Duke and Duchess of Windsor (1894-1972) and (1895-1986) - Page 38

scooter · #**741** 03-14-2011, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by auntie

I am not talking about her jewells, they are mind boggeling,
I mean her lingerie and handbags, which are being sold now

Auntie, I remember when they auctioned Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' things after her death and some of the most trivial things made HUGE amounts. Everything from salt shakers to her riding boots and cigaret cases. Same general idea, I think.

Duke of Marmalade · #**742** 03-20-2011, 03:44 AM

Wallis Simpson: Robbed, abused and alone, the Duchess of Windsor's last days | Mail Online

Tsaritsa · #**743** 03-20-2011, 06:56 AM

So very sad, but other than in realms of fairy tales and "happy ever after" land I find it hardly possible, given the characters of the two main players,for the story to have ended much differently. From the beginning and to the exclusion of all else, sweeping aside anything or anybody who stood in his way, David was committed heart and mind to this relationship - her mind, if not her heart, was equally so. They created a world for themselves which negated the need for friends and family. They probably would have been quite unconscious of this while they were both youthful enough to enjoy the delights of hedonistic life, their wealth and status ensuring their place at the centre of their chosen world. However, wealth and status alone only buys "things" and duty, which as a member of the BRF it would have been unnecessary for him to know and Wallis, I believe, didn't feel the need to know.
I find it hard to imagine that they experienced friendships in the way of lesser mortals. I feel it more likely that they had acquaintants, that there remained a respectful line that outsiders crossed at their peril, which would have been fine had there been even one or two insiders, but I suspect that other than WE, there weren't. In fact, their servants probably knew them more intimately than anybody and I believe some of them remained, maybe without wages? almost to the end.
The Bible warns us that "as ye sow, so shall ye reap" - the secular version telling us "what goes around, comes around" but I really don't believe that she deserved to die in those circumstances. We would face imprisonment for keeping an animal alive in those conditions, but the sad truth is, that after David died and she aged, she mattered less to more people and in the end she mattered to nobody, but at least some of the responsibility for this rests with her.

Russophile · #**744** 03-20-2011, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke of Marmalade

Wallis Simpson: Robbed, abused and alone, the Duchess of Windsor's last days | Mail Online

Eerily similar to what Barbara Hutton had suffered.

Lenora · #**745** 03-20-2011, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russophile

Eerily similar to what Barbara Hutton had suffered.

If she only had a child or had adopted one...

Tsaritsa · #**746** 03-20-2011, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenora

If she only had a child or had adopted one...

Didn't she have one? His name was David!!

Mermaid1962 · #**747** 03-20-2011, 02:11 PM

I'm not sure that would have been in the best interests of the child, though. The Duke of Windsor didn't understand putting others' needs before his own, and I think that the Duchess would have been more interested in being a socialite than in spending much time with a child. They didn't show much interest in children as far as I can see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenora

If she only had a child or had adopted one...

Mirabel · #**748** 03-20-2011, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenora

If she only had a child or had adopted one...

Plenty of elderly people with children are also abused and neglected!
Having a child is no guarantee. Look at Brooke Astor.

(There's also no guarantee that the parent will outlive the child).

Vasillisos Markos · #**749** 03-21-2011, 12:24 AM

It is too sad that the Duchess had no friends to come to her aid. This abuse happens on all levels, unfortunately, but when it happens to the famous, it seems somehow more tragic, as though they were paying a price for past behavior. How did no one tumble to this Blum's abuse of the Duchess?

**Zonk** · #**750** 03-21-2011, 01:01 AM

Well you have to remember that David and Wallis were people who had friends and associates but really only needed (in David's case) and depended on each other.

Long time workers were let go for a variety of reasons, David was estranged from his family, Wallis was far away from hers and really she was only close to a cousin or two and Aunt Bea. Than David died, and Wallis didn't trust Mountbatten (which probably wasn't a bad idea) who might have been strong enough to prohibit the abuse, and get rid of Blum. Any friends like Diana Mitford and Diana Cooper were either ill, dead or two far away to stop it. But people who take advantage of things like that, often separate friends from their intended victims.

That's how something like that could happen.

PrincessKaimi · #**751** 03-21-2011, 01:14 AM

Blaming the victim is not right. Lots of elderly people have no one close to look after them; still not right to take advantage (although it happens all the time, sadly).

Having children is not a failsafe, either.

Mermaid1962 · #**752** 03-21-2011, 01:45 AM

True. Children can die, become mentally or physically disabled, or become addicts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrincessKaimi

Having children is not a failsafe, either.

Vasillisos Markos · #**753** 03-21-2011, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zonk

Well you have to remember that David and Wallis were people who had friends and associates but really only needed (in David's case) and depended on each other.

Long time workers were let go for a variety of reasons, David was estranged from his family, Wallis was far away from hers and really she was only close to a cousin or two and Aunt Bea. Than David died, and Wallis didn't trust Mountbatten (which probably wasn't a bad idea) who might have been strong enough to prohibit the abuse, and get rid of Blum. Any friends like Diana Mitford and Diana Cooper were either ill, dead or two far away to stop it. But people who take advantage of things like that, often separate friends from their intended victims.

That's how something like that could happen.

Very true, Zonk. I see it in my practice where even siblings are at war, with one taking advantage of a parent and the others are forced to go to court to try to protect mom or dad. But I just thought, perhaps foolishly, that as famous as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were, that someone would have insisted on seeing her, even if to bask in her diminished spotlight, and then have been appalled at her treatment. But as you say, friends and family get older, drift away, and thus . . .

Tsaritsa · #**754** 03-21-2011, 05:33 PM

Hi VS,in our world, if we want to speak to a friend we use a phone or post of one sort or another or we simply arrive and say "hello". We, mostly! don't have to wait for the butler to convey a message to "HRH!!!" and then wait to be informed about when it will be convenient for her to recieve us!!! My understanding of true friendship is that it requires a degree of intimacy on both sides in order for it to progress. I have enormous difficulty in imagining Wallis fulfilling that role in any relationship because I sense such reserve in her that I feel she would deliberately keep one at arms length in order to avoid intimacy-maybe there were things that she couldn't risk speaking about. The most one would gain from that kind of relationship is superficiality and for me, it's how I see her life. How many times would one call after being told each time that "HRH" was "resting," "speaking to her doctor/dressmaker/hairdresser?" I feel it would need deeper bonds of friendship than Wallis had ever experienced to break through that kind of wall. However, I think it a cruel irony that her well ordered and controlled life eventually controlled her by cutting her off from the society she had once ruled.

Russophile · #**755** 03-22-2011, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vasillisos Markos

But I just thought, perhaps foolishly, that as famous as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were, that someone would have insisted on seeing her, even if to bask in her diminished spotlight, and then have been appalled at her treatment.

But someone did go see Auntie Wallis--I can't remember if it were when Blum had her hold over Wallis or not, however it was after David died--and received some lovely earrings. HM was not amused I had read. . .

Tsaritsa · #**756** 03-23-2011, 03:38 AM

Russophile, I believe she gave earrings to Pcess Michael of Kent who IMO could wear them with aplomb, but sadly, one visit does not a friendship make. There surely must have been an element of curiosity to the Kent's visit, they would be less than human were it not so and having met the phenomenon who was responsible for the ensuing chaos within the family-I'm assured that I fulfilled the role in my own family!!!-they may have seen their duty as being done. She was, after all, only related by marriage, the widow of a late uncle. One can almost hear the possible thought processes, "Not our responsibility. Best not to drag all that up again. QEtQM would not approve, etc." Thus another aging "relative" falls off the radar.

**Zonk** · #**757** 03-23-2011, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrincessKaimi

Blaming the victim is not right. Lots of elderly people have no one close to look after them; still not right to take advantage (although it happens all the time, sadly).

Having children is not a failsafe, either.

Who said I was blaming the victim. What happened to the Duchess was sad but there are plenty of people who are if they are good friends don't just walk away. Think of the late Brooke Astor....she had good friends who decided to intercede on her behalf. They saw what the lawyer and son was doing and went to court to put an end to that. Thank goodness she had a grandson who alerted them.

The same thing could have been possible for Wallis (didn't the same thing happen to Doris Duke) but the fact remains that Wallis and David were a force unto themselves and didn't need anyone else. Thats cool but one when dies (like David) and the other lives its hard to all of sudden develop true and lasting relationships. I think Wallis had friends and family but they obviously weren't close enough to realize what was going on and intercede on her behalf.

ladongas · #**758** 03-25-2011, 01:45 PM

I've just read a moderately interesting book called "Double Exposure". It's a joint autobiography by twins Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt (mother of Gloria and grandmother of Anderson Cooper) and Thelma Morgan Furness (Viscountess Furness). Lady Furness was the mistress of POW who asked Wallis to "look after the little man" while she was away, and of course, we all know what happened thereafter.

Thelma once visited Lourdes while traveling in France with the Prince, and he was concerned that he, a Church of England communicant, would not know what to do at the Catholic service being conducted at Lourdes. Thelma (a Roman Catholic) said, oh, just do what I do. It was an outdoor service, and when kneeling was appropriate, they knelt on the ground.

Of course, pictures hit the UK papers, and there were cries of "WHY is OUR PRINCE KNEELING in the MUD?"

This book, long out of print, is available in its entirety at the following link:
http://www.archive.org/stream/double...08mbp_djvu.txt

Russophile · #**759** 03-25-2011, 03:57 PM

Lando, there's a picture of the current Gloria Vanderbilt with the Duke in this book, I found it at my local library.
Amazon.com: The World of Gloria Vanderbilt (9780810995925): Wendy Goodman, Anderson Cooper: Books

ladongas · #**760** 03-25-2011, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russophile

Lando, there's a picture of the current Gloria Vanderbilt with the Duke in this book, I found it at my local library.
Amazon.com: The World of Gloria Vanderbilt (9780810995925): Wendy Goodman, Anderson Cooper: Books

Thanks, Russo- it's not everyone who has her picture made with the former lover of her aunt! I'll have to look for that book at my library- I'm sure they have it.