Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight?
Are you sorry? Hi, everybody.
We are back for another episode of Significant Lovers.
Thanks for joining us. Yeah, we are not the lovers.
We are the cousins. I am Mel and I'm Kel.
This is a podcast about true love.
I want to say before we get into the episode, this episode is
coming out in May. This summer, starting in June,
we're going to be going on a little break for two months.
Yep, just for the summer. You know, rest, refresh, get our
juices flowing. What couples we want to cover
next in Season 3? And so we are going to pause our
Patreon so any patrons listening, you will not be
charged for all of June and all of July.
So you don't have to worry about it.
You don't have to do anything. You can just stay subscribed and
you'll be able to listen to older episodes without being
charged for those two months and any new listeners if you would
like to subscribe. If you do so before June 1st,
you will get to listen to all of our existing Patreon content for
just the the price of $5.00. So two months for the price of
one. Unfortunately, nobody can
subscribe because Patreon is like, I don't know.
Yeah. For some reason when we pause
payments, new people cannot subscribe.
So before June we we have until June people to sign up if you
want to. Yeah, yeah, and otherwise
already signed up till August. If you're already signed up,
don't go anywhere. You don't have to do anything.
But if you want to sign up, you have until June 1st to do so, or
you'll have to wait until August.
I think that was well said. I hope that makes sense.
So, yeah, and you know, we have a lot of good couples on our
Patreon. We do Brad Pitt and Angelina
Jolie, Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande, Phoebe Bridgers and Paul
Mescal, Drake and Rihanna. I'm trying to think.
I know. I'm trying to blank some of
them. I can't remember if they're
Patreon or me too. Miley Cyrus and Nick Jonas.
Yes, I thought you were going to say Mick Jagger, Miranda
Lambert, Blake Shelton. So many half of our episodes.
Yeah, and a lot of good ones. But today's episode is a more
historical episode. It is a story of forbidden
romance. Oh, the most exciting kind.
I know, and we're talking about the royal family today.
I was very much inspired. I've been rewatching The Crown
and was super inspired to learn more about this couple because
they're only touched upon briefly in season one and that
is Prince Edward the 8th, briefly known as King Edward the
8th and Wallace Simpson. Wow.
That is such a never mind. I don't want what you mean.
Unique first name? Unique first name?
Yeah, for. But the three words I would use
to describe this couple would be forbidden, Obviously indulgent
and selfish. Oh, sounds like Elizabeth
Taylor. Yeah, no, we're talking about
people who cannot control themselves.
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I wanted us to cover them, so
I'm happy. With that, it's there's a lot to
it and I feel like there's some very common narratives about
them. But when you look under the
surface, like, it's like, I don't know, but yeah, so who
were they? Edward the 8th is also known as
Edward. Albert Christian.
George. Andrew.
Patrick David. Wow, OK, like we got a little
bit of everything. In there how many names is that?
123-4567 names. Oh my gosh.
I know I was like, looking at it, I was like literally three
of these names. Actually only two are like
cousin names, but like how many names do you have people in your
family? And there's one name you know,
but so Edward, Albert Christian, George Andrew, Patrick.
David was born June 23rd, 1894 as the heir to the United
Kingdom for the royal throne. He was the great grandson of
Queen Victoria, the reigning monarch at the time, and was
third in line for the throne after his father George, the
fifth Duke of York, and his grandfather Edward, the 7th
Prince of Wales at the time. And his mother Mary was the
daughter of Queen Victoria's first cousin, the Princess of
Cambridge and her husband, which would make her like cousins with
his dad, like cousins twice or three times removed.
So it's like far enough away that, I mean, I still wouldn't
do it, but it's like it was normal for the family.
I still wouldn't do it, but yeah.
But they're not first cousins, So Edward was the oldest of six
children, and they were apparently all spoiled by their
grandfather Edward the 7th. And they had a really good
relationship with their grandfather.
Like our Prince Charles episode, this was an early episode.
We covered Charles and Camilla, another forbidden romance.
Check it out if you're interested.
Like Prince Charles, Edward was raised by nannies most of the
time by his parents, especially his father, were pretty
affectionate when they were around, but they were often off
on royal duties and at that time they just didn't see the
caretaking as their responsibility.
Sounds like Charles, yeah. And so, like, you have to wonder
what that does to a child to not get that affection that much
when you're young by your parents, who are supposed to be
the people who are taking care of you.
And probably not knowing when you'll see your parents next.
I mean, I'm sure there's exactly in calendars and schedules, but
I don't know. I feel like that would be
unpredictable for a kid. And as we know from psychology,
the way your relationships with your parents heavily influence
your romantic relationships later on, so we always got to
keep that in mind when it comes to these couples.
That's why we start before they meet exactly what happened to
them. So, Edward, it's just so nice to
say that name, isn't it, Edward? You know what I didn't really
realize? Maybe this is silly of me, but I
didn't realize that Edward is such an old name, like a
medieval name. I know he stood the test of
time. I wonder if I would name my son
Edward after Twilight. I think I would.
It's a. Very regal sounding name.
Edward. You know, handsome.
Honestly, I think I will. Do it, Edward.
He You know, I never really. Guys this is because of Twilight
obviously. We used to host a Twilight
podcast, in case you didn't know, another bite of Twilight,
yeah. Yeah, it has nothing to do with
Edward the 8th. He was homeschooled by tutors
and when he was six years old, his grandmother or his great
grandmother Queen Victoria died and he was essentially placed
under the care of two tutors at the time, two men named
Frederick and Henry, and his school schedule was very
aggressive and very strict. And then he started the Navy
training at a college at age 13. And college, I think, is like
what they call high school over there to prepare to enter the
Royal Navy. Apparently he wasn't the best
student at school, though, and kids would often tease him for
being a Prince, which is also similar to Prince Charles.
Does no one care? He's going to rule you someday.
Like, I know. I think they just wanted to
knock him down a peg or a couple pegs, but it is.
Strange. I don't think that would have
happened in my hometown. I think everybody, everybody
would have been sucking up to him.
I know. So when Edward was 15, his
grandfather died and his father ascended the throne and Edward
then automatically became the Duke of Cornwall.
And then on his 16th birthday he was made the Prince of Wales in
Earl of Chester. So he's like Prince William
basically. And now that he's first in line
for the throne as a teenager, he left the naval training to begin
preparing to become a future king.
So this involved him going to like college, but then he
dropped out because he wasn't a really good student, and during
his crowning ceremony, he had to wear the Imperial Mantle robe.
And this is where he first starts seeing that he's just
like not really into the whole royal thing.
He was really embarrassed to wear the robe.
He thought that his friends at the Navy Academy would make fun
of him, which is like. Guys, he's the Prince of
England. Why do you care?
Wow. It's just shows anybody can be
insecure. Yes, seriously.
And he just started to feel really unsettled and nervous
about becoming the king and seemed uncomfortable by the
expectations placed on him. And while he wanted to join the
Navy, his father instead made him attend Oxford.
As he said, he started going to college and he just wasn't good
in school and he never got his degree.
And after that, he joined the British Army in order to serve
in World War 1. And he was really eager to fight
on the front lines, but Palace wouldn't allow it.
So he just kind of like Met people, shook their hands.
He was there for moral support, which the soldiers really
appreciated. So he's really popular among
veterans. That's nice.
Yeah, that's nice. I will say one thing that makes
me wonder about his character. When he was 24 years old,
Edward's youngest youngest brother John died of a severe
epileptic seizure at just thirteen years old, and Edward
was extremely insensitive about his brother's death death
writing in a letter to a mistress at the time.
John's been practically shut up for the last two years anyhow,
so no one has ever seen him except the family, and then only
once or twice a year. This poor boy had become more of
an animal than anything else, and he called his brother's
death a little more than a regrettable nuisance which.
Oh my gosh. Dude, like that makes me really
question his character. Before the nuisance thing, I
wondered if maybe he was just being factual and saying, you
know, like nobody really cared about him, but then next say
that his death is a nuisance. What the heck?
I know. Seriously.
That's so sad. Makes him seem like he's really
cold and insensitive. And then apparently he also
wrote something really insensitive in a letter to his
mom about his brother's death. We don't know what he said.
The letter was lost and it seems like she never responded.
But we do know he must have said something because he wrote a
follow up letter that says I feel like such a cold hearted
and unsympathetic swine for writing all that I did.
No one can realize more than you how little poor Johnny meant to
me who hardly knew him. I feel so much for you darling
Mama. Who was my mother?
Who was his mother of even seriously?
Just write that in your journal. Why do you?
Why do you have to tell that to your mother so?
He here, he's like apologizing. He's like saying like I feel
like such a cold hearted swine for writing all that I did.
He's like saying, oh, Johnny meant a lot to me, even though I
hardly knew him. OK, what did you write to your
mom? Like, why did you write a long
letter? Like saying something bad about
the boy her own child passed away?
Like that's just weird to me. That is strange.
So makes me wonder about him. But after the four, Edward did a
lot of travelling on the behalf of the royal family and his
single status made him a bit of a heartthrob at the time.
The 1920s was definitely the height of his popularity and he
at that point was actually the most photographed celebrity in
the whole world. He was particularly really liked
by Americans who saw him as a style icon, and he loved
Americans back. He was getting really into
American culture and American fashion would have clothes
shipped to him overseas and he would practice speaking in an
American accent. What?
No way. I I do like the accents from the
20s. Yeah, I know.
Yeah. It's not like our dialect now.
I've never heard of an American. I mean an English person wanting
an American accent. No, but he was seen as more of a
Hollywood celebrity than a traditional monarch.
He was frequently talked about in the press, especially about
different flinks that he was having with different women,
especially married women, which his family really wasn't happy
about. What is up with that?
I know, I think like it must be something about he likes the
chase. He likes what is unattainable to
him. Why do people go after people
who are in relationships? I mean more than once.
More than once. I feel like if it happens once,
it might be because you think like this is just such a special
connection and but if it happens repeatedly, I think that's
because there's some type of power gain there that you're
chasing. Yeah, it's weird.
Like we're even meeting all these married women.
Like, aren't you going to bars with single women?
I don't know, it's just strange. So true.
It seems like he was doing it habitually too, also, just like
out in the open, like he would just, like go to events with a
wife of somebody and it's like, OK, what does the husband think?
OK, so yeah, in the early in his early 20s, he was spending a lot
of time partying in Paris, and he had a romance with a French
sex worker named Marguerite Albert.
And he broke it off with her after a year.
And then around five years later, she was charged with
murder and then acquitted. But she apparently had fatally
shot her husband. Maybe it must have been
self-defense if she was acquitted, but the royal family
desperately tried to make sure that the papers didn't mention
Edward in association with this case at all.
But it just goes to show like he's like really causing
problems for the royal family. Like they haven't had a guy like
this. And his parents, they were
raised in the Victorian era, so they have like, very strict,
like pious prude values. This would be shocking.
I mean it's it's shocking regardless, I think, to be
connected to something like that.
But wow, yeah. It's so interesting though,
because I feel like history is always repeating itself because
same with Harry, like he was such a party boy and everyone's
acting like it's like so new to the royal family.
It's, you know, every generation has some type of rebel.
It's true, I think. I think there always have been
people like that. That same year, Edward was also
involved with a British socialite named Rosemary, and he
actually even proposed to to her.
However, he broke it off with her because his family, the
royal family, didn't like some of her relatives.
Oh, which is interesting. Later on, his family won't like
the woman that he's with and he doesn't let that stop him.
But here he's like, OK, you guys get your way.
I wonder. I don't know if that was hard
for him or not. I know, I wonder.
It could be this time. Maybe he wasn't ready to get
married anyway, or he wasn't really that sure wasn't that
serious. Or maybe the second time, he's
like you already did this to me once.
Fuck you. But see, she was a socialite and
like not married and not divorced.
The family probably is like we should have just let him marry
her. I know.
Could have saved us all this embarrassment.
And yeah, his relationship with his parents really wasn't good.
He had other mistresses which really concerned his father and
also the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin.
It was. The Prime Minister Why does he
care? The Prime Minister was, like,
really concerned with Edwards. I guess it reflects poorly on
the country that's. True.
It was. Yeah, it does.
And like, 'cause like you said, with the Charles episodes, like
if people start to lose faith in the royal family, then like, the
whole monarchy is at risk. And I guess like the Prime
Minister, like, maybe that that's not a huge loss for them.
But I mean, maybe it is, 'cause it's like it has to do with the
strength of the country And you know, people are concerned, like
how committed is he to the country when he's partying all
the time and right, always leaving someone else's bed.
Womanizer he is a. Womanizer, apparently, George,
his dad the king, said. After I am dead, the boy will
ruin himself in 12 months. Oh, wow.
He also apparently hoped to God that Edward would never marry
and have kids so that nothing would come between Edward's
brother Albert and his daughter Elizabeth, who we know as Queen
Elizabeth inheriting the throne. So he really preferred oh
Albert, who later actually became known as King George the
6th. But which is weird because they
also had a brother named George. So like when he became king, he
like changed his name to George. It's so confusing.
That's his brother's name. I don't know why he couldn't
have just been King Albert. I'm not.
I don't know why. They're, like, weird about
names. But King George, Edward's dad,
was super worried about this. I feel like it like kept him up
at night. And I would describe Edward.
He was not really an intellectual, but he was very
quick witted and charming. It seems like he was a thrill
seeker. He loved racing horses and
flying planes. He was literally a short king.
He was only 5-7 taller than Eddie Fisher.
True. Wait, how old?
How tall was he again? I think he was 55.
Wow. Yeah, it's all in comparison.
People were shorter back then. I guess not.
That's not that far back, but I don't.
Know. I think it depends where, and
that wasn't even that long ago. True.
Maybe. I think people were shorter,
like 1000 years ago. He's been described as reckless,
rebellious, the People's Prince, brave, but also cold and deeply
disturbed. Oh.
So deeply disturbed. Yeah.
Just lying that slide, that one in at the end, yeah.
The people's friends, Yeah, deeply disturbed.
I think people liked him because, like, he was fun, but
then it got to be too much. But who was Wallace Simpson?
So she was born Bessie Wallace Warfield on June 19th, 1896 in
Blue Ridge Summit, PA. So she's an American.
Her father Tico. I hope I pronounced that right.
How do? You spell it.
Like T, Like TEA and then CKLE. So it's like tickle but with T.
Yeah. He was the youngest son of a
very popular flower merchant in Baltimore.
And his dad was well known for running for mayor of the city in
1875. And her mother was the daughter
of a stockbroker. It seemed like they came from a
kind of wealthy family. One of her uncle's was super,
super rich. They weren't really rich
themselves, but they knew people who were.
And she went by Bessie Wallace growing up like 2 names.
But somewhere along the way, she dropped the Bessie and just went
by Wallace, which was her dad's middle name.
And yeah, I know because Wallace to me is like kind of a
masculine name. That's why I said it was
unusual, but and. Yeah, I guess that confirms.
I mean, it was her dad's middle name.
Yeah, and when Wallace was just seven months old, her dad
actually sadly passed away from tuberculosis.
After that, she and her mother were very financially dependent
upon her father's wealthy single brother, who they lived with in
a four story house that they shared with Wallace's paternal
grandmother for a few years. And then after that, her and her
mom temporarily lived with her Aunt Bessie in Baltimore for at
least a year until they moved into a House of their own.
Mel, you're going to Baltimore tomorrow.
I know, first time to shout out any Baltimore listeners.
And then when she was just 12 years old, her mom remarried to
a guy named John and he was the son of a very prominent member
of the Democratic Party. So, like again, everyone's like
the son or the brother of someone who like has wealth.
And as a teenager, Wallace's rich uncle paid for her to
attend a very expensive all girls school in Maryland, where
she made friends with a lot of heiresses and socialites, and
she was described by her classmates as being
exceptionally bright, driven, and well dressed, the biographer
Philip Ziegler wrote, though Wallace's jaw was too heavy for
her to be counted. Beautiful, OK, kind of mean.
Her fine Violet blue eyes. Wait, that's so weird.
Another person described as having Violet eyes.
I've never even seen that in real.
Life though. Me neither.
I don't buy it. Violet eyes.
I don't think it's real. You can even Google it.
Like there won't be any real photos of people with Violet
eyes. But that's so weird.
A shorter man with a woman with Violet eyes.
Oh my gosh. Lacking self-control and being
prone to adultery. 2 days in A. Row Eddie, for sure, and
Elizabeth Taylor. I'll Ever Again.
So interesting, but yeah. Her Violet blue eyes and petite
figure, quick wits, vitality and capacity for total concentration
on her inter inter ocular ensured that she had many
admirers. And she did.
She first got married at age 20 to a man named Earl Weinfeld
Spencer Junior. Interesting.
Spencer like also, you know, kind of connected to the royal
family with that last name. He was AUS Navy aviator who she
met through her cousin, who was also in the Navy.
But their marriage was pretty short lived.
It was very tumultuous and her husband was a very heavy drinker
and would and Wallace apparently would have affairs with other
men. So interesting.
I know. Yeah, I was.
The reason why I said Wallace was because I was in my notes.
I assumed like it was going to be him for a second and then I
remembered. Nope it.
Was her. He must have been cheating too,
though maybe at one point she so she, I don't know why, but she
was like travelling a lot when she was young.
Obviously a lot of people travel but like at that time you had to
like take boats and it was really hard.
So I don't know, she just was like living the life.
And she spent over a year in China while she was married but
without her husband. And apparently she had an affair
with an Italian diplomat and became pregnant, actually.
Oh my goodness. This could be rumors, but they
say that it resulted in a botched abortion that left her
infertile, and when she got back to the US, she and her husband
lived apart from each other. And then they officially
divorced when she was 31 years old, and her very rich uncle at
the time was so upset that she had gotten divorced that when he
died he only left her $15,000, which was pennies compared to
the $5,000,000 that she was expecting to receive from her.
So she had to, you know, find other means of getting money.
And so she quickly remarried to a man named Ernest Simpson, who
was a shipping executive and a former officer.
He was also once divorced, and he had a daughter of his own.
And they briefly Linden lived in London together because his
parents were from there. But then they travelled back to
the US when her mother was dying, and after she passed away
the couple moved back to the England and they had a pretty
comfortable life. They lived in a house full of
servants, and we're always associating with people of the
higher class. Wow, it's funny.
I mean, maybe they're an exception, but you just think of
like, oh, the 1920s, whatever. Like people, people didn't
really get divorced. Clearly they did.
No, yeah, seriously. I mean, they're both on their
second marriages. I mean, I don't know.
I feel like it's so funny with the royal family being, like,
against divorce. Because isn't.
The whole reason why like Protestant came to be is because
the Protestant denomination of Christianity is because Henry
the Eighth wanted to get divorced.
OK, interestingly, I know I have thought the same thing.
I think that the reason they broke off was not really to make
divorce accepted in the Church of England.
It was more to not have to listen to the Pope.
So that made the King in charge of the Church of England so he
could do whatever he wanted. But it didn't mean that all the
other people could get divorced. That makes sense, yeah.
I know, but it's yeah, I mean, that's in the fabric of the
royal family. Exactly.
And then they're like, so, so strict about it.
So when Wallace and Edward met at this time, so we're in 1931,
Edward was having an affair with a different marriage, socialite
and actress named Thelma Furnace.
And Thelma was throwing a house party at her country house in
borough court. And after another couple got
sick and had to cancel, she invited Wallace in earnest,
because she had known Wallace through her sister, but just
casually, like I think they had only met once before.
OK. And at the party she introduced
Wallace to Edward Cause apparently Wallace really wanted
to meet him and according. To night they met.
It's literally the night they met.
Wow. Apparently, according to the
History Press, Edward Van Wallace, sympathetic
understanding and witty. And I have a clip of them later
talking about the night that they first met.
OK. Simpson and I first met over a
weekend at the House of friends near Melton Mowbray in
Leicestershire. She had a terrible cold and was
not feeling or looking her best. Our first conversation was
surprisingly stilted and banal, and it ranged from the lack of
central heating in British country homes and the ruggedness
of the British climate. Mrs. Simpson had heard a song
about the Prince sometime before.
I remember coming back from China.
It was off of the Prince's trip to America.
And there's this song then saying I knew a girl who knew a
girl who danced with the Prince of Wales, Wallis.
Warfield Simpson has now been married to Ernest Simpson, her
second husband. For three years they lived in
London, and that year Mrs. Simpson was presented at court.
I was struck by the grace of her carriage and the dignity of her
movements. After our first meeting I didn't
see him again until the following spring.
Then we met occasionally in the houses of friends.
From the first, I looked upon her as the most independent
woman I had ever met, and presently the hope formed.
But one day I might be able to share my life with her.
Just how I did not know. Wow.
His accent is so posh. I know.
And also, I feel like hers isn't.
That different from? I know I was thinking the same
thing. Except, she said.
Like, again. Yeah, which I don't even say
that. Maybe she kind of adopted it in
a accent. Maybe married to him.
Yeah, but yeah, I mean, I feel like people spoke back then so
much more formal than they do now that it sounds very British.
It does so a year after they first met though, as they said
Wallace and Edward didn't see each other until Edward invited
the couple, Wallace and Ernest to dine with them in London and
they all became good friends. Like couple friends, even though
Edward and Thelma were not really an official couple
because Thelma was married. Oh my, that is crazy.
It's just weird. It's like it's weird that Thelma
was even throwing a party at Edward's place when she's.
Married. What does your husband think
about that girl? It's crazy that they're.
Going out on basically double dates, literally socializing as
a couple. I don't get it.
I really don't. But maybe if you just, like,
have that much power, Like, you don't give a fuck.
And after that, Edward invited the couple to spend a weekend at
his country house in Fort Bel of Belvedere.
Soon after, staff and family members grew very suspicious
that something was going on between the two, but Edward
denied that anything was happening while she was still
married at this. Time.
It is interesting. He keeps inviting them.
I know. Seriously.
In 1933, he was still seeing Thelma, but was becoming more
and more infatuated with Wallace and even threw her a 37th
birthday party. Whoa.
It's also interesting that they're like in their late 30s.
He's like, you're damn near 40 and it's it's just interesting
that this is all happening when they're getting closer and
closer to middle age too. Like it seems very immature.
I know I would have thought they were in their 20s.
I know. What?
And then she threw a 4th of July party and invited him to her
house that same year. And he probably was like, yeah,
4th of July. OK, They're at parties.
Yeah. They're probably like looking
across the room at each other. And then around this time,
Thelma, his lover, sailed off to the US and lived there.
So Edward began putting all of his attention onto Wallace and
was just falling more and more in love with her.
And he was very attracted to the fact that it seemed like she
didn't really care about him being the Prince.
That's the way to Prince's heart, apparently.
Exactly, exactly. But it tells me again that he
likes the chase. Like, this is kind of a game to
him. And around this time, Wallace's
husband Ernest was having some financial problems.
So Edward would shower Wallace with clothes and jewelry and
other expensive things, which at the time, Wallace's husband
didn't seem to have a problem with.
I don't know. Strange.
Yeah. A guy getting your wife jewelry.
I would be. Worried.
And I think like the king really had a problem with it because
this is taxpayers dollars. Like all of his money comes from
the people of England. And if people find out that he's
doing these things, they're really going to lose trust in
the monarchy. So yeah, but he can't control
himself. So Edward, He wanted Wallace to
meet his family, even though she's literally married.
Are they are they together at this point?
They're like having an affair. But she's still with her
husband, so he's denying that anything is happening.
Like he's telling his dad. Oh no, like it's we're just
friends. But he brings Wallace to his
brother George's wedding, and the king was really not cool
with this. He did not want Wallace to come,
and he even had her removed off the guest list.
But Edward somehow still managed to bring her anyway.
But actually, Ernest also came with her.
I don't know where Ernest is during the wedding when Edward
and Wallace run off with each other.
So are they. They're sleeping together at
this point, yeah. I'm pretty sure.
Wow. I don't know for sure like 100%,
but I think it's implied. It does remind me of.
Charles and Camilla. Cause Camilla was often not
allowed at things too. Yeah, it's weird that the Royal
Family didn't learn their lesson by then.
At least Camilla was divorced. I'm pretty sure.
Like she it wasn't like an affair until Diana came along,
right? Like they had their window of
Yeah, you're right, God. Trying to remember back to that
episode, but. Anyway, apparently when Wallace
met the King and Queen, it was pretty pleasant.
Like, obviously they weren't going to have a fight right
there. But afterwards the King demanded
that she'd not be invited to any more royal events at all.
But Edward doubled down and became insistent that she came,
becoming just obsessed with Wallace.
And that November he took her on a very public ski trip to
Austria and bought her a $60,000 or £60,000 worth of jewelry.
Wow. Which is crazy.
It's almost like his dad telling him no.
He just wanted to be with her more.
It's. Childish.
But I know. But then it's like, oh, is it
true love? Or is he just being childish?
OK, like that's my thing about it is I think this common
narrative with this couple is like, oh, he fell in love with a
twice divorcee and the royal family wouldn't let him be with
her, but he did everything he could to be with her anyway.
But it's a little bit less romantic that he had a habit of
getting with married women. He wasn't with a twice divorcee,
he was with a once divorcee currently married woman.
True. And he had been with married
women. Before.
Exactly. So it's like, I feel like for
it's less about true love and more about the power gain here.
That's a little he just wants, yeah, I know.
He just wants what he can't have, it seems.
Well, I appreciate you telling us the truth, Mel.
I mean, who knows? Like, you know they did.
Spoiler they were married for the rest of their lives, but the
king is pissed. But Edward keeps denying to him
that anything romantic is happening or sexual, but somehow
he keeps bringing her to stuff and it's just pretty obvious
he's crazy. So then it's 1936 January.
Edward finds out through his mother that his father is in
poor health and he flies to be by his bedside and the king then
died only a few days later on January 20th, making Edward the
King of England. Oh boy, he is not ready for
this. Like, my gosh, but he's not even
that young. No, he's not.
But he's like living like a bachelor.
He's partying all the time. He doesn't give a fuck about
anything other than like sex. And I don't know, I'm sure he's
doing drugs and not like drinking a lot.
This is rough for him. I don't think he even really
wants to be king. So he calls Wallace and he tells
her the news. And then in October of that
year, she officially filed for divorce from her husband so that
they could be together. That's interesting.
Soon, I know. Yeah.
Soon after that, the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin met
with Edward, and he warned him that a public relationship with
Wallace would be a bad look for the country and that he should
just keep her as a mistress. And he also strongly urged
Edward to prevent Wallace and her husband from divorcing
Stanley Baldwin. Edward obviously refused to not
break up the marriage to keep Wallace and Ernest together, and
he told the Prime Minister that he really wanted to marry
Wallace. But the Prime Minister said that
the people of England would never accept her and meanwhile
it was believed at the time that the establishment, like the
Royal family, believed that Wallace was more driven by money
and power rather than true love. So they were very suspicious of
her. Interestingly, later on Wallace
actually blamed her divorce on Earnest, on him being
unfaithful, but obviously. She wasn't.
Yeah, maybe he was. Yeah.
But so is she. So.
In a little context here, the world was on the brink of
another World War, so it was a very bad time for the King's
commitment to the Crown to be in question at all.
True, the you know, they had to have a very strong united front
here and like just be role models for the country.
And Edward Secretary apparently wrote to him and said the
silence in the British press on the subject of Your Majesty's
friendship with Missus Simpson is not going to be maintained.
Judging by the letters from British subjects living in
foreign countries where the press has been outspoken, the
effect will be calamitous. Oh wow.
So I mean, he's a king. And if he gets with a twice
divorced woman who it's very obvious he had an affair with,
it might look bad to other countries at the time.
Not that I think that there's anything scandalous about being
divorced, but at this time, I can see why It was a concern for
the family. And they're apparently panicking
over there in England about this relationship.
Yeah. And they're actually having
police detectives follow Wallace and Edward can spy on them,
which again, very similar to Charles and Camilla.
Yeah, they. Were spied on as well.
So I mean, clearly this family has a history of that and if
they don't like someone, they will make it known.
And it's just so interesting because I feel like it must be
so hard to be accepted by this family.
You know we have Camilla and also Diana and also Meghan
Markle like. It's hard talk about picture,
even normal families. I think it can be hard to bring
people into a family with this. This one is very.
Very particular. I wonder if they would accept
me. Probably not people.
People in the palace started to believe that Edward was sexually
abnormal, quote and it seems like I feel weird talking about
this. But like, he maybe definitely
had a fetish for women who were more sexually dominant than him,
and that no, I'd feel weird, but that Wallace maybe held over him
some type of dominance and people were speculating.
I don't know if this is true, that maybe she had learned some
type of practices in a Chinese brothel.
What practices? I don't know.
I don't know this. Is what the people were saying.
How did they know this? I don't know.
But so, I mean, it does seem like maybe there's something to
that. Like he liked what he couldn't
have. He liked that she didn't care
about him. He liked a woman to demean him
in some way. He got off on that.
I don't know. He liked power dynamics, where
he was a little subordinate. I don't know.
You know, we weren't there. There's no way to say.
But also again, the Royal Family, they might be putting
planting these stories in the press to make Wallace look bad.
They all. That story makes him look weird.
Oh yeah, no, it does make him look weird.
But they also apparently there were stories that she was having
affairs with other men too, not just Edward.
But we don't know if that's true or not.
No, we don't know. So then in December, Edward has
only been king for several months.
How many months? Let's see, a little less than a
year, 11 months. Edward signed his abdication
papers to step down from the throne.
Huge sacrifice here. And he said in his statement, I
have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of
responsibility and to discharge my duties as king, as I would
wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love,
which it is very brave of him to do that.
And I was thinking a lot of like, why didn't Charles just do
that? But.
Well, he wasn't even king. Yeah, that's you're right, He
wasn't king. And but also, I understand too,
like the duty to your country. And if you've been raised to
believe that it is your responsibility to inherit the
throne your whole life, people, there's one of two ways that
that could go for someone. And like, I think Edward just
like never even really wanted to be king in the 1st place and so
he was looking for an excuse. Yeah, I do think Charles really
wanted it and was preparing for decades, but wow.
I know he. Really did it?
He did it, and the next day Edward's brother Albert became
the king. Like I said, he then went by
King George the 6th and Edward went back to be being a Prince,
which honestly seems like not a bad life.
Like he still got an allowance, but he had a lot less
responsibilities and could do what he wanted.
He's still a Prince. Mm hmm.
Which is cool. And supporters of Edward, they
blamed the Prime Minister for this.
But most members of the royal family were actually pretty
relieved that he stepped down. Who's the supporter of Edward?
No offense. People like why?
Why would people really? Want him to be king?
Well, like I said, like he was like very stylish people were
again attracted to him. And you know, people who maybe
didn't really like the monarchy in the 1st place liked him.
I see people like a rebel. Some, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. But you know that, like, that's
obviously bad for the country too, that now people are mad at
the Prime Minister because of him stepping down and they
think, Oh my. Gosh, they made him do this.
They wouldn't let him be with her.
And so felt like I I kind of get it.
Maybe they should have just let him marry her.
But again, at the same time, like then maybe people wouldn't
have had accepted her and it just was this whole thing.
Yeah, so it's 1937. No, they wouldn't have.
It would have been a mockery for.
They could like throwing tomatoes at her or something.
Yeah, yeah. And she was an American, too.
Even worse. So 1937, Wallace's divorce from
Ernest was finally officially finalized, and on June 3rd the
couple married at the Chateau de Conde in France on what would
have been his father's 72nd birthday.
Like what a way to? Oh wow, His dad would not have
approved, no. He would not have, and the bride
wore a blue dress and none of the groom's family attended at
all. And I think he was pretty hurt
by that. I think he felt pretty rejected.
And they were invited and they didn't go.
No, they didn't go. But after they got married,
Wallace, she became the Duchess of Windsor.
But King George filed papers denying her the right to be
called Her Royal Highness, which Edward was also pretty pissed
about. It's crazy how official.
Everything is, yeah. So after they abdicated the
throne, they were feeling pretty rejected by his family and
honestly, all of England. So Edward turned to Germany for
support and in 1937 he and Wallace travelled to meet.
They travelled to meet Hitler. I know, I know.
This is why I like, don't sympathize for them, because
they're honestly kind of Nazi sympathizers.
And they took photos with Hitler and Edward wrote a very kiss ass
letter to him, thanking him for his hospitality.
A kiss ass letter, yeah. And then in 1939 he released a
public address urging Britain to come to terms with Germany four
months before the war broke out. So this is like before the
Holocaust has really started, before people really know of,
like the extreme trap like. Maybe we can give him the
benefit of the doubt. You you might think maybe he's
naive here, but some people speculate that Hitler personally
helped the couple flee to Portugal and put them in a
really nice mansion. Oh my God, it was breaking out.
I know, like, they actually like, we're pretty close.
And some historians think that, like I said, at best Edward was
maybe naive about the direction that the Nazi party was heading
in, but and maybe that they were also manipulating Edward because
they saw that he had a reason to betray the royal family.
Oh my. Gosh, yeah.
And that, yeah. Plot of a movie like.
The I know, for real. Yeah, for real.
So honestly, no. It is because then in 1945, a
series of top secret documents were found in Germany that were
allegedly documents of correspondence between Edward
and Nazi agents and in the documents, the Nazis.
Are trying to. Convince Edward?
Yep. They're trying to convince him
to join them in order to help bring about peace negotiations
with the UK. And in the letters, they are
trying to manipulate Edward into thinking that his own brother,
the king and the Prime Minister were planning to assassinate
him. And we're trying to convince him
to stage a kidnapping in the Bahamas, which is where him and
Wallace are living, because he was given governance power of
the Bahamas at the time, staged a kidnapping in order to
blackmail his family into joining forces with the Nazis.
I don't know how this would work, honestly.
Blackmail the Royal family into joining forces with the Nazis.
OK, so they're just lying to him, I'm guessing about the
assassination thing. And then they're saying, because
this probably won't actually happen, but like, let's stage it
and blame it on them and. Yep.
And they're trying to like, just basically forge a greater wedge
between him and his family. Don't fall for.
It yeah, honestly, it seems like he does a little bit.
He never, like, accepts that plan.
But the Nazis were also saying that, you know, once they join
forces or something, they would reinstate him as king, which I
don't know how they would have power to do that, and also make
Wallace the queen. He doesn't even want that.
I know that obviously doesn't happen.
I know, yeah, he literally doesn't want to be dead.
But I think he likes, he wants Wallace to have like some type
of royal like that's like that was a sort subject for him.
Edward doesn't agree to that. But in his one of his final
letters to the Nazis, he suggested that they should bomb
Britain. What Bomb his home country.
Bomb the country where his whole family lives so bad.
Like This is why. This is why.
Like, I felt like I can't be like, oh, this is a beautiful
story, this couple. You let, like, definitely leave
this out when they talk about them.
For real. For real.
Like Okay. He's that mad at his family that
he is okay with them being bombed.
Like, I'm sorry, that's horrible.
Seriously, that's that's again, deeply disturbed.
He says it so in in order for the Nazis in the UK to have
peace negotiations, but oh. Gosh, is this mentioned on the
Crown at all? I don't think so.
I I've only watched like 5 episodes of season one though,
which is mostly focused on Elizabeth.
Oh, OK. Wow.
Holy crap, it does seem like the Nazis were taking advantage of
the fact that Edward felt so abandoned by his family.
So I can see how maybe there were possibly reasons why he
wanted nothing to do with them. But that's just, like extreme.
And also like I have some, I have some character here like
and I can see why his family also would want nothing to do
with him. Beyond the innocent people of
the country, that has nothing to do with your families.
Basically. Or the innocent people in the
concentration camps. Okay, get over your stupid
relationship. Who gives a fuck?
I mean, this is just like, if you're taking it that personally
that you're like sympathizing with the Nazi party, like I
don't feel bad for you. I don't sympathize with your
problems. But I can also see why the royal
family that meant to say this wanted nothing to do with him.
It makes they make it seem like, oh, like they just don't want to
speak to him because they don't like his wife.
Like, no, I think they also feel like he's kind of a traitor to
the country and they can't trust him and he's a liability, so
he's an embarrassment to them. Yeah, I wonder if he, did he
feel that the current government or everything should just be
abolished? Like, did he like the Nazi's
vision? He wanted England to adopt that.
Like, did it go that far or? I'm not too sure about his
politics in the context of that time, but I did read that he had
very conservative beliefs for that time period.
I mean, I can see feeling like rejected and then feeling
accepted by somebody else, but that's just too far, man.
Way too. Far guessing they still had
friends and such like yeah, how could you be that?
I don't know. I guess we have the hindsight
to. I don't know.
That's crazy. Yeah, literally Hitler.
No. Yeah, the absolute worst person
in the world to ever exist. So it goes back to like the
thing he said about his brother, like his death being a nuisance.
Like, I don't think that he seems to really value human life
and people and other people's pain that much.
So it's hard for me to feel for their story.
There's. Got to be something really
detached to think so casually about.
Not casually, but just talk about bombing a country or yeah,
yeah. It's scary and it's a good thing
he wasn't king at the time. Honestly.
Huge blessing that that didn't happen.
That's true. Everything happens.
No, I'm just kidding. It's like actually so bad.
But after abdicating the throne, Edward stayed married to Wallace
for the rest of his life. But it wasn't really this great
love story that it seems either, historian Tracy Borman said.
Here's a myth that he had one of history's greatest love affairs,
but it is a great myth. Giving up the throne for the
love of a woman sounds incredibly romantic, but if you
delve deeper into Edward's character and into his
relationship with Wallace, you'll realize that it's not all
as it appears. He was actually a very flawed
character. He grew up with all sorts of
insecurities. He was quite childlike when it
came to women, and you definitely see that when it
comes to his relationship with Wallace.
She's almost like a mother figure to Edward and this
historian. Tracy developed A Smithsonian
docu series called The Private Lives of Monarchs where she did
a lot of research into their personal lives and suggested
that Edward never wanted to be king and that he because he made
this big sacrifice, he expected a lot from Wallace in return and
that she felt a lot of pressure from them.
Because what can she even give him back?
Exactly. That equals that.
And it sounds like she maybe can't have children.
That's I I only mentioned that that seems like the kind of
thing that someone would maybe, I don't know, say like, yeah,
you owe me something. I don't know what what what can
she do? I know this historian also said
he just wanted her all to himself.
He was quite suffocating when it came to his love for Wallace.
That's why there were rumors of her having an affair to escape.
It would have been disastrous for the monarchy.
He just wanted to be in her company all the time and it was
very clear that for him, Wallace was everything.
She was enough for him to give up the crown.
It was a weight of responsibility.
It lifted. But all of this must have felt
like such a pressure for her to be everything that Edward
wanted. He just wanted to be with her
24/7. They were hardly ever apart and
he quickly became quite jealous if she spoke to any other man
and that she goes on to say, ironically, this suffocating
behavior actually drove her from him.
They obviously never separated, but it really made her want to
have space because he just was desperate to possess her
entirely. He didn't know how to act around
others, he just wanted what he wanted.
And when the government told him he couldn't have Wallace, it
became this huge obsession. That's interesting.
I feel like that really can cause obviously so much conflict
and just tricky dynamics when somebody gives something up for
the relationship. And I don't think that means
it's like impossible to make it work.
I think you just have to, like, really be honest about how
you're feeling. And yeah, I don't know, I can
see him kind of, even if he didn't really want deep down,
didn't want to be king, kind of this pressure he's putting on
it. Like, I gave up everything for
you. Like this has to be like
everything, you know. And almost having to prove to
him. I mean, I'm kind of inserting my
own vision here, but I can see him like doubling down on her,
you know, that this is everything and that's intense.
Totally, yeah. And I also think, I don't know
if I can articulate this well, but I used to think that a
relationship that starts with intensity, almost like it's a
movie. That's what I wanted.
And that, like, it's because there's nothing more exciting
that, like once you get it, it's a resolution to something.
And forbidden romance is like the most intense thing that you
can have. But then like, once they're
together, it's like, where do you go from there?
It's tougher relationship to already start on such rocky
grounds. And I feel if you're used to
that intensity, and it seems almost like he was addicted to
that, then that probably manifests in other ways.
Once they're together like you you're not.
They're probably not. Just like sitting at home
playing chess, doing a crossword like drinking tea.
There's no way to know like what life behind closed doors was
really like for them, but it probably wasn't ideal.
Like especially if there seems to be like he had a lot of pent
up anger towards people. Yeah, and maybe him getting
really jealous and possessive, That's like his way of.
I mean, yeah, we don't really, we didn't know them, but way of
keeping it exciting, you know, almost like, yeah, inventing
little dramas. And I don't know.
I mean, sounds like she maybe did have an affair, but.
Yeah, but he maybe liked that. I hate to say it, but like, he's
always dating, went unavailable women and women who were
married. And so like, how can you then
just be happy with a woman who's like, married to you?
There's no chase in that. So they totally don't betray him
this way. On the Crown, though, I feel
like they make it seem like he just like sacrificed everything
for the woman he loved. The royal family just can't
accept it. Yeah.
And they I. I don't.
Know I need to watch more episodes.
So it's if they talk about his Nazi sympathizing ways.
I mean that's like truly unforgivable.
So I think that was I think that was like a bigger reason why the
family didn't want anything to do with him but they did just
interact with him somewhat. So after the Second World War,
he's was basically retired and they both just like lived as
celebrities. But they did receive an
allowance and for extra money he wrote a memoir called A King
Story, which basically he just like talked about his political
beliefs. He occasionally still interacted
with his mother, but the family never accepted Wallace.
He visited his brother George's funeral, but chose not to attend
his niece Elizabeth Elizabeth's coronation as the Queen.
He said like he thought it wasn't appropriate for a former
reigning monarch to visit the coronation of another reigning
monarch. But it's like that.
Like literally never happens because usually people don't
abdicate the throne. True, he was only the king for a
year. Was it like a bad luck type of
thing or I thought he would outshine?
Maybe. Yeah, that was, that was.
Only eleven months. I know he like, wants to remind
people like I was king and the last royal event that he ever
attended was for his sister-in-law, Princess Marina.
Her funeral in 1968. And then his health began to
decline and he was diagnosed with throat cancer in the early
in his early 70s after years of heavy smoking.
And apparently his niece Elizabeth came to visit him on a
state visit to France and she met with him for about 15
minutes. But then ten days later he died
on May 28th, 1972 at the age of 77.
And Wallace, she had a very hard time after his death.
She became very physically frail and and started developing
dementia and suffered some pretty bad falls which led her
to breaking her hip twice. Also her lawyer at the time was
made the power of attorney but totally took advantage of
Wallace and was very exploitative and would sell
Wallace's personal items to her friends to make a profit.
And it's really sad. She still received an allowance
from the Queen, but nobody visited her and.
Towards the end of her life she lost the ability to speak and
the only interaction she would have with other people would
just be like nurses and doctors. She really had no family or
loved ones around her at all. That's really depressing.
Yeah, she just lived basically in isolation from.
People, even though I really hate they hung out with Hitler.
Literally. That is just really sad to hear.
I know about another human. And then?
She died on April 24th, 1986 at age 89.
But it's so odd because even though she never received any
visitors in the Royal family didn't accept her.
They still had a funeral for her, which included her sister
in Law's and the Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip and Prince
Charles and Princess Diana. They all attended.
And later Diana, yeah. And later Diana said this was
the only time that she ever saw the Queen cry, which is weird,
like she didn't even visit her. But yeah, that's the story.
I feel like there's a lot more that I could have included in
that. But that's always true.
Oh, it's sad. Mixed feelings, but very.
Interesting. It's sad, 'cause I wanted to
root for them more. Yeah, I just like couldn't.
Once I saw the Hitler stuff, I was like.
It sounds on the outside like such a romantic story.
I know. I guess it was for them.
Yeah, for them, well, but I guess like all love fluctuates
as time goes on and no relationship is like perfect.
But yeah, I don't know, like how great they even were as a
married couple. They would have to stay together
though. This is also what I feel about
Charles and Camilla, even though I do feel like they do really
love each other. But it's just like after all of
that, you cannot break up. Oh no, not at all.
No. And then you would look kind of
crazy like you would look like you have no control or you're
just like running on your whims. And you know, if you abdicate
the throne and then and say it's to be with her and then you
don't even end up with her. Like that would be that would
look poured I think. Oh, it's totally.
I mean, it's kind of like an US Against the World relationship,
which true, You know, we covered a few episodes back the Taylor
Johnsons. That is a type.
Yes, and I feel like it does really bond a couple when
everybody hates them together and they want to prove the
haters wrong by enduring. But maybe they ignore some
problems along the way and that's.
Against the world. Well, thank you Mel, for
researching all of that. So interesting.
Thank you guys for listening. Next week on the Patreon we will
be covering a more modern ish couple.
Not really, but couple decades ago.
But they're. Still around though, yeah?
Yeah, still around, Still people.
We know. This will mean nothing to you
guys at all, but both these celebrities.
I have a list in my phone of celebrities who I think not look
like us per SE, but look like they would be members of our
family. You should read that list next
episode. I want to hear who's on it.
I should I need to expand on upon it a bit, but both these
people are in that list. I think they both look like they
could be a part of our family. Another hint that might work
better for you guys is they both could be referred to by their
initials, which would include three letters.
They both go by three names for that.
Too much of A hint. Too much of A hint.
I wouldn't say one of them is like 3 names per SE.
It's like 2 names in a suffix. I guess yes.
Guys, I feel like I'm practically telling you, I won't
say anymore. Well, thank you guys so much for
listening. Tell us what you think of this
couple. Do you ship it?
Is it detestable? I know.
It's like, hard. Yeah, it's hard for me to ship
it. Like I I went into this thinking
that I would, like, hate the Royal Family for keeping what
true love apart. And then I was like, you know,
like, honestly, I can see why the Royal Family was annoyed
with them. Yeah, well, we love you guys.
We love you. And we'll get back together next
week the. End is your heart beating with
pain? Shall I come?
Back again.