31st December 1936
The sun tried its best to break through this morning, but Wally’s mood is somber. I suppose whether she looks back or ahead, she sees nothing but regrets. When I wrote my first entry for this year, how little I suspected.
Kath has invited people in for this evening. Her idea is to nip in the bud any talk of going to a casino.
1st January 1937
Herman and Kath did their very best to keep things gay last evening. Came: Daisy Fellowes, the Bajavidas, the Cavetts, and the Genoas, who’d motored in from Menton. But the telephone was brought to Wally during dinner, and one couldn’t help but hear poor HRH sobbing in faraway Enzesfeld. It was a tricky moment, but Wally remained very calm. “Tomorrow’s a new year, darling,” she said, “and we can attack all these problems with new vigor.”
When the call ended, she said, “He’s had too much brandy. No one will have thought to warn Forwood about solitary drinking. I seem to be the only person who takes proper care of him.”
Pips and Freddie are proposing to visit on their way to Chamonix. Kath and Herman say they may take advantage of Wally having new distractions and go away for a few days themselves.
4th January 1937
Dudley Forwood reports that HRH is suffering from earache. Wally told him to get a doctor sent out from Harley Street, but Forwood says that a very good ear doctor from Vienna had made a house call, and Kitty Rothschild is personally supervising the treatment he recommended.
Wally said, “Is she indeed. Well, she’d better not be getting any ideas.”
Kath said, “What can you mean? Kitty is a happily married woman.”
Wally said, “Happily married for the third time. Who’s to say she’s not on the lookout for number four? Especially a king.”
Kath said, “Wally! Aren’t you planning to marry for the third time? Anyhow, David’s not King anymore, and Kitty must be fifty-five if she’s a day.”
“All the more dangerous then,” Wally snapped right back. “The desperate age.”
5th January 1937
Every time Wally speaks to HRH, she questions him about Kitty Rothschild. I had no idea she could be so jealous. She denies it, of course.
She said, “I’m not jealous. But David’s hopelessly weak. Look how he allowed Baldwin to bully him. Look how he allows the Bertie Yorks to dictate to him. Keeping him out of his money. Forbidding the brothers to visit. If Kitty Rothschild decided to seduce him, he’d just cave in.”
HRH had been hoping that George Kent or Harry Gloucester might fly over for a weekend, to keep him company, but apparently this has been vetoed from above.
8th January 1937
Pips and Freddie have arrived like a breath of fresh air. Pips says anyone known still to be a friend of HRH or Wally has been dropped. Daphne Frith cut her in the Army & Navy. Melhuish walked into the Guards’ Club, saw Freddie, and walked right out again. And the Perry Brownlows sound to be absolutely finished. I feel so sorry for them, especially her. She didn’t do anything. She didn’t even know Perry was escorting Wally to France until after we’d set off, but his actions have damned them both. Pips says they may just as well pack up and go to the South Pole.
Wally’s been pumping for stories about Elizabeth York. Who’s going to be her couturier now she’s Queen? Does she still talk about fishing? Will she get her teeth fixed before the Coronation?
Pips says she doesn’t like to disappoint Wally, but all the signs are that the Yorks are going to be very popular. She said, “All that talk about David modernizing things. I think the country’s relieved. The British don’t like modernity. They like squashy old armchairs covered in the same style of chintz their mothers had, and that’s exactly the kind of monarchy they’re going to get with Elizabeth and Bertie York.”
9th January 1937
The Rogerses have left for a short holiday at Schloss Pfaffenhof. Kath said, “Wally’s talking about taking a house till her divorce is final. Will you go back to London?”
I said, “I will if someone spells me as her companion. I promised David I’d look after her.”
Pips said, “Don’t look at me. And I wouldn’t oversell yourself as companion, Maybell. Frankly, I think she uses you.”
Once upon a time, maybe, but not anymore. She may have HRH, but I’m her closest friend. People talk about her vivacity, but she’s lonely, too. She needs someone to confide in. And we do have some laughs. Not recently, perhaps, but we will again.
10th January 1937
Instead of going to Chamonix, Pips is going to stay on here a little longer, and Freddie’s going to join Fruity Metcalfe’s skiing party at Kitzbuhel. We girls are going to shop and have a jolly time together. We’re going to put this shocking last month behind us.
Dudley Forwood says Kitty Rothschild is going to Paris at the beginning of February and then on to New York, leaving them with sole occupancy of Enzesfeld. Wally won’t have to worry about guarding HRH’s honor for much longer.
Freddie says he’s not surprised to hear the Rothschilds intend to spend more time in Paris, because Eugene R. is a Jew, and if Adolf Hitler takes over Austria, people of that persuasion can expect the same treatment as their German cousins.
Apparently, they’re not allowed to sit on park benches, and can have their schlosses taken from them at the drop of a hat. I had no idea.
13th January 1937
Wally is being disagreeable to the Rogerses staff. She says she’s just attempting to bring them up to standard mark, and it’s true they are not as efficient as the staff she’s been accustomed to in London, but France is a backward country, and I’m sure Kath has done the best she can. Anyway, I don’t think it’s at all right that Wally’s having furniture moved and objets stored away. It’s not as though we’ve taken a lease here.
Pips said, “Wally, you have no class. How would you feel if I came for the weekend and started bundling all your horrible embroidered cushions into a closet?”
Wally said, “I’d never ask anyone to live with all this oak and pewter, and my cushions aren’t horrible, they’re witty.”
Pips said, “Oh well, let’s change Kath’s drapes while we’re about it. And how about knocking down a few walls?”
Wally said, “Don’t think I wouldn’t if I had to stay here much longer.”
The main butt of her crossness is HRH. She goes through lists of complaints whenever they talk, and she never seems satisfied with the answers. She’s made several marks on the dining-room table where she keeps banging with her gold pencil.
This morning, we could hear her blessing him out, “Tell them you’ll go back if they don’t pay you every cent you’re owed. Go anyway. Take the damned crown back. You’re such a milksop. Why did you let them push you out? Why didn’t you go to the people? Those little miners would have defended you. They still would.”
She was white with fury when she came off the telephone.
Pips said, “You’re not serious about David going back? That would amount to a revolution.”
Wally said, “What if it did? We Americans had one and it didn’t do us any harm.”
But she isn’t truly serious about it, because she’s going to marry him and she already told me she has no intention of living in England again.
She said, “They could have had me as Queen. They could have had me as the King’s special friend. But nobody gets a second chance with me.”
Pips said, “Then be careful what you say to him, or he may just go and do it.”
Wally said, “No he won’t. He can’t organize a tea party without me, let alone a coup. I only say these things to try and put a little fire in his belly. He’s up there in that goddamned schloss, practicing his putting while the Yorks are taking the bread from his mouth. And he doesn’t have anyone there to keep him on track. Legh’s a yes-man, and Forwood doesn’t have the confidence. Brownlow might have been more useful, but he’s gone scurrying back to wifey at the first opportunity. So it falls to me. If I don’t nag, he’s
going to end up with nothing.”
As Pips says, “Oh boy!”
Only a few newspaper stragglers left outside the gates now. The world has forgotten about Wally already, just as I predicted.
15th January 1937
Drove into Monaco to meet Hattie Erlanger, who’s in town with Daisy Fellowes. Also came: the Genoas and a little Maharaja they have staying with them. Modest losses at roulette. Wally and the Maharaja played chemin de fer. She says she made enough to buy herself a little something. Hattie says the Belchesters have dropped her and Judson, and are now sucking up to the New Bunch.
18th January 1937
Wally spent her casino winnings on a python purse. The Crokers may come for a few days next week. Every little bit helps.
We drove up into the hills this afternoon and bought honeysuckle scent for a song.
20th January 1937
Fruity Metcalfe has offered to go up to Enzesfeld when his ski party leaves Kitzbuhel and relieve Joey Legh as equerry. HRH is thrilled, which has put Wally’s nose out of joint, for some odd reason. I heard her say, “Day after day I try to comfort you, and all I hear is what a wretched time you’re having of it, but as soon as Metcalfe deigns to pay you a visit, you become bright and cheerful. It’s pretty insulting.”
25th January 1937
Pips left this morning just as Boss and Ethel were arriving. As Ethel says, it’s like relay race and Wally is the baton that must not be dropped.
To the Ladybird Club. The Bajavidas are giving a party.
26th January 1937
Who should turn up with the Bajavidas last night but Fern and Charlie Bedaux.
Charlie says his money is still on David for King. He said, “He’ll make a comeback. You’ll see.”
Wally said, “He doesn’t want to. He’s glad to be out of it. And the New Bunch don’t even like him telephoning to offer advice, so to hell with them. He can be the King across the water and have more time for his golf.”
27th January 1937
Fern Bedaux telephoned this morning. She said, “I know there are rules about the way these things are broached, but I’m not even sure if David’s ‘royal’ anymore. Charlie and I would like to offer Chateau Candé. Wally can stay there till her divorce is through, and then, if they want to, she and David can be married there. Kath and Herman are sweeties, but I really don’t think you can perch there for months. Will you put it to Wally, or David, or whomever? I can have Candé ready in two weeks.”
Wally accepted immediately. Once she’s settled at Candé, I think I’ll go back to London for a while. See whether there’s anything left of my life to pick up.
28th January 1937
Dudley Forwood has warned HRH against accepting offer from Charlie Bedaux. He says certain adverse reports exist, in which Charlie’s name appears. Adverse reports! The British hate a self-made man, of course. They don’t want to know you unless you have a bed King Charles slept in and a family tree that goes back to 1066. Anyhow, Wally has already accepted, and I don’t see it’s anyone else’s business.
29th January 1937
Shopping. Wally bought a silver-fox coat and a gray crepe day dress with little mirror buttons. Blue skies and sunshine. We sat out on the quay, had champagne and shrimp, and talked about the great turnaround of the past year.
I said, “You know there was a time when I thought you didn’t want to marry David.”
She said, “I never looked for it. I never meant for all this to happen, but then the King went and died on us. I blame myself in many ways. I should have realized David’s judgment wasn’t to be relied on. But what’s done is done. Now I’m going to make lovely homes for him and take care of him. He’s not difficult to manage, after all, and quite presentable. I think we’ll do very well.”
I said, “I thought I might go back to London. See a few people.”
“What people?” she said. She forgets I have a family.
I said, “You’ll have Fern for company. Three can be a crowd.”
She said, “But I don’t know if Fern will be available for shopping. How long did you want to take off?”
I said, “I’m not the hired help, Wally. I dropped everything to dash down here with you when things went bad, and I do have a life of my own.”
She said, “Very well. But you know you are practically part of the firm now, so please don’t be gone for long. We’re going to have a royal wedding to organize and lots and lots of shopping to do!”
2nd February 1937
A call from Dudley Forwood, who asked for me. He said, “It’s rather delicate, Mrs. Brumby. Baroness Rothschild left for Paris yesterday, and I’m afraid His Royal Highness has caused her great offense. First of all, he didn’t get out of bed to say good-bye to her. But what concerns me more, he didn’t tip any of her departing staff, and they’d looked after him exceptionally well. I wondered if Mrs. Simpson could bring her influence to bear? Perhaps get His Royal Highness to write the Baroness a little note? I wondered if you could mention it? Also, there’s the question of ongoing expenses. The Baron and Baroness have been very generous, but they’re not that kind of Rothschild, you understand? The telephone bills alone are terrifying. I think a word from the right quarter might encourage more consideration.”
I said, “Why don’t you speak to Mrs. Simpson yourself?”
He said, “I very much doubt she’d listen as patiently as you have.”
Wally said, “How petty. Telephone bills! Well, I’m not bothering David with a thing like that. He has quite enough to do, battling with the New Bunch for his dues. Let Metcalfe deal with it, and the tipping. Let him earn his keep.”
Hattie has arrived.
4th February 1937
HRH’s sister, the Princess Royal, is going to Enzesfeld to visit him this weekend. Wally says this may be a positive sign. It may mean that Baldwin has at last loosened the purse strings and agreed an allowance. She says Bertie York is too stiff-necked to let George Kent or Harry Gloucester bring David the good news but probably feels it’s all right to allow the sister.
Hattie said, “David must be so happy. He adores his sister.”
I said, “I met her once, at Violet’s.”
Wally said, “Well, I never met her and never wanted to.”
6th February 1937
HRH is in the doghouse. He went into Vienna to meet his sister and her husband, and discovered that instead of bringing good news they brought bad. He’s to receive no monies from the Civil List. Not a dime. This means that all he’ll have is a pittance from the sale of Sandringham and Balmoral, out of which he’ll have to pay pensions to old retainers who will, as Wally says, all live to be a hundred. So, effectively, he’s going to be living on his meager capital. Poor HRH, literally. And poor Wally. This is not at all what she’d been led to expect.
She said, “He’s taking it lying down, of course. No spine. And as if that’s not bad enough, he’s offered to give them a day of his time and show them around the Schonbrunn while they’re in town. I told him, he’d better charge them. He’d better tell them that’s what he has to do for a living now those ingrates have cut him off without a penny. A King giving guided tours! What a shabby outfit England has become. And he treated them to lunch at the Bristol.”
Hattie says she doubts HRH ever treated anyone to lunch in his life. She predicts that Fruity will have had to put his hand in his pocket.
It’s all a gruesome mess. At this rate, I can quite see the wedding not coming off.
9th February 1937
Georgie Kent is now going to visit Enzesfeld, after all, but without his wife. She’s only just out of childbed. Wally’s hoping it means Baldwin has had second thoughts about HRH’s money. Hattie says there’s been a rumor circulating ever since the abdication that HRH walked off with some very particular emeralds, formerly the property of his grandmother, so it could be Kent is being sent to retrieve them.
Wally said, “David took no jewels. He left in the clothes he stood up in. I wish
he had taken them. They’d look a damned sight better on me than on that little Scotch dumpling they have for a Queen now.”
12th February 1937, Chateau Candé, Tours
Fern and Charlie’s chateau is exquisite. We arrived just after a shower of rain, and the pines along the driveway smelled wonderfully refreshing. There is a first-rate American furnace keeping the place warm, and an army of properly trained staff. The crystal and plate are all of the highest quality, the flowers are perfectly arranged, and Fern Bedaux has even given up her own room, so Wally is happy at last.
Hattie and I can leave her without a backward glance.
16th February 1937, Wilton Place
It feels unreal to be here. Every pillow and powder bowl exactly as I left it, when so much else has changed. Two letters from Randolph Putnam, the first written while HM was still HM, the second wondering whether “the strawberry blonde companion of the exiled King’s moll” could possibly be me!
No one at home at South Audley Street or at Carlton Gardens. Bumped into Penelope Blythe in Piccadilly, and she suggested lunch, but at some little hole-in-the-wall in Chelsea. She said she had a portrait sitting at two, so it would be more convenient, but I guess she didn’t want to risk anyone connected with the New Bunch seeing us together. She even insisted on going Dutch for lunch, drawing a certain line between us, I suppose.
Gone With the Windsors Page 34