274–277; Vickers, pp. Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield; 19 June 1896[1] – 24 April 1986), known as Wallis Simpson, was an American socialite and wife of the Duke of Windsor, the former British king Edward VIII. Wallis claimed that her parents were married in June 1895. [20] After the United States entered the First World War 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. "[2], Edward left Britain for Austria, where he stayed at Schloss Enzesfeld, the home of Baron Eugen and Baroness Kitty de Rothschild. After the Duke's death in 1972, the Duchess lived in seclusion and was rarely seen in public. [75] 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. [38], Through a friend, Consuelo Thaw, Wallis met Consuelo's sister Thelma, Lady Furness, at the time the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales. I have a passion for royals, royal history, and journalism, which led me to want to write for Royal Central. Special laws passed by the Parliaments of the Dominions finalised Edward's abdication the following day, or in Ireland's case one day later. Before, during, and after the Second World War, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were suspected by many in government and society of being Nazi sympathisers. 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. [132] Wallis's memoirs The Heart Has Its Reasons were published in 1956, and biographer Charles Higham said that "facts were remorselessly rearranged in what amounted to a self-performed face-lift". In the 1950s and 1960s, the Duke and Duchess shuttled between Europe and the United States living a life of leisure as society celebrities. The two would remain friends with Wallis sending him flowers when Simpson was in the hospital for surgery. The Cartier brooch was made to commemorate the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s twentieth wedding anniversary in 1957 and was a gift to Wallis. The Duke and Duchess also attended the memorial service for the Duke’s sister, the Princess Royal, that same year in Westminster Abbey. Her first marriage, to U.S. naval officer Win Spencer, was punctuated by periods of separation and eventually ended in divorce. Wenner-Gren was also a Nazi sympathizer, however, who attracted the attention of the FBI. [14] A fellow pupil at one of Wallis's schools recalled, "She was bright, brighter than all of us. 237, 242, King, pp. [6] Her mother was Alice Montague, a daughter of stockbroker William Latane Montague. [125], She was buried next to Edward in the Royal Burial Ground near Windsor Castle, as "Wallis, Duchess of Windsor". [129] Blum later claimed that Egyptian entrepreneur Mohamed Al-Fayed tried to purchase the jewels for a "rock bottom price". 8 November 1916 – 21 July 1928: Mrs. Earl Winfield Spencer Jr. 21 July 1928 – 7 May 1937: Mrs. Ernest Aldrich Simpson, 7 May 1937 – 3 June 1937: Mrs. Wallis Warfield, This page was last edited on 30 November 2020, at 02:08. The couple divorced on 3 May 1937. Her funeral was held at St George’s Chapel on 29 April and was attended by her two surviving sisters-in-law, the Queen Mother, and Princess Alice, the Duchess of Gloucester. The couple lived at 4 route du Champ d'Entraînement in the Bois de Boulogne, near Neuilly-sur-Seine, for most of the remainder of their lives, essentially living a life of easy retirement. "[136] 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. Since she had divorced her first husband on grounds of "mutual incompatibility", there was a possibility that her second marriage, as well as her prospective marriage to Edward, would be considered bigamous if her first divorce had been challenged in court. Sebba, p. 98; Vickers, p. 287; Ziegler, pp. SUPPORT OUR JOURNALISM: Please considering donating to keep our website running and free for all - thank you! The Duke and Duchess of Windsor gaze happily into one another’s eyes following their return to England on September 16, 1939. [131] Delayed by his son's death in the car crash that also claimed the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, the sale raised more than £14 million for charity in 1998. [17][100] She referred to the local population as "lazy, thriving niggers" in letters to her aunt, which reflected her upbringing in the Jim Crow South. Her private life has been a source of much speculation, and she remains a controversial figure in British history. The Duke was buried in the Royal Burial Ground behind the Royal Mausoleum of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the Frogmore Estate; until 1965, the Duke and Duchess had planned to be buried in Baltimore with the Duchess’s father before an agreement was reached with the Royal Family. Ultimately, Edward would abdicate in December of 1936 to marry “the woman I love.”. Seriously, the title of Duke of Windsor was expressly created for Edward VIII in 1937 after he abdicated 11 Dec 1936 to marry the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, who was henceforth known as the Duchess of Windsor. "[15] Wallis was always immaculately dressed and pushed herself hard to do well. [115] The Duchess became increasingly frail and eventually succumbed to dementia, living the final years of her life as a recluse, supported by both her husband's estate and an allowance from the Queen. Her father died shortly after her birth from tuberculosis which left Wallis and her widowed mother partly supported by their wealthier relatives. In 1935 and 1936, the Prince (and later King) was seen on holiday with Wallis in Europe leading Edward’s courtiers to believe that Wallis was interfering with his royal duties. 350–352; Duchess of Windsor, pp. 45–53; Vickers, p. 263; Duchess of Windsor, pp. United States FBI files compiled in the 1930s also portrayed Wallis as a Nazi sympathiser. After the visit, Hitler notably said of the Duchess, “She would have made a good Queen.” The trip led to government suspicions that the Duchess was a German agent – a claim she often ridiculed in her letters to the Duke. The decision took the royal family and the Duchess's friends by surprise, as she had shown little interest in charity during her life. "[90], The Duke and Duchess lived in France in the pre-war years. [117], After Edward's death, the Duchess's French lawyer, Suzanne Blum, assumed power of attorney. 8. 14–15; Duchess of Windsor, p. 20, King, p. 38; Sebba, pp. [58], 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 disapproved of, and would not perform, the remarriage of divorced people if their former spouse was still alive. "[110], 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. [127] The British royal family received no major bequests. LONDON, Sunday, May 28--The Duke of Windsor, who gave up the British throne in 1936 to marry an American divorcee, died in his home near Paris early today, a Buckingham Palace spokesman announced here. Prince Albert of Monaco’s car collection reopens to the public, Crown Prince Haakon opened Oslo’s new public library. Trees for the Platinum Jubilee as new initiative to mark The Queen's special anniversary is announced, Queen Sonja starts Christmas countdown at the Royal Palace, Crown Princess Family of Sweden celebrates First Sunday of Advent, The royal bride who changed England forever, Stories of the Stuarts: Queen Anne's 18 pregnancies, King of Thailand rents entire hotel in Germany for his harem, Royal Wedding Rewind: George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece, Royal Central readers show off their royal memorabilia - part 2, The much maligned mistress who helped create one of Britain's most popular kings. The Duchess was buried next to her husband. 213–218; Duchess of Windsor, pp. [84] These claims were denied by Queen Elizabeth's close friends, such as the Duke of Grafton, who 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. [104] 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. [79] The marriage produced no children. Less than a year later, on 21 July 1928, Wallis married Ernest Simpson, an American-born British shipbroker in London. 136, 141; Duchess of Windsor, pp. Duke of Windsor, Writer: A King's Story. The King suggested a morganatic marriage, where he would remain king but Wallis would not be queen, but this was rejected by Baldwin and the prime ministers of Australia, Canada, and the Union of South Africa. Here’s a case in point: In 1957, Richard Avedon scheduled a New York City appointment to photograph the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom and Wallis Warfield Simpson of Baltimore. [125], Wallis was plagued by rumours of other lovers. 55–56, Higham, p. 119; King, p. 61; Vickers, p. 263; Ziegler, p. 224, King, pp. 258, 261; Duchess of Windsor, pp. 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." During her five years as the Bahamas’ First Lady, Wallis actively worked for the Red Cross and the improvement of infant welfare. 103–104; Ziegler, p. 238, Report from Superintendent A. Canning to Sir, King, p. 173; Sebba, pp. [121], In 1980, the Duchess lost the power of speech. [13] There she became a friend of 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. [10] For her first few years, she and her mother were dependent upon the charity of her father's wealthy bachelor brother Solomon Davies Warfield, postmaster of Baltimore and later president of the Continental Trust Company and the Seaboard Air Line Railway. [56] The British media remained deferential to the monarchy, and no stories of the affair were reported in the domestic press, but foreign media widely reported their relationship. At an evening party at Buckingham Palace, Edward introduced Wallis to his mother; his father was outraged by the situation primarily because divorcées were typically excluded from court. [126], 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 Queen's cousin, Prince Richard, 76, (the current Duke of Gloucester) is the second son of the late former Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Prince Henry and Princess Alice. 126, 155; Sebba, pp. [133], Fictional depictions of the Duchess include the novel Famous Last Words (1981) by Canadian author Timothy Findley, which portrays her as a manipulative conspirator,[134] and Rose Tremain's short story "The Darkness of Wallis Simpson" (2006), which depicts her more sympathetically in her final years of ill health. Edward denied this to his father despite staff seeing the two in bed together, as well as “evidence of a physical, sexual act.”. The Duchess (1896 - 1986) and Duke (1894 - 1972) of Windsor in 1955 at their home, Le Moulin de la Tuilerie, located just outside of Paris. My beliefs, based on what I’ve read about the Duke and Duchess, are that she probably was fond of the Duke, at least initially. 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. THOMASVILLE — The man who will lecture in Thomasville Saturday about the late Duke and Duchess of Windsor cultivated an endearing friendship with the duchess, according to a Thomasville resident. After the abdication, the former monarch was created the Duke of Windsor by his brother and successor, King George VI. [25] According to the wife of one of Win's fellow officers, Mrs Milton E. Miles,[26] in Beijing 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 infertile. [22] 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. [4][5], Her father was Teackle Wallis Warfield, the 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. There were rumours that the theft had been masterminded by the 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. [18] It was at this time that Wallis witnessed two airplane crashes about two weeks apart, resulting in a lifelong fear of flying. Home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Their affair and subsequent marriage had tongues wagging on both sides of the Atlantic and was the constitutional crisis of the twentieth century. Frank … However, things did not go as smoothly as one may have hoped. [65] In November, the King consulted with the British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, on a way to marry Wallis and keep the throne. [19] The couple married on 8 November 1916 at Christ Episcopal Church in Baltimore, which had been Wallis's parish. The hospital, which later became Southwestern State Hospital, treated wounded World War II soldiers. Here's the true … [113], Upon the Duke's death from throat cancer in 1972, the Duchess travelled to the United Kingdom to attend his funeral,[114] staying at Buckingham Palace during her visit. Biography of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor and the Duchess of Windsor, Nee Bessie Wallis Warfield. 195–197, 200, King, pp. 47–52; Vickers, pp. Wallis grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. [62] If the King were to marry Wallis against Baldwin's advice, the Government would be required to resign, causing a constitutional crisis. [89], According to the wife of former British Union of Fascists leader Oswald Mosley, Diana Mitford, who knew both Queen Elizabeth and the Duchess of Windsor but was only friendly with the latter, the Queen's antipathy toward her sister-in-law may have resulted from jealousy. Wallis was named in honour of her father (who was known as Wallis) and her mother's elder sister, Bessie (Mrs D. Buchanan Merryman), and was called Bessie Wallis until at some time during her youth the name Bessie was dropped. [32] Their divorce was finalised on 10 December 1927. [28] The existence of an official "China dossier" (detailing the supposed sexual and criminal exploits of Wallis in China) is denied by historians and biographers. In 'The Crown' season 3, we see the Duke of Windsor, also known as the Former King Edward VIII and Queen Elizabeth's uncle die. I thought the rest of us could be fence-sitters while the Nazis and the Reds slogged it out. 99–120; Ziegler, p. 555, King, p. 506; Menkes, pp. I graduated with a degree in journalism and sports studies, and a minor in sport and recreation management. Michael S. Rosenwald. [51] 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,[52] and by historian Susan Williams. Wallis finally wed Edward on 3 June 1937 in France and became the Duchess of Windsor. [78] While the Church of England refused to sanction the wedding, Robert Anderson Jardine, Vicar of St Paul's, Darlington, offered to perform the service, an offer that was accepted by the couple. They stayed in Cascais, at Casa de Santa Maria, the home of Ricardo do Espírito Santo e Silva, a banker who was suspected of being a German agent. Died shortly after her birth from tuberculosis which left Wallis and her status a... 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