Wallis Simpson lived one of the most colorful lives of the 20th century. A wealthy and wild American (not to mention twice-divorced), Wallis Simpson scandalized the Royal Family by marrying Prince Edward, and being the driving force in his choice to abdicate his royal position. Despite this being the part of Wallis' story that's well known today, she had many international exploits in the decades prior to this infamous saga, and her tale would continue even years after the Wallis and Edward story no longer made headlines. Elegant, determined, and always interesting, Wallis Simpson would have been a celebrity in any era. Here's the untold truth of Wallis Simpson.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Wallace Simpson has always been a polarizing figure when it comes to the royal family.
00:04Unfavorable rumors have circulated about her for decades, that she was a social climber,
00:08communist, and anti-Semites, just to name a few. But were the rumors true?
00:13Wallace Simpson, born Bessie Wallace Warfield, grew up in Baltimore, Maryland,
00:17and both of her parents came from wealthy families. It was whispered that her father,
00:21Tico Wallace Warfield, and her mother, Alice Montague, had conceived Simpson out of wedlock.
00:26In fact, Simpson would later lie about when her parents were married to avoid scandal.
00:30She never met her father, who died of tuberculosis when she was five months old,
00:33leaving her mother to raise her solo. Without her father,
00:36both mother and daughter were in a vulnerable state and had to rely on his family's charity.
00:42Wallace Simpson and her mother moved in with her father's brother, Solomon Davies Warfield,
00:46shortly after her father's death. Simpson's uncle paid for her to attend the prestigious
00:50girls' college prep school, Oldfields, in Maryland. They were forced to leave Solomon
00:54Warfield's care, however, when he allegedly made inappropriate advances toward Alice,
00:58leaving them stranded and financially cut off. Alice then moved them both into a cheap hotel.
01:04She would sew beautiful ensembles for Simpson to wear, always mirroring the latest fashions.
01:08She didn't want her daughter to miss out on gaining a suitable match from Baltimore's
01:12high society. And if that was Simpson's only card to play in life due to their
01:15newfound circumstances, she was luckily a very popular figure with the gentlemen.
01:20Amidst the familial turmoil, Wallace attended Baltimore's 1914 Bachelor's
01:24Cotillion, as it was time for her to begin courting suitors.
01:28Biographer Philip Ziegler wrote in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,
01:32Though Wallace's jaw was too heavy for her to be counted beautiful,
01:35her fine, violet-blue eyes and petite figure, quick wits, vitality,
01:39and capacity for total concentration on her interlocutor ensured that she had many admirers.
01:44Simpson seemed to have a lot going for her, but her uncle seemed to be hell-bent on taking her
01:49down a peg or two. Her uncle said he would not be paying for her own coming-out ball, alluding to
01:53the World War that was raging in Europe. The overt and hurtful gesture further scarred the young
01:58Simpson. Wallace Simpson was introduced to her first husband, naval aviator Earl Winfield
02:03Wynn Spencer Jr., while visiting her cousin Corine Mustin in Pensacola, Florida, in 1916.
02:09They were married shortly after their introduction, but it would not be a happy marriage.
02:13Spencer was unfortunately an alcoholic, and their marriage was incredibly unstable.
02:18Spencer traveled often with the Navy, visiting both coasts in America and later China.
02:23Simpson traveled with Spencer to China, though they would begin their estrangement at this time.
02:27Simpson is said to have had a, quote,
02:29Lotus year in China, traveling the country without her husband. While still married to Spencer,
02:33Simpson had the chance to attend a party attended by Prince Edward, though it is thought that they
02:38did not meet there. While in San Diego, Wallace and Spencer attended a ball at the Hotel del Coronado
02:43in 1920, but Edward and Wallace wouldn't actually become acquainted until years later.
02:49Wynn Spencer's drinking problem led Simpson to stray into the arms of an Argentine diplomat.
02:53It was relatively easy to have affairs, as she and her husband were parted for long stretches
02:57of time due to the nature of Spencer's work. When she traveled to China, Simpson supposedly
03:02became privy to many practices which were uncommon for women in the West,
03:05such as opium, brothels, and gambling. She is also rumored to have had an affair with
03:10Count Gagliazzo Ciano while in Beijing. Ciano would eventually become Italian dictator Benito
03:15Mussolini's son-in-law. None of these rumors have ever been proven, and could all be attempts at
03:20smearing the controversial figure. Many had a motive to do so. After a rocky union, Simpson
03:24and Spencer finally split for good, divorcing in 1927. They were married for 11 years.
03:30After her first divorce and before her epic romance with the future king of England,
03:34Wallace Simpson married Ernest Aldrich Simpson, a shipping executive and former officer in the
03:38Coldstream Guards. But there was a problem with their prospect of marriage. Not only was Wallace
03:43still married, but so was he. What was Ernest's appeal to Wallace? He had dual citizenship,
03:48for one. Ernest was American-born, but had earned British citizenship during World War I.
03:53Ernest divorced his first wife in order to marry Wallace, and they tied the knot in 1928.
03:58But it would be a rocky road toward marital bliss, with a stock market crash and Wallace's
04:02mother's death, both in 1929. What's more, just three years after their union, Wallace would meet
04:08Edward. She was formally introduced to Edward in 1931 by Lady Thelma Furniss, who was rumored to
04:13be Edward's mistress at the time. Soon, Wallace and her husband would start visiting the prince
04:18at small gatherings, and a trusting Ernest would go to bed early as Wallace and Edward stayed up
04:22talking until the early morning hours. Wallace Simpson and Edward became incredibly chummy.
04:27Soon, it became clear to Wallace's husband, Ernest Simpson, that she and Edward were becoming more
04:32than just friends. Edward became obsessed with Wallace, according to Anne Sabaugh's book,
04:36That Woman. Those around them knew of the affair, and both Ernest Simpson and the royal family
04:41waited patiently for the tryst to pass. Even Wallace admitted later that she would have rather
04:46just been his mistress. Some say Ernest even threatened to kill himself if she left.
04:50Nevertheless, Wallace and Ernest divorced in October 1936. Wallace and Edward wasted no time
04:56getting hitched after she was legally back on the market. The new duke and the Duchess of Windsor
05:00were married on June 3, 1937, at a quiet French chateau. Queen Mary, Edward's mother, seemingly
05:06never forgave the union, writing to him in a letter,
05:08"...it seemed inconceivable to those who had made sacrifices during the war that you,
05:12as their king, refused a lesser sacrifice."
05:15Wallace would be blamed for years for destroying the monarchy's reputation.
05:19Wallace Simpson's debaucherous time in China and her multiple rumored affairs were used as
05:23social ammunition against her when she and Prince Edward became involved.
05:27When the rumors of her past behavior reached the queen mother and prime minister, they were rumored
05:31to have dredged up an infamous dossier, which supposedly detailed her lewd and immoral behavior
05:36while she was abroad. The document is said to have detailed descriptions of sexual practices
05:41she learned while living in Shanghai, which the royal family claimed she was using to ensnare
05:45Edward into marriage, though the duke paid these allegations no mind.
05:49When Edward announced his intentions to marry Simpson to the then-British Prime Minister
05:53Stanley Baldwin in 1936, Baldwin denied his blessing, proclaiming that the public would
05:58never approve of a divorced woman becoming queen, let alone one with such a reputation.
06:02At some stage, other options were offered to Edward, including a, quote,
06:06"'Morganatic' marriage," through which Simpson could become Edward's legal wife, but never his
06:10queen. The rumored dossier never materialized, though it was possibly more powerful as a rumor
06:15than a published document. In his book, The Duchess of Windsor, The Secret Life, biographer
06:20Charles Higgum wrote,
06:21"...it is a fascinating subject of conjecture, impossible to authenticate at this stage."
06:26The scandalous dossier did not stop the love affair between Wallace and Edward.
06:30Edward and Wallace Simpson were rumored to be seriously involved well before his coronation.
06:34Both the royal family and elite members of English society were aware of the romance.
06:38Many speculate that Edward saw Simpson as an escape hatch from the monarchy.
06:42According to British biographer Andrew Morton, who wrote Love,
06:45The Untold Life of the Duchess of Windsor, The Women Who Changed the Monarchy,
06:49Edward never wanted to be king. He and Wallace were tragically at cross-purposes.
06:54Only a few months after being declared king of England, Edward announced their engagement,
06:58sending the country into a constitutional crisis. After tussling with various alternatives to the
07:03union, back and forth with high governmental and monarchical officials, there were no
07:07compromises Edward could agree to. In an interview with Kenneth Harris in 1970,
07:11Wallace was asked if she had any regrets about anything her life. She said,
07:15"'Oh, about certain things, yes. I wish it could have been different.
07:20But I mean, I'm extremely happy and —'
07:24Stuck between a rock and a hard place, forced to choose between the woman he loved and the crown,
07:28Edward chose her. And the rest is history.
07:32When Edward announced his intention to marry Wallace Simpson, the royal family was very
07:36displeased. The harassment and public pressure for the lovers to split got so bad that Wallace
07:40Simpson sent Edward letters begging him to give up. One anonymous letter threatened Edward
07:45and Wallace, saying,
07:46"'Edward is a rotten swine asking us to pay for emeralds and fine things for his ugly c----.
07:51If that Yankee harlot does not get out, we will smash her windows and give her a hiding.'"
07:55In other words, the threats weren't subtle. Nevertheless, Edward persisted and was
07:59determined to renounce his birthright to marry her. However, this wasn't the only difficulty.
08:04When Wallace traveled back to the States to procure her divorce from Ernest,
08:08the judge apparently threatened not to grant it on the basis of adultery.
08:11Wallace recalled,
08:12For a terrible moment, I felt sure he was determined to deny me my divorce."
08:16According to Ann Seba and That Woman, Wallace wrote to Ernest amid their divorce proceedings
08:21and even during their honeymoon with Edward, once saying,
08:23"'I think of us so much, though I try not to.'"
08:26Even so, Wallace and Edward were married, but their fairy tale had already begun to
08:29sour as the couple traveled to Germany.
08:32Unfortunately, both Wallace Simpson and Edward had ties to the Nazi Party pre-World War II.
08:37This affiliation would cause much distress, not only with the public but with the government,
08:42leading to more espionage. The couple would make trips to nearby European countries,
08:46including Germany, where Edward met with Adolf Hitler and was honored by Nazi officials in 1937.
08:52There was even a kidnapping plot concocted by the Nazis to put Edward back on the English
08:56throne to act as a spy, but luckily it never materialized.
09:00This involvement caught the attention of then-President Franklin Roosevelt and the FBI.
09:04When Simpson and Edward visited the States in 1941, J. Edgar Hoover launched a covert
09:09intelligence operation on the exiled Duke and Duchess, who had reason to suspect they
09:13both favored the Nazis. Simpson was also rumored to have had a particularly involved affair with
09:18a German army officer and German ambassador to Britain, Joachim von Ribbentrop, who apparently
09:23sent her 17 red roses — one for every time they allegedly slept together.
09:28What history has attempted to portray as a star-crossed romance for the ages wasn't as
09:32blissful as sometimes presented. Once Edward abdicated, there was no future for him and
09:37Wallis Simpson in England, and the couple never returned to live there. Believe it or not,
09:41they didn't have much money, either. Edward's royal allowance was cut from the budget,
09:45and they were without a country and without jobs. Sprinkle some fascist leanings into the mix,
09:49and their lives post-World War II were pretty bleak. When asked if he would have liked to
09:54have had another job after abdication, Edward said,
09:56"'Cause I offered my services if they were required. He never got any."
10:01By the 1960s, they were nearly forgotten within the international conversation and grew
10:05increasingly bitter toward the royal family's cold shoulder. In a 2012 article, Political
10:10Roads of Simpson, she became eternally frustrated that she no longer held the interest of people
10:15at high levels of society, government, or the arts. There were also talks of another affair
10:19Simpson was having with Herman Rogers, a close friend of Simpson's from China,
10:23who even gave her away at her and Edward's wedding.
10:25While it's been romanticized by pop culture, In That Woman, author Ann Seba says of Wallis
10:30and Edward's infamous union,
10:32It was more like a gothic fable where a Faustian pact with the devil ends with the moral,
10:36be careful what you wish for.