Duke and Duchess of Windsor (1894-1972) and (1895-1986) - Page 20

Jeniann · #**381** 12-09-2008, 09:03 PM

No, it's a dress. The skirt is just very narrow. That's the main issue with it; if it had been a bit wider and hung a little looser I think it would've looked better. I like the dress but I think it made her look skinny. The cut also made her look a lot taller than she actually was. Looking at that picture I thought she was about my height but when I saw the actual dress it was very short.

A little OT but I found replicas of several items of Wallis' clothes and jewelry on sale at Forever 21 last weekend. They also had two pairs of shoes that looked just like pairs she had had. I bought the replica of her engagement ring and the panther bracelets like hers in both black and white as well as a pair of shoes. None of my friends seemed to pick up on the fact that several things there looked just like stuff Wallis had but in the past I've seen stuff there that was obviously inspired by old portraits so IMO it has to be intentional.

Menarue · #**382** 12-10-2008, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mermaid1962

Yes, Burrell is definitely more pro-Burrell than pro-Diana! That's a very good way of putting it, Menarue.

Speaking of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the author of A Spirit Undaunted (a book about George VI during WWII) wrote in his comments that the more he learned about the Windsors, the more relieved he was that Britain was delivered from "that odious couple." I tend to agree with both him and you in that way. I hadn't heard the story about Wallis's bathing suit before. The selfishness is astonishing.

I believe it was referred to in Secret Service Circles as the "Cleopatra Affair"

windsorbrides1 · #**383** 01-21-2009, 07:26 AM

Would anyone like to comment on the new discoveries about the Duke of Windsor (former Edward VIII - who abdicated to marry Mrs. Simpson) and the fact that it is now believed both he and the the Duchess had Nazi leanings and that had Hitler won the war, he intended to put the Duke Of Windsor on the throne as a puppet ruler.

Warren · #**384** 01-21-2009, 07:28 AM

"new discoveries"?? This is very old news.
Check post number #1 of this thread!

Jeniann · #**385** 02-06-2009, 09:33 PM

Found a link to a picture on another forum I'd never seen before.

Just thought some of you might wanna see it since this one is pretty rare and you can't find it in most books or websites. It was referred to in Frances Donaldson's book on Edward VIII though she didn't have the photo in the picture pages. Apparently it appeared in a paper in 1920 and George V was not pleased and wrote his son a letter saying "you might as well let them photograph you naked" or something to that effect.

Warren · #**386** 02-07-2009, 01:04 AM

Thanks Jeniann

As the picture is no longer subject to copyright we can post it here.

The Prince of Wales and Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1920
on board HMS Renown

Emeralds and Opals · #**387** 02-16-2009, 12:08 PM

Madonna bid to star in film as Wallis Simpson - Telegraph

Menarue · #**388** 02-16-2009, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emeralds and Opals

Madonna bid to star in film as Wallis Simpson - Telegraph

Oh dear, that is definitely not good news. She did make a good Evita Peron though impeccable characterization. I remember some friends went to see it and the minute she started singing and they realised it was going to be sung all the way through they got out very quickly.
I wonder if she will sing the Duchess of Windsor?

Mermaid1962 · #**389** 02-16-2009, 02:43 PM

I can see Madonna as the Duchess of Windsor. Definitely. I think that she'll be able to get the hard sides of her character in particular.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Menarue

Oh dear, that is definitely not good news. She did make a good Evita Peron though impeccable characterization.

Warren · #**390** 02-17-2009, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Menarue

...some friends went to see it and the minute she started singing and they realised it was going to be sung all the way through they got out very quickly.

Yes, there is usually quite a bit of singing in musicals. What did your friends expect?

Warren · #**391** 04-06-2009, 02:20 PM

Duke of Windsor in Paris prior to the German invasion

Patrick Kinna - Telegraph - 20 March 2009
Patrick Kinna, who has died at the age of 95, was Winston Churchill's confidential assistant from 1940 to 1945.

One section from the London Telegraph obituary is of interest:

"His skills as a clerk put him in the Intelligence Corps, posted to Paris as clerk to Major-General HRH the Duke of Windsor.
Kinna, who served the Duke for just under a year, found him "a nice person, full of smiles", though he was somewhat relieved that he never had to meet Wallis Simpson, about whom he had heard "rumours".
One of his duties was to ensure that the Duke never took a single piece of paper home, where it might fall into the hands of the Duchess."

Russophile · #**392** 04-06-2009, 02:52 PM

Wow. Wallis was really vilified. I wonder how she coped being the most hated woman of her time??

Mermaid1962 · #**393** 04-06-2009, 07:14 PM

This story from the obituary gave me a chuckle:
As the prime minister paced the room "completely starkers", Kinna recalled, there was a knock on the door and Churchill went to open it. It was Roosevelt in his wheelchair. Mortified at finding his guest with nothing on, the president prepared to make his excuses, but was prevented by Churchill. "Oh no, no, Mr President," he said. "As you can see, I have nothing to hide from you."

Who is the handsome man sitting between Churchill and Stalin?

Wisteria · #**394** 05-14-2009, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iluvbertie

I don't care who he marries as long as he is allowed to marry the woman he loves (unlike two previous heirs to throne who weren't allowed to do so - Edward VIII and Charles).

.

I don´t know whether Charles was not allowed to marry the woman he loved or not but Edward VIII could have married Wallis if he had only waited until he was crowned, in fact some friends advised him to do that. Once he was King he could have married anyone he liked, all he had to do was to wait a few months more but he was was too, shall we say, pig headed to take that advice and we all know what happened next. He and Wallis suffered the consequences of his impatience.
I believe that Elizabeth would have eventually become Queen as it was doubtful that Wallis and Edward would have have had direct heirs.

auntie · #**395** 05-14-2009, 11:41 AM

According to witnesses, Edward was even willing to forgo any rights his children with Wallis would have to the throne, the main thing to marry her and to stay king

wbenson · #**396** 05-14-2009, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wisteria

I don´t know whether Charles was not allowed to marry the woman he loved or not but Edward VIII could have married Wallis if he had only waited until he was crowned, in fact some friends advised him to do that. Once he was King he could have married anyone he liked, all he had to do was to wait a few months more but he was was too, shall we say, pig headed to take that advice and we all know what happened next. He and Wallis suffered the consequences of his impatience.

He was already the King, though. There isn't any legal change in his status at the coronation.

**Zonk** · #**397** 05-15-2009, 01:09 AM

Edward would not have married Wallis as King. It played out the way it was supposed to IMO. If Edward had married Wallis, the government would have resigned and there was no way he could let that happen. Now if this had happened forty years later when times and attitude had changed who knows how it would have turned out.

Wisteria · #**398** 05-15-2009, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wbenson

He was already the King, though. There isn't any legal change in his status at the coronation.

He was King but still uncrowned but that wasn´t his main problem. Wallis was still married when all his planning was going on.
She only had her final decree on April 27th and they were married June 3rd.
If he hadn´t been so stubborn(and impatient) he could have waited for her divorce to become legal, then he could have gone through his coronation and then work towards having her accepted, he as king, and she as a legally divorced woman. As it was her divorce was nearly compromised by an accusation, later dropped, of collusion.
It might not have worked, as you said the government would most probably have resigned and there would have been problems overseas, but that was the advice he received and ignored.

Iluvbertie · #**399** 05-15-2009, 04:32 AM

He ignored it because he knew that he couldn't cause an election over his choose of wife as that would have to be the election issue.

Short answer - he was advised by a number of people that either before or after his coronation the government wouldn't accept Wallis as his wife and would insist on an election whereby the issue was Wallis - not something that a constitutional monarch could stand. What if the electorate voted back into power the side that opposed Wallis - where would that leave the King?

Wisteria · #**400** 05-15-2009, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iluvbertie

- where would that leave the King?

Still King, and free to keep Wallis as his mistress, which incidentally she said in her memoirs she was quite happy about.