Duke and Duchess of Windsor (1894-1972) and (1895-1986)


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
This story has been in the public domain for years. This is a new wrinkle on well known material for anyone who has bothered to read everything.

Thanks, yes, I know. Can't say I've read everything, but darn near it.
 
Just speechless with awe at such beauty and elegance. To say that they lived a Royal existence beyond what most Royals experience would be an understatement...I am not an admirer of either the Duke or Duchess but there is no denying that this couple understood the art of living well.:whistling:

I noticed that the interior was decorated by Stephane Boudin of Jansen of Paris. He was selected by Jacqueline Kennedy to advise on the 1961-1962 restoration of the White House, also with spectacular results.
 
Last edited:
:previous: They truly lived well.

What a gorgeous home....some of its so over the top but it works.

If anyone gets a chance, they should check out The Windsor Style by Suzy Menkes. I think it's out of print but you might run across the book online or something. The pictures of the garden at the Villa are simply breathtaking:flowers:
 
:previous: They truly lived well.

What a gorgeous home....some of its so over the top but it works.

If anyone gets a chance, they should check out The Windsor Style by Suzy Menkes. I think it's out of print but you might run across the book online or something. The pictures of the garden at the Villa are simply breathtaking:flowers:
Dearest Zonk, may I respectfully add a suggestion? Sometimes some large online book sellers have copies of that book.
 
I wonder what became of all the furnishings/paintings etc after the death of the Duchess in 1986?
 
Much of the French 18th century furniture, and some Sevres Porcelain was bequeathed by the Duchess to the Chateau de Versailles.
 
:previous: Here's an article by Hugo Vickers. Wallis Simpson: Robbed, abused and alone, the Duchess of Windsor's last days | Daily Mail Online

Things were gradually sold or given away. Al Fayed is supposed to have sold the last of it after he bought the Windsor's home.

Wallis Windsor would never have won anyone's Humanitarian of the Year award but she did not deserve to die like that. Nobody does.:sad:

Suzanne Blum sounded completely evil. How did this person avoid prison?!:bang:
 
No one deserves to die that way, but there are numerous reasons why this could have happened. Neither her or the Duke were French nationals, there was no family to speak of. Fault does not fall square on the royal family. Where was Wallis's family? There were no nieces, nephews, etc? As far as the staff goes, no seems to have been around long term to know what was in the house, and what had been removed.
 
No one deserves to die that way, but there are numerous reasons why this could have happened. Neither her or the Duke were French nationals, there was no family to speak of. Fault does not fall square on the royal family. Where was Wallis's family? There were no nieces, nephews, etc? As far as the staff goes, no seems to have been around long term to know what was in the house, and what had been removed.


Wallis was an only child who didn't seem to maintain long term friendships.

Her only family was Edward's family.
 
I guess people don't think about their future when they are burning all those bridges for their own pleasure.
 
You are right, no one deserves to die alone. However Wallis certainly never went out of her way to even try to establish a rapport with the BRF. Her soon to be sister-in-law was one of her favourite people to lampoon, describing her as being just a little housewife. Of course at that time she was only the wife of Edward's little brother, the Duchess of York, and more at home as a wife and mother, while Edward was the coolest POW, then King.

They had little in common with the York's, happily playing house and being considered quite the bourgeois little family, which is a shame because before she came along they all adored him. Still did I think, but saw very little of him.

Wallis caused David to become totally estranged from his family and I believe, while being both witty and sharp and one of the most elegant women of her time, was more comfortable in the company of men than women which is not surprising considering her penchant for affairs with other women's husbands.

But you can't live forever and even their little "it" set all settled down to marriage, middle age and duty. There were few left to "play with" because everyone else grew and changed and she and David most assuredly, did not.
 
I wonder though...did Wallis ever intended to marry him..I think she was quite content to be the mistress. Things snowballed and there you are...


LaRae
 
I wonder though...did Wallis ever intended to marry him..I think she was quite content to be the mistress. Things snowballed and there you are...


LaRae

That's my perception, too. I think Wallis was enjoying Edward's attention, certainly, but I don't think she thought much more would come of it. She was in too deep, I think, by the time she realized what Edward was actually prepared to do to be with her.
 
Churchill did all he could to convince Edward to stay and even marry Wallis in a morgantic marriage IIRC. I've seen accounts that Wallis wanted him to be King. I don't think Edward wanted to be King, certainly it worked out better than he abdicated all things considered.


LaRae
 
My grandmother's uncle/cousin or something like that was in the British cabinet in the 1930s and wrote to a number of family members during George V's reign that there had already been informal talks about what to do with Edward as he was clearly unsuitable to be king - then Wallis came along, and that gave them the excuse they were looking for.


I used to have two of those letters - one was sent with my mother's model of the Silver Jubilee coach from 1935 - but have lost them in the moves I have done over the years (still have the coach).


There is a lot of evidence that the excuse was convenient and if it hadn't been Wallis they would have found another way to force him to go as he was not up to the job.
 
My grandmother's uncle/cousin or something like that was in the British cabinet in the 1930s and wrote to a number of family members during George V's reign that there had already been informal talks about what to do with Edward as he was clearly unsuitable to be king - then Wallis came along, and that gave them the excuse they were looking for.


I used to have two of those letters - one was sent with my mother's model of the Silver Jubilee coach from 1935 - but have lost them in the moves I have done over the years (still have the coach).


There is a lot of evidence that the excuse was convenient and if it hadn't been Wallis they would have found another way to force him to go as he was not up to the job.


Another evidence of how sceptical even the Royal family itself was of Edward is how George V is to have said "After I'm dead the boy will ruin himself in 12 months" or even more poignantly, especially on this day "I pray to God that my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne."


Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community mobile app
 
Weren't there allegations recently that Wallis had an affair and that the then Duke of Windsor discovered it and confronted her about it?
 
I've always been of the opinion that Wallis would have been content to remain Mrs. Simpson but be the power behind the throne even with Edward married to the appropriate wife.

Didn't Edward take it upon himself to meet with Ernest Simpson to resolve the situation.
 
:previous: Yes, I've read that Edward and Mr. Simpson did have a meeting. I don't know who the source of the story was.
 
Another evidence of how sceptical even the Royal family itself was of Edward is how George V is to have said "After I'm dead the boy will ruin himself in 12 months" or even more poignantly, especially on this day "I pray to God that my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne."
I was going to add to Iluvbertie's comment by bringing up the George V's "ruin himself in 12 months" quote about David/Edward VIII, however I did not know about the second quote! This is me right now ---> :ohmy:

I recall reading that even before the Wallis Simpson matter was front and center a courtier likened David/Edward VIII to Mad King George/George III. Also after becoming King, Edward VIII wasn't reading the state papers and left them out in the open, particularly worrisome because of the tensions with Nazi Germany. So yeah I agree with those who believe that people in high places wanted him off the throne, probably including Edward VIII himself. The people who seemed to most want him to remain monarch were Wallis, Bertie/George VI and Winston Churchill.

I don't know one way or another about a meeting between Edward and Ernest Simpson, but Ernest had fallen in love with another woman and wanted to be rid of Wallis.
 
They have already made a movie about Dukes of Windsor?
 
Back
Top Bottom