Wallis Simpson
| Wallis | |
|---|---|
| Duchess of Windsor(more) | |
 Simpson inc. 1934 | |
| Born | Bessie Wallis Warfield June 19, 1896[1] Square Cottage,Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania,U.S. |
| Died | April 24, 1986(aged 89) 4 route du Champ d'Entraînement,Paris,France |
| Burial | April 29, 1986 |
| Spouse | |
| Father | Teackle Wallis Warfield |
| Mother | Alice Montague |
Wallis Simpson(bornBessie Wallis Warfield;19 June 1896 - 24 April 1986), who later became theDuchess of Windsor,caused a serious crisis in the mid-1930s when theheirto the throne of theUnited Kingdom,Prince Edward,fell in love with her. However, she was married to another man, and she had already gotten adivorcefrom her first husband to marry him. In 1936, she divorced her second husband.[2]
Abdication of Edward VIII
[change|change source]On 20 January 1936, KingGeorge Vdied, and Edward became king. Edward VIII and Wallis had already started an affair. He wanted to marry her after she had divorced.
Themonarchis the head of theChurch of England,which was strongly against the idea of divorce. Their affair was regarded as asin.
In November, King Edward consulted withBritish Prime MinisterStanley Baldwinon a way to both marry Wallis and keep the throne. Edward suggested amorganatic marriagein which he would remain king but Wallis would not be queen, and their children could not become the monarch. The idea was rejected by Baldwin and theprime ministersofAustraliaandSouth Africa.[3]If Edward married Wallis against Baldwin's advice, the government had decided to resign, which would cause a constitutional crisis.[4]
The King decided he had no choice but to abdicate so that he could marry Wallis.[5]On 11 December 1936, Edward said in a radio broadcast, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility, and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love".[6]
Later life
[change|change source]After his abdication, Edward became the Duke of Windsor, and Wallis became the Duchess of Windsor. While Edward retained his style of "Royal Highness",King George VIdeclared Wallis would not be allowed to do the same but would be instead styledHer Grace The Duchess of Windsor,the same style given to a non-royal duchess. The couple lived abroad, mainly inFrance,for most of their lives.
During theSecond World War,they moved from France toPortugaland later to theBahamas.They were widely suspected of being sympathetic to the GermanNazis.Edward himself wrote in the New YorkDaily Newsof 13 December 1966: "it was in Britain's interest and in Europe's too, that Germany be encouraged to strike east and smash Communism forever... I thought the rest of us could be fence-sitters while the Nazis and the Reds slogged it out".[7]
After her husband's death from cancer in 1972, Wallis travelled to the United Kingdom to attend his funeral. She stayed atBuckingham Palaceduring her visit. The Duchess of Windsor died on 24 April 1986 at her home in theBois de Boulogne,Paris,at the age of 89. She was buried alongside her husband in theRoyal Burial Ground.She wrote about her life in 1956.[8]
References
[change|change source]
- ↑According to 1900 census returns, she was born in June 1895, which authorCharles Highamasserted was before her parents' marriage (Higham, p. 4). AuthorGreg King,wrote that, though Higham's "scandalous assertion of illegitimacy enlivens the telling of the Duchess's life", "the evidence to support it is slim indeed", and that it "strains credulity" (King, p. 11).
- ↑Wallis filed for divorce from her second husband on the grounds that he had committed adultery with her childhood friend Mary Kirk. The divorce was granted on 27 October 1936. Bloch, Michael 1996.The Duchess of Windsor.London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, pp. 82, 92.ISBN0-297-83590-4
- ↑The monarch was also the king of the dominions, as they were called.
- ↑Beaverbrook, Lord (ed A.J.P. Taylor) 1966.The Abdication of King Edward VIII.London: Hamish Hamilton, p. 57.
- ↑Norton-Taylor, Richard; Evans, Rob (2 March 2000),"Edward and Mrs Simpson cast in new light",The Guardian,retrieved2 May2010
- ↑Windsor, HRH The Duke of, 1951.A King's story.London: Cassellp413.
- ↑Higham, Charles 2005.Mrs Simpson.London: Pan Books, p 259–260.ISBN0-330-42678-8;King, Greg 1999.The Duchess of Windsor.New York: Citadel Press, p 294–296.ISBN1-55972-471-4
- ↑Windsor, The Duchess of 1956.The heart has its reasons: the memoirs of the Duchess of Windsor.London: Michael Joseph.
Other websites
[change|change source]
- Wallis SimpsononIMDb
- The Duchess of Windsor at 212 East Biddle Street – Explore Baltimore Heritage
- The Duchess of Windsor (1949)."The Duchess of Windsor's Tongue-In-Cheek Guide To Entertaining".Vogue(UK ed.).