King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson (Duke and Duchess of Windsor)

[feodorovna]

Even if Wallis had been in better health, given her great age, she may have seen the message as an irrelevance. I don't, for one moment, think she had been holding her breath in anticipation of her sister-in-law's forgiveness and as David was dead she may have felt that the past had happened too long ago to matter. I imagine, had the gesture been made during his lifetime, her feelings would have been entirely different.........and whilst I'm not a feminist, I feel aggrieved when so often women are blamed for situations which are created by men. I don't believe Wallis capable of MAKING David do anything-although I'm convinced he would have impressed on her that everything he did was for her benefit-I feel that what David did was always with David's best interests in mind.

[grandduchessella]

The Guardian's review of W.E.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/sep/01/w-e-madonna-wallis-simpson-review

Here's the opening paragragh:

Whatever the crimes committed by Wallis Simpson – marrying a king, sparking a constitutional crisis, fraternising with Nazis – it's doubtful that she deserves the treatment meted out to her in W.E., Madonna's jaw-dropping take on "the 20th-century's greatest royal love story". The woman is defiled, humiliated, made to look like a joke. The fact that W.E. comes couched in the guise of a fawning, servile snow-job only makes the punishment feel all the more cruel.


The scene with Wallis dancing with Masai warriors to the Sex Pistol's "Pretty Vacant" didn't impress either. Putting to one side the appallingly naff and self-referencing cultural judgment of inventing and filming such a spectacle, I wonder if Maj knew (or cared) that by the time this song came out (July 1977) Wallis was suffering badly with Alzheimer's and was very frail. She also had had several falls (but not sure when) around that time, one which broke her hip. That kind of disregard is just of the reasons I think this POS won't even get to be one of the so-bad-its-good camp classics (like Mommie Dearest).

"There were early drafts of the script that had the Duchess dancing with her pugs to the Sex Pistol’s God Save The Queen  while her husband lay in bed under an oxygen mask and other medical apparatus. Madonna opted instead to have the Duchess do the twist, as Chubby Checker’s great hit plays on a gramophone. ...There’s a scene where the Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson are with friends, dozing in comfy chairs. The Prince, portrayed superbly as a blonde, blue-eyed boy by James D’Arcy, screams that he’s going to wake the party up by popping Benzedrine into the champagne. Mrs Simpson hitches up her designer gown and dances the Charleston to the Sex Pistols. ‘We’re so pretty, we’re so pretty vacant’ the song goes, and it’s a sizzling moment that encapsulates the life of deluxe hedonism the couple led.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2032438/W-E-review-Madonna-makes-fall-love-Mrs-Simpson.html#ixzz1Womc6YpR

[Kalafrana]

I don't think I shall be going to see this film!

Ann

[Robert_Hall]

I shall most likely see it- at 36 thousand feet on a nonstop transatlantic flight..

[RoyalWatcher]

It sounds as though Maj gave it the Sofia Coppola treatment.

[Alixz]

Christmas cards sent after David died from Queen Elizabeth II to Wallis changed from, 'Fondest  love, Lilibet" (as they had been signed when sent to Walis and David together)  to "Elizabeth II R." - the same signature reserved for officials.

Wallis was never invited to the wedding of Princess Anne.

[feodorovna]

It's unlikely that the Queen has many clear childhood memories of Wallis. It's difficult to envisage her romping on the floor with the Princesses or reading them bedtime stories the way that David did and he probably curtailed those activities after he became obsessed with her. The Queen could possibly have developed a resentment of Wallis going back to the time she "stole" away her favourite uncle and could explain the formality of the signature on the cards once David had died.

[Eric_Lowe]

I think someone clinched it completely. On one hand we see the Queen Mum finally softened towards Wallis, as she could see that her love for David was genuine. It was also she was moved to see Wallis began talking about the Duke as if he is still alive. She told Wallis "I understood how you feel, I have been through that myself." However for Wallis it was too little too late. She told her friend Aline (the piece was featured in Vanity Fair) that "As long as he is alive, it would have meant something (the RF's attitude towards them), but now that he is gone, nothing matters."It proves how wrong they were about her. Had Wallis been a true gold-digger, she would have been keen to cash in on the offering hand. However Wallis, never asked about the HRH anymore (very similar to the reaction when the situation of Diana's HRH status was discussed with the Spencers, it is thanks but no thanks). Indeed, The present Queen had no relationship with Wallis, and once asked her mother "who is she ?", so the switching back to a more formal tone is appropriate and correct, but not very sensitive to her aunt by marriage.

[Kalafrana]

I have to rely on Greg King's book here, but apparently the Queen never met Wallis Simpson as a girl, but only saw her and knew who she was. She only met the Duchess on very rare occasions in later life.

Ann 

[Eric_Lowe]

I think it was agreed that the present Queen saw her as a little girl, but Wallis never met her and they were not introduced. hence the questionable tone of "Who is she ?". Whatever she knew about Wallis came from her parents, both were bias in their attitude towards Wallis. As said before, it is much easier to blame the outsider rather than one they once knew and loved. It is tempting to say before Wallis came, everything was fine in their mind. Both Bertie & Elizabeth held that belief and so she was blamed.

[Alixz]

I believe that Greg says that QEII was about ten when she asked her nanny who Wallis was.  She had never met or played with Wallis.

But Greg also says that Prince Charles disliked Wallis because his grandmother had told him what a terrible person Wallis was.

The Queen Mum was indeed not a very nice person as she herself is quoted to have said.

[grandduchessella]

I guess I still don't get what makes QETQM so horrible or 'not nice' because she despised Wallis. She had her view of her  based on her experiences and run-ins with Wallis (and David) and was entitled to it. Wallis had her view of the British royal family based on her experiences and was entitled to it as well. There was bad behavior on both sides to varying degrees. There was certainly blame to go all around (I put David at the top and George VI at the bottom of the 4 myself but that's my own opinion) and times when both sides didn't acquit themselves well. The way you treat one person or react to a certain situation (monumentous as it was) shouldn't come to define ones entire life or personality. I think partisans of both women could dredge up tons of incidents in each woman's life to say they were the victim and the other the villain. Maybe that only proves that both women were a little bit of both.

[Eddie_uk]

Quite so grandduchessella, I'm sure many people here have had feuds with family members and acted ungraciously at times, that's life!! I think people love a bit of scandal & go way over the top, saying how bitter & awful the Queen Mother was as a person & how unfair George VI was etc, so over the top! 

Was it Wallis or Edward that referred to the Queen Mary & Elizabeth as "ice veined bitches" ? Terrible thing to say about your relatives & particularly about Queen Mary who was an elderly lady at that point.

[feodorovna]

It was Edward who referred to his Mother and sister-in-law as "ice veined bitches," possibly because of their continued refusal to see Wallis. On the subject of family feuds, they have a habit of never becoming resolved because the original "crime" occured so far back in the mists of time that nobody alive now can recall it, all they know is that certain members of the family have always disliked each other.

[Kalafrana]

It's only fair to say that George VI was landed with the job of king at very short notice and with no time to prepare. He was Edward's heir presumptive, but at the time Edward was a healthy man of only 42, so even if he didn't make a proper marriage and produce heirs, George VI's accession was going to be a long way in the future (had Edward reigned for his actual lifespan he would have reigned for 36 years). George VI also emphatically didn't want the job and felt himself unfitted for it. I suspect that he also felt himself - this shy, awkward stammerer - to be very much in the shadow of his glamorous elder brother. On that basis, it is hardly surprising that he wanted his brother out of sight and out of mind while he was establishing himself as a king in his own right - something he did very successfully, but probably would not have done as well or as quickly but for the war. Then, of course, Edward did not exactly acquit himself well between 1937 and 1945, and doubtless caused immense irritation with his petulant behaviour over HRH and money. Not really surprising if George VI, however fond he had previously been of his brother, got rather fed up with him.

Let us bear in mind that brothers and sisters do not always get on (my brother and I don't, though we manage to be civil to one another), and their respective spouses do not always get on either (should they be expected to?).

Ann