Wallis Loved and Lost

[Music] in 1937 a twice-divorced American married a former British sovereign in their country of exile France Edward the Eighth had abdicated the throne in order to marry the woman he loved Wallis Simpson [Music] unknown a year earlier Wallace was by now one of the most vilified women in the world the American seductress who had led the unwitting King astray Wallace is a classic example of if the woman who leads man to damnation through her sexual charms and powers she's being called a Nazi a [ __ ] a harlot a prostitute and gold-digging adventurous under spy by society with a capital S she was regarded as a cunning little schemer who wanted to be queen even today decades after her death Wallace continues to provoke strong reactions but how much does she deserve this reputation was she a victim of circumstance blind to the situation in which she found herself or did she like Icarus fly too close to the Sun and then drown in a sea of slander [Music] Wallis Simpson was already 40 when she burst onto the world stage she had stolen the heart of the world's most eligible bachelor Wallace said herself I was no beauty and he had the pick of the beautiful women of the world but marriage to the former king came at a price her reputation was torn apart by malicious rumor and endless insult pure evil that's the sort of attitude that has prevailed and people don't necessarily know why they feel that way about Wallace but they do Wallace is right up there in the pantheon with women who are blamed for men's defections and false [Music] marie-antoinette of course was accused of bringing down the French aristocracy and Wallis in the same way was a kiss of ending the reign of this king how necessary has it been to maintain the myth of Wallace as evil is it possible she was used to deflect attention away from a British conspiracy to ask King Edward the 8th from the throne it's clear that Wallace was a godsend to the establishment who wanted to get rid of it Edward and so if Edward had had a relationship with Wallace as a kept woman as a mistress then she wouldn't have been any use at all as a way of bouncing him off the throne though despised Wallis's rise from obscurity to a place in history remains an endless source of fascination and speculation but how did Wallace get here who was she really although destined to become one of the most well known women in the world Wallace had not been born to a life of privilege an American her parents were the poor relations within a family that by contrast included prominent members of 19th century southern society they lived in the fashionable district of Mount Vernon within the burgeoning and vibrant city of Baltimore Wallace's father teekl Wallace was the youngest son of Henry and Anna Warfield he suffered from tuberculosis and was dependent on his wealthy relatives for support Wallace's mother Alice Montagu was a descendant of one of Virginia's most distinguished families the couple married in secret in november 1895 neither family had wanted the marriage because the Montagues thought that Alice this beautiful spirited young woman could do rather better for herself and the war fields were terribly worried because Tico Wallace was a consumptive in spring the following year Wallace's parents left Baltimore and in search of fresh air moved to square cottage located on the Blue Ridge summit in Monterey County Wallace was born here on the 19th of June 1896 at the end of the summer the new family returned to Baltimore renting a small apartment in the Brixton residential hotel that November just four days before his first wedding anniversary Tikal died of tuberculosis leaving his wife and daughter almost destitute Alice was forced to accept an invitation and move with baby Wallace into the home of her mother-in-law on East Preston Street also resident in the house was Wallace's uncle Saul a successful businessman he was the one on whom they depended but although he paid them an allowance it was never regular and this was really cruelly controlling by the time Wallace was twelve mother and daughter had lived in six different places and seen their fortunes rise and fall forever vulnerable to the munificence of uncle Saul Wallace's early years forged her desire for material security but in early twentieth-century Baltimore for a young woman without means status and wealth were out of reach Wallace though persuaded her uncle Saul to pay for her to attend Oldfield's a prestigious girl school located to the north of Baltimore she was 16 Wallace decided very early on she was going to find her fulfillment through a man she decided that the easiest way for her to live a life of comfort and luxury was by finding a rich husband and that was why she chose old fields she actually wanted to move in the right circles where those sort of men were available to her school reports record that Wallace was a far from ideal student she was described as a rebel daring and aggressive and an overactive flirt Wallace was notorious for sneaking out of school to meet boys and on leaving old fields she wrote in the school yearbook not of her studies but her life's purpose all his love was a wonderful story about when she was at old fields and she wanted to meet a boyfriend and she jumped apparently from a first for all balcony to go out for dinner with this boy who was waiting in a sports car down below and Wallace decided which restaurant they'd go to of course the poor boy couldn't pay the bill so the next day his father had to go and pay the bill at the restaurant [Music] Wallace was 18 when she left old fields having honed her man charming skills she set out on her career in marriage in Wallace's time there was no other option 3% of women went to college at all so marriage was the only game in town and the only route for women then to status power and security opportunity came when in April 1916 Wallace accepted an invitation to stay with a cousin at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida there she met pioneering naval pilot Earl Winfield Spencer jr. he was 8 years older than Wallace and a man of the world Wallace would describe win as the world's most fascinating aviator he was handsome devastatingly handsome he looks like Errol Flynn so you can see why she fell in love but it was a whirlwind romance she really didn't know him terribly well and he put pressure on her he gave her six months I want you to marry me decide quickly and she said yes at Christ's Protestant Episcopal Church in Baltimore wali married an American naval officer becoming mrs. Earl Winfield Spencer it was November 1916 Wallace was 20 a year later Wynn received orders to transfer to California to set up another Naval Air Station near San Diego he did a remarkable job 200 Seahawks soar above the San Diego Naval Air Station in the spectacular sky review sweeping over the harbor on masts they present a thrilling picture of Uncle Sam's air power a stirring sight away from work however the dashing pilot became abusive his behavior fired by alcohol Wallace was said to fear being alone with him she says that he packed a bottle of alcohol in the suitcase that he took on his honeymoon and that he became violent soon after and that the alcohol fueled his violence in 1921 the couple moved to Washington DC by this time Wallis was contemplating leaving her marriage Wallace told her mother and uncle's soul that she wanted a divorce they were horrified fearing it would bring disgrace upon the family Wallis is furious because she thinks uncle Saul is a complete hypocrite he's not married he has a string of mistresses but he says to her if she persevered in her determination to get a divorce he'll cut her out of his will life was made a little easier when in 1922 Wynn was posted to Hong Kong Wallace threw herself into the social life of Washington but after two years she decided to rejoin whim and give her marriage a second chance in July 1924 Wallace sailed to the Far East on a troop carrier it was not long though before Wynn was drinking heavily again and the cycle of abuse resumed Wallace finally left him he married twice subsequently and both second wives second and third wife cited his violence and alcoholism in their petitions for divorce she left him had no resources no marketable skills at all I think Wallace is break with when was one of her finest hours we are going over now by plane to a mysterious piece of air the famous Forbidden City of Empress Peking before returning home Wallace decided to take a short tour of China she traveled to Peking and stayed with an old friend Kathryn Bigelow who was married to a successful banker Hermann Rogers this domestic arrangement later became a source of base speculation it's part of the Wallace myth that she lived in a menage tois with Kathryn and Hermann she did live with him for a year it may have been she ran interference in a marriage that was basically dull what went on we will never know China may have had its charms but Wallace was not free to remarry if she wanted a break with the past she needed to return to the United States so in 1926 she moved to a hotel in Virginia Wallace had discovered that if she was resident in the state for a year and could prove she had been separated from wind for three years a decree of desertion would be granted Warrenton Virginia her divorce ended the romance in this courthouse Wallace later wrote if ideas like divorce are common enough today they were revolutionary in the early 1920s but this was a period of change women in the United States now had the vote and increased rights under the law and like Wallace they could also initiate divorce proceedings nevertheless Wallace noted I had to take courage in my hands she had to deal with this divorce because she was approaching thirteen Wallace thought I'm never going to be attractive beyond thirty so I'd better do something about remarrying whatever the cost on her trips to New York Wallace claims she contemplated getting a job but with no special training her options were limited she wrote department store selling had little appeal for me Wallace rejected work and set her sights on another marriage if you look at the whole story why she behaved in the way she did I think it's really easy to see that she was trying to avenge her mother's poverty it was Christmas 1926 a year before her divorce was granted that Wallace met her next husband Anglo American Ernest Simpson Ernest worked for his family's firm an international shipping business he was keen to transfer to the company's London office and settle in Britain Ernest was immediately drawn to Wallace the couple started dining out and enjoying the best New York had to offer Wallace realized an opportunity had presented itself that might not be bettered Ernest impressed her she in turn seduced him he was an aesthete who loved art history and culture and so forth and she was a marvelous listener so her attention must mean probably flattering and he must have thought oh she's fascinated with what I'm doing but there was a problem Ernest was already married Ernest though moved quickly to obtain a divorce he then left New York and headed for London asking Wallace to join him there once he was free to remarry she agreed and the couple Wed in July 1928 at Chelsea register office Wallace was 32 I think the relationship between Wallace and Ernest is typical of many marriages where one does the loving and one is loved I think Ernest loved genuinely adored Wallace Wallace settled to life in London and adapted herself to British ways one aspect that surprised Wallace was the nation's fascination with its royal family including the heir apparent Edward Prince of Wales a veteran of the great war Edwards peacetime royal duties included multiple tours of the British Empire his first was to Canada in 1919 but despite appearances the Prince disliked the strict royal protocol by which he was bound Edward himself had served at the front and he had mixed with all classes of people and it had changed him he said so and he wanted to do things differently he said things like I think the days of monarchy are all over I think my father's a tyrant he was really projecting a very different picture in his private life but of course the public didn't know that by now in his mid-30s the prince was also unmarried this was a matter for concern as the future king was required to provide an heir he was expected to pick a bride from among the ranks of the aristocracy but unbeknown to his adoring public the prince had a function for married women now Wallace was one never to lose a useful contact or an address and while she'd been in Pensacola she knew a relation of Thelma Furness who was then the mistress of the Prince of Wales Thelma Furness had married into the British aristocracy becoming a PHY countess she was one of the dollar princesses the fabulously rich daughters of American industrial billionaires who came to England looking for the one thing they couldn't buy at home a title they were made welcomed by the land rich but cash poor members of the British aristocracy it was the Prince of Wales as grandfather Edward the seventh who described the dollar princesses as livelier better educated and less hampered by etiquette than their English sisters a sentiment with which his grandson agreed and would loved Americans he loved their informality loved the democracy he loved the vitality and he loved the lack of protocol Wallace's connection to the American by countess opened the door to her first meeting with the prince at the start of 1931 woloson ernest had been invited on a hunting weekend at Borough Court Velma's country home at which the Prince of Wales would also be present a friendship gradually developed the prince invited the Simpsons to house Party weekends at his country residence Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park he in turn began visiting the Simpsons at their London home earnest like Wallis was initially flattered by the attention but in time relations became strained and earnest would absent himself when the Prince came to visit but it wasn't until late 1934 three years after they'd first met that Wallis fully supplanted Thelma in the princes affections the women he met in society among the royal courtiers were very deferential and they always were so conscious that he was superior to them socially but Wallis didn't care and she gave her opinions and he knew he could count on her opinions Wallis later described what attracted her to the Prince he was the open sesame' to a new and glittering world that excited me as nothing in my life had ever done before that I Wallis Warfield of Baltimore Maryland could be part of this enchanted world I mean it's the American dream the hometown girl wins the prince you know [Music] in 1935 the princess father King George v celebrated 25 years on the throne by this time Prince Edward's relationship with Wallis had crystallized and she was a familiar face in high society [Music] Wallace entertained no illusions that people in society liked her for herself she knew that they were using her as a way of getting to the king the closer that Edward became to Wallace the more alienated he became from his family including from his brother Albert and his wife Elizabeth the Duke and Duchess of York Edward and Elizabeth four great friends and I think that she was perhaps even a little bit in love with him it was Wallace that broke that relationship Wallace was also a cause for concern to the authorities secret government files reveal that the Metropolitan Police in London was keeping a close watch on mrs. Simpson of the claims made against Wallace the most damning was an allegation that she was conducting an affair with a car salesman he is guy Marcus trundle now living at 18 Bruton Street secret meetings are made by appointment when intimate relations take place the content of the secret files reflected the establishment view that Wallace was a most unsuitable companion for a future King well the only evidence we have is in fact guy Marcus trundle himself because he is mentioned in this report by Special Branch as saying he was having an affair with her but no other evidence is offered [Music] if there is one thing that King George has taught it is the art of the leader who is also a brother to his followers King George the fifth died in January 1936 the Prince of Wales was proclaimed King Edward the eighth [Music] [Applause] the relationship between the old king and his heir had deteriorated in the years before his death George despaired of his eldest son's affairs with married women not long before he died he said after I am dead the boy will ruin himself within 12 months he had made no secret of his preference for his second son Albert Duke of York a dependable and conservative family man but the rules of royal succession meant he could not stop Edward becoming King regardless the new monarch was still popular with his public his government ministers however were less enthusiastic it was quickly apparent that Edward disliked many of his constitutional duties similarly the establishment disliked its lack of control over the king they had supported george v they had enjoyed his ear they had had power they had had influence through him now they didn't the continuing relationship between monarch and divorcee was also a cause of concern rumors surrounded the American including one of another affair this time between Wallace and the German ambassador to Britain yo Akeem von Ribbentrop Ribbentrop was a familiar face in London prior to his appointment as ambassador in 1936 he had served as Hitler's chief advisor on Foreign Affairs he mixed in elite social circles attending receptions hosted by the cream of London society this is where he encountered Wallace Wallace may have flirted with Ribbentrop and he may have thought her worth seducing as a means for getting closer to the king but claims of an affair have never been proved I think the allegation that Wallace had an affair with Ribbentrop or the other allegation that she had an affair with a car salesmen are an indication of the black picture that was painted of her by spring 1936 Wallace and Ernests marriage was in serious trouble under some pressure from the king they agreed to divorce then in May the King settled a considerable sum of money on Wallace enabling her to acquire and furnish a house of her own so it was very reassuring for Wallace to have this trust fund settled on her she still didn't think that when the time came he would actually marry her in August the King set sail for a holiday cruising the Mediterranean Wallace joined him aboard the knight on the cruise attracted considerable attention in the Foreign Press especially the United States have been pictured together on many occasions and in this topsy-turvy world it may be time for an American woman to marry a British king by tacit agreement the British press remained silent about the affair this made it all the more shocking for Wallis when she discovered the amount of coverage given to the holiday in the American press on the 16th of September 1936 she wrote to the king saying they should end their relationship I think Wallis really wanted to give up any idea of marriage to Edward she said you and I will only create disaster together I really think I have to go away but the King would not let Wallis go Edward wanted Wallis by his side even if others disapproved when Edward and Wallis are in Bell morale and the Duke and Duchess of York arrived Wallace walks up to the Duchess of York and to say welcome and to greets her and the Duchess of York walks straight past her snub sir and in a way that was incredibly rude in October 1936 British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin cautioned the King against Wallace proceeding with her divorce Edward replied he could not live without Wallace and intended to marry her later that month Wallace was granted at a Cree nice.i paving the way for her divorce from Ernest to be made final the following year Edwards intentions were clear but as king he was head of the Church of England an institution that opposed remarriage after divorce as a result marriage to Wallis would not be possible some members of the government had indicated they wouldn't mind if Edward had her as his mistress but Edward wanted to marry Wallis if Wallace was a source of disquiet in establishment circles the Kings popularity was becoming a thorn in the side of government in November 1936 Edward made a trip to South Wales and visited a town where the local Steel Works had closed and three-quarters of the men were unemployed it was a scene of desolation the king was disturbed by what he saw and declared something must be done because it was filmed by the newsreels his visit to South Wales was seen in cinemas all over Britain the following week and this was horrifying for the government because it highlighted the fact that something must be done that was not being done for the poor a new king of britain and the empire comes to join with his people in solemn remembrance Edwards response to the plight of the unemployed was more that of feudal landlord than democratic figurehead his government considered the remarks as being totally out of line something indeed needed to be done but about the king and unbeknown to Wallis she would provide the lever the head of the civil service the top people of establishment came up initially with a letter that Stanley Baldwin the prime minister would write to Edward advising him to send Wallace away and that if he didn't then it would cause the breakdown the fall of the government and a national crisis when Edward read the letter he was horrified he saw it as a betrayal he was very hurt and I think it came to him then clearly that in fact he couldn't count on the decency of the old gang and they were in fact at war with him the King reacted to the letter telling his prime minister if he and the government objected to his marrying Wallace he was prepared to go Edward did however suggest a solution he proposed a morganatic marriage whereby he would remain king with Wallace as his wife but not his Queen Baldwin came back to Edward and said government could not accept the plan for a morganatic marriage because of the uncompromising stand of dominions none of them could possibly countenance a divorced queen it wasn't that she was American it wasn't anything else other than the fact that she had two living husbands they were not prepared to accept that by early December all options exhausted the king was told either he must end his relationship with mrs. Simpson or abdicate he was also told the British press was about to break its silence about their relationship almost immediately Wallis began receiving anonymous letters containing threats of violence she was forced to leave her London home once the story broke she was receiving threatening letters including one that said something to the effect of as a patriot I'm going to have to kill you this kind of thing was obviously very disturbing everybody says you've got to get out of the country because they cannot guarantee her life on the 3rd of December Wallis fled from England travelling to the south of France to stay with her old friends Kathryn and Herman Rogers was this hair-raising journey where she's honored by the paparazzi and she has to hide and duck and cover her head with a blanket it's really a terrifying time for her can a king separate his personal life from his public duty should he be able to choose his own personal friends his private interests and his own wife or must he night and day in all things in all ways in a servant of his part the Kings affair was now in the public domain press and public were divided a majority of ordinary people were very understanding they liked him but so much anyway and there was a sense of if he wanted Wallis well fine they didn't have what he wants we loved him now in France pressure was being applied to Wallace by government figures to renounce the king Wallace expressed her willingness to withdraw if such action would solve the problem but Edward would not be moved nor would his government relent eight days after Wallace's departure on the 11th of December 1936 the king announced his decision Edwards reluctant younger brother Albert became King in homage to his father he was styled George the sixth this was a situation without precedent a new king proclaimed while the former monarch was still alive uncertain of how to proceed Edward now to be called the duke of windsor agreed to go into exile for a minimum of two years he left believing his public popularity was such that once the dust had settled he would return to England and to public life he traveled to Austria where he remained hidden from public view Edward could not yet join Wallis as her divorce would be imperiled if they were to meet before it was finalized in March 1937 Wallace moved to the Chateau decant in Northwest France the setting for the wedding Wallace kept firmly out of sight the object of continuing hate mail and death threats she wrote nothing shook me so much or hurt me more than the discovery of the scorn even hatred that many felt for me if she had ever pictured a life with Edward this was not it she said I felt like an animal caught in a trap and she was because there were no decisions left for her to make she just had to follow through on the course of events that had now been written for her and I think that must have been appalling Wallace's divorce was decreed absolute in May 1937 it was now safe for Edward to join her the couple were married on the 3rd of June he was approaching 43 she 41 it was a day of mixed emotions the new king for bad members of the royal family from attending the wedding and more offensive to the Duke the King confirmed that Wallace would be titled Duchess of Windsor but denied the usual style of her royal highness Edward was absolutely furious about that and really that defined the rest of his life it became corrosive the bitterness trying to establish that his wife really should have been HRH we're talking about royal family and these things which may seem unimportant to us a crucial to them and to Edward it meant but they wouldn't recognize his wife as really his wife [Music] after an extended honeymoon the Duke and Duchess took a small apartment in the hotel Meurice in Paris abandoned by his country's government and with no one to advise him the Duke was trying to find a role for himself his new friend Franco American industrialist Charles Berto a man keen to promote his own business interests suggested the Duke visit Germany to study the working conditions of the country's labor force but this was just two years after Germany's Nazi government had passed the anti-semitic Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and relations between Britain and Germany were under strain the idea however appealed to the german-speaking duke he agreed to his government's request not to deliver any formal speeches but his naivete about his own self-importance led him to believe his visit might help improve relations between Britain and the Nazi regime how foolish how stupid how weak of course they should have known two years after the Nuremberg Laws had been passed what the situation was in Germany the Windsors arrived in Berlin in October 1937 they were greeted by a number of Nazi leaders who accompanied them throughout their visit Wallace relished being treated as royalty even being addressed as her royal highness she appeared delighted at being in the company of the Fuhrer but she was excluded from a private meeting between Hitler and the Duke and allegedly furious at the snub later wrote I decided Hitler did not care for women [Music] the trip undoubtedly damaged the Duke and Duchess and gave rise to the notion that they were incipient Nazis I suppose the most sympathetic thing you could say about Edwards attitude to Hitler and Co which let's face it was pure appeasement he had gone through the First World War and a lot of people really felt anything was worth rather than another war back in France a major preoccupation for the Duke was his right to return to Britain he was alarmed to discover that his two-year exile might be extended indefinitely without a job to distract him it was left to Wallace to as she described fill for him this perhaps unfillable gap it was not until September 1939 that the Duke visited Britain he'd been called home to discuss how he might serve his country now at war with Germany initially offered a choice between a civilian job back in Britain and a military liaison job in France the Dukes option to choose was withdrawn and he was ordered back to Paris Georgia six and his wife Queen Elizabeth were so mean to Edward and Wallis and would not allow them back into Britain to do a useful job and to have a place in Edwards country back in Paris the Duke took up his military post during the long months prior to Germany's invasion of France the so called phoney war the Duchess worked for the French Red Cross she described herself as more useful than she had ever been in her life inside the national line the French army sits in fancied security he Strange Interlude on the Western Front encourages this delusion [Music] [Music] in June 1940 France fell the Windsors head itself Wallace described the roads as crowded as never before all of Western Europe was on the run the Duke and Duchess fled to Spain where they received instructions to return to Britain this was the chance for the Duke to re-establish himself at home but he blew it by demanding his wife be accorded equality with the wives of his brothers as an HRH in the event Wallis learnt to live with that but it was Edward who was so aggrieved on his wife's behalf effectively this was what created them permanent exile Edwards attitude sealed his fate with the Kings consent the British government appointed the Duke as governor of the Bahamas thereby putting him out of the way the Windsors traveled to Portugal before sailing across the Atlantic recently released German documents revealed the Nazi regime had hoped to intercept the Duke and Duchess before they left Europe the fact that the Germans were so anxious to contact him when he was in Portugal it is very suspicious you see I don't believe he was a very intelligent man and so it's not the but beyond the bounds of possibility that he might have betrayed his brother although many people wouldn't agree with me [Music] the Duke and Duchess had set sail for the Bahamas before the plot could be executed Wallace later wrote that she and the Duke had gladly accepted the posting in reality the couple knew they had been banished whatever their misgivings Wallace turned her hand as best she could to the role of governor's wife the Duchess presents the contestants with personal tokens of appreciation this conduct though was not enough to stop their every move being monitored by both British and American security forces reports of course had come to the United States that the Duke and Duchess had potential Nazi sympathies and that there was some concern over you know what perhaps they were doing you know you get a couple rumours here you get a couple clippings there among those were some rumors about Wallis Simpson there you go including that she had passed on intelligence to the Germans through a von Ribbentrop lots of people thought that they were Nazi sympathizers but based on the FBI's investigation there there are certainly no evidence that they were pursuing that sort of thing in the United States Edward may have felt a kinship with Germany but he was not pro war whatever the evidence however the allegations that the Windsors were Nazi sympathizers feeding secrets to the German war machine remain active on both sides of the Atlantic when the official government documents relating to the abdication were released in 2003 I was the historical adviser at the National Archives and I had to speak to the press and it was quite extraordinary that's when the press turned up they were all just waiting for what the ex they expected and there's no reason why they shouldn't expect it on the basis of the story they've been told a story they believed these records were going to be full of evidence about Edward and Wallis being Nazi agents and there was nothing they were so disappointed at the end of the war the Dukes governorship came to an end he and the Duchess left the Bahamas in May 1945 the Bahamas was supposed to be the low point in their career and yet it proved a very strong bonding experience for both of them so their elbow which they complained about bitterly turned out to be one of the most positive experiences of their lives Edward hoped for another posting this time to Canada this would give him the status he still craved it would also allow him to spend more time on his ranch in Alberta a property he'd bought in 1919 but however warmly the Duke and Duchess had been greeted on their visits to Canada it was quickly apparent nobody wanted a discredited King as Viceroy that alone is twice divorced wife as consort back in Britain the post-war Labour government dismissed any idea of giving the Duke a job neither did King George want his elder brother back on British soil instead the Duke and Duchess returned to France he was 50 XI 49 in the gardens of Eden AM large gave us these charming informal pictures their first post-war trip to Britain was in October 1946 by now the void in the lives of the Duke and Duchess was glaringly apparent with no place to call home the couple lived a restless existence moving between rented and borrowed houses in France and the United States [Music] they traveled constantly attracting attention wherever they went but behind the smiles lay frustration and resentment Wallace was said to be nearly driven mad trying to find ways of amusing the Duke I think that Wallace and Edwards post-war life was horribly empty shallow and superficial the shadow of death hovered over King George of England as these last pictures were made in February 1952 the Dukes brother King George the sixth died from lung cancer he was 56 his coffin Donegan carriage is drawn by enlisted men at the royal navy and is followed by the carriage bearing Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret they in turn are followed by the young Duke of Kent the Duke of Windsor the Duke of Gloucester and the Queen's husband the Duke of Edinburgh the Duke of Windsor attended the funeral without the Duchess now his niece Elizabeth was Queen the Duke hoped to return to England might be possible the new reign however did not make life easier for him keeping the former monarch out of the country was considered to be in the public interest Edward realized there was no future for him in Britain by now in their late 50s the Duke and Duchess finally set up permanent residence in Paris it was not until 1967 that the couple were thrown an olive branch by the royal family they were both invited by the Queen to attend the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the life of the Dukes mother Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was seemed to publicly acknowledge the Duke and Duchess later the Queen was caught on camera chatting briefly with the couple the difference is that arose out of the events of thirty years ago melted away at this memorial to Queen Mary Edward Heath the conservative Prime Minister said many of us have felt that the Duke of Windsor has not been treated well surely now when he's in the evening of his life something should be done to put this right in reality nothing changed and five years later in 1972 the Duke died his body was flown back to England sixty thousand people filed past his coffin the royal family all attended the Dukes funeral together with the Duchess after the funeral Wallace returned to Paris and for a short period continued to attend events but by the mid-70s her health was in sharp decline physically frail and suffering increasingly from dementia she was confined within the walls of her Paris home it was a sad and lonely demise finally in April 1986 Wallace Duchess of Windsor died she was almost 90 a reputation as a figure of hate remained unchanged the story was so cleverly spun about Wallace being a cunning schemer all she wanted to do was to be queen that it worked and it has become the if you like this it's become the truth Wallace driven by a need for material security and then exposed to a world beyond her wildest imaginings applied her man charming talents and seduced a future king but then lost control [Music] the greatest romance of the 20th century turned out to be a trap from which wallace knew she could not escape she attracted one of the most handsome charming and powerful men in the world but Oh for this was a really damaged man who probably did not want to be king and was looking for somebody like Wallace and Wallace provided him with an escape so of course we remember her as a woman who diverted the course of history [Music] you you

Channel: David LeGuerrier Film

Views: 1,314,804

Rating: 4.5730639 out of 5

Keywords: history, Wallis Simpson, documentary, King Edward, British Monarchy

Id: j-BEKxPxghs

Length: 52min 29sec (3149 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 01 2018