PRINCE Edward has defended the Queen Mother against charges that she harboured a personal hatred for the late Duchess of Windsor.
The prince was speaking after the press screening of Edward on Edward, his documentary about the abdication and exile of his great-uncle, the Duke of Windsor.
The Queen Mother - Edward's grandmother - is scarcely mentioned in the two-hour documentary but the prince said: ``There are all sorts of stories in the public domain involving the Queen Mother which I believe are actually fatally inaccurate.
``She, like every other royal lady in the household at the time, was put in an utterly impossible position by Edward's decision to marry a divorcee. They were never going to be able publicly to acknowledge her in any way.
``The inevitable gulf that occurred has been interpreted by people to say that it was a deep seated and personal matter which, from all that I have discovered, just isn't the case.''
The prince's comments contradict the widely held belief that the Queen Mother never forgave the Windsors for pressing her husband, George, on to a throne for which he was unprepared.
The duchess was never granted the title Her Royal Highness, and lived in exile with her husband for most of their lives after they married.
Prince Edward also defends his great-uncle against historians' charges that he collaborated with the Nazis during the war.
In the documentary, made by his own Ardent Production company, he says: ``The duke may have been awkward, selfish, and intransigent to deal with but there's no evidence that he would ever betray his country.''
The lack of documentary evidence has been interpreted by some critics as indicating a cover-up but the prince responded: ``I can't uncover any evidence of that, and I have tried.''
Edward gained privileged access to royal archives in making the programme. Not only the Queen Mother but other members of the royal family, including the Queen, were largely omitted from the documentary, to be screened in two parts later this month.
``That was quite deliberate,'' the prince said. ``I didn't feel it was necessary to put them through that.''
The former Cambridge history student said he found no difficulties in being objective about his subject matter.
``You have to study kings and queens going back a long way. They all tend to be related some way or another, so I am quite used to researching members of my family,'' he said.
Interviewees including the Windsors' friends, servants, courtiers from before the war, were not inhibited by his interviewing, he said.
``Actually the opposite. I think that people were extremely supportive and perhaps were more prepared to talk to me than somebody - dare I say it - with a more journalistic background.''
He insisted the current project, and one to follow on the Queen Mother, did not indicate that Ardent productions would be confined to royal subjects, or that they violated his promise not to capitalise on his royal connections.
``I never said we wouldn't make programmes about the Royal Family. I certainly stated it would never be a staple diet and I hope to God it isn't.''
He felt this was an important story in which he had something to contribute.
q.Edward on Edward, made in association with Desmond Wilcox, will be transmitted on Tuesday, April 23, and Tuesday, April 30, on ITV.
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