Duchess of Windsor Jewellery


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Does anyone know if all of her jewels were sold at auction? Did she leave anything in particular to someone or give any gifts before her death.
 
Some of her jewels were sold to cover the expense of her medical care when she needed full-time nursing for all those years. I think she's supposed to have left (or given) at least one piece of jewellery each to the Duchess of Kent and Princess Alexandra. She might have also given pieces to friends, but the bulk of her jewellery was auctioned to benefit the Pasteur Institute.

Those pieces in the second post are paste, not real jewels (although they still fetched a tidy sum at the Fayed auction of the Windsor's property). One of the strings of pearls in the first post was given (or left) to her by Queen Mary; it's the only thing Queen Mary ever gave her, I think.
 
A CAMEO DEPICTING EDWARD VIII WITH WALLIS SIMPSON IS SEEN AT CHRISTIES AUCTION HOUSE IN ROME
Título original: A cameo depicting Edward VIII with Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee woman for who Edward VIII abdicated from the British throne, is seen at Christies auction house in Rome June 16, 2004. The 14 letters, in which the king tells the still-married American Wallis Simpson youll never know how much I love you, are part of a collection of photographs, clothing and royal memorabilia being sold by the couple's Italian valet. The 187 lots are estimated to fetch up up to 400,000 euros.

http://pro.corbis.com/images/DWF15-768690....d-74f399969b60}

HANDBAG AND GLOVES BELONGING TO WALLIS SIMPSON ARE SEEN AT CHRISTIES AUCTION HOUSE IN ROME
Título original: The handbag and gloves belonging to Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee woman for whom Edward VIII abdicated from the British throne, are seen at Christies auction house in Rome June 16, 2004. The 14 letters, in which the king tells the still-married American Wallis Simpson you'll never know how much I love you, are part of a collection of photographs, clothing and royal memorabilia being sold by the couple's Italian valet. The 187 lots are estimated to fetch up up to 400,000 euros.

http://pro.corbis.com/images/DWF15-768693....9-310b5da52f15}
 
She also left jewels to Marie-Christine. I didn't know she had left anything else to any of the other royal ladies but I know Marie-Christine was told never to wear the jewels HG left her in front of EIIR or QM.
 
he must of loved her very much not only to give up the crown for her but the jewels he give her. they must have cost a bundle, they are so beautiful
 
I have a stupid question...how they were able to afford all these jewels and to have this extravagant life. I know that the ex-king used to receive money from the crown, but still....they were known for their lifestyle.
 
I think he bought a lot of jewels while he was Prince of Wales and then King; some of the later pieces were created by breaking up older pieces with out-of-date settings and resetting the stones.

However, he also bought a lot of new stuff after their marriage. I don't think they were as badly off as they liked to think. They were certainly being paid a tidy sum to stay out of England, and then there was the money from the sale of Sandringham and Balmoral to George VI and the money he'd saved as Prince of Wales. He never had to pay a lot for his living expenses; I think his rental on the house at the Bois de Boulogne was very low, and the Mill was the only place he actually owned. The Windsors also had many rich friends, who probably helped subsidised their lifestyle.
 
Windsor wealth

The rent on the Paris house was "peppercorn" (token) rent.

The lifestyle of the Duke and Duchess is just another of the great mysteries of Royal wealth.

The Duke of Windsor was forever complaining about how hard up he was, especially to his brother George VI in unwelcome phone calls and letters, yet managed to come up with the readies over a longish period of time to buy fabulous jewels. Maybe they budgeted well on the groceries.
.
 
One of the main reasons the Windsors lived in France for so many years is that the French government never charged them any kind of income tax on their investments and whatnot. Saved them a great deal of money, on top of the pittance they paid for rent.
 
I would bet that Wallis received gifts of clothing from couturiers because she was a style icon.
 
Most of the jewels acquired by the Duchess over the years utilized precious gems and stones the Duke was given as Prince of Wales. He was given many beautiful and valuable gifts of stones by the Indian princes before becoming King, which were later set into pieces for Wallis by Cartier, Harry Winston and the like. Some of her jewelry was broken apart periodically and reset into new pieces when she tired of them.

The Duke and Duchess were never as rich as many people imagined, although they certainly were wealthy. The Duke left England with approximately $20 million (in today's dollars), which was invested wisely by American friends and British bankers. His income from the royal family was approximately $100,000 annually (in today's money), which wasn't much when you consider the huge staff they employed in Paris and their travel expenses. The Mill cost them a fortune to renovate and Wallis was constantly redecorating their house in Paris as well. It was a very expensive lifestyle.

They were able to maintain this style of living mainly because of their tax-free status in France, the token rent paid for the Paris house and the fact that many of their purchases were accompanied by a significant discount because of their celebrity. But, by the time the Duke died in 1973, it was said their fortune was severely depleted and the Duchess had about $3 million in cold hard cash.

It's true Madame Blum sold a significant amount of furnishings and objects after 1975 to provide cash for the ever-increasing cost of private medical care of the Duchess after her final stroke. None of her jewels were touched though. In 1980, the Queen contacted Blum and informed her she would assume all of the Household and medical expenses for the Duchess.

The Duchess left a couple of pieces of jewelry to Princess Michael, Princess Alexandra and the Duchess of Kent in her will. A few other pieces were left to her close friends and the rest was auctioned off. It's true Queen Mary left her a beautiful strand of pearls when she died in 1952.
 
Warren said:
The rent on the Paris house was "peppercorn" (token) rent.

The lifestyle of the Duke and Duchess is just another of the great mysteries of Royal wealth.

The Duke of Windsor was forever complaining about how hard up he was, especially to his brother George VI in unwelcome phone calls and letters, yet managed to come up with the readies over a longish period of time to buy fabulous jewels. Maybe they budgeted well on the groceries.
.
Click to expand...

The Duke of Windsor also lied to his brother, George VI about how much money he did have at the time of the abdication. After George VI bought Sandringham and Balmoral from the Duke of Windsor for millions of British pounds, he found out the Duke of Windsor had stashed away a significant amount of money. George VI had one of his famous "gnashes".
 
tiaraprin said:
The Duke of Windsor also lied to his brother, George VI about how much money he did have at the time of the abdication. After George VI bought Sandringham and Balmoral from the Duke of Windsor for millions of British pounds, he found out the Duke of Windsor had stashed away a significant amount of money. George VI had one of his famous "gnashes".
Click to expand...

According to Philip Ziegler's biography of Edward VIII, the Duke lied about how much money he had tucked away over the years from his income from the Duchy of Cornwall. While it is certainly possible he didn't know himself exactly how much he had (remember he had equerries to worry about such things for him), it's clear he was dishonest about the matter.

George VI didn't "buy" Balmoral and Sandringham from the Duke with a lump-sum payment. An independent valuation of the two properties was established and an equivalent amount was invested in 3.5% War Loan Bonds to generate a tax-free income to the Duke, with an additional payment by the King to meet the 25,000 sterling he was promised before the Abdication.

Later, this amount was adjusted for inflation and eventually reached close to $100,000 annually by the time the Duke died in 1973. The Queen agreed to continue to pay half of this amount to the Duchess as a widow, but in 1980, she assumed all of her medical and household expenses as the Duchess was very ill and bedridden by then.
 
Correction on my part. The Duke died in 1972, not 1973.
 
You don't hear very much about the Queen's generosity in providing for members of the family, especially one who was so disliked by the senior members of the family (especially the Queen Mother).
 
iowabelle said:
You don't hear very much about the Queen's generosity in providing for members of the family, especially one who was so disliked by the senior members of the family (especially the Queen Mother).
Click to expand...

Many royal biographers have noted the Queen's financial generosity to her relatives and family. As the Sovereign, this is in the royal tradition, but the Queen has been very generous indeed even with her far-flung German relatives who later ran out of money after WW2.

The Duchess of Windsor and the Queen had no personal animosity between them. It would have been silly for the vendetta to go on forever and even the Queen Mother relented somewhat after the Duke died. It was reported after the Duchess died that the Queen Mother had sent her friendly letters and cards and she was later quoted as saying "I didn't hate her. In the end, I just felt sorry for her."

However, there is no question the Queen Mother was very bitter after George VI died and blamed the Duke and Duchess for forcing him to become King, which she insisted shortened his life (although the King actually died from heavy smoking, as did the Duke).
 
The Bowes-Lyon Cousins VS Wallis

The one thing I don't understand is that she financially supported Wallis but neglected her Bowes-Lyons cousins who were institutionalized by the state. You would think Her Majesty and the Queen Mum would privately have provided for them. They never caused any harm to anyone except being an embarrassment for their handicaps which they never should have been in the first place. How intolerable the world was and still is!
 
tiaraprin said:
The one thing I don't understand is that she financially supported Wallis but neglected her Bowes-Lyons cousins who were institutionalized by the state. You would think Her Majesty and the Queen Mum would privately have provided for them. They never caused any harm to anyone except being an embarrassment for their handicaps which they never should have been in the first place. How intolerable the world was and still is!
Click to expand...

OT I know but I do wonder if HM actually knew that these cousins were still alive. Remember that the Queen Mum was the second youngest of a large family, many of whom were grown up & married while she was still a child. These two cousins were written out of Burkes Peerage many years before. It was the media who unearthed there continued existance.
 
The beautiful strand of pearls with the large pearl drop is now owned by Kelly Klein, estranged wife of designer Calvin Klein. He bought them at auction for her.
 
branchg said:
Many royal biographers have noted the Queen's financial generosity to her relatives and family. As the Sovereign, this is in the royal tradition, but the Queen has been very generous indeed even with her far-flung German relatives who later ran out of money after WW2.

The Duchess of Windsor and the Queen had no personal animosity between them. It would have been silly for the vendetta to go on forever and even the Queen Mother relented somewhat after the Duke died. It was reported after the Duchess died that the Queen Mother had sent her friendly letters and cards and she was later quoted as saying "I didn't hate her. In the end, I just felt sorry for her."

However, there is no question the Queen Mother was very bitter after George VI died and blamed the Duke and Duchess for forcing him to become King, which she insisted shortened his life (although the King actually died from heavy smoking, as did the Duke).
Click to expand...

I remember the Queen's visit to the Windsors shortly before the Duke's death. It's a shame that they were estranged for so long, because he seems to have been a favorite with the York girls when they were young.
 
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