Wallis Simpson....

I find her fascinating! I don't have your answer, tho, OP. What are good biographies on her?

Yes, OP.

Try [italic]The Last of the Duchess[/italic] by Caroline Blackwood, which covers the end of her life.

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Her life in China was so much fun but almost forgotten today. The King's Speech mentioned the rumor that she seduced Edward VIII with the Chinese sex tricks she had learned in a Shanghai whorehouse. Some more credible sources claimed that she got pregnant by Galeazzo Ciano, later Mussolini's son-in-law, in Peking. And according to the autobiography by Madame Wellington Koo, for all her time spent in China, Wallis Simpson picked up only one Chinese phrase: "Boy, pass me the champagne".

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What would such "Chinese sex tricks" actually be? Like....squeezing? So strange to think of her and the Duke in that way, yech.

Asian/Chinese sex trick Wallis Simpson was rumored to have mastered was known as "the Cleopatra clip".

Apparently Chinese females working in whorehouses or whatever who mastered said trick could squat over a coin and pick it up. As it relates to males application of a tight squeeze on his tackle at right moment (supposedly) delayed orgasm. For men suffering from premature ejaculation (as Edward VIII is rumored), this would prove interesting.

Tittle-tattle from time says even as Prince of Wales Prince "David" wasn't the greatest lover; his tackle was minuscule and skills in bed not even up to school boy level. They do say Wallis Simpson was able to nab "David" because in part she was able (by whatever means or methods) to make him feel more than adequate in bed.

Last years of Wallis Simpson's life after duke of W. died were rather sad, for all that she once was and had...

While living Duke of Windsor did everything and protected his wife, once he was gone she was left on her own unprotected, which is how scheming jewess Blum was able to get her hooks into duchess, and never let go, even after her client's death.

Art, jewels and other things started going walkabout, housekeeper was wearing dss. of W's furs... They do say Mme Blum kept Wallis Simpson alive longer than she needed to be in order to extract more out of her, and or to gain time for her schemes and plots.

One dss of W's last nurses went to England to tell HM/BRF what was going on; but she got no further than front gates of BP when was turfed out. Next stop was to Dean of Westminster (IIRC), where after pouring out her story was told it would be passed on to higher levels, and someone would be in contact; it never happened, the good lady wasted her time and money on that trip.

When dss. of W's jewels went on sale BP did issue a statement that whatever things rightfully belonging to Crown/BRF were returned at time of d of W's death (there were some emeralds George V left his son that would have been worn by Edward VIII's queen, but remained in BRF), so that was that.

BRF didn't give a damn about Wallis Simpson when she was alive and well, thus certainly didn't care what was happening to her as she lay dying. Duchess of W. wasn't a member of BRF officially or even casually so they washed their hands of her. Wallis Simpson having never had children did have some distant cousins in USA, but they either didn't know what was going on, could care less, or otherwise didn't think or attempt to intervene as duchess was being abused by her "attorney".

Before d. of W was even cold in her grave Mohamed Al-Fayed (Dodi's father) moved quickly to buy the lease (home and contents)on Bois de Boulogne home given by city of Paris to Duke and Duchess of Windsor. President Chirac was obliging but oily Al-Fayed was sorely let down; he had hoped all of late Duchess of Windsor's jewels would be included in purchase, they weren't as Mme. Blum saw to that bit of looting. Ever groveling Al-Fayed had planned to offer some or all of those jewels to HM/BRF in aid of getting into their good graces as he desperately wanted British citizenship/passport. Latter eluded Al-Fayed despite his extensive British holdings at time including Harrods Department Store.

In end Al-Fayed had to content himself selling off possessions of Duke and Duchess of Windsor that remained in their former Bois de Boulogne home (whatever was left after Mme Blum's efforts), from which he still made a very tidy sum.

No wonder Dodi went after Diana

More on oily climber Al-Fayed

Was Dodi, possibly, a smeller of cookies?

R9

Al-Fayed launched a media campaign and or otherwise ranting on that his son Dodi was "murdered" by British Establishment (or some sort of conspiracy) to keep an Arab from marrying mother of a future British monarch. There were also claims that Diana, princess of Wales was carrying Dodi's child, and thus they both had to go.....

"scheming jewess Blum". "Jewess"? Really R8?

Diana Mosley (née Mitford) was her neighbor in France and wrote a friendly biography on the duchess in the 80s. Here she is being interviewed about the book and their relationship.

The duchess was already senile at this point, and Diana stays pretty mum on the subject when talking about Madame Blum, but watching it back now it seems apparent Diana must have known much more about what was going on that she just didn’t say during the interview.

R14

Am not surprised Diana Mosley was not only a neighbor of d and dss of Windsor, but rather friendly as well. Oswald and Diana Mosley shared many of same views regarding Hitler, Mussolini, fascism and so forth as Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Diana Mosley was locked up in Holloway prison for it.

To be clear Duke and Duchess had a country home in Gif-sur-Yette called "Le Moulin de la Tuilerie", while the Mosley's lived at Temple de la Gloire in neighboring town of Orsay. Upon seeing "Temple of Glory" for first time Duchess of Windsor wasn't impressed; she is reported to have remarked " , "Oh, it's charming, charming but where do you live?"

Joke about Edward VIII/Duke of Windsor from after his abdication.

"He started out Admiral of the fleet, and ended up third mate on an old tramp"..

[quote] Joke about Edward VIII/Duke of Windsor from after his abdication. "He started out Admiral of the fleet, and ended up third mate on an old tramp"..

Sexist and classist and just plain mean

Edward probably fucked as many or more people as his wife.

I doubt the "Chinese sex tricks" story has any validity. All the reputable biographers of both Edward VIII and Wallis discount it.

The truth is that Edward VIII wanted a woman who would fill the gap left when his cold mother, Queen Mary, kept such a distance from him beginning in infancy. He had a nanny who doted on him so much she would pinch him secretly in front of his parents when he was an infant so he would start squalling, and they would become upset and want her to take him out of their presence (and they weren't very interested parents to begin with), so she could have him all to herself.

All he wanted was an older woman who would lavish attention on him and treat him as an adored but naughty boy, and boss him around. All of his lasting female lovers were quite a bit older than he was. Wallis was the bossiest and the most attentive, plus she had a huge interest in fashion as he did.

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By contrast, here’s the Mosleys’ home. Everything about it outclasses the Windsors’ place by a mile. If David went there, he would have been envious. It’s very stately looking.

To some extent you have to judge by what sort of housing even Wallis grew up in. In her day, American Colonial was a popular style for the upper middle class, large homes with pillars out front, so the French country cottage style of the Windsors’ home would have seemed very informal, uncomfortably so to them. To our eyes it would seem cozy and charming. But neither one probably had any experience with that informal style.

Wallis would have thought, at least, that her home would be grander looking and she could show off. The rooms looked small and cluttered. She was obviously not a good decorator.

I would think it likely that neither one would enjoy the down to earth style of their home, and be reminded every day that they were in exile, as if they were thrown in a hole and forgotten. It makes me think they chose it for financial reasons and no other. Perhaps security demanded seclusion, but that can’t be the only reason in those days.

By contrast, you can see Diana Mosley’s breeding in every room of her home. Formal English style, and probably a lot more like what David would have thought of as a comfortable style.

Diana made the most of her exile, the Windsors made the least of theirs.

Here’s a picture of the Windsors’ home by another link.

Clearer picture of how Al-Fayed got his mitts on 4, Rue du Champ d'Entraînement and contents after dss of W's death.

He apparently also bought "some" of Wallis Simpson's jewels, but greater share went on auction block.

Further research tells that Al-Fayed got Mme. Blum to sell remaining contents of house to him for 2 million (British pounds). This clears up something that was on one's mind. While city of Paris may have given Al-Fayed a 50 year lease on the place, normally renting a home doesn't come with contents of deceased previous inhabitants unless some arrangement is made.

Al-Fayed made back that 2 million many times over by auctioning off most of said contents.

For the "Tasteful Friends" set, interior shots of d and dss Paris home.

More:

Some queen here on another royal thread said they were poor, always begging the royal family for money and selling articles about themselves to the tabloids to make money.

The links here definitely paint a different picture.

Finally some of what went up for bidding.....

R27

Duke of Windsor was anything but poor. For that matter Wallis Simpson went into her third marriage with far more than just what she stood up in.

True compared to what he would have had if Edward VIII remained king he was comparatively poor, but hardly on starvation rations.

Consider also d of W. was notorisly tight fisted even as P of W; something that continued rest of his life. This was a man who was said always excused himself from restaurant table before cheque arrived.

Their home outside Paris was a gift from French government leased at a "peppercorn" rent (France for various reasons wanted to lure d and dss of W to spend their exile within its borders). Duke and his duchess never traveled if their expenses were not paid wholly or mostly by whomever issued invitation. That or "grace and favor" accommodations were demanded (or very least steep discounts). As noted Cunard provided free transport across Atlantic or anywhere else their ships sailed for d and dss of W, until even they got fed up and stopped. Happily for duke and his wife United States Lines where happy to have them.

Even if duke or duchess found themselves with limited resources they could have easily sold off some of Wallis's jewels. We know now that PR value alone increased desire and prices.

Read linked articles about their Paris home, duke and dss of W put nothing into that barn of a place. Al-Fayed got his hands on a building that had pretty much fallen into rack and ruin. More so things had been that way not just after Wallis's death, but process began while both were alive and well so to speak. Apparently despite dirt cheap rent neither d or dss of Windsor could be bothered doing anything to a building they didn't own.

Forgot link: