Edward VIII had been King of England for eleven months when, in 1936, he abdicated to marry his mistress, a middle-class U.S. citizen named Wallis Simpson. In 1937 the cuple visited Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden, and in 1940 negotiations took place between the ex-monarch and the Reich Chancellor. Desperate to put Edward beyond Hitler’s reach, the British government appointed him governor of the Bahamas. German agents tried to prevent Edward’s departure by force, but their «Unternehmen Willi» – a plan to kidnap Edward in Spain – failed. Ultimately, the British secret service MI6 succeeded in bringing Edward and Wallis, against their resistance and despite the presence of a bomb on board the ship, to the Caribbean, where they lived from then on out of Hitler’s range.
The year is 1939. The young Scotsman Ajax McDoggle has no sooner left Oxford College when he gets the opportunity to become valet to Edward VIII. The English king had abdicated the throne and was enjoying life on the contintent with his bourgeois wife. Ajax can hardly believe his luck. Not only does a well-paid job lie in store for him, but also fabulous parties in Paris and Madrid and sailing trips on the Côte d’Azur. But then the British secret service approaches him and demands that he spy on Edward. The ex-monarch is suspected of trying to ally himself with Adolf Hitler. Ajax reluctantly agrees to supply intelligence for the secret service’s socalled Windsor file. At first, the accusations against Edward and his wife, Wallis, turn out to be unfounded. But then agents of the German Abwehr show up at the royal villa near Lisbon, and suddely everthing seems possible. While German and English agents chase Ajax and Edward through Nice, Madrid, and Rome, Ajax tries fo find out what the ex-king’s intentions really are.