Once in Italy at the end of March, the prince bombarded Freda with dozens of letters written to ‘My Angel’ and signed with ‘tons and tons of love from your E’.30 Many were written late at night, as he sat in his room trying to recreate her essence by putting some drops of her scent, ‘Royal Briar’, on his handkerchief. He would look at her photograph, which was kept in a little leather frame by his bed when it was not in his pocket, and kiss it. He told her that thinking of her made him feel ‘fearfully naughty’.31 To conjure up their time together he would smoke a cigarette and play their special tunes ‘Have a Heart’ and ‘The Little Cottage’ on his gramophone. It was as though he could only go to sleep once he had jotted down his every thought and experience and shared it with her. His letters were often in pencil and full of spelling and grammatical errors. At first the notes were littered with swear words, but it seems that Freda told him off, so he tried to stop using bad language in correspondence with her.32 However, he continued to send her puerile jokes and rhymes which he thought might amuse her.
The prince told his mistress that her letters were the only joy of his dull existence, but it seems that Freda was not so single-minded. She was working with a Voluntary Aid Detachment, nursing at a hospital in Ascot and then in Windsor. There was a photo of the Prince of Wales hung up in the ward where she worked scrubbing floors, and she looked at it occasionally. While Edward was away she had a brief fling with Captain Reginald Seymour, great-grandson of the Marquess of Hertford. The prince knew Captain Seymour as he had been an equerry to George V since 1916 and he regularly attended the royal family. Born in 1878, like her husband, he was much older than Freda.33 Major Seymour realised that he took a ‘back seat’ when the prince was in England and that it was going to be just ‘a short little love affair’ but ‘a very sweet one’.34 He wrote to Freda: ‘How was your young man? Do you like him making love to you better than me? […] I fully accept my position of No. 2.’35
Freda was equally worldly-wise, and she did not show any concern when the prince admitted to flirtations with other women. While in Rome in May 1918 he attended a party where he misbehaved with some attractive VADs. As was to become his habit, he half confessed to Freda about these incidents but played them down, perhaps partly to salve his conscience while making her jealous or ‘thulky’ (as they called it in their baby talk). He promised never to lie to her again and told her: ‘I just “grovel”at my idol’s feet asking forgiveness.’36 Freda replied coolly, describing these incidents as his ‘medicine’ and adding: ‘Les petits amusements ne contes pas.’37 Getting surprisingly close to the truth, she also teased him about what sort of French school he had been to and what he had learnt. He told her about the French courtesan, Maggy Alibert, who he now called ‘IT’ as she had begun to blackmail him. He wanted to get his indiscreet letters back and he admitted that he had been a fool to write to her, although he excused himself by saying he had been very young at the time.38
As well as illicit encounters, there were rumours of official alliances for the prince. While he was in Rome there were stories in the newspapers that he was going to marry an Italian royal, Princess Yolande of Savoy, eldest daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Freda asked her lover directly whether the gossip was true. Edward denied it and was characteristically ungallant about his suggested bride, telling Freda that Yolande had ‘a face like a bottom!!’39 However, in another letter he acknowledged that he would have to marry one day, although he did not intend to do so for years. He added that he would have told her if he had got engaged.40 It is evident that even at the height of their relationship both lovers understood that they would never be able to marry. It was a situation that they accepted at the time, but as the years went by this inability to make a permanent commitment was to haunt them both. Although there were always other women for the prince and men for Freda, they could just about cope with the complexities of their relationship provided they knew that they came first in the other’s life.
Freda felt secure in Edward’s affections because she knew that she had a powerful hold over him. Her power was emotional as much as sexual; increasingly she was not just the prince’s lover, she was his confidante and he relied on her for advice. His letters refer to the pleasures of talking to her more often than they mention their sexual encounters. He described her as a real friend to whom he could say anything he felt. He became depressed and anxious if he could not unburden his soul to her regularly. Reflecting how isolated he had been, he told her that he felt he knew her better than he had known anybody before.41 Believing that they had been predestined to meet, he sent her photographs from his childhood saying he had always been waiting for her to enter his life.42 Although he still suffered from fits of depression and periodically hinted that he would kill himself if he did not have her, he told her that these moods were now only superficial because she made him happier deep down than he had ever been before.
His letters show how immature and needy he was and how he turned to her as an emotional prop. He often wrote in baby talk as though he was trying to capture a lost childhood. He wrote: ‘What babies we both are sweetheart, but I do love it so and it does us both so much good.’43 In fact, Freda was the grown-up in their partnership, and that was a large part of her appeal. In letters to his ‘precious darling little Mummie’ he called himself her ‘v. v. own little David’. 44 Long before Wallis Simpson, he found dominant women attractive. Explaining to Freda what he needed in a relationship, he wrote:
You know you ought to be really foul to me sometimes sweetie and curse and be cruel; it would do me worlds of good and bring me to my right senses!! I think I’m the kind of man who needs a certain amount of cruelty without which he gets abominably spoilt and soft!! I feel that’s what’s the matter with me.45
In later letters, there are hints that he liked to be dominated by women. In one he asked her to come up to London ‘to give me that hiding’.46 In another he wrote: ‘I do need you so so badly to chase me into bed with a big big stick.’ 47 However, even in this letter it was clear that he was looking for a mother figure at least as much as a dominatrix, because he added that he also needed someone to look after him in his day-to-day life and do things like ‘chase him’ to the dentist.48
Freda had a deep understanding of her lover’s psychology. Edward soon trusted his mistress enough to be totally honest with her about every aspect of his existence. He complained to her about the stifling formality of court life, his dislike of official duties and even his doubts about whether he ever wanted to be king. Part of him believed that the days for kings and princes was over and the concept of monarchy was out of date.49 If he could have chosen a career for himself, it would have been to remain in the army. Instead he had to take on the role of heir apparent and to prepare for when he would become king.50 He discussed with her what it took to be a good king. He said he would have to be a figurehead and ‘a wooden man’, doing nothing that would upset the prime minister, the court or the Archbishop of Canterbury. He would have to go to church and mind his manners. As a modern man he did not want that sort of life.51 However, his promise to his father that he would do everything he could to save the monarchy was genuine. He feared Bolshevism and believed that there could be revolution in Britain. To prevent it he dedicated himself to trying to find out about social problems first hand through his visits to deprived areas and to then do something about them. He told Freda that he was going to ‘slave’ for the cause of monarchy more for the sake of the country and the empire than his family.52
After his return on leave to England in August 1918, the couple spent much of their time together. While he was staying with his family at Windsor Castle Freda was nearby at Kilbees Farm. Describing Windsor as ‘this prison’, he would sometimes escape late at night and cycle over to his mistress’s ‘little cottage’, then creep back into the castle in the early hours.53 He believed that the monarchy needed to be modernised. In 1918 he wrote to Freda: ‘Oh!! That court life, beloved one, that’s wha
t’s going to hasten the end of it if it isn’t vastly modified; people can’t and won’t stand it nowadays and how well do I understand it and abhor all that sort of rot!!’54
The court at Windsor was particularly formal and rigid in its routine. The same elderly guests were invited to stay every year. There was rarely any ‘new blood’ to enliven the conversation or introduce some original ideas.55 It seems that this stagnant circle was more the king’s than the queen’s choice. Queen Mary had written to Edward during the war expressing her desire for more stimulation, writing: ‘Anything for a change of ideas say I and to relieve the monotony of our present, dull routine.’56 However, as usual Queen Mary gave in to her husband, trying to keep him happy and putting her own needs second to his wishes. At times, the formality at Windsor was stifling. If the king’s sons were present they were expected to remain standing after George V left the room because Queen Mary did. Then, beginning with the Prince of Wales and following in age order, they would go up in turn to face the queen as she stood in the middle of the room and bow to her before withdrawing.57
Yet behind the scenes and away from her husband, Queen Mary was trying to build a more natural relationship with her eldest son. The account of Edward’s visit to Windsor in the letters between the queen and the prince show that he was feeling close to his mother. After the prince’s stay Queen Mary wrote to him that it had been ‘such a pleasure’ having him at ‘this beloved old Castle’.58 Edward replied: ‘I simply loathed leaving you at Windsor on Monday, where I spent such a delightful fortnight with you and I loved our talks!!’59 Over the next few months, Edward’s alliance with his mother became even stronger. The prince wrote to her: ‘It’s so wonderful to feel that we really can talk things over now and vital and “intime” things and I can assure you darling Mama, that this makes all the difference to me; we understand each other so well now.’60 Queen Mary was delighted, replying:
Surely no mother ever received so warm a tribute of praise from her son as that contained in your dearest of letters […] I am deeply touched and grateful at what you so kindly say about our delightful talks, yes, I think I do understand and can enter into other people’s feelings which is the great thing – I enjoyed our talks above everything.61
Edward’s relationship with his father was never as harmonious. Clothes always led to clashes between the king and prince, and nowhere was the gulf between them about fashion more apparent than at Windsor. George V was very strict about dress codes and uniforms. For dinner, the ladies wore full evening dress with white gloves and splendid jewels while the king and the Prince of Wales were dressed in the ‘Windsor uniform’. This dress code had been introduced by George III and was a dark-blue tailcoat with red collar and cuffs worn with breeches or trousers and a white tie and waistcoat. These outdated outfits were just the type of clothes which Edward hated wearing.
While his son rejected pompous ceremonial costumes, the king was equally scathing about modern fashions, particularly if they suggested a degree of female emancipation. He detested the ‘new woman’ or the emancipated flapper. Painted fingernails, women smoking in public, drinking cocktails or wearing frivolous hats were among his pet hates.62 His conservative prejudices ruled Queen Mary’s style of dressing. She was never allowed to wear a colour he disliked or short skirts, even though she had very shapely legs.63 George V particularly loathed women wearing trousers and if he ever saw female tourists at Windsor wearing them he would make derogatory remarks.64 He also thoroughly disapproved of the prince’s informal style and accused him of being the worst-dressed man in London. One day a palace official heard George V rowing with his son. He shouted at him: ‘You dress like a cad. You act like a cad. You are a cad. Get out!’65 As he was now an adult, Edward resented his father’s interference. He loved all the things the king loathed. Freda encouraged him to stand up to his father and live his life in his own way.66
In September 1918 Freda and her husband were invited to dine at Windsor by the king and queen because of William Dudley Ward’s position as vice-chamberlain. Edward was not there and at this stage his parents had no idea about their charming guest’s role in their son’s life. Apparently, the king was captivated by Freda and he became quite animated in her company. Edward had hoped that Freda would have had a chance to talk to his sister Mary, who was very close to him, but they were unable to have a private chat.
Although Queen Mary believed her son was confiding in her at this time, the prince did not tell her about what was going on in his love life. His relationship with Freda remained a secret he kept from her. However, Edward wanted his brothers and sister to meet the woman who was already so important to him. When the prince returned to England, he and Freda formed a foursome with Edward’s brother Bertie and Freda’s friend Sheila Loughborough. Sheila was unhappily married to Rosemary’s cousin, Lord Loughborough, who – like his father, the Earl of Rosslyn – gambled and drank too much. Freda and Sheila became good friends; they were both about the same age and young mothers who were in failing marriages. The two couples called themselves the ‘4 Dos’ and they formed a secret club. Edward said what babies they all were together and, reflecting this, they had a teddy bear as their mascot. The foursome had a great deal of fun together. Freda and Edward’s relationship was always the more intense and they saw themselves as the ‘bear leaders’ of the gang.67 Although Edward never mentioned Freda directly in his memoir written many years later, he did describe the effect she had on his life at this moment. He wrote how grateful those men who had come back from active service were to be alive and that life had never seemed more desirable. Everything he did seemed ‘invested with a sort of magical charm’.68
There were dances every night in Mayfair and Chelsea. Sometimes the prince received as many as four invitations for parties the same evening. If one did not amuse him he would move on to another. Among the most enjoyable events were the small dances Freda put on in her house for their closest friends. As in his earlier flirtations, the prince loved to dance. Gossip columnists noted how ‘perfectly’ he partnered Freda.69 When the Charleston arrived in London from the United States they had lessons at the Café de Paris from Santos Casini, a well-known dance instructor, who demonstrated the steps of the new dance on the roof of a taxi moving down Regent Street. In the morning or afternoon, Freda and Edward enjoyed having the whole polished parquet floor to themselves. The dance was described as ‘neurotic’ and ‘vulgar’ by some critics, but that did not deter the fun-loving couple from wanting to perfect it.70
After dinner or a show, or once a party had finished, they would move on to a nightclub with their friends. They went to Ciro’s, Quaglino’s and the Kit Kat but their favourite was the Embassy. Described as ‘the Buckingham Palace of Nightclubs’, the Embassy was in a basement in Old Bond Street. The club came alive after 9 p.m. Walking through the club’s swing doors, guests entered a long, mirrored room where they would be greeted by the imposing, grey-haired maître d’hôtel, Luigi. Famous for his discretion and snobbery, Luigi knew just where to place his guests whether they were aristocrats, writers, actors or politicians, wives or mistresses. With a well-chosen word for regular guests and an assured familiarity with the famous, he made his clientele feel part of an exclusive club. It was said that at the Embassy Club you could get anything from a Player’s cigarette to a white elephant within three minutes of asking for it.71
Once comfortably seated at the sofas and tables, guests would dine, drink gin and tonic and waft Turkish cigarette smoke into the heady atmosphere. The club’s famous black cat, Embassy Jackson, would walk along the backs of the sofas, gracing the chosen few with his presence.72 After the theatre, the club would get so busy that tables were jammed over every inch of the floor. Night after night, people fought for the last remaining tables, the less-favoured customers perched on small chairs in overcrowded corners.73 Just enough space was left for dancing on the dancefloor in the centre of the room. At one end, on a balcony, was the bandstand.74 The band leader was Ambr
ose. Standing on the balcony, poised to play his violin, he often looked rather bored as he surveyed his audience.75 His ennui contrasted with the excitement which pulsed through the room. The crush added to the thrill; you never knew who you might meet at the Embassy – one night you could be dancing next to the American actress Tallulah Bankhead, and on another, sipping cocktails at a table opposite Winston Churchill. For social climbers, the club offered outstanding opportunities to break into society. Much nodding and waving went on across the room and guests regularly transferred from one table to another.76
During the season Freda and Edward were at the Embassy almost every Thursday night. Once the prince walked in with his elegant entourage a ripple of anticipation would pass through the room. Edward and Freda gathered a close-knit circle of friends around them; the chosen few included Shelia Loughborough, the Colin Buists, the Brownlows, Ali Mackintosh, Rosemary and her husband Eric Ednam and Poppy Baring. The prince avoided the scions of the great aristocratic families, preferring to choose his own friends. He regarded many of the ‘old guard’ as stuffy while they thought he was ‘rather vulgar’.77 The women in the prince’s set were slim and glamorous, while the men were rich and some were flashy. They all liked to party and, occasionally, for a change of scene, they would go to the Kit Kat or the Café de Paris, to watch a cabaret performed by the black musicians Layton and Johnson. After the nightclubs closed, the prince would take the musical duo back to York House to entertain him and his friends for another hour. The West Indian singer Leslie Hutchinson was another great favourite and after he had performed at the Café de Paris, he also entertained the prince’s parties with the latest songs. The strains of ‘These Foolish Things’ could often be heard at York House into the early hours of the morning.78
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