and evil, darkness underneath the gloss. Her life was full of adventure and travel, escape and deception ingredients a novelist devours and it followed a natural narrative arc, ending, in one sense, in 1936. Wallis in her lifetime defied her critics and yielded few secrets about what it was about her that forced a mhatact thatan to renounce everything he had been born to enjoy and to give up one of the most ill.u.s.trious thrones in the world. Because we cannot, by any rational means, explain why a middle-aged, married woman with large hands and a mole on her chin convinced a troubled, boyish prince to believe that his life could have no meaning unless lived alongside her, novelists and playwrights, actors and historians need to dig into their imagination in order to explain it.
Wallis"s life, unbelievable in so many ways, demands both imagination and factual accuracy if any sense is to be made of it. For her appeal is not simply that a lot happened to her. Above all of this, what has made her irresistible to a wide swathe of writers and artists is her personal sparkle the echo of her magnificent jewellery as well as her wit, her charisma and, in the end, her courage and grace that enabled her to endure a predicament she had created for herself and live with a man she privately ridiculed. She may have been terrified of dying, but in a very real way she lives on, preserved for posterity as others saw her.
List of Ill.u.s.trations Severn Teackle Wallis (Author"s own) House at Blue Ridge (International News Photo/Corbis) Wallis and Alice Montague (Getty Images) Solomon Davies Warfield (State Archives of Florida) Alice Montague alone (Corbis) Wallis leaving Oldfields (Oldfields School, Baltimore) House on Biddle Street (Getty Images) Wallis wearing monocle (Oldfields School, Baltimore) Earl Winfield Spencer Jr. (US Naval History and Heritage Command) Wallis as a debutante (International News Photo/Corbis) Wallis as Win"s bride (Getty Images) Mrs Wallis Spencer and Lt Alberto Da Zara (Diana Hutchins Angulo) Wallis in the blue tiara (Cartier Archives) Three generations of royalty (Corbis) The young Prince of Wales (Corbis) Mr and Mrs Ernest Spencer at court (Private collection) Wallis and Edward on the Nahlin cruise (Corbis) Wallis looking pensive (Getty Images) Bracelet of crosses (Cartier Archives/Louis Tirilly) Married at last (Corbis) Wallis, Edward and Hitler (Getty) Mary Kirk (International News Photo/Corbis) Duke, d.u.c.h.ess and Fruity Metcalfe (Getty) Wallis making up packages for the troops (Getty) Duke and d.u.c.h.ess on their way to the Bahamas (Corbis) Wallis in Red Cross uniform (Gometiightetty) Wallis and Eleanor Roosevelt (a.s.sociated Press) Duke with Queen Mary (Corbis) The new Mr and Mrs Ernest Simpson (Private collection)
One of Ernest"s personal favourites (Private collection)
The house in the Bois-de-Boulogne (Getty) Reception in Miami by Jack Levine (Hirshhorn Musuem & Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Inst.i.tute, gift of Joseph J. Hirshhorn, 1966) Wallis taking charge (both Corbis) Duke, d.u.c.h.ess and Ben Hogan (courtesy of the Greenbrier Hotel) Duke and d.u.c.h.ess dancing (courtesy of the Greenbrier Hotel) A selection of Wallis"s Cartier jewels and original sketches (Cartier Archives) d.u.c.h.ess at the New Lido Revue (Getty) d.u.c.h.ess and Aileen Plunkett (Getty) Wallis at Queen Mary centenary commemoration (Corbis) Frail Duke leaving a London clinic (Corbis) Duke"s funeral, 5 June 1972 (Corbis) d.u.c.h.ess looking haggard (Getty) d.u.c.h.ess"s funeral, 30 April 1986 (Getty) Acknowledgements No one who researches the life of Wallis Simpson can go far without looking at letters between Wallis and Edward, many of which have been edited by Michael Bloch. My first debt is to him for this sterling work which has been an invaluable guide over the last years in my quest to understand Wallis and for allowing me to quote from these. For help with understanding the British political situation in 1936, especially with respect to Stanley Baldwin, I owe an immeasurable debt of grat.i.tude to Professor Philip Williamson, Head of History at Durham University, who has not only given up valuable time to talk through some of the issues and discuss current historical interpretations with me but has also located photocopies of doc.u.ments far beyond any reasonable expectation of a biographer. I have relished our (for me) all too brief conversations and thank him most warmly for sharing his scholarship with me. I want to thank Aharon Solomons, the son of Ernest Simpson and Mary Kirk, who not only opened up his home in Mexico most generously to me, but set me on a new path to seeing Wallis Simpson and her second husband in a different light. He I thank most warmly for some unforgettable conversations and I also thank Maria-Teresa (MT) Solomons for showing me some letters and photographs. I especially want to thank Pascale Lepeu, Curator of the Cartier Collection, for a wonderfully enjoyable day seeing the Collection and Michele Aliaga at the Cartier Archive for generously making available so many wonderful Cartier images, some of which magnificently enhance this edition. My thanks also go to Erika Bard, who has once again provided me not only with original thoughts about and psychological insights into the behaviour of my subjects but has also given me suggestions for further examination.
There are others whom I woul had like to thank publicly for enormous generosity and concern for historical accuracy but who have requested anonymity. They know who they are.
I have consulted a number of libraries and archives in the hunt for new material and would particularly like to thank the Master, Fellows and Scholars of Churchill College, Cambridge and the staff of the Churchill Archives Centre especially its Director, Allen Packwood, Natalie Adams, Andrew Riley, Sophie Bridges and Katharine Thomson for their unfailing help and cooperation, especially in trying to ferret out unpublished material, newly released doc.u.ments or helping me locate those due for recla.s.sification through Freedom of Information requests while I was writing this book. For permission to quote from the Spears Papers, housed at Churchill College, I thank Patrick Aylmer and for permission to quote from the Lascelles Papers also held at Churchill College I thank the Hon. Caroline Erskine.
I also owe a debt to the staff at the National Archives in Kew who made my work more pleasant in innumerable ways and would like especially to mention Mark Dunton who, seeing my dismay at the prospect of consulting endless files on microfilm so dispiriting for all researchers encouraged me to seek permission for original doc.u.ments to be brought up from the vaults including the evocative, leather-bound Cabinet Office minutes and Conclusions to Cabinet Meetings. Seeing the originals in this way adds enormously to any author"s "feel" for the period and an understanding of the drama of events as they unfolded.
The London Library is, as ever, a most wonderful resource and again, its staff have found books that eluded me or books kept on special reserve, as did also the helpful team at the British Library. My days at the Bodleian always seemed to be accompanied by freezing weather and snow, especially testing as the collection was being moved from its permanent home to a temporary building demanding permanently open doors. But here too I encountered warmth from helpful librarians, especially Colin Harris, Helen Langley and Rebecca Wall. At Balliol College, which owns copyright for some of the Monckton Papers, my thanks go to Anna Sander. I must also mention the Highland Park Historical Society, in particular Jean Sogin and Julia Marshall, while Dorothy Hordubay, Joan Jermakian and Judy Smith are just three among the thoughtful and kind staff at Oldfields School, Baltimore, where Gentleness and Courtesy are still the rule. At the Maryland District Historical Society, Marc Thomas has been most helpful. Lambeth Palace Archives have been a delight to discover and my thanks go to the efficient and helpful staff there too. Thanks to the Radcliffe-Schlesinger library for permission to quote from the Hollingsworth-Kirk family archive and to the Osbert Sitwell estate for permission to quote the poem Rat Week. My thanks to Miss Pamela Clark at the Royal Archives for permission to quote from a letter and memorandum from King George VI. In New York I was privileged to meet Kirk Hollingsworth, nephew of Mary Kirk, who cast his mind back many years on my account, went to great trouble to ferret out unpublished material for me (Notes for Lady Donaldson) and grant me permission to publish that for which he owned copyright while pointing out that some comments ascribed to Wallis in these notes were Buckie"s memory of what Wallis wrote but that he believed her memory was usually accurate. I have made strenuous attempts to contact all other copyright holders and if there are any I have inadvertently missed I will rectify this in any subsequent editions.
Many others have contributed to my understanding of this complex woman whose story is set against a critical period of world history or have helped me in other ways with my work. Iithted should like to thank Diana Hutchins Angulo, Vicki Anstey, Andrew Barber, Damian Barr, Philp Baty, Francis Beckett, Chris Beetles, Jeremy Bigwood, Xandra Bingley, Marcus Binney, William Boyd, Piers Brendon, Victoria Buresch, Julia Cook, Stephen Cretney, The Lord Crathorne, Guiseppe D"Anna, Andrew Davies, Spencer Doddington, John Entwistle, Jonathan Fenby, Susan Fox, Mark Gaulding, Sir Martin Gilbert, Laura Gillott, Vicky Ginther, Tim G.o.dfray, Veronica Franklin Gould, Vanessa Hall Smith, Fred Hauptfuhrer, Nicholas Haslam, Angela Holdsworth, Dr Christopher Inglefield, Tess Johnston, Hans Jorgensen, Hector Kerr-Smiley, Dixie de Koning, Lee Langley, the late Walter Lees, Jonathan Leiserach, Richard and Midge Levy, Mary S Lovell, Andrew Lownie, Paul Masai, Neil McKenna, Linda Mortimer, David Metcalfe, Shelagh Montague Brown, Charlotte Mosley, Margan Mulvihill, Pamela Norris, Dr Iain Oswald, John Carleton Paget, Lady Camilla Jessel Panufnik, Della Pascoe, Martin Pick, Michina Ponzone-Pope, Lucy Popescu, David Prest, David Pryce Jones, Jane Ridley, Susan Ronald, Dr Domenico de Sceglie, David Seidler, Harriet Sergeant, William Shawcross, Polly Schomberg, Brian Smouha, Rory Sutherland, Professor Miles Taylor, John Toler, Rose Tremain, Bernard Wa.s.serstein, Esther Weiner, Alison Weir, Kenneth Wolfe, Lindy Woodhead, Philip Ziegler.
A special mention must go to the Ritz hotel, Wallis"s favourite haunt and the setting for many important unrecorded conversations in this story. Here I am indebted to Stephen Boxall and Amber Aldred for allowing us to film in their wonderful rooms and of course my thanks to John Stoddart for several terrific photos at the Ritz.
As ever, I owe grat.i.tude to my dynamic agent, Clare Alexander, who always understood what a rewarding project I would find immersing myself in this examination of a woman and period in history. Her colleagues, especially Leah Middleton, Lesley Thorne and Ca.s.sie Metcalfe-Slovo, have all looked after me with concern and interest. Simon Berthon, too, has been excited by this story from the outset and immediately recognised the significance of the
new material which was both heartening and stimulating. I have benefited enormously from discussions with him about That Woman over the past years and months. Peter James, my copy editor, deserves a special thank you for his unrivalled clarity of vision and for n.o.bly giving up his weekends for That Woman. I am fortunate that once again Douglas Matthews has been prepared to offer his matchless indexing skills, and I thank him for this. At Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Alan Samson, Martha Ashby and Elizabeth Allen have displayed equal amounts of enthusiasm, inspiration and dedication, which have made working on the f
inal stages of That Woman the sort of pleasure and delight which have made me the envy of my colleagues.
At the risk of embarra.s.sing my family I must thank them all publicly for a.s.sistance of many kinds, especially technical. My children Adam, Amy and Imogen all have full lives and there have been times when my absence for research has been less than helpful. But above all heartfelt thanks to my husband, Mark Sebba, who, in addition to constant emotional support, has given me the key to open many doors into the world of fashion which Wallis would have relished.
In spite of freely acknowledging all the help I have received from those named above, any errors in the following pages are of course my own.
By the same author: Samplers: 003Five Centuries of a Gentle Craft
Enid Bagnold: A Life
Laura Ashley: A Life By Design
Battling for News: Women Reporters from the Risorgimento to
Tiananmen Square
Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image
The Exiled Collector: William Bankes and the Making of an English
Country House
Jennie Churchill: Winston"s American Mother
Notes.
Abbreviations AB: Aunt Bessie Baldwin Papers: Philip Williamson and Edward Baldwin (eds), The Baldwin Papers: A Conservative Statesman 1908 47 Bodl. Lib.: Bodleian Library, Oxford EP: Prince Edward EAS: Ernest Simpson DoW: Duke of Windsor FDW: Freda Dudley Ward HHR: Wallis Windsor, The Heart Has its Reasons LAM: Lady Alexandra Metcalfe LFP: Rupert G.o.dfrey (ed.), Letters from a Prince MHS: Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore MKR: Mary Kirk Raffray NA PRO: The National Archives, Public Record Office, Kew NLD: Notes for Lady Donaldson TLS: Times Literary Supplement TOMS: Anne Kirk Cooke and Elizabeth Lightfoot, The Other Mrs Simpson W: Wallis WM: Walter Monckton WSC: Winston S. Churchill
Chapter 1: Becoming Wallis.
4 entered a room: Nicholas Haslam, Redeeming Features, Jonathan Cape 2010, pp. 191 6 6 "church in Baltimore": Wallis Windsor, The Heart Has its Reasons, Michael Joseph 1956 (hereafter HHR), p. 20 6 "of several friends": Nellie W. Jones, A School for Bishops: A History of the Church of Baltimore, City Publications 1952, p. 37 6 "alone the clock": HHR p. 130 7 "above two others": Alastair Forbes, Times Literary Supplement (hereafter TLS), 1 Nov. 1974 9 "be like you": HHR p. 19 10 "to the moon": ibid., p. 24 10 "touch the chair": ibid., p. 22 10 ""just a minute?"": ibid., p. 23 11 "cover the rent": ibid., p. 28 11 "thrown much together": ibid., p. 25 11 "and disturbing barrier": ibid., p. 27 12 "give me things": WW to Aunt Bessie (hereafter AB), 18 Nov. 1935, Michael Bloch (ed.), Wallis and Edward: Letters 1931 1937: The Intimate Correspondence of the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Windsor, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1986, p. 143 12 "my Baltimore obscurity": quoted in Jehanne Wake, Sisters of Fortune, Chatto & Windus 2010, p. 51 13 "in every setting": HHR p. 35 14 "for being forbidden": Ralph Martin, The Woman He Loved, W. H. Allen 1974, p. 29 15 "of the kimonos": Mary McPherson, A History of Oldfields 1867 1989: A Feeling of Family, privately printed n.d., p. 45 15 under a pseudonym: Edwina Wilson, Her Name was Wallis Warfield, New York, E. P. Dutton 1957, p. 5 16 "those days) cowardice": Anne Kirk Cooke and Elizabeth Lightfoot, The Other Mrs Simpson: Postscript to the Love Story of the Century, New York, Vantage Press 1976 (hereafter TOMS), p. 10 16 "made it entertaining": unpublished memo by E. B. Kirk, Notes for Lady Donaldson (hereafter NLD), 1979 16 "boys in droves": NLD 17 "of our parents": TOMS, p. 8 17 "anyone except YOU!": ibid.
17 "Oldfields went to college": HHR p. 50 18 "did indeed continue": ibid., p. 48 18 "did not say": NLD 19 "my heart broke": HHR p. 47 19 "outside of Maryland": Martin, The Woman He Loved, p. 11 21 "most fascinating aviator": HHR p. 59 21 "struck me instantly": ibid., p. 61 21 "in a tight place": ibid.
22 "waiting too long": HHR p. 65 23 "cause of the nation": Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 1917 23 "a.s.semblage of guests": Baltimore Sun, 9 Nov. 1916 24 "wife of Major General Barnett USMC": ibid.
24 "or his hand": HHR p. 74
Chapter 2: Understanding Wallis.
26 "opposite was true": HHR p. 20 26 "was safely past": ibid., p. 76 27 "out of curiosity": ibid., p. 64 27 globally per annum: 2006 Survey by the Scottish Audit of Genital Anomalies 28 "use the word": Dr Jonathan Hutchinson, Archives of Surgery, 1896, pp. 64 6 29 "woman at all": Michael Bloch, The d.u.c.h.ess of Windsor, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1996, p. 11 30 "cold, overbearing, vain": Nancy Dugdale, wife of Thomas Dugdale MP, PPS to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, unpublished diary of the const.i.tutional crisis occasioned by the Abdication of the King, Crathorne Papers 30 "all of a piece": Christopher Inglefield FRCS, Conversation with author, 14 Jan. 2010 31 "changed her appearance": ibid.
32 "of my own": HHR p. 367 33 "a special gift": Dr Domenico di Ceglie, Conversation with author, 24 Feb. 2010 33 "opposite was true": HHR p. 20 33 their parents indicate: Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Windsor Historical Society quarterly issue 409, p. 21 34 "take his place": Chicago Tribune, 30 Jan. 1918 34 brutal, a cad: Kirk Hollingsworth, Conversation with author, 1 Nov. 2009 34 "at a party": HHR p. 83 34 "the same interests," ibid., p. 84 35 "I certainly did": ibid., p. 83 35 "personal Mason Dixon line": Donald Spoto, Dynasty: The Turbulent Saga of the Royal Family from Victoria to Diana, Simon & Schuster 1995, p. 223 36 "received by the Prince ... ": Baltimore Sun, 12 Nov. 1936 36 "presented to her": Baltimore News-Post, July 1953 36 "at Del Monte": all the above quoted by Professor Benjamin Sacks, Journal of San Diego History, 1988, vol. 34, no. 1, www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/88winter/d.u.c.h.ess.htm 36 "with ball and mallet": ibid.
37 "near unto cwying": Prince Edward (hereafter E) to Freda Dudley Ward (hereafter FDW), 8 April 1920, Rupert G.o.dfrey (ed.), Letters from a Prince, March 1918 January 1921, Warner Books 1998 (hereafter LFP), p. 334 37 "deal of unhappiness": Ethel Spencer, Chicago Tribune, 4 Dec. 1936 ">37 "like a tonic": Mrs E. Clarence Moore, charity ball souvenir programme, quoted by Professor Sacks in Journal of San Diego History, 1988, vol. 34, no. 1 38 "took to the bottle": HHR p. 87 38 "mixed-up neurotic": ibid.
38 "myself in check": ibid.
39 "disgrace upon us": ibid., p. 91
Chapter 3: Wallis in Wonderland.
40 "and my emotions": HHR p. 94 42 "all its aspects": ibid., p. 97 42 "bubbled like champagne": Martin, The Woman He Loved, p. 70 44 "of a plane": HHR p. 106 45 one biographer claims: Greg King, The d.u.c.h.ess of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson, Aurum Press 1999, p. 61 45 "over the girls": HHR p. 107 45 "her lotus year": ibid., p. 112 49 guise of relief: FO 148, marked "Secret evidence of Bolshevik activity in the Far East", National Archives, Public Record Office (hereafter NA PRO) 49 "as p.o.r.nographic material": Harriet Sergeant, Shanghai, Jonathan Cape 1991, p. 340 50 "him as "Robbie"": HHR p. 108 50 "even more pleasant": ibid.
50 "then predominantly British": ibid.
51 "of quasi-independence": ibid., p. 109 52 "responsible for me": ibid., p. 110 53 "of an athlete": ibid., p. 112 53 "stay with them": ibid., p. 113 53 "expect to know": ibid., p. 114 53 "whole long roll": NLD 53 "in her heart": HHR p. 115 54 "have different meanings": Martin, The Woman He Loved, p. 79 55 "of her forehead": Alberto Da Zara, Pelle d"Ammiraglio, Milan, Mondadori 1948, p. 183 55 "among adoring males": Diana Hutchins Angulo, Peking Sun, Shanghai Moon: A China Memoir, ed. Tess Johnston, Hong Kong, Old China Hand Press 2008, p. 27 55 "complimentary than women": Diana Hutchins Angulo, Correspondence with author, July 2010 55 inscribed "To you": Angulo, Peking Sun, Shanghai Moon, p. 27 55 "old aristocratic families": Diana Hutc:ing Sun 55 "very taken by her": ibid.
56 and botched abortion: Charles Higham, Mrs Simpson: Secret Lives of the d.u.c.h.ess of Windsor, Sidgwick & Jackson 1998, p. 50, quoting Mrs Miles. See also Ray Moseley, Mussolini"s Shadow: The Double Life of Count Galeazzo Ciano, New Haven, Yale University Press 2000, pp. 9 10
Chapter 4: Wallis on the Lookout.
57 "a strange city": HHR p. 121 58 "her last lap": Martin, The Woman He Loved, p. 85 58 "with equal satisfaction": ibid., p. 124 58 "call inferior decorating": ibid., p. 122 60 "and not remarry": Baltimore News, 28 Oct. 1927 60 sister Buckie, furious: NLD 61 by Jacques" syphilis: Kirk Hollingsworth, Conversation with author, 1 Nov. 2009 61 "marry for money": NLD 61 "provided with money": NLD 62 "a man"s world": HHR p. 128 62 "finally, to everything": Cleveland Amory, Who Killed Society?, New York, Harper & Brothers 1960, p. 238 63 his own expense: Bernard Susser, The Jews of South-West England: The Rise and Decline of their Medieval and Modern Communities, University of Exeter Press 1993 66 "looking after me": Bloch, The d.u.c.h.ess of Windsor, 15 July 1928, p. 27 67 "in a flash": HHR p. 139 67 "seem so important": Bloch, Letters, p. 11 67 "at Victoria Station": HHR p. 139 67 "since early childhood": ibid.
67 "to the core": Brendon Papers, Bren 2/2/1, Churchill Archives 68 "the human spirit": HHR p. 146 68 "a second s.e.x": ibid., p. 143 68 "vacantly before me": ibid., p. 144 69 "in England live": Mary Kirk Raffray (hereafter MKR), TOMS, p. 5 70 "and many pillows": MKR to Mrs Henry Child Kirk, 2 June 1931, TOMS, p. 1 70 "her feminine interests" HHR p. 159 70 "right through one": ibid., p. 149 72 "and dinner parties": ibid., p. 160 72 "wiHHdely appreciated knack": ibid., p. 161 72 "wants to leave": MKR to her mother, 7 June 1931, TOMS, p. 15 72 "bathroom with her": NLD
Chapter 5: Wallis on the Sidelines.
73 "mind made up": W to AB, 13 Jan. 1931, Bloch, Letters, p. 24 73 "his cultural horizons": Philip Ziegler, King Edward VIII: The Official Biography, Collins 1990, p. 41 74 "his own thoughts": ibid.
74 "a brute to his children": James Lees-Milne, Harold Nicolson, vol. II: 1930 1968, Chatto & Windus 1981, pp. 230 and 235 74 "allowed to fight!!": Ziegler, King Edward VIII, p. 57 75 "of his inadequacy": ibid., p. 58 75 and exercise less: see LFP, p. xvii 75 "am guilty of": EP to King George V, 5 Sept. 1920, Royal Archives, quoted in Ziegler, King Edward VIII, p. 109 75 "unfair on Papa": ibid., p. 75 76 "killed or wounded": Alan Clark (ed.), A Good Innings: The Private Papers of Viscount Lee of Fareham, John Murray 1974, pp. 138 9 76 "long to angel!!": EP to FDW, 26 March 1918, LFP p. 10 77 "fed up they are": EP to FDW, 22 Dec. 1918, LFP p. 147 77 "a national disaster": EP to FDW, 26 Oct. 1919, LFP p. 267 78 "and sounds Bolshevik": EP to FDW, LFP pp. 346 7; Daily Telegraph, 6 June 2001 78 "can"t live together": EP to FDW, 7 Nov. 1919, LFP p. 276 78 "feel like "resigning"!!": EP to FDW, 24 Oct. 1919, LFP p. 266 78 "work for him": EP to FDW, 18 Oct. 1921, LFP p. 262 78 "beloved little mummie!!" EP to FDW, 14 Oct. 1919, LFP p. 259 79 "ancestry as poor Edward P": Alan Lascelles to Nigel Nicolson, 5 Sept. 1965, Lascelles Papers, Lasl 8/8 Churchill Archives 79 "get away with it" ": ibid.
79 ""lock him up"": ibid.
80 "once a week": ibid.
80 "the next morning": interview with Sarah Bradford, Brendon Papers, Bren 2/2/1, Churchill Archives 80 "for his role": Duff Hart-Davis (ed.), Introduction to In Royal Service: The Letters and Journals of Sir Alan Lascelles 1an kquote>, Hamish Hamilton 1989, p. xi 81 "conventions of polite society": Hector Bolitho, King Edward VIII: His Life and Reign, Eyre & Spottiswoode 1937, p. 75 82 "of one"s employer": Ziegler, King Edward VIII, p. 110 82 "the couple concerned": EP to Queen Mary, quoted in ibid., p. 171 82 "a flirtatious nature": Wake, Sisters of Fortune, p. 208 82 "cos it"ll destroy me": Ziegler, King Edward VIII, p. 173, 20 Feb. 1924, Broadlands Papers S 395 83 "mostly about trivialities": King, The d.u.c.h.ess of Windsor, p. 96 83 "for this drama": Sir Henry Channon, Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon, ed. Robert Rhodes James, Penguin 1967, p. 66; Ziegler, King Edward VIII, p. 223 for supplying the name 83 "coloured symphony toy": Lady Diana Cooper, The Light of Common Day, Rupert Hart-Davis 1959, p. 162 84 "weekends, I suppose": HRH The Duke of Windsor (hereafter DoW), A King"s Story, Ca.s.sell 1951, p. 237 84 "voyage would end": Gloria Vanderbilt and Thelma, Lady Furness, Double Exposure: A Twin Autobiography, New York, David McKay 1958, p. 266 85 "frighteningly high": HHR p. 171 85 "and utter naturalness": ibid., p. 169 85 "but bad manners": Vanderbilt and Furness, Double Exposure, p. 275 85 "I am right": HHR p. 165 86 "an informal way": W to AB, 13 Jan. 1931, Bloch, Letters, p. 24 86 "of them again": W to AB, 5 Feb. 1931, Bloch, Letters, p. 28 86 "frowzy dressed town": W to AB, 24 Jan. 1932, Bloch, Letters, p. 48 86 "without the cold": W to AB, 16 April 1932, Bloch, Letters, p. 32 87 "talked until 2 o"clock": MKR to Mrs H. C. Kirk, 2 June 1931, TOMS, p. 4 88 "for it anyway": ibid.