The Shadow Queen (52 page)

Greg King, in his excellent biography
The Duchess of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson
, quotes Wallis as having said in 1936 to Jack Aird, Prince Edward’s equerry—and prior to her marriage to Edward—“I have had two husbands and I never went to bed with either of them.” Donald Spoto, in his 1995 book
Dynasty
, cites Wallis as having told Herman Rogers, who gave her away on her marriage to Edward, that she had “never had sexual intercourse with either of her first two husbands nor had she ever allowed anyone else to touch her below what she called her personal Mason-Dixon line.” Greg King also cites Wallis’s lawyer in her later years, Maître Suzanne Blum, as saying, “Wallis remained a virgin until her death.” Wallis’s mother is quoted in several biographies as having said that Wallis could never have children. I coupled these intriguing quotes with the mystery of why Wallis’s first husband, Earl Winfield Spencer, should have changed in attitude toward her after their marriage, becoming violently abusive and accusing her of “not being a real woman.” In the most recent biography of Wallis,
That Woman
, Anne Sebba writes that Wallis may have been born with a disorder of sex development (DSD) or intersexuality, a term that embraces a wide range of conditions and would have explained much about Wallis’s distinctively masculine appearance and the hints Wallis herself gave about her intimate relations with Win Spencer and Ernest Simpson.

The conclusion is my own, a theory not based on fact, for there are no facts to base it on. If it were true, though, it would answer a lot of the speculation that has been made about her.

T
he Shadow Queen
ends in 1931. In January 1934 Thelma sailed to the United States in order to be supportive to her sister, who was engaged in a custody battle for her daughter. By the time she returned, Wallis had become the great love of Prince Edward’s life. In January 1936 he succeeded his father as king of the United Kingdom and all her Dominions beyond the Seas and as emperor of India. His one desire was to marry Wallis and, at his coronation, to have her crowned as his queen consort. The prospect of a twice-divorced woman becoming queen was one the British government and church violently opposed. Faced with the choice of remaining king or of marrying the woman he loved, Edward saw no choice at all. On December 10, 1936, Edward abdicated from the greatest throne in the world. Thereafter he and Wallis were known as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and made their home in France. To the end of Edward’s life, his love for Wallis never faltered. He died in 1972 and is buried in the royal burial ground at Frogmore, Berkshire. Wallis, who died in 1986, lies next to him.

H
ISTORICAL
M
AIN
C
HARACTERS

Royalty

King George V

Queen Mary

Prince Edward (David)

Prince Albert (Bertie—Prince Edward’s brother)

Prince George (Georgie—Prince Edward’s brother)

George Mountbatten, second marquess of Milford Haven (Prince Edward’s second cousin)

Nada (Nadejda) Mountbatten, marchioness of Milford Haven

Others

Felipe Espil (first secretary at the Argentinean embassy, Washington, D.C.)

Lady Thelma Furness

Bessie Merryman

Corinne Mustin

Lieutenant Commander Henry Croskey Mustin

John Freeman Rasin

Ernest Aldrich Simpson

Lieutenant Earl Winfield Spencer

Freda Dudley Ward

Wallis Warfield

Alice Montague Warfield Rasin Allen

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

T
hanks are due to my editor, Christine Kopprasch, who has been enormously helpful and supportive; Tina Pohlman, my publisher; and Amy Schneider, my copy editor. My agent, Sheila Crowley at Curtis Brown, has been constantly encouraging, and I am deeply grateful for her pep talks and friendship.

The Shadow Queen

R
EADER’S
G
UIDE

1. Very early in the novel, a young Wallis hides beneath the table as her Uncle Sol violently confronts her mother about the nature of their relationship. Though Wallis is too young at this point to understand the substance of their conversation, what impact does this event have on her as both a child and an adult?

2. Uncle Sol offers Wallis a chance, as his adopted daughter, to live as “one of the richest heiresses in Baltimore,” on the condition that she has no future contact with her mother. Is it fair to ask a child of Wallis’s age to make that choice? What would you do in this situation?

3. Before Pamela departs for Europe, she and Wallis form a blood pact, stating that they would be friends forever. Considering Pamela’s betrayal of Wallis in the following years, do you feel Pamela was sincere about her end of the pact? How might she and Wallis differ in their notions of fairness, friendship, and even morality?

4. After receiving word of John Jasper’s delayed return from Europe, Wallis can “hardly believe the battering that fate was giving her.” How else does fate—in the forms of history, chance, and the actions of others—affect Wallis?

5. Wallis lies to her friend Corinne about her desires to become engaged while in Pensacola, and we are told that “every girl her age was looking to get engaged, because there was no other future for a girl but for marriage.” Does this statement prove true? How does the time period Wallis was born into influence her actions? How would Wallis have conducted herself in the modern age, where the pressure for women to marry is far less significant?

6. In the course of an argument with her husband, Henry, Corinne quotes the Monroe Doctrine—an act considered a “surprise so startling as to be almost unbelievable.” Why is this startling to the other guests? What does this say about what is expected—and suspected—of women in Wallis’s time period?

7. Following Uncle Sol’s refusal to pay for her lavish wedding, Wallis vows that “the day would come when her Uncle Sol would eat his heart out to be publically recognized as being her relation—and when it did, she wouldn’t even give a nod in his direction.” Does Wallis ever make good on this promise? Is it fair for her to feel this way about her Uncle Sol, who, despite his flaws, did much to keep Wallis on her path to a royal destiny?

8. After being beaten by Win, Wallis feels that “violence had become a standard part of their life together” and that she had no alternative but to put up with and accept it. Following the revelry and high hopes of the European Armistice, Wallis is “determined yet again to soldier on with her difficult marriage,” stating that “quite simply, it seemed to her she had no other choice.” Why does Wallis see no immediate alternative to this lifestyle with Win? How does her past influence this mind-set? What are the factors—society, family, and her past—restricting her from seeing other options?

9. Relishing her early success with the Prince of Wales, Pamela wishes she could tell Wallis of her new affair, stating that despite their falling out, “there was, quite simply, no one else quite like [Wallis].” Who else could say this same thing about Wallis? What is it that gives her that unique, memorable quality?

10. As a child, a teenager, and an adult, Wallis has defied her family’s wishes many times. Despite this, she obeys Uncle Sol’s orders to not pursue a divorce from Win. Why does she act so differently in this instance? Why is she unable to break free from her uncle’s wishes?

11. Wallis spends much of the novel dreading an encounter with Pamela after their falling out. However, their reunification happens unexpectedly, and without drama. In what ways is their reunification actually fortuitous for Wallis?

12. Following the end of her relationship with Felipe, Wallis feels that “it was her physical disability that had ruined their marriage, just as, eventually, it had ruined her relationship with Felipe.” Is this a fair statement for Wallis to believe about herself? In what other ways does Wallis potentially misappraise herself and those around her?

13. Throughout the novel, Wallis is forced by necessity to move around from home to home, living in a wide variety of locations. Where do you feel she is the most happy?

14. Toward the end of the book, Pamela notes that the Prince “hates the constraints he lives under … hated never being able to live as other people lived.” Does this mirror Wallis’s own experiences throughout the novel? How so?

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

R
EBECCA
D
EAN
is British and lives in the pretty harbor town of Whitstable in Kent. She is married and has five adult children, two of whom are married to Americans. Her eldest daughter lives in Chicago, and her youngest daughter lives in Nashville. She is a former chairman of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and in 2011 her novel
The Golden Prince
was short-listed for both the RNA’s Romantic Novel of the Year Award and the Best Historical Novel of the Year Award. Her passions are recent royal history—she is currently writing a sequel to
The Shadow Queen—
family life, and her two small dogs, Pip and Bruno.

Table of Contents

• Cover
  
• Other Books by This Author
  
• Title Page
  
• Copyright
  
• Dedication
  
• Chapter One
  
• Chapter Two
  
• Chapter Three
  
• Chapter Four
  
• Chapter Five
  
• Chapter Six
  
• Chapter Seven
  
• Chapter Eight
  
• Chapter Nine
  
• Chapter Ten
  
• Chapter Eleven
  
• Chapter Twelve
  
• Chapter Thirteen
  
• Chapter Fourteen
  
• Chapter Fifteen
  
• Chapter Sixteen
  
• Chapter Seventeen
  
• Chapter Eighteen
  
• Chapter Nineteen
  
• Chapter Twenty
  
• Chapter Twenty-One
  
• Chapter Twenty-Two
  
• Chapter Twenty-Three
  
• Chapter Twenty-Four
  
• Chapter Twenty-Five
  
• Chapter Twenty-Six
  
• Chapter Twenty-Seven
  
• Chapter Twenty-Eight
  
• Chapter Twenty-Nine
  
• Author’s Note
  
• Historical Main Characters
  
• Acknowledgments
  
• The Shadow Queen: Reader’s Guide
  
• About the Author