Read The Duchess Of Windsor Online
Authors: Greg King
The Duchess Of Windsor (34 page)
That evening, at half-past six, Baldwin arrived at Buckingham Palace for a meeting with the King. David asked the prime minister if he might marry Wallis morganatically, as an ordinary citizen rather than as king, under a special Act of Exclusion. Until this moment, David had largely been able to operate according to his own inclinations. The prime minister was empowered only to advise and warn. But David’s impatience proved too much, and he suggested that Baldwin formally submit the idea to the cabinet for discussion. The prime minister explained that a formal examination meant that the dominion cabinets and prime ministers would also have to be consulted. “Sir,” Baldwin asked, “would you like me to examine the proposal formally?”
“Yes,” David replied, “please do so.”
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These four words sealed the King’s fate. David was thus precluded from seeking advice elsewhere until his prime minister and government had formally reported back to him on the issue of his marriage. More important, he was also bound to accept their advice as the formal recommendation of the government. If he ignored this advice and continued to pursue the marriage, the government would be within its rights to resign.
When Wallis learned of this development, she was shocked. She called his decision to consult the prime minister “inexplicable.” She could not understand why the King would voluntarily let the cabinet debate the idea of their marriage. “David,” she wrote, “was obviously allowing his better judgment to be swept aside by his impatience to break the deadlock. I began to suspect that the whole idea, however well meant, would turn out to be in reality a trap.”
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The next day, Lord Beaverbrook called on the King, having cut short a trip to the United States at David’s request. Beaverbrook was not particularly supportive of the monarchy in principle, but he greatly liked the King himself. His cooperation, however, rested on somewhat more malicious motives. Years later, when Randolph Churchill asked why, given his feelings about the monarchy, he had involved himself to such an extent in the abdication crisis, Beaverbrook answered, “To bugger Baldwin.”
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Historian A. J. P. Taylor, however, has cast doubt on such a provocative revelation. “Despite his combative talk,” he writes of Beaverbrook, “he was always a fixer when it came to the point, and what he wanted now was not a knock-out blow inflicted on Baldwin, but a compromise: the King secure on his Throne and the question of marriage with Mrs. Simpson postponed to a time when men had got used to the idea—or the King had lost interest.”
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When the King told Beaverbrook of the morganatic proposal, the press baron was horrified. David explained that he was pursuing the option because Wallis preferred it to any other solution.
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Beaverbrook strongly urged the King to withdraw his request that Baldwin formally examine the idea. David, however, hesitated, and Beaverbrook himself offered to consult several members of the cabinet to see what the likely decision would be. David reluctantly allowed that it might be possible to withdraw the idea from consideration if it seemed the cabinet would stand against it. The very next day, however, he rang Beaverbrook at his London residence, Stomoway House, and informed him that he had changed his mind: The formal consideration of the morganatic marriage proposal would be allowed to continue.
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Beaverbrook strongly urged the King to withdraw his request that Baldwin formally examine the idea. David, however, hesitated, and Beaverbrook himself offered to consult several members of the cabinet to see what the likely decision would be. David reluctantly allowed that it might be possible to withdraw the idea from consideration if it seemed the cabinet would stand against it. The very next day, however, he rang Beaverbrook at his London residence, Stomoway House, and informed him that he had changed his mind: The formal consideration of the morganatic marriage proposal would be allowed to continue.
On November 26, Wallis attended a dinner party in Belgrave Square. Chips Channon wrote: “She was wearing new jewels—the King must give her new ones every day.... We talked of houses, and I suggested that she should move to Belgravia and she didn’t reply. It is those occasional lapses which are mysterious. Why not say ‘I’ll look about’ or something casual instead of leaving one with the feeling that she won’t want a house in May as she’ll be living in Buckingham Palace. I personally think that he’ll marry her, and soon.”
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The cabinet was set to meet in special session on Friday, November 27. The night before, Harold Nicolson recorded in his diary: “If the King insisted on marrying, the Privy Council would assemble in force and insist that he either abdicate or they resign. I do not understand the situation. On the one hand you have Mrs. Simpson saying that he has never suggested marriage, and on the other hand you have the Privy Council organised for revolt.”
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The next morning, Baldwin formally briefed his cabinet for the first official time about the King’s relationship with Mrs. Simpson and his desire to marry her. He explained that the King had asked that the cabinet formally examine a proposal to allow a morganatic marriage. Now Baldwin told them that he felt the idea was undesirable and that in his opinion the government must be prepared to choose: Either they must accept the King’s choice of wife as their queen or allow for the possibility of his abdication. Neville Chamberlain believed that a morganatic marriage “would only be a prelude to the further step of making Mrs. S. queen with full rights.”
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Sir Donald Somervell recalled how he described the morganatic proposal to the cabinet: “I confirmed ... that the wife of King is Queen, that it would require an Act of Parliament to prevent this result. I remember adding that it would have been an odd Act. If it had been an honest recital it would start ‘Whereas the wife of the King is Queen & whereas the present King desires to marry a woman unfit to be Queen—be it hereby enacted etc.’ “
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Sir Donald Somervell recalled how he described the morganatic proposal to the cabinet: “I confirmed ... that the wife of King is Queen, that it would require an Act of Parliament to prevent this result. I remember adding that it would have been an odd Act. If it had been an honest recital it would start ‘Whereas the wife of the King is Queen & whereas the present King desires to marry a woman unfit to be Queen—be it hereby enacted etc.’ “
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The following day, the red-leather dispatch boxes duly arrived for the King from Whitehall. But when he opened them, he found that the cabinet minutes on the morganatic discussion were missing: Baldwin had deliberately withheld them from the King. He learned the details of what had taken place from Lord Beaverbrook, who declared sadly, “Sir, you have put your head on the execution block. All that Baldwin has to do now is to swing the axe.”
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The next day, learning of the special meeting, Chips Channon noted ominously, “The Battle for the Throne has begun.”
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The next day, learning of the special meeting, Chips Channon noted ominously, “The Battle for the Throne has begun.”
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The lines were indeed being drawn. Ramsay MacDonald, the former prime minister, summed up the situation for Harold Nicolson: “That man has done more harm to his country than any man in history.” Nicolson pondered this and noted, “It seems that the Cabinet are determined that he shall abdicate. So are the Privy Council. But he imagines that the country, the great warm heart of the people, are with him. I do not think so. The upper classes mind her being an American more than they mind her being divorced. The lower classes do not mind her being an American but they loathe the idea that she has had two husbands already.”
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Baldwin duly dispatched cables to the prime ministers of the dominions, offering three choices: that the King should remain and marry Mrs. Simpson as queen; that there should be a morganatic marriage; or that he should abdicate. Baldwin himself believed that the first two solutions were unacceptable; accordingly, he advanced no arguments in their favor. The cables were drawn up by the secretary of state for the dominions, Malcolm MacDonald, and his permanent undersecretary and were carefully worded to evoke a negative reply.
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After explaining the morganatic marriage proposal, the cables read: “I feel convinced that neither the Parliament nor the great majority of the public here should or would accept such a plan.” The cabinet further added: “Any more than they would accept the proposal that Mrs. Simpson should become Queen.”
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After explaining the morganatic marriage proposal, the cables read: “I feel convinced that neither the Parliament nor the great majority of the public here should or would accept such a plan.” The cabinet further added: “Any more than they would accept the proposal that Mrs. Simpson should become Queen.”
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The pressure was building from all sides, but the King continued to push ahead with his plans. A friend later wrote of Wallis and David: They “never acted like people who wanted to overthrow the Church of England. They acted like a couple in love who wanted to get married, and were plainly horrified by the momentous events this simple desire had set in motion.... You couldn’t help loving them for it, they were honestly so damn naive.”
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“I saw the King and Wallis during that time,” one acquaintance would later recall, “and I never saw two people so
tired.
He was tired from his long battle to make Wallis Queen, which he was absolutely determined to do, and she was tired from trying to please him and please everybody else, too. They both acted like zombies when other people were around, and the only time they showed a spark of the old liveliness was when they were alone together.... I give you my word, they looked like kids.”
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tired.
He was tired from his long battle to make Wallis Queen, which he was absolutely determined to do, and she was tired from trying to please him and please everybody else, too. They both acted like zombies when other people were around, and the only time they showed a spark of the old liveliness was when they were alone together.... I give you my word, they looked like kids.”
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Wallis, aware only of what the King chose to tell her, was more isolated and alone than ever. She knew few details of his meetings with Baldwin and his family and continued to believe him when he assured her that everything would be worked out. David never told her the bad news; when the abdication crisis suddenly cascaded upon her, it was overwhelming.
Jack Beall of the
New York Herald Tribune
managed to get a rare interview with Wallis that November. “I think it is terrible the way the papers in America have been treating me,” she said.
New York Herald Tribune
managed to get a rare interview with Wallis that November. “I think it is terrible the way the papers in America have been treating me,” she said.
Beall asked her whether she thought her relationship with the King was going to interfere with the coronation. “No, I don’t think it will.” Then she added quickly, “No, I can’t say anything about that, really.”
“Did you know, Mrs. Simpson,” Beall asked, “that they have organized in America a ‘Simpson for Queen’ movement?”
Hearing this, she burst into howls of laughter. “Oh, no!” she cried out. “Not really?”
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Wallis was so concerned about the way the American press was covering the relationship that she invited Newbold Noyes, then an associate editor of the
Washington Star,
to come and tell her story. Noyes had the benefit of being a member of the family: He had married her cousin Lelia Barnett and had known Wallis since she was eighteen.
Washington Star,
to come and tell her story. Noyes had the benefit of being a member of the family: He had married her cousin Lelia Barnett and had known Wallis since she was eighteen.
Noyes reassured Wallis that at least 70 percent of the American press was favorable to her. She found this hard to believe, however. She explained that threatening letters from the United States had recently begun to appear in her post. “It isn’t that I’m afraid of threats like that,” she said, “but I’m sorry that people feel that way. If they knew the truth, I’m sure they’d feel differently.”
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The noted author H. G. Wells wrote for the American press: “I never have yet heard one single word or suggestion that she was anything but a perfectly honourable, highly intelligent, and charmingly mannered woman. Why shouldn’t the King marry her and make her his Queen? ... Mrs. Simpson is far better fitted to be the King’s wife than any possible bride that might be forced upon him to replace her.” He continued about the King: “‘Authorities’ do not like him. People in privileged positions shiver slightly at the report of him. He flies about in airplanes, arrives unexpectedly, and looks at things, instead of traveling in a special train.... He betrays the possession of a highly modernized mind by his every act, he is unceremonious, he is unconventional, and he asks the most disconcerting questions about social conditions.... They know quite dearly within themselves that, if he cannot be humiliated and discredited into political impotence by forcing him to renounce, in most glaring publicity, his desire to marry this excellent consort, they would be happier without him.”
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Wallis “could feel the mounting menace in the very atmosphere” around her. News was regularly leaking back to England from America and Europe, and those in the know now began to stare at her as she appeared in the streets. More disturbing, she continued to receive anonymous, threatening letters in the mail.
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One afternoon, Kenneth de Courcy came around to warn Wallis that her life was in danger. He was the honorary secretary to the Imperial Policy Group, a monarchist policy group dedicated to the promotion of the idea that Great Britain would maintain neutrality in any European conflict. De Courcy was also a close friend of George and Kitty Hunter’s, early friends of Wallis when she had first come to London, with whom she had shared her cottage during her divorce proceedings at Felixstowe. The Hunters had heard of an alleged assassination plot against Wallis, and de Courcy approached Wallis’s aunt Bessie to urge her to leave London.
When he learned of this, David moved quickly. He had also begun to hear of vague rumors threatening Wallis with assassination. Many years later, John Colville asked Churchill about the abdication. Churchill confessed that he had not thought it would happen and that he and Lord Beaverbrook had tried to scare Wallis out of the country. “When she was gone, he hoped the King would retire to Windsor and ‘pull up the drawbridge, post Lord Dawson of Penn at the front gate and Lord Horder at the back gate,’ and let it be announced that he was too ill to undertake public business. Winston said that great measures were taken to frighten Mrs. Simpson away. Bricks were thrown through her windows and letters written threatening her with vitriol. ‘Do you mean that you did that,’ I said, aghast. ‘No,’ he replied, ‘but Max did.’ “ Beaverbrook, when confronted with this allegation years later, declared that he had done no such thing, but that some of his employees might have.
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David rang Wallis on the afternoon of Friday, November 27, and asked that she and her aunt Bessie leave London immediately and move into the Fort, where she could be protected. Wallis packed up her things, and at six that evening climbed into a car the King had sent to collect her. She and her aunt drove through the streets of London and out into the Berkshires to Windsor and the Fort. Wallis would not set foot in London again for nearly three years.
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