Parisian Charles Bedaux (1886–1944) worked a series of menial jobs before he moved to U.S in 1906 at 20. There he worked digging tunnels under New York’s East River. Thank you History Grand Rapids
![]()
Bedaux’s connection to Grand Rapids Mich began in 1915 when F Stuart Foote, general manager of Imperial Furniture Co., launched him. Working for the furniture industry, Bedaux installed the Bedaux System, a leading contribution to scientific management. Plus he did efficiency engineering for other local industries. By 1916 he’d built consultancy firms in Europe and US.
A naturalised American citizen in July 1917, Bedaux developed a close relationship with American Fern Lombard (1893-1972), a Grand Rapids society favourite. He left his first wife and courted this daughter of a prominent lawyer. When his divorce came through, Charles remarried.
With homes in US and France, and a growing fortune, Bedaux purchased the 60-room Château de Candé estate, Touraine in 1926. Bedaux poured his money into the C16th castle, doing renovations between 1927-30. The chateau was filled with rare art treasures and special architecture, and was modernised with water, electricity and central heating, and with his own golf course.
In Nov 1929 Charles & Fern began a 5-month African safari, a hunting expedition that was filmed: from Kenya, to Sudan, French Equatorial Africa, Nigeria, Sahara, Algiers & lastly Morocco. Connections in these countries later helped Bedaux when he was working with the German war government.
Duke and Duchess of Windsor
Charles and Fern were leaders of French society, mixing with wealthy families on the Riviera. And as Hitler began to move Germany’s industry forward in the early 1930s, Bedaux also developed a close relationship with a number of high profile German leaders, includingJoachim von Ribbentrop & Otto Abetz, Nazi ambassador to France.
![]()
With an intimate friendship well established with Wallis Simpson, Charles and Fern were aware of the constitutional crisis facing U.K in 1936. With the death of King George V in Jan 1936, Edward was crowned King Edward VIII. The King’s relationship with oft-married Simpson was very unpopular in Britain and many wondered about the new King’s relationship with Hitler’s Germany.
In Oct 1936 the King wanted to marry Wallis. The constitutional crisis continued with Wallis leaving Britain to stay with friends in France. King Edward abdicated in Dec 1936 with his brother becoming King George VI the next day. Charles and Fern Bedaux invited Wallis to stay at their Chateau de Cande while the turmoil continued.
With her divorce finalised in May 1937, the royals reunited on Bedaux estate. Edward proposed, and they were married at Château de Candé in June 1937, with the famous English photographer Cecil Beaton taking photos. No member of the British Royal Family attended the wedding!!
![]()
The Duke and Duchess on the last formal visit in Germany
meeting the Führer at his Berchtesgaden, 1937
Arriving in Berlin that Oct, the couple were greeted by an SS band playing God Save The King! Parties and receptions followed and the Duchess, snubbed in UK, happily noted that all the leading Nazis bowed to her. The Windsors toured factories and coalmines, and Edward rewarded his hosts with warm speeches praising Germany and a Nazi salute.
When Paris was occupied by the Germans in WW2, Bedaux became even closer to leading Nazi and Vichy figures. After France fell in 1940, he was appointed as an economic advisor to Vichy and the Reich. Bedaux was preparing to build a pipeline to transport oils across the Sahara for the Vichy French government and the Nazis. In Oct 1941 he was ordered by Abwehr II to command a mission to capture oil refineries in Persia from his former client; and he would protect it from Allied bombardment prior to a planned German invasion of Iraq & Persia. But by late 1942, strategic events (eg Battle of Stalingrad) had rendered the operation unworkable, and Bedaux was dropped by Berlin. Nonetheless counter-sabotage plan still looked suspicious and Bedaux was later investigated by FBI and MI5.
Bedaux was arrested in Algeria after the Nov 1942 Allied Invasion, on orders of Gen Dwight Eisenhower, and was kept in custody without charge for a year. [After Charles Bedaux’s arrest for treason, Fern Bedaux was interned in Paris. Then released through her connection to Otto Abetz, Nazi Ambassador in France].
Charles was sent to the U.S for a trial before a military commission, for treason and communicating with the enemy. The day before his suicide in Feb 1944, Bedaux was told at a hearing in Miami that he’d have to wait in FBI custody. But he committed suicide using an overdose of barbiturates in prison. His death featured widely in all U.S media.
Conspiracy theories abounded. They usually located Bedaux as a conduit between Nazi and British elites, who facilitated important events in WW2 eg the fall of France and the alleged murder of Heinrich Himmler by British agents. Yet many Americans were relieved when he died, because Bedaux knew too much about the connections between American industry leaders and the industrial development in Nazi Germany. What was particularly strange was that his case was linked with Jan 1943 deaths of FBI Assistant Director Percy Foxworth and Special Agent Harold Haberfeld; they were killed when their plane crashed mysteriously over Brasil, en route to work on the Bedaux case.
To restore Bedaux's reputation, the French government awarded Bedaux a posthumous Légion d'honneur since he’d actually “hampered the Germans” and “guarded Jewish property”. But was this award really made, given he worked with leading Nazi and Vichy figures!! Read Charles Bedaux -
![]()
Sol Bloomenkranz's book
![]()
Today Château de Candé is themed around the Duke and Duchess's 1937 wedding
and Bedaux's possessions.Bedaux’s connection to Grand Rapids Mich began in 1915 when F Stuart Foote, general manager of Imperial Furniture Co., launched him. Working for the furniture industry, Bedaux installed the Bedaux System, a leading contribution to scientific management. Plus he did efficiency engineering for other local industries. By 1916 he’d built consultancy firms in Europe and US.
A naturalised American citizen in July 1917, Bedaux developed a close relationship with American Fern Lombard (1893-1972), a Grand Rapids society favourite. He left his first wife and courted this daughter of a prominent lawyer. When his divorce came through, Charles remarried.
With homes in US and France, and a growing fortune, Bedaux purchased the 60-room Château de Candé estate, Touraine in 1926. Bedaux poured his money into the C16th castle, doing renovations between 1927-30. The chateau was filled with rare art treasures and special architecture, and was modernised with water, electricity and central heating, and with his own golf course.
In Nov 1929 Charles & Fern began a 5-month African safari, a hunting expedition that was filmed: from Kenya, to Sudan, French Equatorial Africa, Nigeria, Sahara, Algiers & lastly Morocco. Connections in these countries later helped Bedaux when he was working with the German war government.
Duke and Duchess of Windsor
Charles and Fern were leaders of French society, mixing with wealthy families on the Riviera. And as Hitler began to move Germany’s industry forward in the early 1930s, Bedaux also developed a close relationship with a number of high profile German leaders, includingJoachim von Ribbentrop & Otto Abetz, Nazi ambassador to France.
Charles Bedaux hosted the Windsors' wedding in his Château de Candé.
Fern was standing next to the Duke and Duchess
With an intimate friendship well established with Wallis Simpson, Charles and Fern were aware of the constitutional crisis facing U.K in 1936. With the death of King George V in Jan 1936, Edward was crowned King Edward VIII. The King’s relationship with oft-married Simpson was very unpopular in Britain and many wondered about the new King’s relationship with Hitler’s Germany.
In Oct 1936 the King wanted to marry Wallis. The constitutional crisis continued with Wallis leaving Britain to stay with friends in France. King Edward abdicated in Dec 1936 with his brother becoming King George VI the next day. Charles and Fern Bedaux invited Wallis to stay at their Chateau de Cande while the turmoil continued.
With her divorce finalised in May 1937, the royals reunited on Bedaux estate. Edward proposed, and they were married at Château de Candé in June 1937, with the famous English photographer Cecil Beaton taking photos. No member of the British Royal Family attended the wedding!!
To Bedaux’s delight, the Windsors loved the idea of making a trip to Germany where Bedaux arranged for them to meet his close colleagues, senior Nazis. These visits emphasised the strong suspicions of many in British government that the Duchess was a German agent or a Nazi sympathiser. It was thought that both the Duke and Duchess were passing on information to the German Government before the invasion of France. The royals’ last visit was meeting the Führer at his Berchtesgaden retreat!
meeting the Führer at his Berchtesgaden, 1937
Arriving in Berlin that Oct, the couple were greeted by an SS band playing God Save The King! Parties and receptions followed and the Duchess, snubbed in UK, happily noted that all the leading Nazis bowed to her. The Windsors toured factories and coalmines, and Edward rewarded his hosts with warm speeches praising Germany and a Nazi salute.
When Paris was occupied by the Germans in WW2, Bedaux became even closer to leading Nazi and Vichy figures. After France fell in 1940, he was appointed as an economic advisor to Vichy and the Reich. Bedaux was preparing to build a pipeline to transport oils across the Sahara for the Vichy French government and the Nazis. In Oct 1941 he was ordered by Abwehr II to command a mission to capture oil refineries in Persia from his former client; and he would protect it from Allied bombardment prior to a planned German invasion of Iraq & Persia. But by late 1942, strategic events (eg Battle of Stalingrad) had rendered the operation unworkable, and Bedaux was dropped by Berlin. Nonetheless counter-sabotage plan still looked suspicious and Bedaux was later investigated by FBI and MI5.
Bedaux was arrested in Algeria after the Nov 1942 Allied Invasion, on orders of Gen Dwight Eisenhower, and was kept in custody without charge for a year. [After Charles Bedaux’s arrest for treason, Fern Bedaux was interned in Paris. Then released through her connection to Otto Abetz, Nazi Ambassador in France].
Charles was sent to the U.S for a trial before a military commission, for treason and communicating with the enemy. The day before his suicide in Feb 1944, Bedaux was told at a hearing in Miami that he’d have to wait in FBI custody. But he committed suicide using an overdose of barbiturates in prison. His death featured widely in all U.S media.
Conspiracy theories abounded. They usually located Bedaux as a conduit between Nazi and British elites, who facilitated important events in WW2 eg the fall of France and the alleged murder of Heinrich Himmler by British agents. Yet many Americans were relieved when he died, because Bedaux knew too much about the connections between American industry leaders and the industrial development in Nazi Germany. What was particularly strange was that his case was linked with Jan 1943 deaths of FBI Assistant Director Percy Foxworth and Special Agent Harold Haberfeld; they were killed when their plane crashed mysteriously over Brasil, en route to work on the Bedaux case.
To restore Bedaux's reputation, the French government awarded Bedaux a posthumous Légion d'honneur since he’d actually “hampered the Germans” and “guarded Jewish property”. But was this award really made, given he worked with leading Nazi and Vichy figures!! Read Charles Bedaux -
Deciphering an Enigma by Sol Bloomenkranz.
L’avenue Charles-Bedaux homme d’affaires
Honouring Bedaux in Tours from 1966 until 2018.