Wallis Simpson

American socialite Wallis Simpson, the woman for whom Edward VIII gave up the throne in 1936, is variously portrayed as a greedy snob, a sexual predator or part of the romance of the century. A complex figure emerges: a strong-willed woman, hungry for independence, but caught up in a situation she could not control. Mrs. Wallis Simpson has become an emotional figure in history. Along with this, many descriptions of her personality and motives for being with Edward have caused some extremely negative descriptions; the nicer ones range from witch to seductress. So who really was Mrs. Wallis Simpson?

Bessie Wallis Warfield, named after her aunt and her father, as she was born in Baltimore, Maryland, was something of a misfit from the start. Her arrival in June 19,1896 came just seven months after the marriage of her parents, causing some embarrassment to Warfield relatives for whom moral propriety was essential as the elite of Baltimore society. Bessie's father died when she was five months old and throughout her formative years, she and her mother had to rely on irregular handouts from a wealthy relative. Because her father left them with no money so they relied charity from her mother's husband's late brother.

As Wallis grew into a young woman, she was not necessarily considered pretty. Yet Wallis had a sense of style and poses that made her distinguished and attractive. She had radiant eyes, good complexion and fine, smooth black hair, which she kept parted down the middle for most of her life. Bessie discarded her first name - because "so many cows are called Bessie" - and learned how to flirt. But she was still shut out of the world she regarded as her birthright. Soon after the humiliation of "coming out" without the usual debutante's celebration ball, she grasped the first means of escape from Baltimore by becoming engaged.

On November 8 1916 she was married to her first husband, at the age of 20 was to a Navy pilot Earl Winfield Spencer. The marriage was reasonably good until the end of World War I when many ex-soldiers became bitter at the inconclusiveness of the war and the difficulty in adapting back to civilian life. After the Armistice, Win began to drink heavily and also became abusive. Wallis eventually left Win and lived six years by herself in Washington. Win and Wallis weren't yet divorced and when Win begged her to rejoin him, this time in China where he had been posted in 1922, she went. Things seemed to be working out until Win started drinking again. This time Wallis left him for good and sued for a divorce, which was granted in December 1927.

After three years of separation divorced, Wallis began an affair with a married man, Ernest Simpson, a British-American businessman. They wed in July 1928. They moved to London, where Wallis established herself as a hostess. Through contacts at the US Embassy she became friendly with Thelma Furness, who was married to an elderly shipping magnate and involved with Prince Edward Ð'- the future Edward VIII. "I really feel so tired of fighting the world all alone and with no money," she wrote to her mother. Settled into English society, she met Edward, Prince of Wales, at a house party given by his mistress, Lady Thelma Furness, at Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. He was charming, the most eligible bachelor in the world; she was married, at 35 no longer in the first flush of youth and no beauty. But she was seductive. In January 1934, Thelma Furness left England to visit her sister, Gloria Vanderbilt. When she returned three months later, Wallis had taken her place as Edward's closest friend. By 1934, the prince was a frequent visitor to the Simpsons' home, and it has been said their relationship was consummated that year. Wallis told her aunt: "It requires great tact to manage both men. I shall try to keep them both."

By January 1936, though, the prince had become King and his love for Wallis an obsession. The Simpson marriage cracked under the strain and Wallis sought for a divorce. Despite his several mistresses, Edward has been characterized as Mrs. Simpson's lapdog. There were two main differences, however. One was the enmity aroused by Wallis, regarded by high society and the British public as a grasping commoner, and American to boot. The other was the overpowering intensity of Edward's devotion: ' He has lost all confidence in himself and follows Wallis around like a dog. "There must have been some sort of saddening relationship," says Philip Ziegler, Edward VIII's official biographer. "He relished the contempt and bullying she bestowed on him." In November, Edward invited the Simpsons to a Palace function and presented Wallis to the Queen. The King was furious, that woman in my own house; and told Edward that his mistress was not welcome at Court. Edward replied that Wallis was not his mistress. While this was disbelieved at the time, it may be that Wallis had kept their relationship platonic: 'No man is ever allowed to touch me below the Mason-Dixon line,' she confided to a friend.

Edward and Wallis's relationship with the new king became a scandal Ð'- although it was kept out of the papers by a gentleman's agreement with press barons Beaverbrook and Rothermere. Wallis suggested that she should 'steal quietly away', but Edward was adamant. In October, the Simpsons began divorce proceedings. However, neither the court nor the government would countenance a twice-divorced American as Queen, and Edward abdicated in December on the 11th after less than a year on the throne.

Wallis's divorce became absolute the following May, whereupon she changed her name to Wallis Warfield. In June, she married Edward, now HRH the Duke of Windsor; she became Duchess of Windsor but was denied 'extra chic'