King Edward refused to condemn anti-Semitic violence. ibid.
Rumours of marriage were not beginning to circulate. ibid.
Branded a gold-digger, labelled a ruthless social climber, denounced as an adulterer who plunged the monarchy into crisis. For 80 years Wallis Simpson has been portrayed as calculating and manipulative. Loathed by the establishment and detested by the Royal Family, but re-examine the evidence and the real Wallis emerges: a victim not a villain. Emotionally blackmailed by a king. And almost destroyed by one man’s obsession. Wallis: The Queen that Never Was aka Wallis & Edward: Victims of Love, Channel 5 2017
December 1936 on the eve of Edward VIII’s abdication: one woman pleaded with him not to give up the throne: that woman was Wallis Simpson … She was desperate for a way out. ibid.
Edward courted a string of married women. ibid.
It was Edward who would extend the invitation: in January 1932 he asked them to a weekend gathering at his own home: Fort Belvedere in Windsor great park. ibid.
They were now at the pinnacle of London society. ibid.
Wallis had become the new object of the prince’s affections. ibid.
The prince’s relentless pursuit on Wallis began taking its toll on Ernest. ibid.
The story of the relationship was about to go global. ibid.
Edward’s decision was unprecedented. ibid.
Joey: You know their Royal Highnesses are most anxious to stop you racing over fences.
Edward: Well that’s all very well but I must have a bit of fun you know. Edward & Mrs Simpson I: The Little Prince, Thames TV 1978
Mussolini lent me his own train. We got home very quickly. He certainly makes them run on time. ibid. Edward to Baldwin
We’re invited to Fort Belvedere by the prince for the weekend. ibid. Wallis
Future kings of England do not marry divorced women. ibid. Thelma
You look after him while I’m away, Wallis. ibid.
When Mrs Simpson makes a suggestion you’ll comply with it. Edward & Mrs Simpson II: Venus at the Prow, Edward to servant
But there’s something very special about the Prince of Wales. ibid. Wallis to Mr Simpson
An extraordinary woman to me. ibid. Edward to Wallis
I came from good southern stock. ibid. Wallis to Edward
They’ll lose him if they’re not careful. ibid. Wallis
I wonder if I could get away with it. ibid. Edward
God send the companion a better prince. Then he’d soon be rid of her. ibid. King
I have an overwhelming need of you. ibid. Edward
After I’m dead the boy will ruin himself in twelve months. ibid. King
I pray to God he will never marry or have children. ibid.
The king is the Defender of the Faith. For me to go through with the coronation ceremony with our future unsettled would be impossible. Edward & Mrs Simpson III: The New King, Edward to Wallis
As king I mean to go amongst my people as before. ibid. Edward
Do you really think I would be crowned without Wallis at my side? ibid. Edward to Ernest
Tell him also he must not flaunt this friendship. ibid. Churchill
There’s no other way of dealing with the situation except by being perfectly straightforward. Edward & Mrs Simpson IV: The Divorce, Edward to Wallis
One way or another it must burst into scandal … It’s a constitutional scandal we must avoid. ibid. Prime Minister to Archbishop
I mean to marry Wallis … I’m deeply committed, Walter. Edward & Mrs Simpson V: The Decision, Edward to brief
Romances are more perishable than marriages. ibid. Prime Minister
I cannot in honour let the day of my coronation draw closer without making my attention plain. ibid. Edward to brief
I mean to abdicate to marry Mrs Simpson. ibid. Edward to Prime Minister
I cannot bear to hear you talk only of your happiness. Iibid. Queen Mother to Edward
There’s no provision in our laws as it stands today, sir, whereby the Sovereign of England can make a Morganatic marriage. Edward & Mrs Simpson VI: Proposals, brief to Edward et al
So it’s about to break. Well I’d like to spare Wallis that. ibid. Edward
If you marry Mrs Simpson, you will have to go. ibid. Baldwin
David, why didn’t you tell me it was going to be like this? ibid. Wallis
You must not abdicate. ibid. Wallis
Will you be happy, David? When you leave your own country where will you go? ibid. mother
If you stand up to Mr Baldwin and the rest of them your popularity will carry the day. Edward & Mrs Simpson VII: The Abdication
It’s all an unholy mess there … We shall have to wait. ibid. Edward to Wallis
Either you can have me or the throne. Not both. ibid. Wallis to Edward
Edward fell in love with a woman named Wallis Simpson … ‘There was scandal attached to her; she had been divorced twice.’ The Windsors: Royal Rifts & Feuds, Channel 5 2020
‘Wallis couldn’t stand the queen mother.’ ibid. Edward Morton
Elizabeth [Bowes-Lyon] believed Mrs Simpson was so damaging she might even end Edward’s reign … From the start Elizabeth had treated the arrival of Edward’s American mistress with deep suspicion. The Queen Mother: The Reluctant Queen I, Channel 5 2020
And the boycott didn’t stop there: she was also behind the refusal to award Wallis the title of Her Royal Highness even though it should have been hers by law. And she was also responsible for their forced exile to France ibid.
The Queen’s new role as a dazzling diplomat had been noticed in Germany. Hitler dismissed the new King as a weakling but he had no doubts about the strength of his wife. ibid.
Wallis Simpson: scheming seductress or history’s most ill-judged woman? Twice divorced and once Britain’s biggest hate figure, for ever portrayed as the woman who made the king give up his Crown. Shunned, shamed and forced to live in exile with her husband, but who was the real Wallis? Wallis Simpson: Femme Fatale aka Wallis Before Edward, Channel 5 2021
‘She was accused of being a whore and a harlot, a Nazi and a gold-digger.’ ibid. writer
Immediately, the object of Edward’s affection became the focal point of hysteria and hatred. ibid.
By age 16 Wallis had persuaded her Uncle Saul to send her to the prestigious boarding school Oldfields. ibid.
Wallis was trapped with a man she didn’t want to be with and by a family who refused to let her leave. In 1924 in what she described as her lotus year she escaped to Shanghai. It was during her time in China that Wallis is rumoured to have had relationships with various distinguished men. ibid.
Wallis had created an apparently stable life for herself with Earnest but it wasn’t long before everything changed. ibid.
Did Wallis set out to seduce the future King or was she simply determined to improve her social standing? ibid.
She would later describe Edward as an open sesame to a new glittering world. ibid.
‘What he really liked was American society and American women.’ ibid.
‘That night I drank the dregs of my defeat.’ ibid. night of abdication, cites writer
The abdication left Wallis & Edward cut off from their social circles and from their political advisers. ibid.
Viewed as Nazi sympathisers, the government wanted them banished. ibid.
The Windsors remained in Bermuda for the rest of the War. But there were no more official roles. ibid.
Unwanted in England, Wallis and Edward settled in Paris. ibid.
1911: The future of the British monarchy rests on the shoulders of a teenage boy: Prince Edward. He is the only son of King George V and his wife Queen Mary. On his father’s death, Edward will reign over Britain and her vast empire. The Windsors: Inside the Royal Dynasty aka Succession, Channel 4 2021
18th May 1972: One of the most extraordinary and controversial meetings in British history is about to take place: Queen Elizabeth II will reunite with her dying uncle, the Duke of Windsor … What really took place in this clandestine meeting? Elizabeth II & The Traitor King, Channel 5 2021
The Duke defended his association with the German dictatorship by arguing he wanted to avoid the horrors that he’d witnessed in the First World War. ibid.
Elizabeth weathered the storm created by her estranged uncle. ibid.