UK devised WWII plan to save royal family from Nazis

Details of top-secret operation emerge after death of elite officer involved in thwarting potential Hitler plot to force London’s surrender

British authorities devised a secret plan during World War II to smuggle the Royal Family out of London to save them from a potential Nazi kidnap plot, according to a new book.

Andrew Stewart, the author of “The King’s Private Army,” told the Daily Mail that the plan was devised following reports that Adolf Hitler had ordered the abduction of the Royal Family in order to force a British surrender during the war.

“According to German sources, Hitler devised a plan for bombers to launch a dive-bomb attack on Central London. Then paratroopers, dropped from low-flying aircraft, would land in the grounds of Buckingham Palace and capture any members of the Royal Family they could find,” Stewart said.

King George VI, his wife Elizabeth and their two young daughters Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) and Margaret were told to have their bags packed ready for an emergency evacuation from Buckingham Palace to a private mansion in Worcestershire, central England. Food and weapons were “secretly stockpiled” at Madresfield Court, and local farmers “trained to assassinate Germans and blow up vehicles” were drafted to help defend the family should the need arise.

Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering on March 16, 1938 (photo credit: CC BY-SA/Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-2004-1202-504/Wikimedia)

The plan, dubbed “Operation Rocking Horse,” involved 200 members of the elite Coldstream Guards led by Lieutenant Colonel James Coats, who commanded the book’s eponymous “King’s army.” The plan also prepared for the emergency evacuation of the British government to Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace also located in central England.

According to Stewart, such was the level of secrecy that there were never any written orders drafted, and “destinations were only ever referred to by codewords contained in sealed envelopes.” No additional troops were deployed to Madresfield Court, which was protected by its own moat.

Madresfield Court, a 12th century mansion in central England at the heart of a reported plan to stop the Nazi abduction of the British Royal Family during WWII (Wikimedia Commons, Trevor Rickard, CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Mail said much of the information in the book was provided by Brigadier Sir Jeffrey Darell, a Coldstream officer involved in the plan. Darell, who insisted that the details be kept secret until after his death, passed away in 2013.

The plan was never put into operation, as Hitler became focused on the Russian front in the wake of the Nazi defeat in the 1940 Battle of Britain.