INTRODUCTION

HER STORY

QUOTES

For all her precision in supervising gourmet dinners for guests, her own favorite food in her last years was a juicy rare hamburger.

By marrying His Royal Highness Prince Edward, the Duke of Windsor, Wallis would automatically become Her Royal Highness Princess Wallis, The Duchess of Windsor. This was prevented by a juridically absurd document known as Letters Patent, the effect of which was that the ex-King, Prince Edward, would henceforth bear the title, style or attribute of Royal Highness-- but that designation would be withheld from his wife and from any children born to the marriage. Wallis would be known simply as the Duchess of Windsor.  Wallis, therefore, became the only wife of an Englishman to be disallowed her husband's rank.

Wallis kept a small gold notebook inscribed with the poem "King's Cross."  The staff called it her "grumble book."  In it, she noted any ideas she might have for the next dinner party as well as any comments on service or presentation: "Too hot," "Too cold," and "Cigars handed at wrong time."

She was exacting in the cleanliness she demanded.  Paper money was either ordered new and crisp from a bank or wash cleaned and ironed by the housemaids; coins were always washed.

The Windsors' pugs were called Disraeli, Imp, Ginseng, Trooper, Davy Crockett and Black Diamond.

Wallis was a great letter writer; her collection of stationery, ranging from formal vellum crested with her intertwined initials to pastels and shocking pinks with "Wallis" engraved in bold, modern print, was stocked at her desk in her boudoir. Her personal mail was answered in her sloping longhand, while business letters and inquiries from the public were largely dealt with by the secretary.

Although she owned long coats of mink, beaver, fox, and ermine, Wallis disliked their weight and instead favored sable or mink wraps.

So little did she know of the political situation and the King's power and status that during the Abdication Crisis she is said to have asked, "But, David, can't you remain Emperor of India even if you are no longer King of England?"

Before they started favoring pugs, the Windsors kept cairn terriers.  The first was called Slipper, or Mr. Loo. He was soon followed by Pookie, Detto and Prisie.  The dogs' meals were specially prepared and brought on platters to the Windsors' private apartments, where either Wallis or David would spoon the food into their silver bowls themselves. 

When she learned that her formidable enemy Queen Mary had died, Wallis's reaction was a curious one. Upon hearing the news, she immediately burst into tears. For the rest of her life, she would keep a small photograph of the Queen on a table in her bedroom in Paris.

Wallis usually went through her wardrobe twice a year, selecting gowns and outfits she no longer wanted.  In the 1960s, Diana Vreeland managed to convince Wallis to donate many of her gowns to the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; over the next decade, dozens of suits and dresses made their way to New York, including the Duchess's wedding dress by Mainbocher.

Wallis was never entirely pleased with any of her numerous portraits. Once, upon seeing the famous painting of the Duchess by Gerald Brockhurst a guest was heard to exclaim, "She looks like Joan Crawford!"

King George VI deprived Wallis of the style of Royal Highness as a way to punish her for the Abdication. But, Wallis had little doubt as to who bore ultimate responsibility for the deprivation: the two Queens, Mary and Elizabeth. Wallis, in fact, was frequently to refer to her sister-in-law Elizabeth as "the Dowdy Duchess." The dislike was mutual, and it was Elizabeth, Britain's beloved Queen Mother, who, more than any other person, maintained the ostracism of the Windsors and the vendetta against Wallis.

Wallis's engagement ring was the massive Mogul emerald, set in a platinum ring. It was engraved on the back: "WE are ours now, 27 x 36. {October 27, 1936}".

The Duchess of Windsor was one of the twentieth century's most stylish and elegant women. Along with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Diana, Princess of Wales, she became one of the most celebrated fashion icons of her age. Wallis was named to the world's best-dressed list for over four decades, a singular accomplishment equaled by no other woman.

If Antoine of Paris is to be believed, she had her hair done three times a day-- once in the morning before donning a little hat, again in the afternoon before the races, and in the evening before going out.

There is a persistent underground rumor in certain social circles that the Duchess of Windsor was really a man.

The Duke loved to shower her with one-of-a-kind jewelry. So great was his love, in fact, that he stated in his will his wish to have those jewels removed from their settings after Wallis's death, lest her pieces be collected and worn by lesser women. That was the only wish of his that Wallis seems to have countermanded. The terms of her will stated that her jewels were to be auctioned off for the benefit of the Pasteur Institute. That auction, held in 1987, produced 50 million dollars for AIDS research.

In addition to her conversational skills, Wallis had other allures. Allegedly using sexual techniques that it is said she learned in Chinese bordellos, she satisfied the prince's idiosyncratic sexuality. And she drew on her friendships with German leaders to sanction his fascist sympathies.

When living at the Boulevard Suchet, Wallis often used the services of English butler Hale, whom she had on loan from the Bedaux at Candé, where P.G. Woodhouse was a frequent guest and is said to have used him as the model for Jeeves.

The 1998 nine-day auction of property from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's former Paris home - owned by Harrods' boss Mohamed Al Fayed - raised more than £14m for charities. A piece of their wedding cake fetched $28,600.

Winston Churchill called the Duke of Windsor's love for her 'one of the great loves of history.'

Accompanied her husband to Britain in 1966 for the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to Queen Mary, the woman that hated her most.

At Edward's funeral she was allowed to stay only one night at Buckingham Palace before journeying back to Paris and obscurity.

One of her allies during the abdication crisis was staunch monarchist Winston Churchill - perhaps because his mother was American too. One anecdote recalls a lunch he enjoyed with playwright Noel Coward in which Churchill said:"Why shouldn't he marry his cutie?" To which Coward replied: "Because England doesn't want a Queen Cutie!"