In the tumultuous summer of 1940 Britain agreed to support defeated European nations to continue their war from exile. This hurried and unprecedented policy decision created an alliance of eight governments-in-exile, of which six were ultimately restored to power. The Anglo-exile relationship added considerably to British strength and prestige during the war and catalysed increased European unity afterwards. While limited scholarship has examined some individual government-in-exile experiences, no study has yet considered the British perspective of the Anglo-exile relationship, nor analysed how Britain’s exile policy was conceived, implemented, and adjusted in response to changing wartime pressures. This thesis examines Britain’s policy towards governments-in-exile in the Second World War, focussing on three questions: why Britain supported the exiles, how it did so, and whether it successfully achieved its aims. More broadly, this thesis analyses the development of Britain’s policy towards and relationship with the European governments-in-exile, concentrating on their role within Britain’s wartime strategy. It examines Britain’s treatment of the exiles within the context of wider British policies for prosecuting the war and for enhancing national power and prestige. The governments-in-exile considered are those with formally recognised administrations in London: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Yugoslavia. It is a study of British archives, histories, and participant accounts, supported by exile records and their associated scholarship. The thesis finds Britain executed policy towards the exiles within a collective, comprehensive, and largely equitable framework that prioritised consistency in Anglo-exile decision making. The exiles were firmly subordinated to British interests, but their sovereignty was respected, and they wielded agency and influence on many matters. These findings challenge perceptions of Britain as an indifferent or exploitative host and fill ...