hide-and-seek around the Princess Stephanie and Fritz Wiedemann came to an abrupt end. Hitler found out that Wiedemann was Stephanie's lover." On 19th January 1939, Wiedemann was told to report to Hitler. Wiedemann later recalled what Hitler told him: "I have no use for men in high positions - by that he probably meant Schacht - and in my immediate circle - that meant me - who are not in agreement with my policies. I am dismissing you as adjutant and appointing you Counsul-General in San Francisco. You can accept the post or decline it." Wiedemann replied briefly that he accepted the position. It was clear that Hitler was not that upset with Wiedemann as he arranged for him to be paid 4,000 Reichsmarks a year more than his predecessor in the post. (70)

Adolf Hitler had also turned against Princess Stephanie because of a report on her activities compiled by Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS and the Gestapo. Himmler claimed that he had received information from an undercover agent of the German Secret Service in England that suggested that Princess Stephanie was working for British intelligence. Hitler ordered her arrest but this was never carried out. (71)

In his diary Joseph Goebbels makes it clear that Princess Stephanie and Wiedemann and become a problem that had to be dealt with: "Princess Hohenlohe now turns out to be a Viennese half-Jewess. She has her fingers in everything. Wiedemann works with her a great deal. He may well have her to thank for his present predicament, because without her around he probably would not have made such a feeble showing in the Czech crisis." (72)

Wiedemann told Hermann Goering that Hitler warned him about Princess Stephanie: "When I took my leave of the Führer, he warned me against Princess H in the interest of my future career. The Führer does not believe the princess can be relied upon and thinks that various anti-German articles in the foreign press can be traced back to her. I have informed the Führer: (1) that I vouch absolutely for the princess's integrity and loyalty to the Third Reich and its Führer. (2) that the course I have given the princess, as a foreigner, no information that might not be in the national interest. I cannot prove these things, but on the other hand I can prove that the princess had a decisive influence on the attitude of Lord Rothermere and thus of the Daily Mail." (73)

However, MI5 was under the impression that Hitler had dismissed Princess Stephanie and Wiedemann because they had not given their full support to the invasion of Czechoslovakia: A MI5 officer wrote: "At the time of the German entry into Czechoslovakia the princess had expressed disaaproval 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." (74)

Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe decided to move to London and resumed contact with Lord Rothermere. He gave her a cheque for £5,000 and told her that the contract had come to an end. Rothermere continued to write to Hitler and other leading Nazis. In June, 1939, he told Hitler: "My dear Führer. I have watched with understanding and interest the progress of your great and superhuman work in regenerating your country." (75) The following month Rothermere wrote to Joachim von Ribbentrop: "Our two great Nordic countries should pursue resolutely a policy of appeasement for, whatever anyone may say, our two great countries should be the leaders of the world." (76)

Meanwhile, Princess Stephanie announced she was to sue the press baron for what she alleged was breach of contract. She hired one of the most fashionable law firms in London, Theodore Goddard & Partners; the solicitors who, in 1936, had handled the divorce case of her friend, Wallis Simpson. MI5 began to take a close interest in the case. One report said: "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 Scloss Leopoldskron by Herr Hitler for signal services rendered for him." (77)

In March 1939 the MI6 passport control officer at Victoria Station arrested Princess Stephanie's Hungarian lawyer, Erno Wittman. The arresting officer reported what he discovered that Wittman was carrying: "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. In the main, the letters referred to the possible restoration of the throne in Hungary and shed a good deal of light on the character and activities of the princess." It was decided to pass on this information to MI5. Amongst the documents were several letters from Lord Rothermere to Adolf Hitler. This included a "a very indiscreet letter to the Führer congratulating him on his walk into Prague". The letter urged Hitler to follow up his coup with the invasion of Romania. (78)

It seems that Adolf Hitler had given Princess Stephanie photocopies of the letters Lord Rothermere had been sending him. As Jim Wilson, the author of Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stephanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) has pointed out: "These letters were secretly circulated within the intelligence services and senior civil servants in key government ministries... 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 MI5 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." (79)

On 4th September, 1939, the morning after the outbreak of the Second World War, Rothermere's Daily Mail had a powerful patriotic leader: "No statesman, no man with any decency could think of sitting at the same table with Hitler or his henchman the trickster von Ribbentrop, or any other of the gang. We fight against the blackest tyranny that has ever held men in bondage. We fight to defend and to restore freedom and justice on earth." (80)

Behind the scenes, Rothermere was expressing different views. On 24th September 1939 Lord Rothermere had his close colleague and "ghost", Collin Brooks, draft a letter to Neville Chamberlain urging the futility of trying to save Poland and warning that "whether victorious or not, Britain will emerge from such a conflict with her social and economic fabric destroyed", which could mean "a revolution of the Left in these islands, which might be more deadly than the war itself". (81) According to Rothermere's biographer, David George Boyce: "But the letter was never sent (despite Rothermere's fear that Britain was ‘finished’), because of the ‘national mood and temper’, a nice example of the would-be opinion leader and press baron being led by the public itself." (82)

Three weeks after the outbreak of the Second World War Rothermere's lawyers attempted to have the legal action stopped. A member of his law firm went to the Home Office and denounced Princess Stephanie as a German agent and suggested that she should be deported. If the case reached open court it would receive huge publicity and would undermine public morale. This was supported by information from MI5 who had evidence from her Austrian maid, Anna Stoffl, that she was a Nazi spy. (83)

However, the Home Office came to the conclusion that it would be improper to intervene. The case reached the High Court on 8th November, 1939. Princess Stephanie's case was that in 1932, when Rothermere had promised to engage her as his European political representative on an annual salary of £5,000, she had understood the engagement was ongoing. She made it clear to the judge that if she lost the case she would not hesitate to publish her memoirs in America. This story would reveal Lord Rothermere's relationship with Hitler and his "numerous, often indiscreet, liaisons with women". (84)

Sir William Jowitt asked Princess Stephanie if she had used the services of Fritz Wiedemann to put pressure on Lord Rothermere. She replied: "I have not." Then a letter from Wiedemann to Lord Rothermere was read out in court. It included the following passage: "You know that the Führer greatly appreciates the work the princess did to straighten relations between our countries... it was her groundwork which made the Munich agreement possible." (85) However, the judge would not allow Princess Stephanie to read out the letters exchanged by Lord Rothermere and Hitler. (86)

Lord Rothermere, who had engaged a legal team of seventeen to mount his defence, told the judge, it was preposterous that he had agreed to support Princess Stephanie "for the rest of her life". He admitted that between 1932 and 1938 he had paid her considerably more than £51,000 (almost £2 million in today's money). He added that she was always "pestering and badgering me" for money. That is why he sent her away to Berlin to be with Hitler.

Jowitt told the court that Princess Stephanie had his client's letters photocopied behind his back by the Special Photographic Bureau of the Department of the German Chancellor. He also defended Rothermere's right to enter into negotiations with Hitler in an effort to prevent a war between the two countries. "Who can say whether if Lord Rothermere had succeeded in the endeavours which he made, we might not be in the position in which we are today?" (87)

After six days of legal argument Justice Tucker ruled against Princess Stephanie. Soon after the trial finished, Lord Rothermere used Lady Ethel Snowden as an intermediary and sent Stephanie a message to say he would meet all her legal costs if she undertook to get out of the country. This she agreed to do but he thought she was going back to Europe instead of going to the United States to publish her account of her relationship with Rothermere. However, he was able to use his considerable power to make sure her memoirs were never published. A MI5 officer recorded that Lord Rothermere had probably "offered her a considerable sum to leave the country". (88)

The court case revealed that Lord Rothermere had been involved in secret negotiations with Adolf Hitler. One newspaper, The Yorkshire Post, raised serious questions about this issue: "The danger of these negotiations was two-fold. There was first the danger that Lord Rothermere might unwittingly give the Nazis a misleading impression of the state of opinion in this country; and there was also the danger that Lord Rothermere might - again unwittingly - allow himself to be used as a vehicle for the extremely subtle manoeuvres of Nazi propaganda.... discussions with heads of foreign governments are best left of persons whose status is on both sides clearly understood. A newspaper owner has great responsibilities towards the public of his own country; he should be particularly chary of placing himself in situations liable to misinterpretation, or abuse abroad." (89)

On 14th November, 1939, Margot Asquith (Lady Oxford) wrote to Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe: "Dearest Stephanie, We are all with you. I have always told you Rothermere is no good. I respect you for having challenged him. Never mind the outcome. He is finished here. I know what I am saying. The most important things in life are: (i) To love and to be loved. (ii). To be trusted. Rothermere has neither." (90)

In the House of Commons the Liberal Party MP, Geoffrey Le Mesurier Mander, asked the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison, why Princess Stephanie, a "notorious member of the Hitler spy organisation" was being allowed to leave the country. Morrison replied that he needed notice of the question but in any case she had been granted only a "no return" permit and there were no circumstances in which she would be allowed to return to Britain. (91)

Princess Stephanie and her mother left Southampton on a ship bound for New York City on 11th December, 1939. Although she travelled using a false name, journalists were there to greet her. Helen Worden Erskine described her in the New York World Telegram as having: "Her auburn hair combed straight back. She wore a silver-fox turban with a provocative pink rose perched on it, a three-quarter-length silver-fox fur coat, a black dress of silk jersey (an Alix model), and black kid Pergugia sandals with sky-blue platform soles. Gorgeous diamond ear-clips were fastened on her small, pretty ears, and a scintillating, diamond clip lightened her dark dress." (92)

The first person she phoned was Wiedemann who was based in San Francisco. They agreed that they would not meet straight away in case they were being followed by the FBI. Instead, she concentrated on having meetings with literary agents and publishers. A representative for Hearst Corporation made the point: "She (Princess Stephanie) must explain the true story of the activities that brought her so much uncalled for publicity." She was also asked to write another article entitled "The Intelligence of Adolf Hitler". It soon became clear that she was unwilling to write or talk about her activities as a spy. (93)

Charles Higham commented that at this time: "Wiedemann was handsome, with black wavy hair, chiseled features, a powerful jaw, and a boxer's physique. Fluent in many languages, shrewdly intelligent, he was the toast of society on both sides of the Atlantic. The princess had been quite pretty as a young woman but had not aged well. The addition of years had filled out her figure and rendered her features far less attractive. Nevertheless, she had immense charm and vivacity; she was witty, sparkling, high-strung, and wonderful company. She was also one of the most dangerous women in Europe." (94)

An internal memo sent by the editor of Town & Country made it clear that Princess Stephanie was a difficult woman to deal with: "She says that up to 1932 she was a private citizen and cannot understand why she has become so celebrated and misunderstood. In order to clear herself, she should start with a little sketch of her youth, marriage, early private life, and then her connection with Lord Rothermere and the political situation which brought her into prominence... While everyone wondered what was going on when she lived at Leopoldskron, the princess says she was trying to save things - furniture, etc. - for Reinhardt, and that she did many kind things for émigrés through her connections." (95)

The New York Times published a story concerning Princess Stephanie's role in "Nazi diplomacy". It claimed that "The Princess is without doubt the star among a whole group of female members of the former German aristocracy who had been recruited by Hitler for a wide variety of operations, many of a secret nature. They have been acting as political spies, propaganda hostesses, social butterflies and ladies of mystery... On orders from the Nazi party, Princess Hohenlohe has placed the heads of Lords, Counts, and other highly placed personages at the feet of Hitler." (96)

The literary agents Curtis Brown & Co provided Princess Stephanie with a ghost writer, Rudolf Kommer. He gave her some advice after their first meeting: "There are still a few idiots who misunderstand you. Admittedly - you can't hang an 'anti-Hitler' placard round your neck. But you know exactly who this is all about. The world is ablaze and neutrality is something absolutely unrealistic. Those who are lukewarm will be damned whatever happens. Show your true colours - that is the watchword!" (97)

Fritz Wiedemann was worried about what Princess Stephanie might say in her book. On 3rd March 1940 he wrote: "Before we do any more work on this (the book), we must talk about it first. You must surely realise that the whole world will know you have certain information that you can only have obtained through me. You must, after all, think of my position. Several books have already been published, which deal with exactly the same subject: so readers will only be interested in something extraordinarily sensational... We have to talk about all this. Writing letters can lead to too many misunderstandings." (98)

Wiedemann also established the German-American Business League. Members included the owners of 1,036 small firms. Among its rules were that member companies would purchase only from Germany, they would strictly boycott Jewish firms and employ only Aryans. He told a meeting in San Francisco: "You are citizens of the United States, which has allied itself with an enemy of the German nation. The time has come when you may have to decide which side to take... One duty lies with the Mother country., the other with the adopted country. Blood is thicker than ink... Germany is the land of the fathers and regardless of consequences, you should not disregard the traditional heritage which is yours." (99)

On 28th May 1940 Princess Stephanie arrived in California. The couple arranged to meet in the General Grant Grove National Park. Their telephone conversations were being monitored and FBI agents were able to take several photographs of them together. They then drove to the Sequoia National Park where they rented a cabin as "Mr and Mrs Fred Winter" from San Francisco. With the co-operation of the park wardens the agents secured cabin no. 545, from which anyone entering or leaving Wiedemann's cabin could be observed. (100)

Wiedemann returned the next day to 1808 Floribunda Avenue, Hillsborough, the residence of the German Consul-General. He then took the decision to let Princess Stephanie and her mother live with him. In a letter sent to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, he explained: "One of the circumstances under which my wife and I have taken the Princess as a guest into our home is that she is about to publish her memoirs, for which various publishers have offered her advances of up to $40,000." (101)

Wiedemann had recruited Alice Crockett as a German agent. However, she became a FBI informant. She told them he was directing the activities of the German-American Bund and was active "in secretly storing large quantities of ammunition in the USA, and more particularly in the eastern portion of the United States and New Jersey; that this ammunition was to be used by members of the German-American Bund in fighting against the government of the United States". Wiedemann told Crockett he was working with the famous transatlantic aviator, Charles Lindbergh. He told Crockett that Lindbergh was "the best propagandist in America for Germany and Nazism" and that he was "working for and with the Nazis". (102)

The FBI kept a close watch on Princess Stephanie. In a memo written by J. Edgar Hoover, it noted: "Stephanie von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg, who uses various aliases, is very close to Fritz Wiedemann, the German Consul-General in San Francisco... and in the past has been suspected by the French, British and American authorities of working as an international spy for the German government... The princess is described as extremely intelligent, dangerous and cunning, and as a spy 'worse than 10,000 men'... I would like to stress emphatically that in my opinion this woman's visa ought not to be renewed. I would further suggest that she be deported from the United States at the earliest possible moment." (103)

On 27th November 1940, Princess Stephanie and Wiedemann, met Sir William Wiseman, the former head of the British Secret Service in the western hemisphere, and now a partner in the Wall Street banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Company. Brigadier General Sherman Miles, Chief of Military Intelligence suggested that Wiseman was a member of the same group of Englishment that had negotiated with the Nazis in the past through men like Axel Wenner-Gren, Torkild Rieber and James D. Mooney. (104)

The meeting took place in suite 1024-1026 of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco. According to the German historian, Martha Schad, Wiseman was working on behalf of a group headed by Lord Halifax: "Sir William Wiseman was known to be the mouthpiece of a political group in Britain headed by Lord Halifax. These individuals were pinning their hopes on being able to bring about a lasting peace between Great Britain and the German Reich." The meeting was bugged by the FBI. It was recorded on tape and transcribed as an 111-page document. (105)

Wiseman then went on to have a meeting with Herbert Bayard Swope, the famous journalist, who conveyed a message from Lord Beaverbrook, the owner of several important newspapers, that he was trying to arrange a meeting with Lord Halifax, the former British Foreign Secretary. Over the next few days Wiseman had a series of discussions with several high-level diplomats. A useful contact in the State Department was Lytle Hull, a cousin of Cordell Hull. Wiedemann later claimed that Lytle Hull was providing him with inside information. (106)

On 13th January 1941 J. Edgar Hoover sent President Franklin D. Roosevelt received a 30-page summary of the meeting. He claimed the object of this encounter was to work out a plan for persuading Adolf Hitler to make a separate peace with Britain. "The Princess stated that she had not seen Hitler since January 1939. Wiseman then suggested that Hitler might think she was going to Germany on behalf of the British. In reply to this remark, the Princess stated she would have to take that chance but that Hitler was genuinely fond of her and that he would look forward to her coming, and she thought Hitler would listen to her." (107)

The FBI leaked the contents of these undercover meetings to British intelligence. As a result, Wiseman was warned not to have any more contacts with Princess Stephanie and Wiedemann. President Roosevelt now decided to take action and gave a direct order to US Attorney General Francis Biddle: "That Hohenlohe woman ought to be got out of the country as a matter of good discipline. Have her put on a boat to Japan or Vladivostok. She is a Hungarian and I do not think the British would take her." (108)

Sir William Wiseman was followed everywhere by car, train, and plane by FBI agents. Lord Beaverbrook cabled that he wanted Wiseman to contact Lord Halifax, the new ambassador for Britain in the United States, as soon as he arrived in Washington. There were several meetings between Wiseman and former President Herbert Hoover, Herbert Bayard Swope, and "others, apparently on the matter of the negotiated peace." (109)

On 8th March, 1941, Princess Stephanie was arrested on the orders of Major Lemuel Schofield, head of the United States Immigration and Naturalisation Service. A few days later Schofield visited her at the detention centre. According to Jim Wilson, the author of Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stephanie Von Hohenlohe (2011): "As she had done so successfully so often before, she switched on her undoubted sexual charms and flirted with her captor. Schofield was hardly a handsome catch. He was obese with large, ugly features, but he had authority and influence. Despite his senior position of trust in the American immigration service, Schofield succumbed willingly to the princess' seductive wiles. In the way so many influential men had done before him, he found he could not resist her." (110)

On 19th May 1941, in a move that contradicted the President's specific order, Schofield released Princess Stephanie on $25,000 bail on "condition she informed the immigration service of where she was living; made no contact whatsoever with Wiedemann in San Francisco; or had any contact with any other foreign government; and gave no interviews nor made any public declarations." Schofield told the press: "While in custody the Princess Stephanie has cooperated with the Department of Justice and has furnished information of interest. The Department believes her release from custody will not be adverse to the interests and welfare of this country." (111)

Drew Pearson, wrote in the Washington Times-Herald that Princess Stephanie had paid for her freedom with "some amazing revelations about subversive operations in this country and Britain". Pearson's article went on to say that the princess had told Schofield that Widemann had upset Adolf Hitler because of his friendship with Rudolf Hess, who had recently flown to England on his famous peace mission. He added that she had given Immigration officials a list of Nazi sympathizers in Britain, including Lord Rothermere, who had been trying to effect a negotiated peace with Hitler. (112)

Princess Stephanie and her 89 year-old mother had moved into the Raleigh Hotel in Washington. Schofield also took a room at the hotel. FBI agents kept a close watch on their activities and reported: "When Schofield was in the hotel... he spent the whole time with Princess Hohenlohe, either in her room or his. On one or two occasions it was obvious that Princess Hohenlohe had spent the whole night with Major Schofield, as she was found in his room at 8.30 or 9 a.m. (113)

During this period Major Lemel Schofield wrote to Stephanie: "Everything about you is new and different and gets me excited. You are the most interesting person I have ever met. You dress better than anyone else, and every time you come into a room everyone else fades out of the picture... Because of you I do so many crazy things, because I am mad about you." (114)

On 8th December 1941, the day after Japan carried out its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Princess Stephanie and her mother went to visit friends in Philadelphia. While leaving a cinema, Stephanie was arrested by the FBI. She was refused permission to phone Lemuel Schofield and was taken to the Gloucester Immigration Centre in New Jersey. Soon afterwards US Attorney General Francis Biddle signed an order citing that Princess Stephanie was a potential danger to public security and peace. The FBI searched her home and found the Nazi Party's Gold Medal of Honour given to her by Adolf Hitler in 1938. Her son, Prince Franz Hohenlohe, was also arrested and interned. (115)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was furious when he discovered that Princess Stephanie had not been deported. He wrote to J. Edgar Hoover: "Once more I have to bother you about that Hohenlohe woman. The affair verges not merely on the ridiculous, but on the disgraceful... If the immigration authorities do not stop once and for all showing favour to Hohenlohe, I will be forced to order an inquiry. The facts will not be very palatable and will go right back to her first arrest and her intimacy with Schofield. I am aware that she is interned in the Gloucester centre, but by all accounts she enjoys special privileges there. To be honest, this is all turning into a scandal that requires extremely drastic and immediate action."(116)

This was followed by a letter to Attorney General Biddle: "Unless the Immigration Service cleans up once and for all the favouritism shown to that Hohenlohe woman, I will have to have an investigation made and the facts will not be very palatable, going all the way back to her first arrest and continuing through her intimacy with Schofield... Honestly, this is getting to be the kind of scandal that calls for very drastic and immediate action." (117)

The Attorney General took immediate action and transferred Princess Stephanie to a more remote internment centre, Camp Seagoville, near Dallas. Major Lemuel Schofield attempted to obtain special privileges for her, including the right to make telephone calls outside the camp. When this was discovered Schofield was forced to resign and he returned to New York City. An FBI agent reported that she was "distraught and emotional" when she heard the news. However, he added that he felt she was "a consummate actress" and her "emotions were artificial and designed to win my sympathy." (118)

Princess Stephanie wrote to Sir William Wiseman, complaing about her situation: "As far as I know, you met Mr Wiedemann twice. The first meeting took place in your suite at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. I was not present, but saw you the same evening shortly before you left for New York. On that occasion you told me how affected you had been by Mr Wiedemann's obvious keenness and sincerity, and you thanked me for making the meeting possible. You stressed that your government would not fail to show its gratitude, when the time came. The second and last meeting took place some months later, again at a dinner in your hotel suite. That time I was there. You gave a detailed report to the Washington official. You even showed him a telegram you had received from official quarters in London, thanking you for your useful work and acknowledging your valuable reports. You offered to disclose these reports, if desired. You went on to emphasise that my article on the subject was in no way a hostile act, that, on the contrary, my activities had been extremely praiseworthy, and that my intention had been exclusively to serve Britain and the cause of democracy." (119)

In March 1944 a review board recommended that Princess Stephanie should be released: "We are convinced that her position is one of determined and unqualified opposition to Hitler, and that she earnestly supports the Allied cause. It is our view that, once she is at liberty again, she will do everything in her power to further our war effort." However, President Franklin D. Roosevelt overruled the board and ordered she should not be released for the duration of the war." She was eventually released on parole in May 1945. (120)

Princess Stephanie went to live with Lemuel Schofield in New York City. Every so often details of her Nazi past appeared in newspapers. In March 1947, leading newspaper columnist, Robert Ruark, with a column syndicated throughout the United States, pointed out that Princess Stephanie was a former close friend of Adolf Hitler and had been "his most trusted female spy". He went on to say: "I am not suggesting that this charming creature should be stood up against the nearest wall and shot, because I am not basically vindictive by nature. But in Nuremberg we have strung up a number of her old buddies for similar misdeeds, and, judged on her connections with high-ranking Nazis, Hohenlohe is a legitimate candidate for anyone's noose." (121)

They lived on a farm near Phoenixville in Pennsylvania, as man and wife until Schofield died in 1954. She then went to live with multi-millionaire Albert Monroe Greenfield, at his ranch at Cobble Close Farm in New Jersey. During this period she was given a job as special correspondent for the magazine, Washington Diplomat. In July 1947 The San Francisco Examiner published a story saying that she was being feted in Long Island society: "The Princess is pretty well known locally. Not favourably. She was once an ardent and well-subsidised Nazi good-will ambassador." (122)

Lemuel Schofield died following a heart-attack in 1954. An article appeared in the Philadelphia Times-Reporter suggesting that Schofield had been evading taxes for the past six years and that the sum owed to the Internal Revenue Service, including interest, was in the region of one million dollars. The tax inspectors carried out an investigation and discovered that Princess Stephanie had not been paying her taxes and it was estimated that she owed $250,000. However, she won the case on appeal. (123)

In 1959 she moved back to Europe and made contact with Fritz Wiedemann. She helped him write his memoirs, The Man who Wanted to Command (1964).The book makes no reference whatever to their relationship and the years they spent together. Princess Stephanie also became a very well-paid contract as a consultant to the publishers of Quick Magazine. She resumed her relationship with Drew Pearson and as a result he published several articles in the magazine. Princess Stephanie also arranged for the magazine to interview John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. (124)

On 10th July 1966, she was given a contract with Stern Magazine. "Your task is to develop story opportunities for Stern: in particular you have said you are willing to use your connection with figures in public life, or of public interest, in order to give our reporters and photographers the opportunity to produce stories about these personalities for Stern... For this work you will receive the monthly sum of $2,000. Travel and other expenses arising from editorial assignments will be reimbursed by us." Princess Stephanie also worked closely with Axel Springer. (125)

Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe died in Geneva, Switzerland on 13th June, 1972. Her friend, Ray McHugh of Copley Newspapers, wrote: "With her unmistakable style and the flair of her 19th century ancestors.... she chatted and flirted and spun like a top for sixty long years through the drawing-rooms of Europe and America... The old Europe will mourn her death; the young Europe is the poorer, because it no longer has the chance to know her." (126)

The Middle Ages

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The English Civil War

Industrial Revolution

First World War

Russian Revolution

Nazi Germany

(1) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 2

(2) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe (2011) pages 28-29

(3) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 8

(4) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe (2011) pages 31-32

(5) Prince Franz Hohenlohe, The Fabulous Princess: Life of Princess Stephanie Hohenlohe (1977) page 37

(6) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe (2011) page 35

(7) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 16

(8) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) pages 34-37

(9) The Daily Mail (21st June, 1927)

(10) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 20

(11) Lord Rothermere, letter to Stephanie von Hohenlohe (April 1928)

(12) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 40

(13) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 43

(14) The Daily Telegraph (1st March, 2005)

(15) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 40

(16) James Pool, Who Financed Hitler: The Secret Funding of Hitler's Rise to Power (1979) page 314

(17) Harold Harmsworth, 1st Lord Rothermere, The Daily Mail (10th July, 1933)

(18) Adrian Addison, Mail Men: The Unauthorized Story of the Daily Mail (2017) page 99

(19) Rothay Reynolds, The Daily Mail (27th September, 1930)

(20) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 46

(21) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 48

(22) Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe Papers (Box 2)

(23) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 46

(24) Adrian Addison, Mail Men: The Unauthorized Story of the Daily Mail (2017) page 100

(25) Adolf Hitler, letter to Harold Harmsworth, 1st Lord Rothermere (December, 1933)

(26) S. J. Taylor, The Great Outsiders: Northcliffe, Rothermere and the Daily Mail (1996) page 294

(27) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 36

(28) Richard Griffiths, Fellow Travellers of the Right (1979) page 164

(29) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 68

(30) Harold Harmsworth, 1st Lord Rothermere, letter to Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe (July, 1936)

(31) Harold Harmsworth, 1st Lord Rothermere, letter to Adolf Hitler (December, 1936)

(32) Joseph Goebbels, diary entry (7th January 1937)

(33) Lawrence James, Aristocrats: Power, Grace And Decadence (2009) page 373

(34) Adolf Hitler, letter to Harold Harmsworth, 1st Lord Rothermere (20th May 1937)

(35) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 102

(36) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 68

(37) Joseph Goebbels, diary entry (14th September, 1937)

(38) David Pryce-Jones, Unity Mitford: A Quest (1976) page 228

(39) Stephanie von Hohenlohe, unpublished memoirs (c. 1950s)

(40) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) pages 72-73

(41) Adolf Hitler, letter to Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe (28th December, 1937)

(42) Time Magazine (30th January, 1938)

(43) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 35

(44) Stephanie von Hohenlohe, unpublished memoirs (c. 1950s)

(45) Stephanie von Hohenlohe, letter to Harold Harmsworth, 1st Lord Rothermere, (2nd February, 1938)

(46) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 88

(47) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 84

(48) Lord Halifax, diary entry (6th July 1938)

(49) Walford Selby, Diplomatic Twilight, 1930-1940 (1953) page 72

(50) Lord Halifax, diary entry (17th July 1938)

(51) Lord Halifax, memorandum (18th July, 1938)

(52) Charles Higham, Trading with the Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot (1983) page 190

(53) Joseph Goebbels, diary entry (23rd July, 1938)

(54) Walford Selby, the British ambassador to Austria, memorandum (24th July, 1938)

(55) The Daily Express (31st July, 1938)

(56) Fritz Wiedemann, letter to Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of German military intelligence, Abwehr (29th July, 1938)

(57) PRO KV2/1696

(58) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 139

(59) PRO KV2/1697

(60) PRO KV2/1696

(61) Stephanie von Hohenlohe, unpublished memoirs (c. 1950s)

(62) A. J. P. Taylor, British History 1914-1945 (1965) page 527

(63) Peter Neville, Nevile Henderson : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(64) Graham Darby, Hitler, Appeasement and the Road to War (1999) page 56

(65) Harold Harmsworth, 1st Lord Rothermere, telegram to Adolf Hitler (1st October, 1938)

(66) Stephen Dorril, Black Shirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism (2006) page 274

(67) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 103

(68) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 132

(69) Joseph Goebbels, diary entry (24th October 1938)

(70) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) pages 104-105

(71) Heinrich Himmler, intelligence report sent to Adolf Hitler (13th January, 1939)

(72) Joseph Goebbels, diary entry (January 1939)

(73) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) pages 109-110

(74) Military Intelligence (MI5), report (January, 1939)

(75) Harold Harmsworth, 1st Lord Rothermere, letter to Adolf Hitler (17th June, 1939)

(76) Harold Harmsworth, 1st Lord Rothermere, letter to Joachim von Ribbentrop (7th July, 1939)

(77) PRO KV2/1696

(78) The Daily Telegraph (1st March, 2005)

(79) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 137

(80) The Daily Mail (4th September, 1939)

(81) Harold Harmsworth, 1st Lord Rothermere, letter to Neville Chamberlain (24th September 1939)

(82) David George Boyce, Harold Harmsworth, Lord Rothermere : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(83) PRO KV2/1696

(84) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) pages 115-116

(85) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) pages 142-144

(86) The Daily Telegraph (1st March, 2005)

(87) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 117

(88) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 145

(89) The Yorkshire Post (16th November, 1939)

(90) Margot Asquith, letter to Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe (14th November, 1939)

(91) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 146

(92) Helen Worden Erskine, New York World Telegram (22nd December, 1939)

(93) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 123

(94) Charles Higham, Trading with the Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot (1983) page 190

(95) Harry Bull, internal memorandum sent to the editor of the Town & Country (15th January 1940)

(96) The New York Times (22nd January, 1940)

(97) Rudolf Kommer, letter to Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe (May, 1940)

(98) Fritz Wiedemann, letter to Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe (3rd March 1940)

(99) Charles Higham, Trading with the Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot (1983) page 192

(100) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 154

(101) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 131

(102) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 156

(103) J. Edgar Hoover, memorandum sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (13th January, 1941)

(104) Brigadier General Sherman Miles, Chief of Military Intelligence, memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover (14th December, 1940)

(105) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) pages 135-136

(106) Charles Higham, Trading with the Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot (1983) page 195

(107) J. Edgar Hoover, memorandum sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (13th January, 1941)

(108) President Franklin D. Roosevelt, memorandum to US Attorney General Francis Biddle (7th March, 1941)

(109) Charles Higham, Trading with the Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot (1983) page 197

(110) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 156

(111) Charles Higham, Trading with the Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot (1983) page 197

(112) Drew Pearson, Washington Times-Herald (15th June, 1941)

(113) FBI report (July, 1941)

(114) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 151

(115) Jim Wilson, Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stefanie Von Hohenlohe (2011) page 163

(116) President Franklin D. Roosevelt, memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover (17th June 1942)

(117) President Franklin D. Roosevelt, memorandum to US Attorney General Francis Biddle (11th July 1942)

(118) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) pages 152-53

(119) Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe, letter to Sir William Wiseman (15th December, 1942)

(120) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 161

(121) Robert Ruark, syndicated column (26th March, 1947)

(122) The San Francisco Examiner (13th July 1947)

(123) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) page 165

(124) The Daily Telegraph (1st March, 2005)

(125) Martha Schad, Hitler's Spy Princess (2002) pages 176-177

(126) Ray McHugh, letter to Axel Springer (15th June 1972)