Page 45 - All About History - Issue 34-16

The women before Wallis

Edward and
Scandal in Wallis with their
pet Pug, Disraeli
the House of

Windsor

It’s not just Edward who has
made the tabloid headlines

Following a scandalous divorce, Sarah ‘Fergie’ Ferguson
once again found herself front-page news when an

undercover reporter ilmed her ofering access to her

ex-husband Prince Andrew for £500,000.

Ever since his teenage years, Prince Harry has been the
subject of scandal. He’s been caught smoking cannabis
and making ‘racist’ remarks, and was photographed Wallis, who missed nothing that happened at into his mind, they would not have had permanent
dressed as a Nazi at a ‘Colonial and Native’-themed her table, raised her hands high in the air and lodging there; the sacrifice had not been in vain.
house party. brought them down with a crash that set the plates He was married to the most wonderful woman in
and glasses rattling. A horrified hush fell on the the world, nothing could possibly be more desirable
company. “Never,” she hissed, “never again will you than this. She knew she was not married to the
give orders in my house.” Realising that she had most wonderful man in the world. She must from
gone a little far, she then turned to her neighbour time to time have asked herself whether it was all
and explained: “You see, the duke is in charge of worthwhile, whether it would not have been better
Prince Charles and Camilla met in 1971, and began
dating shortly after. Though they eventually went everything that happens outside the house and I if she had remained married to her prosperous
their separate ways, with Charles marrying Lady Diana on the inside.” shipping magnate. But she liked the consequence,
Spencer in 1981, the pair were later recorded having an That Edward, whether she liked being a duchess,
intimate conversation.
as Prince of Wales, king “Mrs Simpson she liked being bowed to
or Duke of Windsor, loved and addressed as Your
Wallis to distraction is seemed to have Royal Highness, even
evident beyond question. though she knew that no
Never for a moment did he decided that such dignity would be
doubt that he had made accorded her at the British
There was outrage when in 2012, the French edition the right decision when he Embassy and that no
of Closer magazine published photos of the duchess the Prince of
sunbathing topless while on holiday in the Cote d’Azur. renounced the throne to invitation would ever be
A criminal investigation was launched, the results of marry her. There are some issued to attend the Court
which are undisclosed. who argue that he had Wales was her in London.
never wanted to be king, She did not love him
that he seized with relief at natural prey” as he loved her. She
the means of escape from sometimes treated him,
The Princess Royal became the irst senior member of the royal prison house. even in public, with a

the royal family to have a criminal record when her dog, There is some truth in this – he was not cut out measure of contempt; she did not spare his feelings
Dotty, attacked two children while walking in Great
Windsor Park. She was ined £500 and ordered to give to bear the burden of endless social duties, of the when she diverted herself with the American

Dotty more training. slogging hard work that has to be accepted by any socialite Jimmy Donahue, a notorious pederast.
successful monarch. But he enjoyed the grandeur, “She’s safe as houses with him!” the duke replied
the dignity, the limitless wealth that went with when asked whether he felt concern that Wallis
monarchy. To abandon all this for a life in exile in a spent so much time in Donahue’s company. But
country whose language he spoke inadequately and it must have hurt: she was still everything to
in which he had few friends was a real sacrifice. He the duke; it was painfully obvious he was not
In 1992, The Sun revealed the existence of taped never doubted, though, that the sacrifice had been everything to her. On the whole, though, she
telephone conversations between Princess Diana and worthwhile. One might argue that he could not never forgot what he had given up for her and
her close friend James Gilbey, in which he referred to

her afectionately as ‘Squidgy’. Many believed this to be allow himself to think otherwise, that his sacrifice treated him with loyalty and consideration. It was
proof that the two were having an af air. might have been in vain was a concept too awful to not a marriage that conformed to any traditional
contemplate. But even if such thoughts had flashed romantic image, but it was a happy one for all that.
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