Podcast Episode Details
Back to Podcast EpisodesThe Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Love and Scandal (Part One)
Long before Harry and Meghan, a much more serious crisis and scandal enveloped the British monarchy and the House of Windsor, the abdication of Edward VIII
The future Edward VIII, known within his immediate family by the nickname of David, was born on June 23, 1894. His father, George V, did not become the king until 1910, then anointing David, his eldest son, with the title of Prince of Wales, next in the line of royal succession. David was educated as a cadet at the Royal Naval College, went on to Oxford and also joined the Royal Navy. When war broke out in 1914 he was assigned to a safe but extremely tedious post at Allied headquarters in France. Although on paper Great Britain emerged victorious from the Great War, the cost in both casualties and expense was enormous. Across Europe, many royal dynasties were either rendered obsolete or even completely destroyed including the ruling houses of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Imperial Russia, the latter most disturbing as the Romanovs were literally exterminated by the Bolsheviks.
Actually born Bessie Wallis Warfield, on June 19, 1896, Wallis’ parents came from prominent Maryland families. Unfortunately, Wallis’ father died of tuberculosis only months after her birth and her mother Alice’s family had disowned her as a result of the marriage, probably because her daughter was conceived out of wedlock. The infant and her mother then were supported by her deceased husband’s wealthy brother and her mother’s sister Bessie, until 1908 when Wallis’ mother remarried. Her uncle paid for a prep school education and Wallis was socially prominent and attractive enough to be designated as a Baltimore debutante, although the outbreak of World War I suspended such frivolity. Not wild about some of the suitors hanging around Wallis in Maryland, her mother decided it might be a good idea to send her to Pensacola, Florida, where her cousin, Corinne was married to an officer who was the commander of the Naval Air Station in Pensacola. Also feeling that Wallis was competitively tr
Published on 2 years, 5 months ago