Thursday, August 8, 2002
The man and the woman he loved - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- Edward and Mrs. Simpson was a sprawling miniseries that HBO aired in the early 1980s which documented the life and times of the short lived British monarch, Edward VIII and the love of his life, Wallis Simpson. I saw the miniseries recently and it was a truly well made film that shows the life and times of the bachelor Prince of Wales who became king only to give it up for love.
Edward VIII was the eldest son of George V, a grandson of Victoria. George V assumed for him and his descendants the British throne, thus was born the House of Windsor in 1917. Prince Edward became known as a dashing and debonair jet-setter as he filled out his role as Prince of Wales, apprenticing to be king once his father died. Alas, he didn’t do much learning, as he spent his time bedding divorcee’s like Freda Dudley Ward and Thelma Furness. His proclivity for divorcee’s was frowned upon by George V and his mother Queen Mary, alas nothing could be done. He had dumped Ward and Furness and was soon gallivanting with an American twice-divorced named Wallis Simpson. Mrs. Simpson was a social-climber of great skill. After getting invited to Fort Belvedere, Ernest Simpson and his wife became fast friends with the Prince of Wales. His Royal Highness even invited them along on jaunts to foreign lands. Mr. Simpson, a business man with transatlantic pursuits, passed yet sent his wife to accompany the bachelor prince with a penchant for married ladies.
While King George and Queen Mary were lobbying their heir to find a suitable wife, he and Mrs. Simpson were doing foreign jaunts and getting oh so closer. The press remained silent on the subject of the prince’s “friendship” with Mrs. Simpson, and it wasn’t until the death of George V that the lid was blown and so exposed was the scandal that their future king was pursuing a divorcee. At the time, there was great sensitivity towards divorced people, that they weren’t even allowed to enter through the front doors of a royal residence. On George V’s death, the constitutional experts and courtiers were busy negotiating with Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin the conditions to which Edward VIII would be crowned king. He wanted so to be king, however with his beloved Mrs. Simpson by his side. Mrs. Simpson would not be permitted to be crowned queen, and Edward balked, threatening to abdicate. The politicians of the land felt the public would disapprove and it was beseeched that Edward VIII could not be crowned if Mrs. Simpson were to remain so close to the future king. Banishment of the American scarlet woman was called for, and so Edward tried as he might to keep the throne and the love of his life. It would not be. On a December day in 1936, the irrevocable abdication was signed by Edward, who said he could not reign without the love and support of the woman he loved. With that Edward and Mrs. Simpson went into exile and his brother the Duke of York, Albert became the king, thus King George VI. George VI was crowned, as was his queen, one Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who became Queen Elizabeth. (Their daughter Elizabeth II, now sits as Queen by the way.) Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson fled to France, were married, and thus created the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The King retained the style ‘H.R.H.’, though it was never bestowed on the Duchess of Windsor, who had to make do with “Her Grace” until her death in 1986. (Seems that even Elizabeth II was willing to grant the Duchess of Windsor what she was eligible to have, yet her Mum, The Queen Mother made it clear she wouldn’t stand for it. Elizabeth II was reported to have said, “We mustn’t upset Mummy.”)
Edward VIII’s abdication proved pivotal in many ways. The most obvious was the irreconcilable gulf between duty and love. In a way he disappointed his mother, Queen Mary, and angered many by shirking his responsibility to the monarchy of Britain and the Commonwealth. Edward VIII gave up his throne because he wanted love, and he got it. By all accounts, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor lived a very happy life in France. He showered her with jewels and a pretty nifty lifestyle, and she loved and supported him unconditionally. The Queen Mother went to her grave this year never forgiving the Duke and Duchess of Windsor for their evading of responsibility. The reason the title ‘H.R.H.’ wasn’t given to the Duchess was because the Queen Mum blamed her for drifting Edward VIII away from his duty to be king. The Queen Mum, a stickler for the great Victorian traditions of duty and honour for the crown, blamed the Duke and Duchess for the fact they thrust the crown on her family, especially her ill-equipped husband, Bertie. Bertie, see was awkward and not educated for the monarchist’s life. The Queen Mum blamed the Duke and Duchess for her Bertie’s early death in 1952, at the tender age of 56. (Then again, were he not to die, Elizabeth II wouldn’t be celebrating 50 years on the throne this year.)
Another effect of Edward VIII’s abdication was the fact that the media has been transformed so. Beaverbrook and the other press barons of the era were pressured by the Prince to not publicise his relationship with Mrs. Simpson. When his abdication took place, the British public were horrified that this relationship was not reported. Last week I called into Rafe Mair’s radio program and he explained, that the public was so upset that they’ve since pressured the Fourth Estate to delve into every nook and cranny of our public figures’ personal and private lives. The gentleman’s agreement that the Royal’s are so royal had been broken that never again have our monarchs and their families been given a break over their activities whether good, bad or indifferent.
Watching Edward and Mrs. Simpson and looking at the many photographs of the Duke of Windsor it is easy to see a physical resemblance to the current Prince of Wales, Charles. And with his divorce to the late Princess of Wales, and the public resumption of his relationship with the also-divorced Camilla Parker-Bowles, we’ll see how the 21st Century will treat an upcoming sovereign, as compared to how the 1930s treated Edward VIII. Clearly, the context has changed, that I’m sure Charles will be permitted to ascend to the throne with Mrs. Parker-Bowles by his side. Mrs. Parker-Bowles shouldn’t be crowned queen, nor should she take any significant royal title. If that’s permitted, as I’ll assume will be, then there’s no reason for them to not marry, with Charles as king one day.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were great figures of fascination in the 20th century. There is precedence in their case, should a similar situation arise when and if Charles succeeds his mother. The ironic thing is that the powers that be will look to what happened back in the 1930s and perhaps not imitate the precedence. Perhaps then, members of the Royal Family will be permitted frailties, as those that their subjects suffer.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .