The Duchess Of Windsor (71 page)
Read The Duchess Of Windsor Online
Authors: Greg King
Once Elizabeth II had relented, the Windsors received visits from David’s sister Mary, the Princess Royal; Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent; and her daughter, Princess Alexandra. The meeting with Marina was particularly moving. Since the death of her husband in 1942, she had never forgiven David for his failure to send a letter of condolence; she did not know that one had been dispatched but lost. When she entered the suite at Claridge’s, Wallis curtsied, but Marina swept her into her arms, and the two embraced. Although they had been friendly in the years before the abdication, they had not met since. Marina bent down next to the chair where her brother-in-law sat and, in tears, kissed him. The three spent the next hour discussing their lives and seem to have come to a genuine understanding. “It was one of the most touching moments,” Wallis later told a friend. “It meant so much to David, because George had meant so much to him.”
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Before she left, Marina promised that her children would now visit their aunt and uncle in Paris regularly.
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The only notable absentee was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who, although she sent flowers, refused to visit the Windsors.
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Before she left, Marina promised that her children would now visit their aunt and uncle in Paris regularly.
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The only notable absentee was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who, although she sent flowers, refused to visit the Windsors.
On March 28, while the Windsors were in London, David’s sister Mary died at the age of sixty-five. Alone among the Royal Family, she had been forgiving and had not forgotten her brother or his wife, often visiting them in New York. David was too ill to travel to Harewood House in Yorkshire for the funeral; instead, on April 1, the Duke and Duchess attended a memorial service at Westminster Abbey along with twenty-five hundred invited mourners. David, looking frail and his eyes guarded by dark glasses, was helped by Wallis, clad in a black coat and hat, down the aisle of the transept; seeing them, the congregation rose spontaneously in silent respect. It was the first time the Windsors had ever appeared together at an official function in England.
True to her word, Princess Marina ensured that her children did begin to include their aging aunt and uncle in their lives. Young Prince Michael, the most studious of the children and the one most imbued with a sense of family history, began what was to become a rather ironic association. The Duke and Duchess of Kent visited as well. Princess Alexandra, the Duke of Kent’s sister, and her husband, Angus Ogilvy, after obtaining permission from Buckingham Palace, also visited the Duke and Duchess at their Paris villa.
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Each year, Alexandra duly dispatched a Christmas card to “Uncle David and Wallace.” The Princess cannot have been ignorant of the spelling of her most famous aunt’s Christian name, and one can only conclude that such a transcription reflected a continued feeling of unease over familial acceptance, whether conscious or not.
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Each year, Alexandra duly dispatched a Christmas card to “Uncle David and Wallace.” The Princess cannot have been ignorant of the spelling of her most famous aunt’s Christian name, and one can only conclude that such a transcription reflected a continued feeling of unease over familial acceptance, whether conscious or not.
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There were also visits from the Earl of Harewood, son of Mary, the Princess Royal. He spent an afternoon with his aunt and uncle at the Mill and recalls that it was “highly enjoyable.”
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Ironically, it was the Earl of Harewood who would provide the next marital scandal in the Royal Family, twelve years after the Princess Margaret-Peter Townsend affair.
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Ironically, it was the Earl of Harewood who would provide the next marital scandal in the Royal Family, twelve years after the Princess Margaret-Peter Townsend affair.
In January 1967 it was announced that the Earl was being sued for divorce by his wife, the former Marion Stein, on the grounds of his adultery. The woman in question was a beautiful, vivacious Australian, Patricia Tuckwell, who formerly had been a violinist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Tuckwell, who had already had one marriage, began sharing a London house with the Earl in 1965, a year after she bore their son, Mark. The Earl issued an admirably honest statement admitting the adultery and acknowledging both his son and his intention to marry Tuckwell when he was free. In July 1967, with Elizabeth II’s permission, as required by the Royal Marriages Act, the Earl and Tuckwell were wed in America.
In 1967 the Duke and Duchess were invited to attend the dedication of a memorial plaque to Queen Mary on the wall outside her former residence, Marlborough House, in London. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who, as one of Queen Mary’s four daughters-in-law, would attend the ceremony, was at first adamant that if Wallis was invited she would not attend. An official in the Queen’s household told a close friend of the Windsors’ that the Queen Mother “was absolutely vitriolic in her hatred of the duchess and that she had got it into her head that her husband died an early death because of the Duchess.”
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Because the Duke was one of only two surviving children (the only other now being his brother Harry, Duke of Gloucester), it would have been a blatant snub were he to be missing from the ceremony honoring his mother. And he himself had made it quite clear that he would not attend unless Wallis was also invited. Finally, after much concerted effort, the Queen Mother relented. The public, however, knew very little of the palace politics and greeted the ceremony as the final gesture of reconciliation on the part of the Royal Family. As William Hickey noted in the
Daily Express
: “The poignancy of the Duchess’s meeting with the members of her husband’s family will be heightened by her encounter, for the first time since 1936, with her sister-in-law, the Queen Mother.”
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Because the Duke was one of only two surviving children (the only other now being his brother Harry, Duke of Gloucester), it would have been a blatant snub were he to be missing from the ceremony honoring his mother. And he himself had made it quite clear that he would not attend unless Wallis was also invited. Finally, after much concerted effort, the Queen Mother relented. The public, however, knew very little of the palace politics and greeted the ceremony as the final gesture of reconciliation on the part of the Royal Family. As William Hickey noted in the
Daily Express
: “The poignancy of the Duchess’s meeting with the members of her husband’s family will be heightened by her encounter, for the first time since 1936, with her sister-in-law, the Queen Mother.”
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The Windsors arrived in Southampton aboard the
SS United States
and were met by Lord Mountbatten; the Duke and Duchess had celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary a few days before, and Mountbatten wished them well. A number of reporters waited to capture the moment, shouting questions and firing off cameras. One television reporter asked about “disagreements with the Royal Family,” but David cut him short and graciously said, “We know nothing at all about them.”
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(Asked where and how he would like to spend the remaining years of his life, the Duke turned to the Duchess, smiled, and answered, “Together.”
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As they left the dock, there were cries of “Good old Teddie!”
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)
SS United States
and were met by Lord Mountbatten; the Duke and Duchess had celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary a few days before, and Mountbatten wished them well. A number of reporters waited to capture the moment, shouting questions and firing off cameras. One television reporter asked about “disagreements with the Royal Family,” but David cut him short and graciously said, “We know nothing at all about them.”
24
(Asked where and how he would like to spend the remaining years of his life, the Duke turned to the Duchess, smiled, and answered, “Together.”
25
As they left the dock, there were cries of “Good old Teddie!”
26
)
The Duke and Duchess were to spend the night with Mountbatten at his nearby house, Broadlands, just outside the village of Romsey. In the village itself and along the road to the house, hundreds of people had gathered to cheer the couple on.
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John Barrat, Mountbatten’s private secretary, later recalled: “The staff were in a great twitter—should they curtsy or bow to her? I asked Lord Mountbatten and he said that, although he would not insist, he felt it would be polite if we accorded her the same niceties that we did the Duke, so we all inclined our heads to her.”
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John Barrat, Mountbatten’s private secretary, later recalled: “The staff were in a great twitter—should they curtsy or bow to her? I asked Lord Mountbatten and he said that, although he would not insist, he felt it would be polite if we accorded her the same niceties that we did the Duke, so we all inclined our heads to her.”
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The Windsors were not asked to stay in any of the royal residences as guests of the sovereign, so they once again booked a suite at Claridge’s Hotel in London. When they arrived there, a crowd numbering into the hundreds surrounded the main entrance, applauding as they stepped from their car. Both responded with smiles of genuine feeling. They took lunch with the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester at York House, a somewhat strained occasion due to Prince Harry’s increasing illness; not only was he hard of hearing, but his memory was failing as well, and conversation was difficult between the two brothers.
The following day, Wednesday, June 7, 1967, dawned bright and clear. A crowd of nearly five thousand waited outside the walls of Marlborough House and into the yard of St. James’s Palace across the roadway.
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The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were among the first members of the Royal Family to arrive for the ceremony; when their limousine slowly pulled up the roadway, the crowd erupted in loud cheers.
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The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were among the first members of the Royal Family to arrive for the ceremony; when their limousine slowly pulled up the roadway, the crowd erupted in loud cheers.
30
Wallis emerged from the car first, dressed in a deep-blue coat with a knee-length hemline by her favorite designer, Givenchy. A small, matching pillbox hat was perched atop her carefully arranged hair, and a white mink muffler was draped around her shoulders and neck. Her entire appearance was one of elegance and sophistication. The contrast with the other ladies of the Royal Family could not have been greater; Wallis looked, in Diana Mosley’s words, “like the denizen of another planet.”
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The Duke followed, dressed in a dark suit; additional cars contained the Gloucesters and their children; Marina, Duchess of Kent and her children; and other members of the Royal Family.
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The Duke followed, dressed in a dark suit; additional cars contained the Gloucesters and their children; Marina, Duchess of Kent and her children; and other members of the Royal Family.
Another cheer announced the arrival of the Queen Mother. She wore a loose lilac coat and one of her unmistakable, enormous, halolike hats. The Windsors stood at the head of the line. Elizabeth reached out a gloved hand to the Duke, who bowed his head and kissed it gallantly; as he rose, she turned her head to receive a kiss on the cheek. All eyes were on the Queen Mother as she reached Wallis. The Duchess of Windsor did not curtsy to her sister-in-law, as custom dictated; the two enemies shook hands but exchanged no kiss. “How nice to see you,” Elizabeth said simply to Wallis before quickly moving on down the line.
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A few minutes later, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived from Buckingham Palace. Elizabeth II seemed to take little notice of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, giving a short, almost dismissive nod as she walked past them. The Duke bowed as his niece passed, and Wallis dropped into a very brief curtsy—so brief, in fact, that it escaped many people, including the reporter for the
Daily Mail
, who, on the following day, noted that “the Duchess of Windsor bowed slightly from the waist.”
33
This in itself was an indication of how much press attention was being paid to the issue of a simple curtsy, but the correspondent for the
Daily Mail
was not the only person so preoccupied with the question. At the very moment the Queen passed the Windsors, author Michael Thornton has since pointed out, the Queen Mother bent forward slightly and turned her head, presumably to see if Wallis would pay her daughter the honor she had pointedly denied to her only minutes before.
34
Daily Mail
, who, on the following day, noted that “the Duchess of Windsor bowed slightly from the waist.”
33
This in itself was an indication of how much press attention was being paid to the issue of a simple curtsy, but the correspondent for the
Daily Mail
was not the only person so preoccupied with the question. At the very moment the Queen passed the Windsors, author Michael Thornton has since pointed out, the Queen Mother bent forward slightly and turned her head, presumably to see if Wallis would pay her daughter the honor she had pointedly denied to her only minutes before.
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A short memorial service, conducted by Dr. Robert Stopford, the bishop of London, followed in which Wallis stood silent and correct as one of the two women who were most responsible for her years of public humiliation and private distress was praised as a model of virtue and duty. At the end, the Queen unveiled a plaque that showed Queen Mary in profile. When the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh departed, Wallis again dropped a deep curtsy, very prominent this time. As the Queen Mother returned down the line toward her limousine, she stopped before the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and exchanged a few brief words. When she said goodbye, David again kissed her, and Wallis shook her hand but did not curtsy. “I do hope we meet again,” the Queen Mother declared. “When?” Wallis asked pointedly. The exchange took the Queen Mother by surprise, and she left quickly and without further comment.
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That afternoon, the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen Mother, and the Duchess of Gloucester attended the derby at Epsom Downs; the Windsors were not invited to join the royal party. Instead, they drove to Kensington Palace and took lunch with Princess Marina and her family.
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The day had come to an end, and the public at large was gratified that the Royal Family had seemingly embraced—to some extent, at least—the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. But the Royal Family and court would have one last insult to direct at the Windsors. On the following day, the court circular, the official list of royal engagements approved by the lord chamberlain, appeared in several newspapers, including the
Times
and the
Daily Telegraph
: It described the ceremony at Marlborough House and listed the presence of the Queen; the Duke of Edinburgh; the Queen Mother; the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent; the Duke and Duchess of Kent; and Prince Michael of Kent. Of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, there was no mention whatsoever.
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When the press picked up on the omission, the Lord Chamberlain’s Office declared that it had been an unfortunate oversight but pointed out that the court circular listed only those members of the Royal Family who undertook active engagements; the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, it was said, were not members of the Royal Family and were thus not entitled to be listed. This rather petty piece of backpedaling, however, was quickly shown up to be inaccurate; just a year later, when Princess Marina died, the Duke of Windsor was duly listed in the court circular as having attended her funeral.
Times
and the
Daily Telegraph
: It described the ceremony at Marlborough House and listed the presence of the Queen; the Duke of Edinburgh; the Queen Mother; the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent; the Duke and Duchess of Kent; and Prince Michael of Kent. Of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, there was no mention whatsoever.
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When the press picked up on the omission, the Lord Chamberlain’s Office declared that it had been an unfortunate oversight but pointed out that the court circular listed only those members of the Royal Family who undertook active engagements; the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, it was said, were not members of the Royal Family and were thus not entitled to be listed. This rather petty piece of backpedaling, however, was quickly shown up to be inaccurate; just a year later, when Princess Marina died, the Duke of Windsor was duly listed in the court circular as having attended her funeral.
This last humiliation of the Windsors, coming as it did in the midst of what was believed to have been a generous gesture on the part of the Royal Family, did much to spark renewed public debate on the status of the Duke and Duchess. That fall,
Burke’s Peerage
, the great British arbiter of titles and styles, publicly declared that George VI had been wrong to deny Wallis the style of Royal Highness. The publication argued that not only had the King acted illegally in depriving her of what should rightfully have been hers but that he had had absolutely no justification in arguing that the Duke of Windsor had lost his royal status upon his abdication. They urged that “steps should be taken without further delay to right this the most flagrant act of discrimination in the whole history of our dynasty. To do so does not require an Act of Parliament for the matter is solely within the Royal Prerogative, and all that is necessary is the issues of Letters Patent revoking those of 27th May, 1937.”
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Burke’s Peerage
, the great British arbiter of titles and styles, publicly declared that George VI had been wrong to deny Wallis the style of Royal Highness. The publication argued that not only had the King acted illegally in depriving her of what should rightfully have been hers but that he had had absolutely no justification in arguing that the Duke of Windsor had lost his royal status upon his abdication. They urged that “steps should be taken without further delay to right this the most flagrant act of discrimination in the whole history of our dynasty. To do so does not require an Act of Parliament for the matter is solely within the Royal Prerogative, and all that is necessary is the issues of Letters Patent revoking those of 27th May, 1937.”
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The Windsors themselves had no doubt about the identity of the architect of their continued humiliation. For thirty years Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother had remained their most implacable enemy, complaining to anyone who would listen about the evils of the Duke and, most especially, the Duchess. “My husband would be alive today if it hadn’t been for that woman,” she once told Lady Diana Cooper.
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To the Queen Mother, Wallis was “the woman who killed my husband.”
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To the Queen Mother, Wallis was “the woman who killed my husband.”
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