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

[Denville]

Originally Posted by JR76

Off topic but to me Marina was the perfect princess. Very popular with the public she was always duty first but not a snob. Her sense of duty lives on in her children Edward and Alexandra who continues to serve the Queen even in their eighties.
I just bought a book about Marina & George in a second hand book store that I can't wait to start reading once I'm done with Queen Mary.

Im not going to pursue this but I don't agree, it seems that Marina WAS very much of a snob.. and wanted her children to make royal marriages.
Re the Windsors, well, its hard to say anything new about them isn't it? They were a selfish pair who ended their lives in a sad exile...

[Heavs]

I became interested in Princess Marina when I was very young and Prince Michael talked about her when he came to our school in his role with the Masons. I've always been fond of him despite their ups and downs because of that. She seemed to me to be a fascinating person but I think "poverty" is entirely relative in royal terms.

Re the will. I can kind of appreciate David might have been dismayed at not getting a cash lump sum like the rest of his siblings as he had an expensive mistress among other things but I don't feel very sorry for him. Not only had he had the Duchy of Cornwall for years but would also have the Duchy of Lancaster and everything else. Whereas the (large amount) of cash his brothers got would to a certain extent be the biggest chance they had to secure themselves for their lifetimes. Which was why they were left the money. Again not feeling sorry for anyone in this situation.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Heavs

I bDavid might have been dismayed at not getting a cash lump sum like the rest of his siblings as he had an expensive mistress among other things but I don't feel very sorry for him. Not only had he had the Duchy of Cornwall for years but would also have the Duchy of Lancaster and everything else. Whereas the (large amount) of cash his brothers got would to a certain extent be the biggest chance they had to secure themselves for their lifetimes. Which was why they were left the money. Again not feeling sorry for anyone in this situation.

No no reason to feel sorry for David. He had had the income from the Duchy of Cornwall for a long time and had salted away quite a bit of money.. When he felt nervous about "Poverty", his answer was to cut staff and put people out of a job... And it is usual for the Monarch to make arrangements that take advantage of the "monarch to monarch" set up, so that they can minimize taxes for their heirs and then to leave money to their younger children, because they wotnt be getting the main royal estates ie Cornwall and Lancaster. George V was doing the sensible thing for his children.. but I suppose David took personal offence at it..a nd also was annoyed that he wasn't rich enough, esp. because he probably DID intend to get out of the royal cage and felt he would need lots of money to do so...

[CyrilVladisla]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2973681
Edward may have met Adolf Hitler. However, is it fair to refer to him as the Nazi King?

[LauraS3514]

Originally Posted by CyrilVladisla

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2973681
Edward may have met Adolf Hitler. However, is it fair to refer to him as the Nazi King?

Years after the war, The Duke of Windsor was quoted as saying “I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap.” AFTER the war. That says it all.

[Blog Real]

Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson - Interview with Kenneth Harris - BBC 1970.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I02fZD...ature=youtu.be

[Prinsara]

Originally Posted by LauraS3514

Years after the war, The Duke of Windsor was quoted as saying “I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap.” AFTER the war. That says it all.

Actually, as a quote, that's highly ambiguous. Does it mean:

"I never thought Hitler was as bad as he ended up being?" - which is a view many, many people ended up with.
OR
"I still don't think Hitler was so bad." - which, yeah, that's a problem. So much of a problem, I'm just going to assume he meant the first, and I don't particularly like the Duke at all.

[Saz83]

I came across this article which i thought was quite interesting https://www.theoldie.co.uk/blog/crac...he-royals-code

Does this mean that the Duchess's death and funeral were not recorded in the court circular?

Also, would anyone be able to copy and paste the text of the court circular where she was mentioned?

[Sandy345]

Towards the last decades of their lives the Duke and DUchess became socialites, hosting elaborate dinner parties, living in a suite of rooms at the Waldorf Astoria (their pictures were all over the place before the renovation of the Waldorf). Marlene Dietrich would talk about the dinner parties she attended where they hosted. And the Duke and Duchess had their "winters" in Palm Beach.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Prinsara

Actually, as a quote, that's highly ambiguous. Does it mean:

"I never thought Hitler was as bad as he ended up being?" - which is a view many, many people ended up with.
OR
"I still don't think Hitler was so bad." - which, yeah, that's a problem. So much of a problem, I'm just going to assume he meant the first, and I don't particularly like the Duke at all.

I find it hard to beleieve that someone would say something ambiguous about Hitler, that could be misinterpreted as "He' wasn't such a bad guy"...
If he meant the first thing, he would have said, " When I met Hitler, he seemed OK and I didn't realise how bad he really was..."

[Prinsara]

Originally Posted by Denville

I find it hard to beleieve that someone would say something ambiguous about Hitler, that could be misinterpreted as "He' wasn't such a bad guy"...
If he meant the first thing, he would have said, " When I met Hitler, he seemed OK and I didn't realise how bad he really was..."

Not sure anyone really gave David points for brains, tact, or not skating by on the privilege of his first forty years....

Now do you really think he would have been so stupid as to express the second in public......

Or that his biographers and other historians wouldn't have gone to town on it by now?

And again, if you think he was the only person to express such a sentiment exactly like that, dream on.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Sandy345

Towards the last decades of their lives the Duke and DUchess became socialites, hosting elaborate dinner parties, living in a suite of rooms at the Waldorf Astoria (their pictures were all over the place before the renovation of the Waldorf). Marlene Dietrich would talk about the dinner parties she attended where they hosted. And the Duke and Duchess had their "winters" in Palm Beach.

They were socialites, living a pretty fluffy useless life, all of their married life...

Originally Posted by Prinsara

Not sure anyone really gave David points for brains, tact, or not skating by on the privilege of his first forty years....

Now do you really think he would have been so stupid as to express the second in public......

Or that his biographer and other historians wouldn't have gone to town on it by now?

And again, if you think he was the only person to express such a sentiment exactly like that, dream on.

well yes if he was so stupid, then I'm sure he would be capable of saying something clumsy and insensitive.. And I don't know what you mean by the last sentence. Of course he wasn't the only person to think that Hitler had a fair few good points or had been unfairly vilified or whatever. It doesn't alter the fact that it was hardly an admirable point of view. The Mosleys continued to have a fascistic bent, well after teh war... but that doesn't make it ok

[Prinsara]

Hugging his father. https://www.rct.uk/collection/search...edward-of-york

[Curryong]

Lord Kinross was the friend to whom, after the war, the Duke remarked that ‘Hitler wasn’t such a bad chap’.

In his memoirs, the Duke denied being pro-Nazi. ‘The Fuhrer,’ he wrote, ‘struck me as a somewhat ridiculous figure, with his theatrical posturing and bombastic pretensions.’
In private, however, he told his friend Lord Kinross in the 1960s: ‘I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap.’

Adapted by Corinna Honan from Tea With Hitler, by Dean Palmer, published on April 30 by The History Press, £20. © Dean Palmer 2021. To order a copy for £17.60 (offer valid to May 1, 2021; UK P+P free on orders over £20), go to www.mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193.

[CyrilVladisla]

Edward and Wallis in Nassau, Bahamas
http://www.gettyimages.com/license/558646525

[Prinsara]

https://www.rct.uk/sites/default/fil...1550679897.jpg

"Oh, good. Someone to leave the throne to."

(Cute, though.)

[Prinsara]

https://www.alamy.com/derby-day-1926...262783408.html

"Kinging."

Yes, it was taken in 1926 and titled like that due to being republished after his father died.

[angieuk]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-Simpson.html

I think in 2021; they would have been allowed to marry and take their place as King and Consort Queen. I believe Wallis was a strong woman, and Edward needed that contrast in his life. History paints them as selfish; but they just wanted to be happy, and Wallis second husband went on to marry someone else as well. If they had met first time around, there would have been no obstacle to a marriage (Wallis divorces got in the way).

A very interesting updated story on the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. We know a lot about before; but there is very little about what happened after they left the UK. I will definitely read the new book. The Scandalous Exile Of The Duke And Duchess Of Windsor, by Andrew Lownie, published by Blink on August 19 at £25.

[Duke of Marmalade]

I doubt that even today they would have been allowed to marry, Wallis being a divorcee is one thing, her closeness to Nazi officials is another.
In the overall picture, I agree with the author about history repeating itself, and not in a good way.

[Biri]

Originally Posted by Duke of Marmalade

I doubt that even today they would have been allowed to marry, Wallis being a divorcee is one thing, her closeness to Nazi officials is another.

And probably infertile, she didn't have children with any of her husbands.