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Spring 1936. A man falls into Strangford Lough and has to be fished out. It is a huge humiliation for Hitler’s leading diplomat, Joachim von Ribbentrop. But some say this story is just a myth. Claims and counter-claims swirl around Charles, Marquess of Londonderry and his wife Edith because of their friendly relations with high-ranking Nazis. The mystery of whether Ribbentrop fell into the water on a weekend trip to Mount Stewart house in County Down typifies how accounts of the Londonderrys can diverge wildly.
Earlier in 1936, the Londonderrys had visited Berlin to meet Hitler and Herman Goring at lavish social events. Incredibly, they have brought their 14-year-old daughter, Lady Mairi, who ends up chatting with Hitler about a comedy film they have both seen. After the trip there are adoring letters sent to thank the Nazis for their generous hospitality.
But clouds are gathering. Just days after their return, German troops march into the Rhineland – a move strictly forbidden by the Versailles treaty that concluded World War One. Is Europe on the brink of another war? Charles believes Germany to be in the right and he and Edith make more visits to Germany. But when they invite Ribbentrop to Mount Stewart it is, for many, a step too far. The criticism in Westminster and among the wider public is intense.
However, Charles thinks that Germany can be reigned in – if they can be brought to the international negotiating table. He is inspired by his famous ancestor, Lord Castlereagh, who re-drew the map of Europe to bring a century of peace after the Napoleonic Wars. But no one in government wants to listen to him and his own antisemitism may mean he has more in common with the Nazis than he thinks.