After the abdication, the former monarch was created the Duke of Windsor by his brother and successor, King George VI. [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. The Duke of Windsor Dies at 77 By Reuters. [97] Wallis performed her role as the Bahamas' first lady competently for five years; she worked actively for the Red Cross and in the improvement of infant welfare. 99–120; Ziegler, p. 555, King, p. 506; Menkes, pp. Wallis, the Duchess of Windsor (1896-1986), is remembered for her stylishness. 59–60, King, pp. 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 Club, in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania. This is true for many current members of the royal family. [107] They travelled frequently between Europe and America aboard ocean liners. [17] In January 1924, she visited Paris with her recently widowed cousin Corinne Mustin,[23] before sailing to the Far East aboard a troop carrier, USS Chaumont (AP-5). [72], 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. [117], After Edward's death, the Duchess's French lawyer, Suzanne Blum, assumed power of attorney. [16] A later biographer wrote of her, "Though Wallis's jaw was too heavy for her to be counted beautiful, her fine violet-blue eyes and petite figure, quick wits, vitality, and capacity for total concentration on her interlocutor ensured that she had many admirers. The duke and duchess set sail from Lisbon on August 1, 1940, narrowly escaping a Nazi SS team sent to seize them. [135] Hearsay and conjecture have clouded assessment of the Duchess of Windsor's life, not helped by her own manipulation of the truth. For fans of the the Netflix series, "The Crown," Britain's Duke of Windsor (the former King Edward VIII, who abdicated in 1936 to marry an American, Wallis Simpson) spent the [123], The Duchess of Windsor died on 24 April 1986 at her home in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, aged 89. 255–269, Letter from Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth, 21 May 1937, Royal Archives, QEQM/PRIV/RF, quoted in, Telegram from Weddell to Secretary of State, King, pp. 79–85, King, pp. [98] However, she hated Nassau, calling it "our St Helena" in a reference to Napoleon's final place of exile. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor gaze happily into one another’s eyes following their return to England on September 16, 1939. "[137], "Duchess of Windsor" redirects here. 237, 242, King, pp. The brooch was designed to incorporate several meaningful symbols that were important to the couple. It was during her marriage to Simpson that Wallis met Edward, the then Prince of Wales. 125, 131. [70] At her hideaway, Wallis was pressured by Lord Brownlow, the King's lord-in-waiting, to renounce the King. The Duke and Duchess traveled internationally with their pugs, and as New York was the Duchess's favorite shopping city, the Windsor pooches often arrived in style at the Waldorf Astoria hotel. 112–113, Higham, p. 50; King, p. 66; Sebba, pp. Michael S. Rosenwald. United States FBI files compiled in the 1930s also portrayed Wallis as a Nazi sympathiser. [128], In a Sotheby's auction in Geneva, in April 1987, the Duchess's remarkable jewellery collection raised $45 million for the institute, approximately seven times its pre-sale estimate. "[85] Queen Elizabeth was said to have referred to Simpson as "that woman",[86] while 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. [80], Edward was created Duke of Windsor by his brother King George VI prior to the marriage. When the Duke had eye surgery in London in 1965, The Queen and the Duchess of Kent visited them. [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. [67] 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,[68] whom she later thanked effusively in her ghost-written memoirs. He describes the Duchess as "charismatic, electric and compulsively ambitious". [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. 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. 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." 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. [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. Blue Ridge Summit referred to as "a fashionable summer resort ... then greatly patronized by Baltimoreans" in Francis F. Bierne (1984), Carroll, vol. [125], Wallis was plagued by rumours of other lovers. Her private life has been a source of much speculation, and she remains a controversial figure in British history. [17] 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. They attended her memorial service in Westminster Abbey. [87] 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. 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. 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. Some biographers have suggested that Wallis's sister-in-law, Queen Elizabeth, remained bitter towards her for her role in bringing George VI to the throne (which she may have seen as a factor in his early death)[83] and for prematurely behaving as Edward's consort when she was his mistress. The Duke of Windsor was born Prince Edward of York on 23 June 1894. On one occasion, according to a story from the hotel's archives, staff at the famous hotel were delighted when the couple arrived without their pugs, who by all accounts were not well house-trained. [14] A fellow pupil at one of Wallis's schools recalled, "She was bright, brighter than all of us. [91] The visit tended to corroborate the strong suspicions of many in government and society that the Duchess was a German agent,[17] a claim that she ridiculed in her letters to the Duke. The villa was leased to the Windsors by the city of Paris at a nominal rent from 1952 to 1986. [71] However, Edward was determined to marry Wallis. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. 20–21; Vickers, p. 257; Duchess of Windsor, pp. 274–277; Vickers, pp. The idyll went wrong when, ignoring her pleas, he threw up his position to spend the rest of his life with her. [6] Her mother was Alice Montague, a daughter of stockbroker William Latane Montague. She filled her empty life by buying expensive clothes from the big Paris fashion houses like Chanel and getting the Duke to buy her costly jewels from Cartier. Ernest was beginning to encounter financial difficulties, as the Simpsons were living beyond their means, and they had to fire a succession of staff. 103–104; Ziegler, p. 238, Report from Superintendent A. Canning to Sir, King, p. 173; Sebba, pp. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s love story created a scandal. Most of her estate went to the Pasteur Institute medical research foundation, on the instructions of Suzanne Blum. 51–52; Sebba, p. 36; Vickers, p. 260; Duchess of Windsor, p. 85, King, p. 60; Duchess of Windsor, pp. Her father died shortly after her birth from tuberculosis which left Wallis and her widowed mother partly supported by their wealthier relatives. Michael S. Rosenwald. [57] After the death of George V, before her divorce from her second husband, Simpson reportedly said, "Soon I shall be Queen of England [sic]". [3] 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 – and other members of the royal family. Secret correspondence between the exiled Duke and Duchess of Windsor and their confidant Kenneth de Courcy has revealed a dastardly scheme … This seemingly indicated that the King had decided he had no option but to abdicate if he wished to marry Wallis. T his is the untold story of the Duchess of Windsor. Edward had to remain apart from Wallis until there was no danger of compromising the granting of a decree absolute in her divorce proceedings. Duke, Duchess of Windsor’s wild orgies. 344–345, When telling a story of how Wallis complained about blacks being allowed on, Sebba, pp. 227–228, King, p. 113; Duchess of Windsor, pp. Her husband the duke had formerly been King Edward VIII and famously he abdicated in 1936 so that he could marry her. Their affair and subsequent marriage had tongues wagging on both sides of the Atlantic and was the constitutional crisis of the twentieth century. My name is Sydney Zatz and I am a University of Iowa graduate. For over four decades the will of the Duke of Windsor, once known as King Edward VIII, has remained sealed and hidden away from prying eyes. 267–269; Duchess of Windsor, pp. [62] She was perceived by many in the British Empire as a woman of "limitless ambition"[63] who was pursuing the King because of his wealth and position. [121], In 1980, the Duchess lost the power of speech. 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. By the 1960s, the Windsors were in more contact with the Royal Family. [93] There were even rather improbable reports during the Second World War that she kept a signed photograph of Ribbentrop on her bedside table. He drank even before flying and once crashed into the sea, but escaped almost unharmed. [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. George VI'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). 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. [76] No member of Edward's family attended. [43] Wallis soon ousted Lady Furness, and the Prince distanced himself from a former lover and confidante, the Anglo-American textile heiress Freda Dudley Ward. [12], On 17 April 1910, Wallis was confirmed at Christ Episcopal Church, Baltimore, and between 1912 and 1914 her uncle paid for her to attend Oldfields School, the most expensive girls' school in Maryland. 45–53; Vickers, p. 263; Duchess of Windsor, pp. 55–56, Higham, p. 119; King, p. 61; Vickers, p. 263; Ziegler, p. 224, King, pp. [3] 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 wooden cottages, was the town's largest hotel. [17], In 1946, when the Duchess was staying at Ednam Lodge, the home of the Earl of Dudley, some of her jewels were stolen. Prince Albert of Monaco’s car collection reopens to the public, Crown Prince Haakon opened Oslo’s new public library. 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. The Duchess of Windsor was always immaculately dressed and never casual. [60] Additionally, at the time both the Church and English law only recognised adultery as a legitimate ground for divorce. 258, 261; Duchess of Windsor, pp. [124] The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince and Princess of Wales attended both the funeral ceremony and the burial. [130] Al-Fayed bought much of the non-financial estate, including the lease of the Paris mansion. [61], The British and Dominion governments believed that a twice divorced woman was politically, socially, and morally unsuitable as a prospective consort. 47–52; Vickers, pp. 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. With the death of his grandfather, King Edward VII in 1910, his father was crowned King George V. In November, Ernest Simpson married Mary Kirk. Less than a year later, on 21 July 1928, Wallis married Ernest Simpson, an American-born British shipbroker in London. [7], According to a wedding announcement in the Baltimore Sun (20 November 1895), her parents were married by C. Ernest Smith at Baltimore's Saint Michael and All Angels' Protestant Episcopal Church on 19 November 1895,[8] which suggests she was conceived out of wedlock. Royal Central is the web’s most popular source for the latest news on the Royal Families of the World. [17][88] Within the household of the Duke and Duchess, the style "Her Royal Highness" was used by those who were close to the couple. Here's the true … Initially, they lived with him at the four-story row house, 34 East Preston Street, that he shared with his mother. [122] Toward the end, she was bedridden and did not receive any visitors, apart from her doctor and nurses. She made up her mind to go to the head of the class, and she did. [125] Prior to an agreement with Queen Elizabeth II in the 1960s, the Duke and Duchess had previously planned for a burial in a purchased cemetery plot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, where the Duchess's father was interred. "[2], Edward left Britain for Austria, where he stayed at Schloss Enzesfeld, the home of Baron Eugen and Baroness Kitty de Rothschild. Wallis returned to England and with the shipping business still buoyant, the Simpsons moved into a large flat with a staff of servants. 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. Win, as her husband was known, was a heavy drinker. 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. "[90], The Duke and Duchess lived in France in the pre-war years. Duke Carl Alexander of Württemberg told the FBI that she and leading Nazi Joachim von Ribbentrop had been lovers in London. In 1931, during her second marriage, to Ernest Simpson, she met Edward, then Prince of Wales. 198, 206 and 207, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom's Abdication, "Windsor, (Bessie) Wallis, duchess of Windsor (1896–1986)", "Wallis in Love by Andrew Morton - review: Did she ever love the Duke of Windsor?