Simpson, (Bessie) Wallis (previously Spencer; nee Warfield), later Duchess of Windsor 63, 114 appearance 21, 27, 29, 31-2, 40,
81, 159, 214, 268 background 20-21, 28
marriage to Earl Winfield Spencer
2.1-2., 32-, 33 marriage to Ernest Simpson 22-3,
33, 34-5 meets Edward 23 Edward's devotion to her 18-19,
26, 46 a secret affair 19-20 private language 26 travels alone 30-31 death of her mother 33-4 care of Edward 35-6 influence on Edward 37-8 objectionable to the English upper
class 40-42 presented at court (1931) 42 Nahlin voyage 42, 86, 136 regarded as a passport to the King
45-6, 196 divorce petition 74, 75-6, 78, 83-7, 188, 194, 216, 217, 266-7, 2.70, 273, 274 marriage to Ernest deteriorates 81-2
Lady Londonderry's intervention 87-8
Elizabeth, Duchess of York, snubs 88
Hardinge urges Edward to send
her away 90-91, 93 under surveillance by Special
Branch 95, 96-7 alleged relationship with Guy
Trundle 96-7, 98-9 and the morganatic marriage plan
111—12, 153-6, 191 receives hostile letters 127 moves to Fort Belvedere 128 stays in the south of France during the crisis 149-52, 174
Simpson, (Bessie) Wallis - cont. compared with Henrietta Maria 171-2
and Joachim von Ribbentrop
195-6 Lloyd George on 199 offers to renounce Edward
211-14, 216, 219-20 Wilson's view of her character
2-15
told of Edward's irrevocable
decision 218 listens to Edward's farewell
broadcast 240, 241 anxiety about Edward's future 241
gratitude to Lord Brownlow 262 jealous of Edward's hostess 268 marries Edward (3 June 1937)
2-74-5 her status 276, 277 rest of life spent in exile 277-8 and Edward's death 282 her death (24 April 1986) 281,
282 personality charm 42, 88 forthrightness 27-8 independence 30-31, 32, 85 intelligence 31-2 tact 88
warm-heartedness 33 The Heart Has Its Reasons 25,
2-7,98, 195
Simpson, Ernest Aldrich 20, 23, 33, 34-5, 69, 98, 266 appearance 22 shipping firm 22 marries Wallis 22 long talk with Edward 80
marriage to Wallis deteriorates 81-2
and Mary Kirk Raffray 82-3,
273, 277 Ipswich divorce hearing 85 under surveillance 95, 96, 98 offer to Baldwin 192 Simpson v. Simpson 85, 273 Sinclair, Sir Archibald 113, 176,
209-10 Singapore 254 Sitwell, Sir Osbert 263-4
'Rat Week' 263, 264 Six Bells colliery, Garn-yr-Erw 16 Smiths Newspapers 202 Snatchwood Junior Instruction
Centre, Pontypool 15 Social Credit Reformers 180 'Society' 61, 71, 87, 126, 189, 196, 260, 262-3, 279 see also Establisment Somme, Battle of the (1916) 14,
52-3, 56, 58 South Africa 117, 124, 130, 180, 201
South America 23 South Wales
Edward's tour (1936) 1-9,
n-17, 47-8, 57-64, 94, 100, 105, 106, 109, hi, 119, 120, 146, 159, 170, 185, 186, 189, 210, 225, 227, 248-51, 254, 271-2, 276, 281 seen as a flashpoint 123 South Wales Argus 11, 58, 59, 72, 73
South Wales Miners' Federation 17 South Wales National Unemployed
Workers Movement 123 South Wales Slave Act Special 123
Soviet Union see Russia Spain: Russian influences 122 Spanish Civil War 108, 124 Special Areas 48, 60, 62, 65-6, 108,
119-22 Special Areas Commission 66 Special Areas (Development and Improvement) Act (1934) 12, 106, 121
Special Branch, Metropolitan Police
95,97,98, 126 Spectator 4, 8, 123 Spencer, Lieutenant Earl Winfield
21-2, 30, 32, 33, 266 Spring Hill Branch, British Legion 224
Sri Lanka see Ceylon Stalin, Joseph 24, 108 Stamfordham, Lord 229 Stanley, Oliver 171, 263 Star 138, 201 Star of India 205 State Opening of Parliament (3
November 1936) 71 Statesman newspaper 205 Statute of Westminster (1931) 118, 245
Stevenson, Frances 198, 199 Stewart, Malcolm 12, 66, 106, 162, 186
Stopes, Marie 136 Stornoway House, St James's,
London 153, 209 Storrier, D., Inspector 274 Strathmore, Earl of 40 Sunday Express 101 Sutherland, Duchess of 99, 258, 263
Sutherland, Duke of 78, 87, 99, 258, 263
Swazi National Council 205 Sydney 49, 202
Sydney Morning Herald 176, 202
Tablet (Catholic newspaper) 181,
234 Tasmania 251 Taylor, A. J. P. 113, 157 Tennyson, Hon. Lionel 121 Thackeray, William Makepeace:
Vanity Fair 42 This Week 69
Thomas, Sir Godfrey 115, 156, 202, 263
Thompson, R. J. 137, 182 Time and Tide 249 Times, The 4, 40, 61, 62, 85, 91, 105, 136, 137, 144, 147,148, 164, 165, 169, 177, 193, 194, 203, 205, 213, 220, 245-7, 256
Times of Ceylon 208 Toe H 55 Tours 274
trade unions, Russian 121 Trades Disputes Act (1927) 121 Travellers Club, London 61, 66 Treasury 164 Tredegar, Viscount 4 Tredegar House, Monmouthshire 4 Tree, Ronald 239 Trevelyan, Sir Charles Philips 168 Trevelyan, George M. 197, 256, 263 Trevelyan, Janet 197-8 Trinidad Citizens' League 244 Trinity College, Cambridge 5 Trundle, Guy Marcus 96-7, 98 Turing, Alan 20, 143, 196-7, 248,
258 Turkey 43
Tyne Improvement Commission,
Newcastle 65 Tyneside 3,65
unemployment, the unemployed 3, 5,6, 7, 9,12-13,15,17, 28, 47,49, 5°> 57-8, 59,62,63, 66-7, 106, 119, 122,123, 159, 164, 168, 183, 185, 210, 224-5, zz7, z3%, z8° Unemployment Assistance Board 3, 122
United Australia Party 203 United French Polishers' London
Society 60 United States of America
exploitation of Black people 9 New Deal 12, 24, 106, 108, 236 British upper classes' view of Americans in Britain 40-41 view of the royal crisis 89, 90 Roosevelt elected (1936) 106 Edward seeks an alliance 109 cinema 159
rumours about the significance of
the South Wales visit 251 Friends of the Duke of Windsor in America 279 Universal Films 47, 137 Universal Negro Improvement
Association 244 universal suffrage 103 Usk n, r8
Vanderbilt, Consuelo 39 Vanderbilt, Gloria 24 Vansittart, Lord and Lady 44 Victoria, Queen 162 Victoria Station, London 81
Vienna 43, 271, 274
Villa Mauresque 264
Vimy Ridge, France 56
Viola, Queen of the Gypsies 244
Virginia 41
Vogue 32
Voice newspaper 251 Voluntary Air Detachment 64 Vreeland, Diana 27, 33, 253, 261 Vreeland, Reed 261
Wales
disestablishment of the Anglican
Church 77 see also North Wales; South Wales
Wales, Prince of see Edward VIII, King
Wall Street Crash (1929) 3, 44
Wallace, Barbara 258
Wallace, Euan 258
Walshe, Mr 131
Ward, Freda Dudley 38, 39, 52
Ward, William Dudley 38
Warfield, Alice (Wallis's mother) 21,
33-4 Warfield family 21 Warwick, Countess of 79 Waterlow, Sir Sydney 43 Waugh, Evelyn 166 Wedgwood, Colonel Josiah 192 Wells, Geoffrey H. ('Geoffrey West')
!4Z~3, z46, 248, 255, 260 Wells, H. G. 61, 142, 165, 256 Welsh Board of Health 12, 59, 120 Welsh Guards 231
Old Comrades 14 Welsh Land Settlement Society 5 Welsh Miners' Relief Fund 9 West Cumberland 3
Western Mail & South Wales News 59
Westmoreland 65 Wheatley, Dennis 162, 190 White Lodge, Richmond Park,
Surrey 279 White's club, St James's, London 261
Wigram, Lord (Clive) 69, 70, 98, 1x5, 122-3, I77> 178, 236, 263, 275 Wilkinson, Ellen 20, 64, 66 Williams, Francis 138 Williamson, Hugh Ross 249-50 Wilson, Sir Horace 69, 73-4, 76, 93, 215, 216, 218, 251, 252, 278
Windsor, Duchess of see Simpson,
(Bessie) Wallis Windsor, Duke of see Edward VIII, King
Windsor Castle, Berkshire 5, 175,
237, 238 Windsor Great Park 219, 253 Wittering Aerodrome 141
Wolmer, Viscount 106 women, and the franchise 103, 235 Wood, Sir Kingsley 5, 14, 59 Woolf, Virg
inia 40, 136, 137, 169,
172, 188, 238-9, 242 Woollcott, Alexander 50-51, in World War I see Great War World War II 196, 278, 279 Wynyard Park, County Durham 4, 166, 189
York, Duchess of see Elizabeth, Princess, Duchess of York York, Duke of see Albert, Prince York, William, Archbishop of 256 York House, London 14, 41, 96 Yorkshire 28
Yorkshire Post 134, 135, 147 Young, G. M. 195 Ypres 54 Yugoslavia 20
Yugoslavia, King of (Peter II) 43
Zetland, Lord 113, 169, 205-6 Ziegler, Philip 50, 53, 196
I am grateful to Her Majesty the Queen for access to the papers in the
Royal Archives and for permission to use them. I should like to thank
I saw the Moderator. . . and Secretary... of the Federal Council of Evangelical Free Churches and gave them as much information as I thought it was possible to give. I discussed with them the reactions of public opinion. They believed the mass of the people would support the Government, but acknowledged that a large proportion, especially of the young to whom the King was a popular hero, and who knew little of the real circumstances, felt a strong sympathy with him.
I was, of course, not present at the private discussions between the Prime Minister and the King which were always held at Fort Belvedere during this period, but what was said was always discussed afterwards by the King with the three of us, and I found it, and I know at least one of my colleagues also found it, extremely difficult to decide on what line Mr Baldwin was proceeding."
I am afraid that, when I came back last week, I did not realise the depth of personal feeling against myself in certain circles: perhaps you should have told me more frankly, or maybe I should have understood your hint in the 'formula of resignation' shown to me . . . My resignation from His Majesty's household was both obvious and desirable, but it is perhaps the method of bringing it about, in such a premature and unhappy manner, that has hurt and humiliated me more than I have ever known before.41
1. Miss Burke was not interviewed because she was still employed by Mrs Simpson - 'Servants still in the employ of any person owe a duty to their employer, and it is not the practice of the King's Proctor, and it would indeed be improper for him, to endeavour to get information from such servants.' Nor were servants of the royal household interviewed, 'for obvious reasons'. 'Notes of the evidence given at the hearing of the petition', for the King's Proctor, PRO, TS 22/1/2
3. 'Note of interview with Mr Simpson', by the King's Proctor, 24 February 1937, PRO, TS 22/1/2
4. Walter Monckton to Horace Wilson, 2 February 1937, PRO, PREM 1/460
5. 'Notes of the evidence given at the hearing of the petition', for the King's Proctor, PRO, TS 22/1/2
6. For example, Canning to Sir Philip Game, 19 December 1936, PRO, MEPO 10/35
7. D. Storrier to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, 8 March 1937, PRO, MEPO 10/35
* * *
[4] For a full set of information on the challenge to the divorce and the investigation of the King's Proctor, see PRO, TS 22/1/2
Table of Contents
Preface
1 'Something must be done'
2 'My own beloved Wallis'
3 'The Spirit of the Age'
4 'King to marry Wally'
5 'I had declared myself'
6 'The Battle for the Throne'
7 'The People want their King'
8 'Tell us the facts, Mr Baldwin!'
9 'Cavaliers and Roundheads'
10 'Don't abdicate!'
11 'Our cock won't fight'
12 'God bless you both'
13 'Rat Week'
14 'We have had such happiness'
The Peoples King Page 43