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

[Duke of Marmalade]

follow up story Wallis In Love: The Untold True Passion of the Duchess of Windsor by Andrew Morton

Wallis Simpson tried to seduce another man before marrying | Daily Mail Online

[rominet09]

Originally Posted by Duke of Marmalade

follow up story Wallis In Love: The Untold True Passion of the Duchess of Windsor by Andrew Morton

Wallis Simpson tried to seduce another man before marrying | Daily Mail Online

Very very interesting !

[Kronprinz]

Had the Queen Mother not been in the picture, how different would the relationship between the BRF and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor have been?

I think the Queen had no personal grudge towards them and only excluded them pressured by her mother.

I think we might have seen them invited to royal occasions a lot more often.

[Queen Claude]

His crowning humiliation: How Edward endured a life of torment at Wallis's hands and was even subjected to a joke coronation by her gay friend in a New York nightclub

• Wallis Simpson, who triggered Edward VIII's abdication, soon grew bored of him
• The American divorcee started outrageous relationships to denigrate the Duke
• She knew the abdication had made divorce from her new husband unthinkable
• One of her relationships was with the young Woolworth heir Jimmy Donahue
• Ignored by his wife, the disgraced Duke ended up dying in the arms of a nurse
• Extraordinary claims are made in the final extract of Andrew Morton's biography

Wallis Simpson biography reveals how she tired of husband | Daily Mail Online

[rominet09]

Originally Posted by Queen Claude

His crowning humiliation: How Edward endured a life of torment at Wallis's hands and was even subjected to a joke coronation by her gay friend in a New York nightclub

• Wallis Simpson, who triggered Edward VIII's abdication, soon grew bored of him
• The American divorcee started outrageous relationships to denigrate the Duke
• She knew the abdication had made divorce from her new husband unthinkable
• One of her relationships was with the young Woolworth heir Jimmy Donahue
• Ignored by his wife, the disgraced Duke ended up dying in the arms of a nurse
• Extraordinary claims are made in the final extract of Andrew Morton's biography

Wallis Simpson biography reveals how she tired of husband | Daily Mail Online

Thank you.... I'm starting to pity the Duke !

[Furienna]

Originally Posted by rominet09

Thank you.... I'm starting to pity the Duke !

Indeed.

[padams2359]

His anti-Semitism and her pure greed make them a perfect match. They deserved each other, and no one else. Thank God they were barren. The only decent thing they ever did was die and leave everything to charity.

[AdmirerUS]

The Duke was no Saint. But Morton will likely sell a lot of books.

Is anyone really surprised that Wallis did not dote on the infirm, including her husband? And to be fair, I wonder, had she fallen ill how much of her care would have been provided by nurses? Would he have wiped her brow and bum? Not bloody likely!

This is lovely muck about a lady we all love to hate. But the hyperbole about having to rest in piece next to a man she loathed is just silly. She did what she wanted, when she wanted, with whom she wanted all her life. There was a part of her that wanted to be with him in the end; even if the reason was not "one true love."

Lots of people rest next to their life partner. If nothing else, that's what Wallis and Edward were for one another and both understood the upside and the downside to that, IMO. Even if Morton lacks that nuance of understanding.

[MARG]

Originally Posted by Kronprinz

Had the Queen Mother not been in the picture, how different would the relationship between the BRF and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor have been?

I think the Queen had no personal grudge towards them and only excluded them pressured by her mother.

I think we might have seen them invited to royal occasions a lot more often.

I think you are overlooking rather a lot of unpalatable facts about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Adultery was a fast ticket out of Society, as indeed was divorce. That was just the way it was then, at that time, at that place. Wallis was. at that time divorced once, and while married to her second husband, was David's mistress. Worse, David was saying Wallis was going to divorce her second husband and marry him. You have to remember that during the early part of the century sexuality was considered a mental condition and many young, unmarried women were admitted to asylums forever for the sin of having a lover before marriage.

He did the unthinkable and put himself before his country. For that alone his own mother Queen Mary, while maintaining a degree of contact, would never accept his wife, the instrument of his downfall nor admit her into her presence.

His own father despised his heir and predicted he would ruin himself within a year. He knew the calibre of his own son.

David's actions immediately before and during the war were certainly little short of treasonous.And the truth of his behaviour was unthinkable, let alone unacceptable. Fifty years after the truth started to trickle out.

When Bertie was ill and near death, David was not averse to the notion put forward by some elderly and misogynistic statesmen, that he become Regent to Princess Elizabeth (for an unspecified time) as she was only a woman and far too young to rule. That information may have been buried in the archives for fifty years, but you can bet Queen Mary, (obviously the QM) Elizabeth and Philip knew about it.

QEQM did not rule Bertie, he was quite capable of making his own mind up, but I believe that having been ridiculed as stupid all his life, Wallis' continual insults about Elisabeth being a little housewife, calling her Cookie and other belittling insults and jokes at his wife's expense in society would never have endeared her to him.

Elizabeth married the Duke of York who had no prospects of becoming King as his brother David bein wildly popular and POW, they created their own very unfashionable, happy little family. Bertie himself never aspired to a greater public profile remembering the unremitting humiliation of his youth and ongoing political doubts as to his mental fitness. That is who the QM married and all the rewriting of history is not going to change it.

[Furienna]

Originally Posted by padams2359

His anti-Semitism and her pure greed make them a perfect match. They deserved each other, and no one else. Thank God they were barren. The only decent thing they ever did was die and leave everything to charity.

Well, you have to remember that he was born in 1894 (ninety years on the day before I was born, as a matter of fact). And it was rather common for people from that generation to be a bit antisemitic. So I won't put too much blame on him for that. And it seems like as flawed as both the duke and the duchess were, both of them went through a lot of rough spots in their lifetimes. So I have to feel some sympathy for them.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Tsaritsa

I really don't believe David cared a jot about whether his love was reciprocated. The only thing which seemed to matter to him was that he loved her, he wanted her, and was determined -at ANY cost- to have her. For her part, I suspect she loved what he could give her, albeit, she paid a high price for it, rather more than she loved him, although she possibly softened towards him, and probably learned to tolerate his stultifying love for her.

She certainly didn't love him. and I think that yes he DID care about that. It hurt him that she was at times bored by him.. I believe he once said to her in front of people "are you going to send me to bed in tears again". So if that's the case, and that's what I remember, they clearly did have painful rows because she didn't care as much for him as he did for her.. and was often flirtatious with other men.. including her bizarre relationship with J Donahue, which led to David turning the man out of hteir house. He would hardly have "not cared wethter his love was reciprocated" if he was jealous of her feelings for other men or her unkindness as he perceived it towards him. I think as time passed, she did grow to be dependent on him to an extent, as he was on her. they were getting older, they problaby didn't have that many friends who were really real friends, as opposed to "society friends" and so they probably grew closer as they grew older.. and so when he died, Wallis, who was already getting forgetful, became worse and "missed the Duke" more than she might have done had she lost him earlier...

[padams2359]

I think the idea that she died a virgin is absolutely ridiculous.

[rominet09]

Originally Posted by eya

Wallis in Love: The Untold True Passion of the Duchess of Windsor by Andrew Morton – digested read

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...-digested-read

Can't believe what I read.... a Virgin ? Really ? Why would she have surgery against having children if she didn't practice how they are made ? VERY difficult to believe but of course I have not read the book !

[Curryong]

Yes, even setting aside the fact that she had three spouses, I don't think the married lover Wallis had in China or the car salesman boyfriend she had an affair with in London would hang around simply for her blue eyes and charming conversation!
Her first husband also doesn't appear to be the sort of man who would hesitate to apply for an annulment if his needs weren't being satisfied.

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Dear Great Britain/England.... slap Andrew Morton. Sincerely, A Concerned American.

[Missjersey]

Originally Posted by XeniaCasaraghi

Dear Great Britain/England.... slap Andrew Morton. Sincerely, A Concerned American.

Great post!

[Denville]

Originally Posted by rominet09

Can't believe what I read.... a Virgin ? Really ? Why would she have surgery against having children if she didn't practice how they are made ? VERY difficult to believe but of course I have not read the book !

huh? what "surgery against having children"? If you mean a hysterectomy she had one when she was older, problaby due to women's problems or possibly uterine cancer.

[Queen Claude]

I know the Guardian is considered a very serious publication, but I think certain book reviews are meant to be farcical.

[Denville]

The Guardian is indeed a "high quality" paper, but I don't know what you mean by saying certain book reviews are meant to be farcical. Do you mean that the writer of the book review doesn't intedn it to be serious?

[rominet09]

Originally Posted by Denville

huh? what "surgery against having children"? If you mean a hysterectomy she had one when she was older, problaby due to women's problems or possibly uterine cancer.

It has been written several times that she had surgery in Asia to prevent her for getting pregnant when she was Young .... of course I wasn't there to check but I read it a lot of times !
Sorry