Duke and Duchess of Windsor Part 2

[Alixz]

Thanks - I will look into it.

[Robert_Hall]

The new book by Hugo Vickers is supposed to be  quite good, but I have barely touched the surface and he is known to be  pro-Wallis. His other royal bios are generally very good as well.

[LadyTudorRose]

The new book by Hugo Vickers is supposed to be  quite good, but I have barely touched the surface and he is known to be  pro-Wallis. His other royal bios are generally very good as well.

I got it when it first came out. It was great in that it documented her final years and death and shined some light on a period that was shrouded in mystery. But in the shorter second half where he covers her earlier life it's a bit rushed, and I don't agree with a lot of his conclusions, probably because he didn't have the space to elaborate. He's actually not as pro-Wallis as people think; he goes against the crazy stories like her being a Nazi but he doesn't paint her as being a nice, pleasant, or even honest human being. He's even harsher on David.

Basically it's the absolute best book out there if you only want to know about Wallis's later life, but far from the best if you want to read about her whole life.

[Robert_Hall]

Thanks Jenianne, this gives me more of an incentive to read it.  However, at 393 pages, not including notes & index,
 he should have had plenty of room to expand.  Vickers is well recognised and is pretty much given a blank cheque on length of his tomes, so I am told.
 There re  other books on th end of the Duchess, but I imgine he had the most access to her archives.

[Martyn]

[


These are pictures that Martyn thought were lost to cyber space.

Julie

Is that the thread that contained images and information that I posted some years back?  I thought that it was lost, like the Maud of Norway clothing thread.....

[TampaBay]

I do know if it is the exact same thread (maybe it was merged) but all the pictures and our discussion from 2007 are present.  It starts about page 25.  I think the D&D of Windsor threads were some how merged.

TampaBay

[Alixz]

As to biographies of Wallis and David, I am more interested in their lives before the abdication as their lives after that seemed boring, childish, churlish and pointless.  The roamed the world complaining about things that they themselves caused to happen.

I ordered the Ralph Martin book (for 99cents) and hope to find a different view of Wallis and some new information.

[Robert_Hall]

How timely; I have just read of a new play opening in London 26 Oct. [I leave for London 1 Nov.]
 THE LAST OF THE DUCHESS by Wright. Based on the Blackwood book.  It is at the Hampstead theatre which I am not familiar with so will have to search it out.
  Should be good, as both the playwright and the author of the book are excellent.
  You can be sure I will  check this out !

[Janet Ashton]

I have a question about biographies.  Does anyone know what the best biography of Wallis would be?  I have read Greg King's book and I was disappointed in his somewhat biased lean toward Wallis and his use of her book The Heart Has Its Reasonsfor most of his sources.,

To clarify: there are three chapters about Wallis's early life which rely heavily on her memoir. The book is 47 chapters long and has a twelve-page bibliography.  To avoid disappointment, if you want a book which claims to be definitive, it's probably not a good idea to read one which openly states in its introduction that it will present the side of her ignored by several recent (at the time) antipathetic works.

[Eddie_uk]

I agree there lives after the abdication where pretty pointless. Apparently the Duke once spent a whole day watching the Duchess choose a hat! What a dreary existence! Very worth while, not!

[Robert_Hall]

Same here,Eddie, except i would add, their lives before the abdication were pretty useless as well.  Edaward VIII would have been a disaster as a king, and that has become fairlyobvious. Despite his so called affability, he was a useless snob and could not work  with any government.
 Books- I just counted mine on the  D&D Windsors,before packing them away, my libray is being renovated and expanded, I have 15  volumes on them. All  points of view. I discount their so-called memoirs, they paid  to have them written and are pure trash, as far as I am concerned. However, there are good volumes both pro & con  and my collection must  just be a fraction of what has been written about them.
  BTW, Eddie, good to hear you chiming in here, i was wondering where you were.
 

[Eddie_uk]

Thank you Robert!! I am not particularly knowleagable about this couple, nor that interested. I am chiefly fascinated in Queen Victoria, her children & grandchildren. Oh and George VI & QE  too!

[Kalafrana]

I think the Duke was probably at his best as a young man in WW1 when he was really keen to serve in the front line but no one would let him. However, there is a parallel with Charles Edward Stuart, who was at his best during his escape after Culloden (though even then causing problems by getting drunk!), but not much use before and totally useless after!

Robert, could you recommend any of the books in your collection?

Ann

[feodorovna]

Is anything known about the PoW/King/DoWs drinking habits? His personality strikes me as hovering around the melancholy/depressive spectrum and possibly the type that would use alcohol to drown his sorrows. He seemed to escape getting hooked on cocaine-hooked on Wallis instead.

[Robert_Hall]

Feod.  From what I have read, they were lushes but the Duchess was able to  use drinking socially, which made her popular, whereas the Dike [just frommyassessment, I did not know them of course] drank himself to sleep. He was not, apparently, a nasty drunk, just dull.
 Anne, that is a hard question to answer.  I suppose it depends on one's point of approaching the subject
 There are so many  pro and con, especially on Wallis.
  I have not yet read the Vickers  book, which I will mostlikely get around  after my UK visit.
 But, I do like the Blackwood book, it  tells much about Maitre Blum and her control of the Duchess but not much about her life before.
  I do not have the Sebba book, I will collect in  soon on my London visit but I understand it is rather trashy.
 For the older volumes, I would say  THE WINDSOR STORY by  Bryan III & Murphy is fairly objective [from my memory, have not re-read it in ages] and KING EDAWRD VIII by Ziegler is  good, also from  memory.  Both of those volumes are rather dated by now i imagine, before letters and archives were made public.
 I do not have the Mitford memoir, surprisingly, which I have read, long time ago. I shall  fill that gap soon.
  I tend to write off the Duke as a dullard, but the Duchess, although I may dislike her, I find her fascinating, for better or worse.
 Cheers,
 Robert