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[Earl of Crawford]
DICTATED

7, Audley Square, W.1.

28 x 37

Dear John

I was intrigued by your letter of
the 13th about the Duke of Windsor's desire to visit
you. I have already heard Ronald groaning with vexation
about the projected visit to Washington but I realised at once
that your problem is infinitely the more delicate - but so
much so with the complication of British Territory and a
compact R.C. population that I cannot help feeling the Duke will
abandon the idea. We have heard nothing about it here.

When he announced his transatlantic trip, couched in quasi-
provocative terms, Washington pricked up its ears. It is true that he
has staid in Paris Vienna & Berlin without sleeping at the
Embassies, but he virtually asked to go to Ronald who had to consult
his masters in Whitehall. He was in fact summoned to Balmoral
to talk about it, at the moment when Roosevelt was making his
speeches about the European War fever which so effectively thrust
Judge Black into the background. Exalted personages are
not only nervous about the visit to America, but they view
it with serious and growing alarm. The topic absorbs