That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (49 page)

Read That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor Online

Authors: Anne Sebba

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Royalty, #Rich & Famous

BOOK: That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor
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A young Wallis posing for a study for a blue Cartier tiara, 1937.
Three generations of royalty: the Duke (
far right
) with his father George V and grandfather Edward VII (
seated
) on board the royal yacht in 1910 shortly before the latter’s death later that year.
The handsome Prince of Wales, as he embarked on a world tour in 1920. He became a pin-up for millions of young girls around the world, the cigarette between his teeth only adding to his appeal.
 
Mr and Mrs Ernest Simpson presented at court in June 1931. Wallis borrowed her formal clothes from friends but could not resist additional jewels. Ernest wore his uniform of the Coldstream Guards.
 
Wallis, still married to Ernest, cruising along the Dalmatian coast on the
Nahlin
yacht with the new King. This picture, with Wallis’s restraining hand on the King’s arm, was widely published abroad before most people in England had any idea who Wallis Simpson was.
 
The bracelet of crosses, each separately inscribed, which Wallis wore on many occasions before her relationship with the Prince of Wales was public, gave rise to intense speculation as to their meaning.
 
Wallis in 1936 with plenty to look pensive about. She is wearing the enormous Cartier platinum and emerald engagement ring that Edward had given her following her decree nisi while awaiting the decree absolute.
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Married at last: the new Duke and Duchess of Windsor posing for photographs by Cecil Beaton at the Chateau de Candé in France, 3 June 1937. Wallis wore a figure-hugging Mainbocher gown in a shade of blue henceforth known as ‘Wallis blue’.
The fatal smile. Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, shakes hands with the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, while the Duke looks on during their 1937 visit to Germany.
 
Mary Kirk, Wallis’s longest-standing school friend, married Ernest Simpson in Connecticut on 19 November 1937, six months after Ernest’s divorce from Wallis.
 
23 September 1939. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor with Major Fruity Metcalfe at his home in Sussex where they are his guests just after the outbreak of war.
 
The Duchess of Windsor at a Paris depot in December 1939, still wearing her jewelled bracelet, helps to make up packages for the troops at the front.
 

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