The Duke and Duchess of Windsor

[Miss Waynfleet]

http://www.dailymail.co.u...is-wanted-marry-king.html

http://www.dailymail.co.u...etters.html#ixzz1UXJgf4dx

A different view on Wallis

[tatty]

Having read through the articles, it seems as though she was playing with fire and she got burned.

I cannot imagine how back then the scandal would have appeared. Edward had a role to play, to carry out his duties as Head of State and to produce an heir.

He could have kept Wallis as his mistress I dare say but he wanted to marry her. Few people can have their cake and eat it - something had to give and he chose her.

I don't blame him for that,, it shows if anything, that he was human just like all of us. But the Royal Family and the Establishment, (maybe even the British people at the time), take that position to be more important than anything and it meant he was treated with disdain from then on.

I never believed that Wallis was as bad as she was made out to be but that's propaganda for you.

That's just how it played out for him and Wallis. It's a sad story and one that I think generations since have learned from.

[Helena]

An interesting read on both articles.

There are some inaccuracies as to be expected.  For example, the incident between Wallis and the Duchess of York with Cookie announcing she came to dine with the King, took place at Balmoral and not at Sandringham. 

[A_little_bird]

An interesting read on both articles.

There are some inaccuracies as to be expected.  For example, the incident between Wallis and the Duchess of York with Cookie announcing she came to dine with the King, took place at Balmoral and not at Sandringham. 

I'm reading a book on the Windsors, and the urgency seems to be on the Duke's side and not on Wallis' 

She really seemed a bit reluctant to marry him.
Cookie sure comes across as hard-baked and slightly burned.  I wonder about the jealousy. 

[Hester]

 I wonder how Madonna's disgraceful film W.E. - a whitewash about Wallis - is going. HOpefully down the tube.

[just a serf]

It's a film about a pair of Nazi trannies, right? And how they plotted for Hitler to take over Britain and be installed as Nazi-Monarchs? 

More likely some sugary nonsense. I would actually watch the first film   

[Hibou]

I now have a slightly different perspective on Wallis Simpson. She was a fool not to recognize what she was getting herself into, but on the other hand, she sounds like she spared England from a person who was not fit be to king. If there is any fairness, Wallis assumed because she was married that she could have her cake and eat it too and realized too late that the king was nuts. Sounds like an interesting biography. I love it when they produce private letters because then one can get a better picture of the individual. Wonder what the Queen thinks of all this being exposed. On the other hand it might actually be tame compared to what Charles and Diana did to each other.  JMO

[fairy]

I don't know if Wallis was still besotted with her ex-husband Ernest (or soon to be Ex) when she was either in the midst of the abdications scandal or later when she was probably bored stiff. I think in all seriousness that any emotional attachment comes from some sort of rueful melancholy, thinking of the good old times when everything was exciting, exhilarating and she had the thrill of a one of a kind flirt with the safety net of a husband.
As Wallis Windsor there was no thrill, not the amount of luxury she probably had hoped for (although I would be quite content with that!!!) no public adoration, but approaching middle age and fading into the boring background of the the third or even less imporrtant societies...
I don't think she ever loved him, I think she was fond of him at the most.
She liked his "musical side" was probably immensely glad of his interest in fashion and beautiful things, liked the way he and his set partied and vacationed.
But I believe she would have accepted any man in this position. Swap him with Santa and she wouldn't have cared. She was after the Prince of Wales not after David Windsor. And certainly not after King Edward VIII.
That she stuck with him after, is probably more because she somewhat grew fond of him and realized that few men of this calibre: rich, influencial and out for parties and the good life were seeking "mature women", they were (and still are!) after trophy wives and arm candy and after a divorce Wallis would not have enough money to stand on her own in their piranhia society.

[julygal]

^^Fairy, you've summed up perfectly what I've always sort of felt about Wallis.  The years when she was flirting and being the acknowledged (among the smart set) mistress of the POW and later the king - they were the exciting years for her.  And Ernest was a part of that time.  Afterwards life just became long and kind of boring in contrast.  

Totally off topic - is your avatar Cinderelsa a  Brittany?  I have one and recognize that facial expression!!  

[Clover]

Fairy,
Excellent, insightful post! 

[fairy]

Thanks..
Judygal, Cinderelsa is a mix and since she was also a stray, nobody knows about her pedigree. A lot of border-collie and yes alot of brittany, more in her personality than her looks I think. TOT, is your brittany a bit of a hunter?

CLover, sigh, will there ever be a time when I can read your post without first making mooneyes at your avator for a full 60 seconds? 

[Clover]

Fairy,
You have no idea how happy I am that you appreciate Mr. Firth! 

[julygal]

Fairy, my Brittany loves to hunt!  He's also just the sweetest dog in the world -- just Mr. "I love everyone!"

(except squirrels that is!)

[Emily]

I now have a slightly different perspective on Wallis Simpson. She was a fool not to recognize what she was getting herself into, but on the other hand, she sounds like she spared England from a person who was not fit be to king.

To be fair to her, lots of married women had affairs without ending up divorced, that's how it was back then. It never occurred to her that she'd end up marrying him.

It ended up that way because Baldwin (the PM) was a master manipulator. He wanted shot of Edward VIII, who was unfit to be king and a fascist sympathiser. And he knew the other political parties were in agreement on this point. The best way to achieve it was to goad the weak-yet-egotistic king into "defying" the government and carrying on with Wallis to "show" them who was in charge.  Baldwin even managed to stop someone from scuppering the Simpson divorce - his aims couldn't be achieved unless she was free to marry the king (I thoroughly recommend people reading Alan Clark's history of the Tories of this period). Wallis was just used by everyone concerned.

But here it has been acknowledged for at least the last 30 years that "Wallis saved Britain".

[Hibou]

I now have a slightly different perspective on Wallis Simpson. She was a fool not to recognize what she was getting herself into, but on the other hand, she sounds like she spared England from a person who was not fit be to king.

To be fair to her, lots of married women had affairs without ending up divorced, that's how it was back then. It never occurred to her that she'd end up marrying him.

It ended up that way because Baldwin (the PM) was a master manipulator. He wanted shot of Edward VIII, who was unfit to be king and a fascist sympathiser. And he knew the other political parties were in agreement on this point. The best way to achieve it was to goad the weak-yet-egotistic king into "defying" the government and carrying on with Wallis to "show" them who was in charge.  Baldwin even managed to stop someone from scuppering the Simpson divorce - his aims couldn't be achieved unless she was free to marry the king (I thoroughly recommend people reading Alan Clark's history of the Tories of this period). Wallis was just used by everyone concerned.

But here it has been acknowledged for at least the last 30 years that "Wallis saved Britain".

Thanks Emily for the historical perspective, and for the book suggestion.