Wallis, The Duchess of Windsor
Encyclopedia
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, previously Wallis Simpson, (born Bessie Wallis Warfield; 19 June 1896 – 24 April 1986) was an American socialite
whose third husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor
, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
and the Dominion
s, abdicated his throne
to marry her.
Wallis's father died shortly after her birth, and she and her widowed mother were partly supported by their wealthier relatives. Her first marriage, to U.S. naval
officer Win Spencer
, was punctuated with periods of separation and eventually ended in divorce. In 1934, during her second marriage, to Ernest Simpson
, she allegedly became the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales
. Two years later, after Edward's accession as King, Wallis divorced her second husband and Edward proposed to her.
The King's desire to marry a woman with two living ex-husbands threatened to cause a constitutional crisis
in the United Kingdom
and the Dominion
s. This prospect ultimately led to the King's abdication
in December 1936 to marry "the woman I love". After the abdication, the former king was created Duke of Windsor
by his brother George VI
. Edward married Wallis six months later, after which she was formally known as the Duchess of Windsor, without the style
"Her Royal Highness".
Before, during and after World War II
, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were suspected by many in government and society of being Nazi
sympathisers. In the 1950s and 1960s, she and the Duke shuttled between Europe and the United States, living a life of leisure as society celebrities. After the Duke's death in 1972, the Duchess lived in seclusion and was rarely seen in public. Her private life has been a source of much speculation, and she remains a controversial figure in British history.
, in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania
. A summer resort close to the Maryland–Pennsylvania border, Blue Ridge Summit was popular with Baltimoreans escaping the season's heat, and Monterey Inn, which had a central building as well as individual cottages, was the town's largest hotel. Her father was Teackle Wallis Warfield, fifth and youngest son of Henry Mactier Warfield, a flour merchant described as "one of the best known and personally one of the most popular citizens of Baltimore" who ran for mayor in 1875. Her mother was Alice Montague, a daughter of insurance salesman William Montague. Wallis was named in honour of her father and her mother's elder sister, Bessie (Mrs D. Buchanan Merryman), and was called Bessie Wallis until at some time during her youth "the Bessie would be dropped and the child referred to simply as Wallis."
The dates of her parents' marriage and her birth are unclear. Neither event appears to have been registered, but the dates are usually given as 19 November 1895 and 19 June 1896, respectively. Wallis herself claimed her parents were married in June 1895. Her father died of tuberculosis
on 15 November 1896. For her first few years, she and her mother were dependent upon the charity of her father's wealthy bachelor brother Solomon Davies Warfield, president and founder of the Continental Trust Company. Initially, they lived with him at the four-storey row house he shared with his mother, 34 East Preston Street.
In 1901 her aunt Bessie Merryman was widowed, and the following year Alice and Wallis moved into her four bedroom house at 9 West Chase Street, Baltimore, where they lived for at least a year until they settled in an apartment, and then a house, of their own. In 1908, Wallis's mother married her second husband, John Freeman Rasin, son of a prominent Democratic party boss. On 17 April 1910, Wallis was confirmed at Christ Episcopal Church, Baltimore, and between 1912 and 1914 her uncle Warfield paid for her to attend Oldfields School
, the most expensive girls' school in Maryland. There she made friends with heiress Renée du Pont, a daughter of Senator T. Coleman du Pont
, of the du Pont family
, and Mary Kirk, whose family founded Kirk Silverware
. A fellow pupil at one of Wallis's schools recalled, "She was bright, brighter than all of us. She made up her mind to go to the head of the class, and she did." Wallis was always immaculately dressed and pushed herself hard to do well.
, a U.S. Navy
pilot, at Pensacola, Florida
, while visiting her cousin Corinne Mustin. It was at this time that Wallis witnessed two airplane crashes about two weeks apart, resulting in a life-long fear of flying. On 8 November 1916, the couple married at Christ Episcopal Church in Baltimore which had been Wallis's parish. Win, as her husband was known, was an alcoholic. He drank even before flying and once crashed into the sea, but escaped almost unharmed. After the United States entered World War I
in 1917, Spencer was posted to San Diego as the first commanding officer of a training base in Coronado
, known as Naval Air Station North Island
. They remained there until 1921. In 1920, Edward, the Prince of Wales, visited San Diego, but he and Wallis did not meet at that time. Later that year, Spencer left his wife for a period of four months, but in the spring of 1921 they were reunited in Washington, D.C.
, where Spencer had been posted. They soon separated again, and in 1922, when Spencer was posted to the Far East
as commander of the , Wallis remained behind, continuing an affair with an Argentine diplomat, Felipe Espil. In January 1924, she visited Paris with her recently widowed cousin Corinne Mustin, before sailing to the Far East aboard a troop carrier, USS Chaumont (AP-5). The Spencers were briefly reunited until she fell ill, after which she returned to Hong Kong
.
An Italian
diplomat remembered Wallis from her time in Warlord era
China: "Her conversation was brilliant and she had the habit of bringing up the right subject of conversation with anyone she came in contact with and entertaining them on that subject." According to Hui-lan Koo, the second wife of Chinese diplomat and politician Wellington Koo
, the only Mandarin phrase that Wallis learned during her sojourn in Asia was "Boy, pass me the champagne".
Wallis toured China, and stayed with Katherine and Herman Rogers, who were to remain long-term friends, while in Beijing
. According to the wife of one of Win's fellow officers, Mrs Milton E. Miles
, it was there that Wallis met Count Galeazzo Ciano
, later Mussolini's
son-in-law and Foreign Minister
, had an affair with him, and became pregnant, leading to a botched abortion that left her unable to conceive. The rumour was later widespread but never substantiated and Ciano's wife, Edda Mussolini
, denied it. Wallis spent over a year in China. By September 1925, she and her husband were back in the United States, though living apart. They divorced on 10 December 1927.
, an Anglo-American shipping executive and former officer in the Coldstream Guards
. He divorced his first wife, Dorothea (by whom he had a daughter, Audrey), to marry Wallis Spencer on 21 July 1928 at the Register Office
in Chelsea, London
. Wallis had telegraphed her acceptance of his proposal from Cannes
where she was staying with her friends, Mr and Mrs Rogers.
The Simpsons temporarily set up home in a furnished house with four servants in Mayfair
. In 1929, Wallis sailed back to the United States to visit her sick mother, who had married legal clerk Charles Gordon Allen after the death of Rasin. During the trip, Wallis's investments were wiped out in the Wall Street Crash
, and her mother died penniless on 2 November 1929. Wallis returned to England and with the shipping business still buoyant, the Simpsons moved into a large flat with a staff of servants.
Through a friend, Consuelo Thaw, Wallis met Consuelo's sister Thelma, Lady Furness
, the then-mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales. On 10 January 1931, Lady Furness introduced Wallis to the Prince. The Prince was the eldest son of King George V
and Queen Mary
, and heir apparent
to the throne. Between 1931 and 1934, he met the Simpsons at various house parties, and Wallis was presented at court. Ernest was beginning to encounter financial difficulties, as the Simpsons were living beyond their means, and they had to fire a succession of staff.
, Wallis allegedly became the Prince's mistress. Edward denied this to his father, despite his staff seeing them in bed together as well as "evidence of a physical sexual act". Wallis soon ousted Lady Furness, and distanced the Prince from a former lover and confidante, the Anglo-American textile heiress Freda Dudley Ward
.
By the end of 1934, Edward was irretrievably besotted with Wallis, finding her domineering manner and abrasive irreverence toward his position appealing; in the words of his official biographer, he became "slavishly dependent" on her. According to Wallis, it was during a cruise on Lord Moyne's
private yacht Rosaura in August 1934 that she fell in love with Edward. At an evening party in Buckingham Palace
, he introduced her to his mother—his father was outraged, primarily on account of her marital history, as divorced people were generally excluded from court. Edward showered Wallis with money and jewels, and in February 1935, and again later in the year, he holidayed with her in Europe. His courtiers became increasingly alarmed as the affair began to interfere with his official duties.
In 1935, the head of the Metropolitan Police
Special Branch
told the Metropolitan Police Commissioner
that Wallis was also having an affair with Guy Marcus Trundle, who was "said to be employed by the Ford Motor Company
". The reports were released to the public for the first time in 2003. Claims of an affair were doubted, however, by Captain Val Bailey, who knew Trundle well and whose mother had an affair with Trundle for nearly two decades, and by historian Susan Williams.
and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. The next day, he broke royal protocol by watching the proclamation of his accession from a window of St. James's Palace
, in the company of the still-married Wallis. It was becoming apparent to Court and Government circles that the new King-Emperor
meant to marry her. The King's behaviour and his relationship with Wallis made him unpopular with the Conservative
-led British government
, as well as distressing his mother
and brother
. Although the pre-war British media remained deferential to the monarchy, and no stories of the affair were reported in the domestic press, foreign media widely reported their relationship.
The monarch of the United Kingdom is Supreme Governor of the Church of England
—at the time of the proposed marriage, and until 2002, the Church of England
did not permit the re-marriage of divorced people who had living ex-spouses. Constitutionally, the King was required to be in communion with the Church of England, but his proposed marriage conflicted with the Church's teachings. Furthermore, the British and Dominion governments felt that Wallis, as a two-time divorcée, was politically, socially and morally unsuitable as a prospective consort. She was perceived by many in the British Empire
as a woman of "limitless ambition", who was pursuing the King because of his wealth and position.
Wallis had already filed for divorce from her second husband on the grounds that he had committed adultery with her childhood friend Mary Kirk and the decree nisi
was granted on 27 October 1936. In November, the King consulted with the Prime Minister
, Stanley Baldwin
, on a way to marry Wallis and keep the throne. The King suggested a morganatic marriage
, where the King would remain King but Wallis would not be Queen, but this was rejected by Baldwin and the Prime Ministers of Australia and South Africa. If the King were to marry Wallis against Baldwin's advice, the Government would be required to resign, causing a constitutional crisis.
Wallis's relationship with the King had become public knowledge in the United Kingdom by early December. Wallis decided to flee the country as the scandal broke, and was driven to the south of France in a dramatic race to outrun the press. For the next three months, she was under siege by the media at the Villa Lou Viei, near Cannes
, the home of her close friends Herman and Katherine Rogers. At her hideaway, Wallis was pressured by the King's Lord-in-Waiting
, Lord Brownlow
, to renounce the King. On 7 December 1936, Lord Brownlow read to the press her statement, which he had helped her draft, indicating Wallis's readiness to give up the King. However, Edward was determined to marry Wallis. John Theodore Goddard, Wallis's solicitor
, stated: "[his] client was ready to do anything to ease the situation but the other end of the wicket [Edward VIII] was determined." This seemingly indicated that the King had decided he had no option but to abdicate if he wished to marry Wallis.
The King signed the Instrument of Abdication on 10 December 1936, in the presence of his three surviving brothers, the Duke of York
(who would ascend the throne the following day as George VI), the Duke of Gloucester
and the Duke of Kent
. Special laws passed by the Parliaments of the Dominion
s finalised Edward's abdication the following day, or in Ireland's case one day later. On 11 December 1936, Edward said in a radio broadcast, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility, and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love."
Edward left Britain for Austria, where he stayed at Schloss Enzesfeld
, the home of Baron Eugen and Baroness Kitty de Rothschild
. Edward had to remain apart from Wallis until there was no danger of compromising the granting of a decree absolute in her divorce proceedings. Upon her divorce being made final in May 1937, she changed her name by deed poll
to Mrs Wallis Warfield, resuming her maiden name. The couple were reunited at the Château de Candé
, Monts, France, on 4 May 1937.
, who later worked actively for Nazi Germany
in World War II. The date would have been King George V's 72nd birthday; Queen Mary
thought the wedding had been scheduled for then as a deliberate slight. No member of the British Royal Family
attended. Wallis wore a "Wallis blue" Mainbocher
wedding dress
. The marriage produced no children. In November, Ernest Simpson married Mary Kirk.
Edward was created Duke of Windsor
by his brother, the new George VI. However, letters patent
, passed by the new King and unanimously supported by the Dominion governments, prevented Wallis, now the Duchess of Windsor, from sharing her husband's style
of Royal Highness
. The new King's firm view, that the Duchess should not be given a royal title, was shared by Queen Mary and George's wife, Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother)
. At first, the Royal Family did not accept the Duchess and would not receive her formally, although the former king sometimes met his mother and siblings after his abdication. Some biographers have suggested that Queen Elizabeth, Edward's sister-in-law, remained bitter towards Wallis for her role in bringing George VI to the throne (which she may have seen as a factor in George VI's early death), and for prematurely behaving as Edward's consort when she was his mistress. But these claims were denied by Queen Elizabeth's close friends; for example, the Duke of Grafton
wrote that she "never said anything nasty about the Duchess of Windsor, except to say she really hadn't got a clue what she was dealing with." On the other hand, the Duchess of Windsor referred to Queen Elizabeth as "Mrs Temple" and "Cookie", alluding to her solid figure and fondness for food, and to her daughter, Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II)
, as "Shirley", as in Shirley Temple
. The Duchess bitterly resented the denial of the royal title and the refusal of the Duke's relatives to accept her as part of the family. However, within the household of the Duke and Duchess, the style "Her Royal Highness" was used by those who were close to the couple.
According to the wife of former British Union of Fascists
leader Oswald Mosley
, Diana Mitford
, who knew both the future Queen Mother and the Duchess of Windsor but was only friendly with the latter, the Queen's antipathy toward her sister-in-law may have had a deeper source. Lady Mosley wrote to her sister, the Duchess of Devonshire, after the death of the Duke of Windsor, "probably the theory of their [the Windsors'] contemporaries that Cake [a Mitford nickname for the Queen Mother, derived from her delighted exclamation at the party at which Deborah Devonshire first met her] was rather in love with him [the Duke] (as a girl) & took second best, may account for much."
The Duke and Duchess lived in France in the pre-war years. In 1937, they made a high profile visit to Germany and met Nazi leader Adolf Hitler
at his Berchtesgaden
retreat. After the visit, Hitler said of Wallis, "she would have made a good Queen". The visit tended to corroborate the strong suspicions of many in government and society that the Duchess was a German agent, a claim that she ridiculed in her letters to the Duke. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) files compiled in the 1930s also portray her as a possible Nazi
sympathiser. The ex-Duke of Württemberg
told the FBI that she and leading Nazi Joachim von Ribbentrop
had been lovers in London. There were even rather improbable reports during World War II that she kept a signed photograph of Ribbentrop on her bedside table, and had continued to pass details to him even during the invasion of France.
, then in June to Spain. There, she told the United States ambassador
, Alexander W. Weddell
, that France had lost because it was "internally diseased". In July, the pair moved to Lisbon
, Portugal, where they stayed at the home of Ricardo de Espirito Santo e Silva, a banker who was suspected of being a German agent. In August, the Duke and Duchess travelled by commercial liner to the Bahamas
, where the Duke was installed as Governor.
Wallis performed her role as the Governor's lady competently for five years; she worked actively for the Red Cross and in the improvement of infant welfare. However, she hated Nassau
, calling it "our St Helena
", in a reference to Napoleon's final place of exile. She was heavily criticised in the British Press for her extravagant shopping in the United States, undertaken when Britain was enduring privations such as rationing and the blackout
. Her racist attitudes towards the local population (she called them "lazy, thriving nigger
s" in letters to her aunt) reflected her upbringing. In 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill
strenuously objected when she and her husband planned to tour the Caribbean aboard a yacht belonging to a Swedish magnate, Axel Wenner-Gren
, whom Churchill stated to be "pro-German". Churchill felt compelled to complain again when the Duke gave a "defeatist" interview. Another of their acquaintances, Charles Bedaux
, was arrested on charges of treason in 1943, and committed suicide in jail in Miami before the case was brought to trial. The British establishment
distrusted the Duchess; Sir Alexander Hardinge
wrote that her suspected anti-British activities were motivated by a desire for revenge against a country that rejected her as its queen. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the couple returned to France and retirement.
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In 1946, when the Duchess was staying at Ednam Lodge, the home of the Earl of Dudley
, some of her jewels were stolen. There were rumours that the theft had been masterminded by the British Royal Family
as an attempt to regain jewels taken from the Royal Collection
by the Duke, or by the Windsors themselves as part of an insurance fraud—they made a large deposit of loose stones at Cartier
the following year. However, in 1960, Richard Dunphie confessed to the crime. The stolen pieces were only a small portion of the Windsor jewels, which were either bought privately, inherited by the Duke, or given to the Duke when he was Prince of Wales.
On George VI's death in 1952, the Duke returned to England for the funeral. The Duchess did not attend; the previous October whilst staying in London she had told her husband, "I hate this country. I shall hate it to my grave." Later that year, they were offered the use of a house by the Paris municipal authorities. The couple lived at 4 route du Champ d'Entraînement in Neuilly-sur-Seine
near Paris for most of the remainder of their lives, essentially living a life of easy retirement. They bought a second house in the country, Moulin de la Tuilerie or "The Mill" in Gif-sur-Yvette
, where they soon became close friends with their neighbours, Oswald
and Diana Mosley. Years later, Diana Mosley claimed that the Duke and Duchess shared her and her husband's views that Hitler should have been given a free hand to destroy Communism
. As the Duke himself wrote in the New York Daily News
of 13 December 1966: "...it was in Britain's interest and in Europe's too, that Germany be encouraged to strike east and smash Communism forever ... I thought the rest of us could be fence-sitters while the Nazis and the Reds slogged it out."
In 1965, the Duke and Duchess visited London as the Duke required eye surgery for a detached retina; Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, visited them. Later, in 1967, the Duke and Duchess joined the Royal Family in London for the unveiling of a plaque by Elizabeth II to commemorate the centenary of Queen Mary
's birth. Both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles
visited the Windsors in Paris in the Duke's later years, the Queen's visit coming only shortly before the Duke died.
Upon the Duke's death from cancer in 1972, the Duchess travelled to England to attend his funeral, staying at Buckingham Palace
during her visit. The Duchess, increasingly frail and suffering from dementia, lived the remainder of her life as a recluse, supported by both her husband's estate and an allowance from the Queen. She suffered several falls, and broke her hip twice. After her husband's death, the Duchess gave her legal authority to her French lawyer, Suzanne Blum. This potentially exploitative relationship was explored in Caroline Blackwood
's book The Last of the Duchess, written in 1980, but not published until after Blum's death in 1995. In 1980, the Duchess lost the power of speech. Toward the end, she was bedridden and did not receive any visitors, apart from her doctor and nurses.
The Duchess of Windsor died on 24 April 1986 at her home in the Bois de Boulogne
, Paris. Her funeral was held at St. George's Chapel
, Windsor Castle
, attended by her two surviving sisters-in-law: the Queen Mother and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester
. The Queen, Prince Philip
, and the Prince
and Princess of Wales
attended both the funeral ceremony and the burial. She was buried next to Edward in the Royal Burial Ground
near Windsor Castle, as "Wallis, Duchess of Windsor". Until a 1965 agreement with Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke and Duchess had previously planned for a burial in a purchased cemetery plot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore
, where the father of the Duchess was interred.
In recognition of the help France gave to the Duke and Duchess in providing them with a home, and in lieu of death duties, the Duchess's collection of Louis XVI style furniture, some porcelain and paintings were made over to the French state. The British Royal Family received no major bequests. Most of her estate went to the Pasteur Institute
medical research foundation, on the instructions of Suzanne Blum. The decision took the Royal Family and the Duchess's friends by surprise, as she had shown little interest in charity during her life. In a Sotheby's
auction in Geneva in April 1987 the Duchess's remarkable jewelry collection raised $45 million for the Institute, approximately seven times its pre-sale estimate. Blum later claimed that Egyptian entrepreneur Mohammed Al-Fayed tried to purchase the jewels for a "rock bottom price". Al-Fayed bought much of the non-financial estate, including the lease of the Paris mansion. He purchased the possessions for $4.5 million. In July 1997, an auction of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's possessions from the villa was announced for later that year in New York. The bulk of Al-Fayed's collection was sold in 1998, the year after his son
's death in the car accident
that also claimed the life of Diana, Princess of Wales
. The sale raised more than £14 million for charity.
, an heir to the Woolworth fortune, claimed to have had a liaison with the Duchess in the 1950s, but Donahue was notorious for his inventive pranks and rumour-mongering. The existence of a so-called "China dossier" (detailing the supposed sexual and criminal exploits of Wallis in China) is denied by virtually all historians and biographers. Although there have been rumours of pregnancy and abortion, most notably involving Count Ciano in China, there is no hard evidence that the Duchess became pregnant by any of her lovers or her three husbands. Claims that she suffered from androgen insensitivity syndrome
, also known as testicular feminisation, seem improbable, if not impossible, given her operation for uterine fibroids
in 1951. Her doctor, Jean Thin, claimed she had normal genitalia.
The Duchess published her ghost-written memoirs, The Heart Has Its Reasons, in 1956. Author Charles Higham
says of the book, "facts were remorselessly rearranged in what amounted to a self-performed face-lift ... reflecting in abundance its author's politically misguided but winning and desirable personality." He describes the Duchess as "charismatic, electric and compulsively ambitious". Hearsay, conjecture and politically motivated propaganda have clouded assessment of the Duchess of Windsor's life, not helped by her own manipulation of the truth. But there is no document which proves directly that she was anything other than a victim of her own ambition, who lived out a great romance that became a great tragedy. In the opinion of her biographers, "she experienced the ultimate fairy tale, becoming the adored favourite of the most glamorous bachelor of his time. The idyll went wrong when, ignoring her pleas, he threw up his position to spend the rest of his life with her." Academics agree that she ascended a precipice that "left her with fewer alternatives than she had anticipated. Somehow she thought that the Establishment could be overcome once [Edward] was king, and she confessed frankly to Aunt Bessie about her "insatiable ambitions" ... Trapped by his flight from responsibility into exactly the role she had sought, suddenly she warned him, in a letter, "You and I can only create disaster together" ... she predicted to society hostess Sybil Colefax
, "two people will suffer" because of "the workings of a system" ... Denied dignity, and without anything useful to do, the new Duke of Windsor and his Duchess would be international society's most notorious parasites for a generation, while they thoroughly bored each other ... She had thought of him as emotionally a Peter Pan
, and of herself an Alice in Wonderland. The book they had written together, however, was a Paradise Lost
." The Duchess herself is reported to have summed up her life in a sentence: "You have no idea how hard it is to live out a great romance."
in The Woman I Love (1972, TV drama), Cynthia Harris
in Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978, TV miniseries), Barbara Parkins
in To Catch a King (1983, TV movie), Jane Seymour
in The Woman He Loved (1988, made-for-TV movie), Jane Hartley in Always (1997, West End
musical), Amber Sealey in Bertie and Elizabeth
(2002, made-for-TV movie), Joely Richardson
in Wallis & Edward (2005, made-for-TV movie), Gillian Anderson
in Any Human Heart
(2010, TV mini-series), Emma Clifford in Upstairs, Downstairs
(2010, TV mini-series), and Eve Best
in The King's Speech (2010). Gwyneth Paltrow
played Wallis in an episode
of Glee
for a brief scene. Andrea Riseborough
will portray the Duchess in the 2011 film W.E.
In his 1981 novel Famous Last Words
, award-winning Canadian author Timothy Findley
depicts "Mrs Simpson" as manipulative yet also tragic. Author Anne Edwards
wrote a sympathetic account of Wallis's early life culminating with her marriage to Edward in her 1991 book Wallis: The Novel. Wallis also features in a short story by Rose Tremain
called "The Darkness of Wallis Simpson"; a play called The Duchess by Linda Griffiths
; the 1992 alternate history crime thriller Fatherland
by Robert Harris
; the 2005 novel Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham
; and in the Young Bond book by Charlie Higson
, By Royal Command. Kate Auspitz's 2010 novel, The War Memoirs of HRH Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, portrays Wallis as a tool of the Allies who employ Wallis to knock fascist-sympathizing King Edward VIII off the throne.
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
whose third husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the Dominion
Dominion
A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...
s, abdicated his throne
Edward VIII abdication crisis
In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII's proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite....
to marry her.
Wallis's father died shortly after her birth, and she and her widowed mother were partly supported by their wealthier relatives. Her first marriage, to U.S. naval
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
officer Win Spencer
Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr.
Commander Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr. was a pioneering U.S. Navy pilot who served as the first commanding officer of Naval Air Station, San Diego. He was the first husband of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor....
, was punctuated with periods of separation and eventually ended in divorce. In 1934, during her second marriage, to Ernest Simpson
Ernest Aldrich Simpson
Ernest Aldrich Simpson was a British shipping executive best known as the second husband of Wallis Simpson, who later would marry the former Edward VIII of the United Kingdom...
, she allegedly became the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
. Two years later, after Edward's accession as King, Wallis divorced her second husband and Edward proposed to her.
The King's desire to marry a woman with two living ex-husbands threatened to cause a constitutional crisis
Constitutional crisis
A constitutional crisis is a situation that the legal system's constitution or other basic principles of operation appear unable to resolve; it often results in a breakdown in the orderly operation of government...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the Dominion
Dominion
A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...
s. This prospect ultimately led to the King's abdication
Edward VIII abdication crisis
In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII's proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite....
in December 1936 to marry "the woman I love". After the abdication, the former king was created Duke of Windsor
Duke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
by his brother George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
. Edward married Wallis six months later, after which she was formally known as the Duchess of Windsor, without the style
Style (manner of address)
A style of office, or honorific, is a legal, official, or recognized title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal...
"Her Royal Highness".
Before, during and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were suspected by many in government and society of being Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
sympathisers. In the 1950s and 1960s, she and the Duke shuttled between Europe and the United States, living a life of leisure as society celebrities. After the Duke's death in 1972, the Duchess lived in seclusion and was rarely seen in public. Her private life has been a source of much speculation, and she remains a controversial figure in British history.
Early life
An only child, Bessie Wallis (sometimes written "Bessiewallis") Warfield was born in Square Cottage at Monterey Inn, a hotel directly across the road from the Monterey Country ClubMonterey Country Club
Built before 1885, the Monterey Country Club is home to one of the oldest golf courses in the United States. The club sits just below the peaks of 1,720 Mt...
, in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania
Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania
Blue Ridge Summit is an unincorporated community in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, United States, southwest of Gettysburg in the central part of the state, adjoining Pennsylvania's southern border with Maryland. It is less than 3 miles east of Pen Mar, Maryland...
. A summer resort close to the Maryland–Pennsylvania border, Blue Ridge Summit was popular with Baltimoreans escaping the season's heat, and Monterey Inn, which had a central building as well as individual cottages, was the town's largest hotel. Her father was Teackle Wallis Warfield, fifth and youngest son of Henry Mactier Warfield, a flour merchant described as "one of the best known and personally one of the most popular citizens of Baltimore" who ran for mayor in 1875. Her mother was Alice Montague, a daughter of insurance salesman William Montague. Wallis was named in honour of her father and her mother's elder sister, Bessie (Mrs D. Buchanan Merryman), and was called Bessie Wallis until at some time during her youth "the Bessie would be dropped and the child referred to simply as Wallis."
The dates of her parents' marriage and her birth are unclear. Neither event appears to have been registered, but the dates are usually given as 19 November 1895 and 19 June 1896, respectively. Wallis herself claimed her parents were married in June 1895. Her father died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
on 15 November 1896. For her first few years, she and her mother were dependent upon the charity of her father's wealthy bachelor brother Solomon Davies Warfield, president and founder of the Continental Trust Company. Initially, they lived with him at the four-storey row house he shared with his mother, 34 East Preston Street.
In 1901 her aunt Bessie Merryman was widowed, and the following year Alice and Wallis moved into her four bedroom house at 9 West Chase Street, Baltimore, where they lived for at least a year until they settled in an apartment, and then a house, of their own. In 1908, Wallis's mother married her second husband, John Freeman Rasin, son of a prominent Democratic party boss. On 17 April 1910, Wallis was confirmed at Christ Episcopal Church, Baltimore, and between 1912 and 1914 her uncle Warfield paid for her to attend Oldfields School
Oldfields School
Oldfields School, founded in Baltimore County, Maryland in 1867 by Anna Austen McCulloch, is the oldest girls' boarding school in Maryland.A college preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 6 through 12 located in Glencoe, near Sparks, Maryland, Oldfield's School has approximately...
, the most expensive girls' school in Maryland. There she made friends with heiress Renée du Pont, a daughter of Senator T. Coleman du Pont
T. Coleman du Pont
Thomas Coleman du Pont was an American engineer and politician, from Greenville, Delaware. He was President of the of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, and a member of the Republican Party who served parts of two terms as United States Senator from Delaware...
, of the du Pont family
Du Pont family
The Du Pont family is an American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours . The son of a Paris watchmaker and a member of a Burgundian noble family, he and his sons, Victor Marie du Pont and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, emigrated to the United States in 1800 and used the resources of...
, and Mary Kirk, whose family founded Kirk Silverware
Stieff Silver
The Stieff Company, Silversmiths, Goldsmiths & Pewterers Baltimore MD 1892-1999 also known as KIRK-STIEFF after 1979.- History :Charles Clinton Stieff created The Sterling Silver Manufacturing Company on December 2, 1892 shortly after the financial failure of The Klank Manufacturing...
. A fellow pupil at one of Wallis's schools recalled, "She was bright, brighter than all of us. She made up her mind to go to the head of the class, and she did." Wallis was always immaculately dressed and pushed herself hard to do well.
First marriage
In April 1916, Wallis met Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr.Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr.
Commander Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr. was a pioneering U.S. Navy pilot who served as the first commanding officer of Naval Air Station, San Diego. He was the first husband of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor....
, a U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
pilot, at Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, while visiting her cousin Corinne Mustin. It was at this time that Wallis witnessed two airplane crashes about two weeks apart, resulting in a life-long fear of flying. On 8 November 1916, the couple married at Christ Episcopal Church in Baltimore which had been Wallis's parish. Win, as her husband was known, was an alcoholic. He drank even before flying and once crashed into the sea, but escaped almost unharmed. After the United States entered World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1917, Spencer was posted to San Diego as the first commanding officer of a training base in Coronado
Coronado, California
Coronado, also known as Coronado Island, is an affluent resort city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,697 at the 2010 census, up from 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive...
, known as Naval Air Station North Island
Naval Air Station North Island
Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island is located at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay and is the home port of several aircraft carriers of the United States Navy...
. They remained there until 1921. In 1920, Edward, the Prince of Wales, visited San Diego, but he and Wallis did not meet at that time. Later that year, Spencer left his wife for a period of four months, but in the spring of 1921 they were reunited in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where Spencer had been posted. They soon separated again, and in 1922, when Spencer was posted to the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
as commander of the , Wallis remained behind, continuing an affair with an Argentine diplomat, Felipe Espil. In January 1924, she visited Paris with her recently widowed cousin Corinne Mustin, before sailing to the Far East aboard a troop carrier, USS Chaumont (AP-5). The Spencers were briefly reunited until she fell ill, after which she returned to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
diplomat remembered Wallis from her time in Warlord era
Warlord era
The Chinese Warlord Era was the period in the history of the Republic of China, from 1916 to 1928, when the country was divided among military cliques, a division that continued until the fall of the Nationalist government in the mainland China regions of Sichuan, Shanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia,...
China: "Her conversation was brilliant and she had the habit of bringing up the right subject of conversation with anyone she came in contact with and entertaining them on that subject." According to Hui-lan Koo, the second wife of Chinese diplomat and politician Wellington Koo
Wellington Koo
Koo Vi Kyuin or Ku Wei-chün , often known by the Western name V.K. Wellington Koo, was a prominent diplomat under the Republic of China, representative to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Ambassador to France, Great Britain, and the United States; participant in founding the League of Nations...
, the only Mandarin phrase that Wallis learned during her sojourn in Asia was "Boy, pass me the champagne".
Wallis toured China, and stayed with Katherine and Herman Rogers, who were to remain long-term friends, while in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. According to the wife of one of Win's fellow officers, Mrs Milton E. Miles
Milton E. Miles
Milton E. Miles was a Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, who served in World War II as head of Naval Intelligence operations in China, and later, second-in-command of the Sino-American Special Technical Cooperative Organization .-Biography:Miles was born in Jerome, Arizona, the son of Lewis E...
, it was there that Wallis met Count Galeazzo Ciano
Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari was an Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benito Mussolini's son-in-law. In early 1944 Count Ciano was shot by firing squad at the behest of his father-in-law, Mussolini under pressure from Nazi Germany.-Early life:Ciano was born in...
, later Mussolini's
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
son-in-law and Foreign Minister
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
As in most countries, in Italy the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is one of the most important ministerial positions...
, had an affair with him, and became pregnant, leading to a botched abortion that left her unable to conceive. The rumour was later widespread but never substantiated and Ciano's wife, Edda Mussolini
Edda Mussolini
Edda Mussolini was the eldest child of Benito Mussolini, Italy's fascist dictator from 1922 to 1943. Upon her marriage to fascist propagandist and foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano she became Edda Ciano, Countess of Cortellazzo and Buccari.She strongly denied her involvement in the National Fascist...
, denied it. Wallis spent over a year in China. By September 1925, she and her husband were back in the United States, though living apart. They divorced on 10 December 1927.
Second marriage
By the time her marriage to Spencer was dissolved, Wallis had already become involved with Ernest Aldrich SimpsonErnest Aldrich Simpson
Ernest Aldrich Simpson was a British shipping executive best known as the second husband of Wallis Simpson, who later would marry the former Edward VIII of the United Kingdom...
, an Anglo-American shipping executive and former officer in the Coldstream Guards
Coldstream Guards
Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....
. He divorced his first wife, Dorothea (by whom he had a daughter, Audrey), to marry Wallis Spencer on 21 July 1928 at the Register Office
Register office
A register office is a British term for a civil registry, a government office and depository where births, deaths and marriages are officially recorded and where you can get officially married, without a religious ceremony...
in Chelsea, London
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
. Wallis had telegraphed her acceptance of his proposal from Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
where she was staying with her friends, Mr and Mrs Rogers.
The Simpsons temporarily set up home in a furnished house with four servants in Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
. In 1929, Wallis sailed back to the United States to visit her sick mother, who had married legal clerk Charles Gordon Allen after the death of Rasin. During the trip, Wallis's investments were wiped out in the Wall Street Crash
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
, and her mother died penniless on 2 November 1929. Wallis returned to England and with the shipping business still buoyant, the Simpsons moved into a large flat with a staff of servants.
Through a friend, Consuelo Thaw, Wallis met Consuelo's sister Thelma, Lady Furness
Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness
Thelma, Viscountess Furness , born Thelma Morgan, was the woman who preceded Wallis Simpson in the affections of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom...
, the then-mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales. On 10 January 1931, Lady Furness introduced Wallis to the Prince. The Prince was the eldest son of King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
, and heir apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
to the throne. Between 1931 and 1934, he met the Simpsons at various house parties, and Wallis was presented at court. Ernest was beginning to encounter financial difficulties, as the Simpsons were living beyond their means, and they had to fire a succession of staff.
Relationship with Edward, Prince of Wales
In January 1934, while Lady Furness was away in New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Wallis allegedly became the Prince's mistress. Edward denied this to his father, despite his staff seeing them in bed together as well as "evidence of a physical sexual act". Wallis soon ousted Lady Furness, and distanced the Prince from a former lover and confidante, the Anglo-American textile heiress Freda Dudley Ward
Freda Dudley Ward
Winifred May, Marquesa de Casa Maury , universally known by her first married name as Freda Dudley Ward, was an English socialite best known for being a mistress of the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VIII.-Life:Born Winifred May Birkin, she was the second child and eldest of three...
.
By the end of 1934, Edward was irretrievably besotted with Wallis, finding her domineering manner and abrasive irreverence toward his position appealing; in the words of his official biographer, he became "slavishly dependent" on her. According to Wallis, it was during a cruise on Lord Moyne's
Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne
Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne DSO & Bar PC was a Anglo-Irish politician and businessman. He served as the British minister of state in the Middle East until November 1944, when he was assassinated by the militant Jewish Zionist group Lehi...
private yacht Rosaura in August 1934 that she fell in love with Edward. At an evening party in Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
, he introduced her to his mother—his father was outraged, primarily on account of her marital history, as divorced people were generally excluded from court. Edward showered Wallis with money and jewels, and in February 1935, and again later in the year, he holidayed with her in Europe. His courtiers became increasingly alarmed as the affair began to interfere with his official duties.
In 1935, the head of the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
told the Metropolitan Police Commissioner
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the head of London's Metropolitan Police Service, classing the holder as a chief police officer...
that Wallis was also having an affair with Guy Marcus Trundle, who was "said to be employed by the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
". The reports were released to the public for the first time in 2003. Claims of an affair were doubted, however, by Captain Val Bailey, who knew Trundle well and whose mother had an affair with Trundle for nearly two decades, and by historian Susan Williams.
Abdication crisis
On 20 January 1936, George V died at SandringhamSandringham House
Sandringham House is a country house on of land near the village of Sandringham in Norfolk, England. The house is privately owned by the British Royal Family and is located on the royal Sandringham Estate, which lies within the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.-History and current...
and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. The next day, he broke royal protocol by watching the proclamation of his accession from a window of St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated in Pall Mall, just north of St. James's Park. Although no sovereign has resided there for almost two centuries, it has remained the official residence of the Sovereign and the most senior royal palace in the UK...
, in the company of the still-married Wallis. It was becoming apparent to Court and Government circles that the new King-Emperor
King-Emperor
A king-emperor, the female equivalent being queen-empress, is a sovereign ruler who is simultaneously a king of one territory and emperor of another...
meant to marry her. The King's behaviour and his relationship with Wallis made him unpopular with the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
-led British government
UK National Government
In the United Kingdom the term National Government is an abstract concept referring to a coalition of some or all major political parties. In a historical sense it usually refers primarily to the governments of Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain which held office from 1931...
, as well as distressing his mother
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
and brother
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
. Although the pre-war British media remained deferential to the monarchy, and no stories of the affair were reported in the domestic press, foreign media widely reported their relationship.
The monarch of the United Kingdom is Supreme Governor of the Church of England
Supreme Governor of the Church of England
The Supreme Governor of the Church of England is a title held by the British monarchs which signifies their titular leadership over the Church of England. Although the monarch's authority over the Church of England is not strong, the position is still very relevant to the church and is mostly...
—at the time of the proposed marriage, and until 2002, the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
did not permit the re-marriage of divorced people who had living ex-spouses. Constitutionally, the King was required to be in communion with the Church of England, but his proposed marriage conflicted with the Church's teachings. Furthermore, the British and Dominion governments felt that Wallis, as a two-time divorcée, was politically, socially and morally unsuitable as a prospective consort. She was perceived by many in the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
as a woman of "limitless ambition", who was pursuing the King because of his wealth and position.
Wallis had already filed for divorce from her second husband on the grounds that he had committed adultery with her childhood friend Mary Kirk and the decree nisi
Decree nisi
A decree nisi is a court order that does not have any force until such time that a particular condition is met, such as a subsequent petition to the court or the passage of a specified period of time....
was granted on 27 October 1936. In November, the King consulted with the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...
, on a way to marry Wallis and keep the throne. The King suggested a morganatic marriage
Morganatic marriage
In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
, where the King would remain King but Wallis would not be Queen, but this was rejected by Baldwin and the Prime Ministers of Australia and South Africa. If the King were to marry Wallis against Baldwin's advice, the Government would be required to resign, causing a constitutional crisis.
Wallis's relationship with the King had become public knowledge in the United Kingdom by early December. Wallis decided to flee the country as the scandal broke, and was driven to the south of France in a dramatic race to outrun the press. For the next three months, she was under siege by the media at the Villa Lou Viei, near Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, the home of her close friends Herman and Katherine Rogers. At her hideaway, Wallis was pressured by the King's Lord-in-Waiting
Lord-in-Waiting
Most Lords in Waiting are Government whips in the House of Lords who are members of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. As members of the Royal Household their duties are nominal, though they are occasionally required to meet visiting political and state leaders on visits...
, Lord Brownlow
Peregrine Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow
Peregrine Francis Adelbert Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow , was a British peer. He was the son of Adelbert Salusbury Cockayne Cust, 5th Baron Brownlow, and his wife Maud Buckle.-Education and World War I service:...
, to renounce the King. On 7 December 1936, Lord Brownlow read to the press her statement, which he had helped her draft, indicating Wallis's readiness to give up the King. However, Edward was determined to marry Wallis. John Theodore Goddard, Wallis's solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
, stated: "[his] client was ready to do anything to ease the situation but the other end of the wicket [Edward VIII] was determined." This seemingly indicated that the King had decided he had no option but to abdicate if he wished to marry Wallis.
The King signed the Instrument of Abdication on 10 December 1936, in the presence of his three surviving brothers, the Duke of York
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
(who would ascend the throne the following day as George VI), the Duke of Gloucester
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
The Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester was a soldier and member of the British Royal Family, the third son of George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary....
and the Duke of Kent
Prince George, Duke of Kent
Prince George, Duke of Kent was a member of the British Royal Family, the fourth son of George V and Mary of Teck, and younger brother of Edward VIII and George VI...
. Special laws passed by the Parliaments of the Dominion
Dominion
A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...
s finalised Edward's abdication the following day, or in Ireland's case one day later. On 11 December 1936, Edward said in a radio broadcast, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility, and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love."
Edward left Britain for Austria, where he stayed at Schloss Enzesfeld
Enzesfeld-Lindabrunn
Enzesfeld-Lindabrunn is a town in the district of Baden in Lower Austria in Austria.-External links:^...
, the home of Baron Eugen and Baroness Kitty de Rothschild
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family , known as The House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a Jewish-German family that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century...
. Edward had to remain apart from Wallis until there was no danger of compromising the granting of a decree absolute in her divorce proceedings. Upon her divorce being made final in May 1937, she changed her name by deed poll
Deed poll
A deed poll is a legal document binding only to a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an active intention...
to Mrs Wallis Warfield, resuming her maiden name. The couple were reunited at the Château de Candé
Château de Candé
The Château de Candé is a castle located in the commune of Monts, Indre-et-Loire, 10 km to the south of Tours on the border of the département of Indre in France....
, Monts, France, on 4 May 1937.
Third marriage: Duchess of Windsor
Wallis and Edward married one month later on 3 June 1937 at the Château de Candé, lent to them by Charles BedauxCharles Bedaux
Charles Eugène Bedaux was one of the most colorful millionaires of the early twentieth century. Friends with British royalty and Nazis alike, he amassed a fortune expanding on the Taylorism style of scientific management and was a big game hunter and explorer.-Early years:Charles Bedaux was born...
, who later worked actively for Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in World War II. The date would have been King George V's 72nd birthday; Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
thought the wedding had been scheduled for then as a deliberate slight. No member of the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
attended. Wallis wore a "Wallis blue" Mainbocher
Mainbocher
Mainbocher is a fashion label founded by the American couturier Main Rousseau Bocher , also known as Mainbocher. Established in 1929, the house of Mainbocher successfully operated in Paris and then in New York...
wedding dress
Wedding dress of Wallis Warfield
The wedding dress of Wallis Warfield was the bridal gown worn by Wallis, Duchess of Windsor at her marriage to Edward, Duke of Windsor on 3 June 1937 at the Château de Candé. Wallis wore a nipped-at-the-waist dress created by Mainbocher in what was termed her signature colour of "Wallis blue"...
. The marriage produced no children. In November, Ernest Simpson married Mary Kirk.
Edward was created Duke of Windsor
Duke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
by his brother, the new George VI. However, letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
, passed by the new King and unanimously supported by the Dominion governments, prevented Wallis, now the Duchess of Windsor, from sharing her husband's style
Style (manner of address)
A style of office, or honorific, is a legal, official, or recognized title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal...
of Royal Highness
Royal Highness
Royal Highness is a style ; plural Royal Highnesses...
. The new King's firm view, that the Duchess should not be given a royal title, was shared by Queen Mary and George's wife, Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother)
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
. At first, the Royal Family did not accept the Duchess and would not receive her formally, although the former king sometimes met his mother and siblings after his abdication. Some biographers have suggested that Queen Elizabeth, Edward's sister-in-law, remained bitter towards Wallis for her role in bringing George VI to the throne (which she may have seen as a factor in George VI's early death), and for prematurely behaving as Edward's consort when she was his mistress. But these claims were denied by Queen Elizabeth's close friends; for example, the Duke of Grafton
Hugh FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton
Hugh Denis Charles FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton, was the son of Charles FitzRoy, 10th Duke of Grafton, and his first wife Lady Doreen Maria Josepha Sydney Buxton, second daughter of Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton. He was known until 1970 as the Earl of Euston.-Biography:He was born in 1919 in...
wrote that she "never said anything nasty about the Duchess of Windsor, except to say she really hadn't got a clue what she was dealing with." On the other hand, the Duchess of Windsor referred to Queen Elizabeth as "Mrs Temple" and "Cookie", alluding to her solid figure and fondness for food, and to her daughter, Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II)
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, as "Shirley", as in Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
. The Duchess bitterly resented the denial of the royal title and the refusal of the Duke's relatives to accept her as part of the family. However, within the household of the Duke and Duchess, the style "Her Royal Highness" was used by those who were close to the couple.
According to the wife of former British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
leader Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
, Diana Mitford
Diana Mitford
Diana Mitford, Lady Mosley , was one of Britain's noted Mitford sisters. She was married first to Bryan Walter Guinness, heir to the barony of Moyne, and secondly to Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, leader of the British Union of Fascists; her second marriage, in 1936, took place at the...
, who knew both the future Queen Mother and the Duchess of Windsor but was only friendly with the latter, the Queen's antipathy toward her sister-in-law may have had a deeper source. Lady Mosley wrote to her sister, the Duchess of Devonshire, after the death of the Duke of Windsor, "probably the theory of their [the Windsors'] contemporaries that Cake [a Mitford nickname for the Queen Mother, derived from her delighted exclamation at the party at which Deborah Devonshire first met her] was rather in love with him [the Duke] (as a girl) & took second best, may account for much."
The Duke and Duchess lived in France in the pre-war years. In 1937, they made a high profile visit to Germany and met Nazi leader Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
at his Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. It is located in the south district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, near the border with Austria, some 30 km south of Salzburg and 180 km southeast of Munich...
retreat. After the visit, Hitler said of Wallis, "she would have made a good Queen". The visit tended to corroborate the strong suspicions of many in government and society that the Duchess was a German agent, a claim that she ridiculed in her letters to the Duke. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) files compiled in the 1930s also portray her as a possible Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
sympathiser. The ex-Duke of Württemberg
Duke Carl Alexander of Württemberg
Carl Alexander Herzog von Württemberg was a member of the House of Württemberg who became a Benedictine monk...
told the FBI that she and leading Nazi Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
had been lovers in London. There were even rather improbable reports during World War II that she kept a signed photograph of Ribbentrop on her bedside table, and had continued to pass details to him even during the invasion of France.
World War II
Following the outbreak of war in 1939, the Duke was given a military post in the British Army stationed in France. According to the son of William Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside, the Duchess continued to entertain friends associated with the fascist movement, and leaked details of the French and Belgian defences gleaned from the Duke. When the Germans invaded the north of France and bombed Britain in May 1940, the Duchess told an American journalist, "I can't say I feel sorry for them." As the German troops advanced, the Duke and Duchess fled south from their Paris home, first to BiarritzBiarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
, then in June to Spain. There, she told the United States ambassador
United States Ambassador to Spain
-Ambassadors:*John Jay**Appointed: September 29, 1779**Title: Minister Plenipotentiary**Presented credentials:**Terminated mission: ~May 20, 1782*William Carmichael**Appointed: April 20, 1790**Title: Chargé d'Affaires...
, Alexander W. Weddell
Alexander W. Weddell
Alexander Wilbourne Weddell was an American diplomat. He served as United States ambassador to Argentina from 1933 to 1939 and to Spain from 1939 to 1942....
, that France had lost because it was "internally diseased". In July, the pair moved to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, Portugal, where they stayed at the home of Ricardo de Espirito Santo e Silva, a banker who was suspected of being a German agent. In August, the Duke and Duchess travelled by commercial liner to the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
, where the Duke was installed as Governor.
Wallis performed her role as the Governor's lady competently for five years; she worked actively for the Red Cross and in the improvement of infant welfare. However, she hated Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
, calling it "our St Helena
Saint Helena
Saint Helena , named after St Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha...
", in a reference to Napoleon's final place of exile. She was heavily criticised in the British Press for her extravagant shopping in the United States, undertaken when Britain was enduring privations such as rationing and the blackout
Blackout (wartime)
A blackout during war, or apprehended war, is the practice of collectively minimizing outdoor light, including upwardly directed light. This was done in the 20th century to prevent crews of enemy aircraft from being able to navigate to their targets simply by sight, for example during the London...
. Her racist attitudes towards the local population (she called them "lazy, thriving nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
s" in letters to her aunt) reflected her upbringing. In 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
strenuously objected when she and her husband planned to tour the Caribbean aboard a yacht belonging to a Swedish magnate, Axel Wenner-Gren
Axel Wenner-Gren
Axel Lennart Wenner-Gren was a Swedish entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest men in the world during the 1930s....
, whom Churchill stated to be "pro-German". Churchill felt compelled to complain again when the Duke gave a "defeatist" interview. Another of their acquaintances, Charles Bedaux
Charles Bedaux
Charles Eugène Bedaux was one of the most colorful millionaires of the early twentieth century. Friends with British royalty and Nazis alike, he amassed a fortune expanding on the Taylorism style of scientific management and was a big game hunter and explorer.-Early years:Charles Bedaux was born...
, was arrested on charges of treason in 1943, and committed suicide in jail in Miami before the case was brought to trial. The British establishment
The Establishment
The Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...
distrusted the Duchess; Sir Alexander Hardinge
Alexander Hardinge, 2nd Baron Hardinge of Penshurst
Alexander Henry Louis Hardinge, 2nd Baron Hardinge of Penshurst GCB GCVO MC PC was Private Secretary to the Sovereign during the Abdication Crisis of Edward VIII and during most of the Second World War....
wrote that her suspected anti-British activities were motivated by a desire for revenge against a country that rejected her as its queen. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the couple returned to France and retirement.
Later life and death
William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley
William Humble Eric Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley, MC , known as Viscount Ednam until 1932, was a British Conservative politician.-Biography:...
, some of her jewels were stolen. There were rumours that the theft had been masterminded by the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
as an attempt to regain jewels taken from the Royal Collection
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family. It is property of the monarch as sovereign, but is held in trust for her successors and the nation. It contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as historical...
by the Duke, or by the Windsors themselves as part of an insurance fraud—they made a large deposit of loose stones at Cartier
Cartier SA
Cartier S.A., commonly known as Cartier , is a French luxury jeweler and watch manufacturer. The corporation carries the name of the Cartier family of jewellers whose control ended in 1964 and who were known for numerous pieces including the "Bestiary" , the diamond necklace created for Bhupinder...
the following year. However, in 1960, Richard Dunphie confessed to the crime. The stolen pieces were only a small portion of the Windsor jewels, which were either bought privately, inherited by the Duke, or given to the Duke when he was Prince of Wales.
On George VI's death in 1952, the Duke returned to England for the funeral. The Duchess did not attend; the previous October whilst staying in London she had told her husband, "I hate this country. I shall hate it to my grave." Later that year, they were offered the use of a house by the Paris municipal authorities. The couple lived at 4 route du Champ d'Entraînement in Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although Neuilly is technically a suburb of Paris, it is immediately adjacent to the city and directly extends it. The area is composed of mostly wealthy, select residential...
near Paris for most of the remainder of their lives, essentially living a life of easy retirement. They bought a second house in the country, Moulin de la Tuilerie or "The Mill" in Gif-sur-Yvette
Gif-sur-Yvette
Gif-sur-Yvette is a commune in the south-western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:The town is crossed by and named after the Yvette river.The total area is and is green spaces and woods.-Place names:...
, where they soon became close friends with their neighbours, Oswald
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
and Diana Mosley. Years later, Diana Mosley claimed that the Duke and Duchess shared her and her husband's views that Hitler should have been given a free hand to destroy Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. As the Duke himself wrote in the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
of 13 December 1966: "...it was in Britain's interest and in Europe's too, that Germany be encouraged to strike east and smash Communism forever ... I thought the rest of us could be fence-sitters while the Nazis and the Reds slogged it out."
In 1965, the Duke and Duchess visited London as the Duke required eye surgery for a detached retina; Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, visited them. Later, in 1967, the Duke and Duchess joined the Royal Family in London for the unveiling of a plaque by Elizabeth II to commemorate the centenary of Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
's birth. Both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
visited the Windsors in Paris in the Duke's later years, the Queen's visit coming only shortly before the Duke died.
Upon the Duke's death from cancer in 1972, the Duchess travelled to England to attend his funeral, staying at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
during her visit. The Duchess, increasingly frail and suffering from dementia, lived the remainder of her life as a recluse, supported by both her husband's estate and an allowance from the Queen. She suffered several falls, and broke her hip twice. After her husband's death, the Duchess gave her legal authority to her French lawyer, Suzanne Blum. This potentially exploitative relationship was explored in Caroline Blackwood
Caroline Blackwood
Lady Caroline Maureen Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood was a writer and artist's muse, and the eldest child of the 4th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava and the brewery heiress Maureen Guinness....
's book The Last of the Duchess, written in 1980, but not published until after Blum's death in 1995. In 1980, the Duchess lost the power of speech. Toward the end, she was bedridden and did not receive any visitors, apart from her doctor and nurses.
The Duchess of Windsor died on 24 April 1986 at her home in the Bois de Boulogne
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne is a park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine...
, Paris. Her funeral was held at St. George's Chapel
St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
St George's Chapel is the place of worship at Windsor Castle in England, United Kingdom. It is both a royal peculiar and the chapel of the Order of the Garter...
, Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
, attended by her two surviving sisters-in-law: the Queen Mother and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester was a member of the British Royal Family, the wife and then widow of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of George V and Queen Mary.The daughter of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch & Queensberry, Scotland’s largest landowner, her brothers Walter and...
. The Queen, Prince Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
, and the Prince
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
and Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
attended both the funeral ceremony and the burial. She was buried next to Edward in the Royal Burial Ground
Royal Burial Ground
The Royal Burial Ground is a cemetery used by the British Royal Family. It surrounds the Royal Mausoleum on the Frogmore Estate in the Home Park at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It was consecrated on 23 October 1928....
near Windsor Castle, as "Wallis, Duchess of Windsor". Until a 1965 agreement with Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke and Duchess had previously planned for a burial in a purchased cemetery plot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, where the father of the Duchess was interred.
In recognition of the help France gave to the Duke and Duchess in providing them with a home, and in lieu of death duties, the Duchess's collection of Louis XVI style furniture, some porcelain and paintings were made over to the French state. The British Royal Family received no major bequests. Most of her estate went to the Pasteur Institute
Pasteur Institute
The Pasteur Institute is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who made some of the greatest breakthroughs in modern medicine at the time, including pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax...
medical research foundation, on the instructions of Suzanne Blum. The decision took the Royal Family and the Duchess's friends by surprise, as she had shown little interest in charity during her life. In a Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
auction in Geneva in April 1987 the Duchess's remarkable jewelry collection raised $45 million for the Institute, approximately seven times its pre-sale estimate. Blum later claimed that Egyptian entrepreneur Mohammed Al-Fayed tried to purchase the jewels for a "rock bottom price". Al-Fayed bought much of the non-financial estate, including the lease of the Paris mansion. He purchased the possessions for $4.5 million. In July 1997, an auction of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's possessions from the villa was announced for later that year in New York. The bulk of Al-Fayed's collection was sold in 1998, the year after his son
Dodi Al-Fayed
Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Moneim Fayed , known as Dodi Fayed , was an Egyptian film producer. He was best known internationally as the boyfriend of Diana, Princess of Wales, with whom he died in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris along with driver Henri Paul on 31 August...
's death in the car accident
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Fayed's...
that also claimed the life of Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
. The sale raised more than £14 million for charity.
Legacy
Wallis was plagued by rumours of other lovers. The gay American playboy Jimmy DonahueJames Paul Donahue, Jr.
James Paul Donahue, Jr. , known professionally as Jimmy Donahue, was an heir to the Woolworth estate and a noted New York gay socialite.-Early life:...
, an heir to the Woolworth fortune, claimed to have had a liaison with the Duchess in the 1950s, but Donahue was notorious for his inventive pranks and rumour-mongering. The existence of a so-called "China dossier" (detailing the supposed sexual and criminal exploits of Wallis in China) is denied by virtually all historians and biographers. Although there have been rumours of pregnancy and abortion, most notably involving Count Ciano in China, there is no hard evidence that the Duchess became pregnant by any of her lovers or her three husbands. Claims that she suffered from androgen insensitivity syndrome
Androgen insensitivity syndrome
Androgen insensitivity syndrome is a condition that results in the partial or complete inability of the cell to respond to androgens. The unresponsiveness of the cell to the presence of androgenic hormones can impair or prevent the masculinization of male genitalia in the developing fetus, as...
, also known as testicular feminisation, seem improbable, if not impossible, given her operation for uterine fibroids
Uterine fibroids
A uterine fibroid is a benign tumor that originates from the smooth muscle layer and the accompanying connective tissue of the uterus.Fibroids are the most common benign tumors in...
in 1951. Her doctor, Jean Thin, claimed she had normal genitalia.
The Duchess published her ghost-written memoirs, The Heart Has Its Reasons, in 1956. Author Charles Higham
Charles Higham (biographer)
Charles Higham is an author, editor and poet. Higham is a recipient of the Prix des Créateurs of the Académie Française and the Poetry Society of London Prize.-Biography:...
says of the book, "facts were remorselessly rearranged in what amounted to a self-performed face-lift ... reflecting in abundance its author's politically misguided but winning and desirable personality." He describes the Duchess as "charismatic, electric and compulsively ambitious". Hearsay, conjecture and politically motivated propaganda have clouded assessment of the Duchess of Windsor's life, not helped by her own manipulation of the truth. But there is no document which proves directly that she was anything other than a victim of her own ambition, who lived out a great romance that became a great tragedy. In the opinion of her biographers, "she experienced the ultimate fairy tale, becoming the adored favourite of the most glamorous bachelor of his time. The idyll went wrong when, ignoring her pleas, he threw up his position to spend the rest of his life with her." Academics agree that she ascended a precipice that "left her with fewer alternatives than she had anticipated. Somehow she thought that the Establishment could be overcome once [Edward] was king, and she confessed frankly to Aunt Bessie about her "insatiable ambitions" ... Trapped by his flight from responsibility into exactly the role she had sought, suddenly she warned him, in a letter, "You and I can only create disaster together" ... she predicted to society hostess Sybil Colefax
Sybil Colefax
Sibyl Colefax, Lady Colefax was a notable English interior decorator and socialite in the first half of the twentieth century....
, "two people will suffer" because of "the workings of a system" ... Denied dignity, and without anything useful to do, the new Duke of Windsor and his Duchess would be international society's most notorious parasites for a generation, while they thoroughly bored each other ... She had thought of him as emotionally a Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
, and of herself an Alice in Wonderland. The book they had written together, however, was a Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
." The Duchess herself is reported to have summed up her life in a sentence: "You have no idea how hard it is to live out a great romance."
In popular culture
Wallis was portrayed by Faye DunawayFaye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
in The Woman I Love (1972, TV drama), Cynthia Harris
Cynthia Harris
Cynthia Harris is an American film and television actress.She is known for her role as Helen Hunt's character Jamie Buchman's overbearing mother-in-law on Mad About You. She has also appeared in many television series and TV movies, such as L.A. Law, All My Children and in the classic drama, Edward...
in Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978, TV miniseries), Barbara Parkins
Barbara Parkins
Barbara Parkins is a Canadian television and film actress.-Early life and rise to stardom:Parkins was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the age of sixteen, she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, where she enrolled at Hollywood High School and began to study acting, tap, ballet, and...
in To Catch a King (1983, TV movie), Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour (actress)
Jane Seymour, OBE is an English actress best known for her performances in the James Bond film Live and Let Die , East of Eden , Onassis: The Richest Man in the World , and the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman...
in The Woman He Loved (1988, made-for-TV movie), Jane Hartley in Always (1997, West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
musical), Amber Sealey in Bertie and Elizabeth
Bertie and Elizabeth
Bertie & Elizabeth is a 2002 television film produced by Carlton Television. The film explores the relationship between King George VI and his wife Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon from their very first meeting to the King's death in the winter of 1952...
(2002, made-for-TV movie), Joely Richardson
Joely Richardson
Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
in Wallis & Edward (2005, made-for-TV movie), Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
in Any Human Heart
Any Human Heart
Any Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart is a 2002 novel by William Boyd, a Scottish writer. It is written as a lifelong series of journals kept by the protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, a writer whose life spanned the defining episodes of the twentieth century, crossed several...
(2010, TV mini-series), Emma Clifford in Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
(2010, TV mini-series), and Eve Best
Eve Best
Eve Best is an English actress, best known for her roles as Dr. O'Hara in the Showtime television series Nurse Jackie, as Wallis Simpson in the 2010 film The King's Speech, and Dolley Madison in the 2011 American Experience television special about that First Lady.-Early life and education:Best...
in The King's Speech (2010). Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
played Wallis in an episode
A Night of Neglect
"A Night of Neglect" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 39th episode overall. It was written by Ian Brennan, directed by Carol Banker, and aired on Fox in the United States on April 19, 2011...
of Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
for a brief scene. Andrea Riseborough
Andrea Riseborough
-Early life:Riseborough grew up in Whitley Bay. In reference to The Long Walk To Finchley, she has described her parents as "working-class Thatcherites"....
will portray the Duchess in the 2011 film W.E.
In his 1981 novel Famous Last Words
Famous Last Words (novel)
Famous Last Words is a 1981 novel by Canadian author Timothy Findley, in which Hugh Selwyn Mauberley is the main character....
, award-winning Canadian author Timothy Findley
Timothy Findley
Timothy Irving Frederick Findley, OC, O.Ont was a Canadian novelist and playwright. He was also informally known by the nickname Tiff or Tiffy, an acronym of his initials.-Biography:...
depicts "Mrs Simpson" as manipulative yet also tragic. Author Anne Edwards
Anne Edwards
Anne Edwards is an author best known for her biographies of celebrities that include Princess Diana, Maria Callas, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn, Vivien Leigh, Margaret Mitchell, Ronald Reagan, Barbra Streisand, Shirley Temple and Countess Sonya Tolstoy...
wrote a sympathetic account of Wallis's early life culminating with her marriage to Edward in her 1991 book Wallis: The Novel. Wallis also features in a short story by Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain CBE is an English author.-Life:Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on August 2, 1943 in London and attended Francis Holland School then Crofton Grange School from 1954 to 1961; the Sorbonne from 1961–1962; and graduated from the University of East Anglia in 1965 where she then...
called "The Darkness of Wallis Simpson"; a play called The Duchess by Linda Griffiths
Linda Griffiths
Linda Griffiths is a Canadian actor and playwright.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Griffiths studied at Dawson College, the National Theatre School for one year, and McGill University....
; the 1992 alternate history crime thriller Fatherland
Fatherland (novel)
Fatherland is a bestselling 1992 thriller by the English writer and journalist Robert Harris. It takes the form of a high concept alternative history set in a world in which Nazi Germany won World War II.The novel was an immediate bestseller in Britain...
by Robert Harris
Robert Harris (novelist)
Robert Dennis Harris is an English novelist. He is a former journalist and BBC television reporter.-Early life:Born in Nottingham, Harris spent his childhood in a small rented house on a Nottingham council estate. His ambition to become a writer arose at an early age, from visits to the local...
; the 2005 novel Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham
Laurie Graham (novelist)
Laurie Graham is a former journalist and author. She now lives in County Dublin, Ireland.- Career :...
; and in the Young Bond book by Charlie Higson
Charlie Higson
Charles Murray Higson , more commonly known as Charlie Higson - also Switch - is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer...
, By Royal Command. Kate Auspitz's 2010 novel, The War Memoirs of HRH Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, portrays Wallis as a tool of the Allies who employ Wallis to knock fascist-sympathizing King Edward VIII off the throne.