Wallis Simpson

• Born: June 19, 1896
• Birthplace: Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania
• Died: April 24, 1986
• Place of death: Paris, France

Identification American socialite and wife of Great Britain’s duke of Windsor (also known as King Edward VIII)

The romance between the twice-divorced American socialite Simpson and Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, shook Great Britain and the British Empire to its foundations. Edward abdicated his throne to marry “the woman he loved” in December, 1936.

Born Bessie Wallis Warfield, Wallis Simpson generated controversy from the day of her birth in 1896 until her death in 1986. She was born into the socially prominent but poor Virginia Montagu family of her mother, Alice, and the newly wealthy Warfield family of Maryland of her father, Teackle Wallis. Neither family supported the marriage. The couple eloped to Pennsylvania, where the actual marriage date of Simpson’s parents remains in dispute. Simpson’s father died from tuberculosis five months after her birth, forcing her mother to depend on the charity of Simpson’s paternal uncle, Solomon Warfield, who paid Simpson’s tuition at Oldfields School, Maryland’s most prominent school for girls. Simpson’s mother remarried, but it did not improve the family’s financial or social standing. At an early age, Simpson learned to depend on her own intuitive skills and impeccable social contacts to make her way through life.

First Two Marriages

Simpson married her first husband, Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr., a Navy pilot from a wealthy Chicago family, on November 8, 1916, after a six-month courtship. The marriage was disastrous because Spencer was an alcoholic and physically abusive. The Spencers separated briefly in 1921 and again in 1923 before reuniting when Spencer was posted to China in 1924. Simpson was already renowned for her brilliant conversation skills, impeccable style of dress, and entertaining abilities. The separations led Simpson to find companionship with a series of lovers, including an Argentine diplomat and Galeazzo Ciano, the Italian foreign minister. Simpson and Spencer’s final separation came in 1925.

At the time of their 1927 divorce, Simpson had already established herself as the mistress of American shipping executive Ernest Simpson, who divorced his first wife to marry Simpson on July 21, 1928, in London, where the couple purchased a comfortable residence. The shipping company prospered during the world economic depression of the 1930’s, and a resilient Simpson became a prominent society hostess among London’s wealthy middle class and nobility. Her charm, brilliant sarcastic wit, fashion sense, and ability to attract entertaining guests brought her to the attention of Thelma Lady Furness, the mistress of the Prince of Wales. The first meeting between Simpson and the Prince of Wales was on January 10, 1931. Their respective autobiographies suggest their meeting was love at first sight.

Mistress of the Prince of Wales

Lady Furness’s departure for the United States in December, 1933, to assist her sister, Gloria Vanderbilt, in the celebrated Vanderbilt custody trial allowed Simpson to assume the position of mistress of the Prince of Wales. Within months, Prince Edward was so taken with Simpson that he began a monogamous relationship with her. Initially, the relationship had the approval of Simpson’s husband, who saw his wife’s relationship with the Prince of Wales as an opportunity to further his own career.

The Prince of Wales was attracted to Simpson’s domineering style, sarcasm, and lack of deference to his position. She created a protective cocoon around him that gradually separated him from friends and family that she deemed a threat to her increasingly powerful position. Simpson was not a great beauty and was usually described as a handsome woman. Biographers argue, but cannot prove, that Simpson had learned unique sexual skills while living in China and used these to dominate the Prince of Wales. By 1935, the affair was no longer secret. The ill health of King George V caused the establishment great concern when Edward and Simpson took public vacations together; he gave her expensive gifts while neglecting his royal duties. The death of George V on January 20, 1936, elevated Edward to the position of king. He was determined to make Simpson his wife despite the opposition of his family, the church, the government, and the empire. The more Edward VIII was pressured to abandon Simpson, the more determined he became to marry her. Edward VIII abdicated on December 11, 1936, and in an address to the nation made it clear that he gave up his throne to be with the woman he loved.

Impact

The abdication of Edward VIII and the marriage of Edward and Simpson on June 3, 1937, at the Château de Candé in France led the couple to be ostracized by the British establishment and Edward’s entire family. With little to do, the duke and duchess of Windsor, as they became known, settled into a life of comfortable exile. They made an ill-advised trip to Germany in 1937; a meeting with Adolf Hitler suggested a plan by Hitler to invade Great Britain and restore Edward to the throne. It remains unclear whether Simpson ever intended for Edward to abdicate to marry her. Unsubstantiated rumors suggested that Simpson was having an affair with another man while she was Edward’s mistress. Simpson, herself, later remarked how difficult it was to live out the greatest love affair in the world.

Simpson was granted the courtesy title of duchess of Windsor without the style of Her Royal Highness. She remains a divisive figure blamed for ending the career of a charismatic king and for causing the early death of his successor, George VI, who seemingly died from the stresses of a world conflict. The Windsors remained in France until 1940, when the duke of Windsor agreed to become the governor of the Bahamas to escape the German armies approaching Paris.

Bibliography

Blogh, Michael, ed. Wallis and Edward: Letters, 1931-1937. New York: Summit Books, 1986. Intimate correspondence between Simpson and the Prince of Wales and between Simpson and her aunt provide a glimpse of the depth of intimacy and love that led a king to surrender his throne.

Donaldson, Frances. Edward VIII. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1974. Professional biography with considerable detail about Edward’s relationship with Simpson and his abdication and her divorce.

Martin, Ralph G. The Woman He Loved. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. Detailed examination of the Edward VIII story. The first major biography of the duke of Windsor after his death in 1972.

Windsor, Prince Edward. A King’s Story—The Memoirs of the Duke of Windsor. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1947. Personal account of the events leading to the abdication of the king and his eventual marriage to Simpson, with considerable blame for the surrender of his throne placed on the British establishment and his own family.

Windsor, Wallis Warfield, Duchess of. The Heart Has Its Reasons. New York: D. McKay, 1956. Autobiography providing Simpson’s interpretation of the events surrounding her affair with the Prince of Wales, his abdication as Edward VIII, and their eventual marriage, perpetuating the myth of a great romance and marriage.

Ziegler, Philip. King Edward VIII. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991. First major biography of the duke of Windsor, after the death of Wallis, using thousands of documents and letters to profile the romance of the twentieth century.