The Queen Mother Part 11
* Sir John Weir (18791971), homeopathic doctor who was physician to many members of the Royal Family.
Louise, Princess Royal, d.u.c.h.ess of Fife (18671931). She married in 1889 Alexander Duff, sixth Earl of Fife, who was created duke of Fife by Queen Victoria. He died in 1912.
* Captain Sir Harold Campbell (18881969), a.s.sistant Private Secretary and equerry to Duke of York 192933, Private Secretary 19336, Groom of the Robes and equerry to King George VI 193752, Groom of the Robes and equerry to Queen Elizabeth II 19524.
Lady Helen Graham (18791945), daughter of fifth Duke of Montrose.
The Hon. Mrs Geoffrey Bowlby (18851988), nee Annesley, daughter of eleventh Viscount Valentia. Her husband Captain Geoffrey Bowlby was killed in the First World War.
* The d.u.c.h.ess was patron of the St Marylebone Housing a.s.sociation; after she had laid the foundation stone of the a.s.sociation's first block of flats in 1928 the Honorary Secretary commented on the effect on 'what is supposed to be a "Red" neighbourhood. Anything less "Red" than the demonstration on June 9th it would be hard to imagine yet the Police had asked me if it would be wise to allow Her Royal Highness to visit one of the cottages.' (Letter to Lady Helen Graham, 17 July 1928, RA QEQMH/PS/PS/St Marylebone Housing a.s.sociation) * Rhododendrons were not Ernest Pearce's favourite plant, however, to judge by the letter he wrote asking for a boiler suit to wear while doing the 'long dirty sticky job' of picking the blooms. 'I have to get right inside some of them ... and I get in a very dirty mess much to the annoyance of Mrs P. when it comes to washing day.' (Letter from Ernest Pearce to the Privy Purse, 3 June 1956, RA QEQMH/HH/INDIV/PEARCE) * The Camargo Society, named after Marie Camargo, a renowned eighteenth-century ballerina, was created by ballet lovers in 1930 with the intention of stimulating the idea of a national ballet. It gave a platform to Frederick Ashton, Ninette de Valois and other ch.o.r.eographers. The society staged the first British productions of Giselle and Swan Lake, Act II. In 1933 its repertoire was incorporated into the Vic-Wells (later the Royal) Ballet.
Sir Frederick Ashton (190488), leading ballet dancer and ch.o.r.eographer. Director of the Royal Ballet 196370, he was a friend of Queen Elizabeth till the end of his life.
* Dookie's kennel name was Rozavel Golden Eagle; when he was sent for training, servants in the house, knowing he was destined to live with the Duke of York, called him Dookie he learned to respond to that name and so it remained with him.
* Mlle Guerin came several times in 19359; her letters home give a glimpse of life at Birkhall and Balmoral, and reveal that she detested Crawfie. She was succeeded in 1939 by Madame Montaudon Smith, 'Monty', who taught the Princesses in term-time as well, and to whom they were devoted. They also had a German governess, Hanni Davey.
* A Girl Guide company was formed at Buckingham Palace, into which friends of the Princesses and daughters of Royal Household staff were enrolled.
* In 1935 the enterprise's fundraising campaign in London, essential to give its disabled employees a summer holiday, had been a complete flop owing to the illness of its royal patron, the Princess Royal. They turned to the d.u.c.h.ess for help, asking her to come to a special sale at Claridge's. She hesitated, not wishing to encroach on her sister-in-law's territory. But as her lady in waiting wrote, 'the d.u.c.h.ess of York, having seen the men at work and met their families, is deeply interested and intensely anxious that they should not have to forgo their holidays this year.' She went; the sale raised enough to guarantee the men their holiday, and there was great jubilation, the administrator reported. (Captain Scott to Lettice Bowlby, 19 June 1935, and to Lady Helen Graham, 18 July 1935, RA QEQMH/PS/ENGT/1935/17 July) * The roll-call of members, eventually, was the Duke of York, the ninth Earl of Airlie, Sir Reginald Seymour, the ninth Duke of Devonshire, the tenth Duke of Beaufort, the ninth Duke of Rutland, the fifth Earl of Erne, the Hon. Sir Richard Molyneux, the fourth Earl of Eldon, the nineteenth Duke of Norfolk and the third Viscount Halifax (later first Earl); apart from the d.u.c.h.ess there were only two lady members, the d.u.c.h.ess of Beaufort and the Countess of Eldon.
* Britannia was King George V's racing yacht, built on the Clyde in 1893 for his father the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). She was a 121.5-foot steel-framed, cutter-rigged yacht and won many races in the 1890s. King George V inherited Britannia and his father's love of racing, and the yacht continued to compete successfully at Cowes in the inter-war years. She was scuttled after the King's death in 1936, in accordance with his wishes.
Victoria and Albert was the third of three royal yachts of this name built for Queen Victoria, launched in 1901. She was used for cruises around Britain and to the Mediterranean by King Edward VII and King George V; she was replaced in 1953 by the new royal yacht Britannia, named in honour of King George V's racing yacht.
* After the abdication Kathe Kubler wrote to the d.u.c.h.ess, now Queen, saying she would like to come to see her, and asking permission to dedicate her memoirs to her. She did come, and took tea with the Queen on 13 October 1937. Her book, Meine Schulerin, die Konigin von England, was published that year.
* Phipps recounted also how Mrs Greville, the Yorks' friend and benefactor, had sought an appointment with Hitler while a guest of the German government in Nuremberg. A short meeting had been arranged with some difficulty. 'Mrs Greville was, it seems, delighted.'
This attack by Italian forces on the Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia began the Second Italo-Abyssinian War (October 1935-May 1936). Abyssinia never surrendered but it was annexed into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa. The crisis demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the League. Both Italy and Abyssinia were member nations and yet the League was unable to control Italy or to protect Abyssinia. Italy's invasion was accepted by Britain and France because they sought to retain Italy as an ally in case of war with Germany.
CHAPTER TEN.
ABDICATION.
19361937.
'We are not afraid'
NINETEEN-THIRTY-SIX was one of the unhappiest years of the d.u.c.h.ess's life. She began it in bed with pneumonia and ended it ill again, with the virulent influenza that attacked her so frequently. She began it as the daughter-in-law of King George V and she ended it, to her astonishment and dismay, as Queen Consort to King George VI. The abdication of King Edward VIII was the most serious const.i.tutional crisis affecting the British monarchy since the seventeenth century. There were many, and they included the d.u.c.h.ess of York and her husband, who feared that the inst.i.tution might not survive it.
King Edward VIII came to the throne on a wave of public enthusiasm. He was a hugely popular figure of whom much was expected, and he was widely seen as a talented, exuberant and sympathetic young man who could bridge the gap between generations. People thought that as an ex-serviceman he would be able to relate to the needs of former soldiers. His travels, much wider than those of any previous Prince of Wales, would give him a special understanding of the lands of the Empire and those beyond. He would be as steadfast as his father but more up to date, more flexible.
At first he enjoyed extra sympathy because it was clear to everyone that, as an unmarried and childless man, his difficult job would also be a very lonely one. During the interment of King George V in St George's Chapel, Lady Helen Graham, the d.u.c.h.ess of York's lady in waiting, looked at the new King and said to the member of the Royal Household beside her, 'I feel so sorry for him. He is not going home to a wife behind the tea pot and a warm fire, with his children making toast for him.'1 A similar fear was expressed by Chips Channon, who wrote that his heart went out to King Edward 'as he will mind so terribly being King. His loneliness, his seclusion, his isolation will be almost more than his highly strung and unimaginative nature can bear.'2 *
AS HEIR TO the throne, the Prince of Wales had had a long and not always easy apprenticeship. But he had perhaps suffered less than his younger brother Prince Albert from their father's hypercritical att.i.tude, being more obviously attuned to the demands of public life and not having to endure the terror of a crippling stammer.
The Prince of Wales joined the Grenadier Guards just before the outbreak of war in 1914; he had a 'good war', insisting that he be allowed to serve on the Western Front, but was chagrined that he was not allowed to fight in the trenches. The war over, he embarked on what was perhaps the finest public period of his life a series of overseas tours in which his youth, his looks and his charm captivated hearts and strengthened links across the Empire. He was particularly gifted at reaching out to veterans. Lloyd George called him 'our greatest amba.s.sador' and even his father wrote a rare letter of unqualified praise.3 However, the Prince made clear from early on that he found many of his official duties irksome. Lloyd George warned the Prince that if he was to be a const.i.tutional monarch he must first be a const.i.tutional Prince of Wales. The King was more severe and saw in his son's insouciance a lack of respect for manners and morals which he believed would damage if not destroy the monarchy.
The Prince had always had a much more 'modern' point of view. He enjoyed throughout the 1920s and early 1930s a more fashionable, and perhaps cynical, world, a society in which the colour of fingernails, the length of skirts and the height of heels were more important than middle-cla.s.s virtues. In this he was quite unlike his younger brother Bertie. Nonetheless the two brothers were close and the d.u.c.h.ess of York loved the Prince's rather 'naughty' company; their letters to each other testify to the affection that developed between them from the moment of her engagement to the Duke. During the early 1930s, however, the Prince's lifestyle contrasted more and more sharply with that of the Yorks. While the Yorks lived in domestic bliss, the Prince of Wales was a man about town. He took up flying, he summered on the Riviera rather than on Deeside, he spent many long evenings entertaining his friends in chic London nightclubs.
His favourite home was Fort Belvedere, which he had been granted by the King in 1929, just down the road from Royal Lodge. The Fort was a folly, a little Georgian eye-catcher at the southern end of Windsor Great Park, close to Virginia Water. It was, according to Diana Cooper, 'a child's idea of a fort' with its castellated walls and tower.4 In this sense it was the complete opposite of Windsor Castle, the greatest castle in the land. Under the Prince of Wales's stewardship, the Fort became something of a byword (not in the press, of course, but among those who knew) for fun. There the Prince and his guests could relax and enjoy themselves with little protocol.5 His parents dearly wanted him to marry and to have children. But the Prince was more interested in liaisons than in wedlock. During the 1920s and early 1930s, instead of searching for a bride who could eventually bring l.u.s.tre to the throne, the Prince indulged in a series of affairs with married women, interspersed with many shorter relationships. The most durable of his romances were with Freda Dudley Ward, the MP's wife who became the princ.i.p.al object of his affection from 1918, and then with Thelma Furness, twin sister of Gloria Vanderbilt, a pretty and gay creature who, like the Prince, enjoyed simple if not superficial pleasures.6 The Yorks liked Thelma Furness and the two couples often spent time together, particularly over weekends at Fort Belvedere or Royal Lodge.
One winter weekend in January 1933, the Yorks went skating near the Fort with the Prince and Thelma Furness. Both the d.u.c.h.ess and Thelma were new to this sport and Prince Albert found them kitchen chairs to push before them and help them stand up straight. Thelma wrote, 'The lovely face of the d.u.c.h.ess, her superb colouring heightened by the cold, her eyes wrinkled with the sense of fun that was never far below the surface, made a picture I shall never forget.'7 There was another member of that skating party, a new American friend of the Prince. She was Mrs Ernest Simpson.
BOOKSHELVES HAVE been filled with works about Wallis Warfield Simpson. And with some reason. She so fascinated the Prince of Wales that he laid down his crown for her and thus altered for ever the course of the British monarchy.
Born in 1896 into a good Baltimore family, her early life was penniless. Her father died when she was only two and her mother for a time ran a boarding house. From childhood onwards she understood that security came with money. Her first husband, Winfield Spencer, was a handsome pilot but he turned out to be an alcoholic, and she divorced him in 1922 to lead a rackety life which took in China as well as New York. In 1928 she remarried. Her new husband was Ernest Simpson, a kindly Anglo-American, also good-looking, and they settled in London.
She was socially ambitious, and a friend of Thelma Furness, through whom she met the Prince of Wales. He was attracted by her glamour and her sharp wit. She was clever, she was brusque, she was self-possessed and, unlike any of the English women the Prince knew, she was completely unimpressed by royalty. She was probably the first person he had ever known who talked down to him. She said what she wanted, and what she wanted she generally got.
In early 1934 Thelma Furness made a three-month trip to the United States and, apparently, asked Wallis Simpson to keep an eye on the Prince in her absence. Lady Furness had chosen her chaperone badly. Within weeks of her departure the Prince had become enthralled by Wallis Simpson and frequently invited her and her husband to weekends at the Fort, while taking her dancing, during the intervening weeks, often without her husband. When Thelma Furness returned from America she found that her friend had usurped her position as favourite.8 She and Freda Dudley Ward were cut off.
The Prince's own family soon had similar reasons for concern. Prince George, the closest of all the family to the Prince of Wales, lived with him at St James's Palace and spent many weekends at the Fort. He realized quickly that Mrs Simpson was intent on dominating his brother and isolating him from his family. He later said that after she came into the Prince of Wales's life, his family never saw him 'as in days gone by'.9 Through 1934 and 1935 the Prince grew ever more bold in displaying his infatuation with Mrs Simpson. Although the British press still observed a total and astonishing silence on the affair out of deference to the monarchy, the American press rejoiced in the story and in London society the whispers grew louder. People in and around the Court talked of Mrs Simpson's total control over the Prince.10 The King confronted his son, who denied any impropriety.11 Unlike most people, the King took him at his word. Nonetheless he was dismayed by his son's conduct. 'He has not a single friend who is a gentleman. He does not see any decent society. And he is 41.'12 Some months before his death the King is reported to have said, 'I pray to G.o.d that my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne.'13 By 1935 it was clear to his family and close friends that the Prince was in thrall to Mrs Simpson. There was private speculation at the time and much more later that her hold was at least partly s.e.xual. His biographer considered that this may well have been true but there was more to the relationship than just s.e.x. 'Until the day he died his eyes would follow her around the room; if she went out he would grow anxious ... It was her personality, not her appearance or her s.e.xual techniques, which captivated him.'14 There were those who came to believe that, even before the death of his father, the Prince had already decided to renounce his right to the succession and abscond with Mrs Simpson. That was certainly the opinion of two of King George V's Private Secretaries, Alan Lascelles and Alec Hardinge.15 Lascelles later stated that King Edward himself told him in the summer of 1936 that he had not wanted to become king.16 His brother confirmed this: shortly after the abdication, the new King George VI remarked to Owen Morshead, perhaps relying more than he realized on hindsight, 'he never meant to take it on ... You see Papa's death fell wrongly for his plans ... It would have been easy, comparatively, to chuck it while yet he was P. of Wales; he would have had a rough crossing with Papa, but he would have faced up to that.'17 In fact it would not have been simple for the Prince of Wales to 'chuck it': legislation would have been required, in Britain and the Dominions, to alter the line of succession. But it is true that, with his father's death, he was trapped by the Court, by ceremony and by the whole machinery of government. Perhaps it was no wonder that, though less close than the Duke of York to their father, he reacted to the moment of his death with a far greater display of emotion.
His anguish was deepened two days later when the late King's will was read to the family. He discovered that his father had left him a life interest in Sandringham and Balmoral but, unlike his siblings, he was to receive no money. Clive Wigram and the King's solicitor, Sir Bernard Bircham, explained to him that King George V had expected that (like previous Princes of Wales) he would have built himself a nest egg out of his Duchy of Cornwall revenues, and that his siblings had had no such income. (It was indeed later discovered that he had acc.u.mulated a considerable fortune.) The Prince was furious and with a face like thunder, according to Lascelles, strode out of the room to telephone the bad news to Mrs Simpson.18 Senior members of the Household soon began to despair at the priorities of the new King. Sir G.o.dfrey Thomas, his Private Secretary for many years as Prince of Wales, was convinced that he was 'not fitted to be King and that his reign will end in disaster'.19 Alec Hardinge, who had been a.s.sistant Private Secretary to George V and whom the new King was soon to appoint his private secretary, found it even more difficult than he had expected to adjust. His wife Helen's diary entries reflect his problems: March 10th Alec late as usual owing to the new King's strange hours!
March 27th Confusion in the King's affairs because he's so impractical.
March 31st Alec very much depressed by His Majesty's irresponsibility.20 *
FOR THE d.u.c.h.eSS of York the death of the King brought vast changes, both private and public. In a personal sense it created a void. She wrote revealingly of her relationship with her father-in-law to Lord Dawson: Unlike his own children I was never afraid of him, and in all the twelve years of having me as a daughter-in-law he never spoke one unkind or abrupt word to me, and was always ready to listen, and give advice on one's own silly little affairs. He was so kind, and so dependable ... I am really very well now, and, I think, am now only suffering from the effects of a family break up which always happens when the head of a family goes. Though outwardly one's life goes on the same, yet everything is different especially spiritually, and mentally.21 She was now the wife of the heir presumptive. Since the new King was unmarried and since Queen Mary, in mourning, would inevitably withdraw from public life for some time, her responsibilities were bound to increase. But whereas the Yorks had been an essential part of King George V's Court, they were not nearly so close to that established by Edward VIII. The new King quickly seemed to withdraw from his family and into the bosom of his friends. That, if anything, made the relationship between Queen Mary and the Yorks closer than ever. The Queen had conducted herself during her husband's last illness and since his death with her usual reserve and dignity. It was clear to those around her that she missed the King immensely, even though she remained quite calm.
Still convalescing from her pneumonia, the d.u.c.h.ess was prescribed a period of sea air, and in early March she and her daughters went to stay at the Duke of Devonshire's house in Eastbourne, Compton Place. The Duke of York came to join her in between bouts of public engagements. She went up to London briefly to see the Gainsborough exhibition held by Sir Philip Sa.s.soon at his Park Lane house. She was accompanied by Kenneth Clark, the director of the National Gallery and the Surveyor of the King's Pictures, who was becoming an important adviser to her and was helping her build up a collection of pictures herself.* He complimented her on her appreciation of art. 'So few people seem to enjoy pictures: they look at them stodgily, or critically or acquisitively; seldom with real enthusiasm,' he wrote.22 After a month at Compton Place the family returned to London, and then went home to Royal Lodge for Easter, which was very different that year. The tradition of many years had been abandoned; the Court did not move to Windsor Castle as it had throughout the reign of King George V. The King spent Easter with friends at Fort Belvedere. Queen Mary, by contrast, moved into Royal Lodge with the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess for almost three weeks. The d.u.c.h.ess gave up her bedroom and bathroom for her mother-in-law, who was also given the Octagon Room as her own sitting room, so that she could be as independent as possible.
Queen Mary's presence meant that Royal Lodge became in effect the focus of the Royal Family at this time, with the King and other members of the family coming and going, to lunch, dine or stay. The d.u.c.h.ess, like everyone else in the family, was keenly aware that, with the death of King George V, Queen Mary's role had changed. 'I feel that the Family, as a family, will now revolve round you. Thank G.o.d we have all got you as a central point, because without that point it might easily disintegrate.'23 On Good Friday the King joined them at the Royal Chapel, immediately next to Royal Lodge, and next day, which was cold with showers of sleet, the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess and the Princesses arranged the flowers in the chapel as Queen Mary watched. On Easter Sunday they all exchanged eggs and gifts at breakfast and then went to a shortened matins in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle with the King.24*
On 25 May the entire family supported Queen Mary on one of her first semi-public engagements since the death of her husband: she had been invited by the Cunard White Star Company to see the Queen Mary the day before she departed on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. All the Queen's sons and daughters-in-law came; Princess Elizabeth was there too her mother had asked if she could come as she was 'madly keen' to see the ship.25 The King flew down from Fort Belvedere; the rest of the family took the train. They had lunch on board with Sir Thomas and Lady Royden and the company directors.
Queen Mary recorded that it was a lovely day. They were shown all over the ship, from first cla.s.s to third, inspecting the swimming pool and the Turkish bath, the restaurant adorned with a circus painting by Dame Laura Knight, the lounges, library and children's rooms (where, according to the Morning Post, Princess Elizabeth played with the toys, slid down the slide, tried her hand at the toy piano and saw a Mickey Mouse cartoon), and the cabins, which Queen Mary p.r.o.nounced very comfortable. On the King's departure his scarlet and blue biplane circled over the ship and dipped 'as if in salute to the world's greatest liner'.26 Next day, 26 May, was Queen Mary's birthday and, as every year, the family gathered at Buckingham Palace for lunch. For the Queen it was a sad occasion.
The loss of King George V's dominating but rea.s.suring presence, and the sense of unease brought by the new reign, sapped even the d.u.c.h.ess's positive spirit. She valued the efforts of her friends to support and cheer her. d.i.c.k Molyneux took her to see the paintings at Greenwich and in the Courtaulds' collection at Eltham Palace in southeast London. She loved it all, writing afterwards, 'I am deeply grateful to you, my dear old friend and fellow Wet, for arranging such a good outing, and honestly, it did me all the good in the world. I still feel a bit sad about everything, & last Wednesday was a really bright moment in a gloomy summer.'27 Other friends kept her up to date with more sombre events. Nineteen-thirty-six was another year in which the power of the dictators, Hitler and Mussolini, grew. Having watched the world, and in particular the League of Nations, fail to stop Italy invading Abyssinia, the n.a.z.i government reoccupied the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland. Nothing happened and the continent continued its descent into the twilight of barbarism. D'Arcy Osborne, who had now arrived in Rome as British amba.s.sador to the Holy See, began to send the d.u.c.h.ess letters filled with drumbeats of warning about the march of fascism. He was concerned that Britain was far too smug and complacent. 'Disarmed to the gums, we can't afford to go throwing our morals and ideals in the faces of gangster dictators.'28 *
THE d.u.c.h.eSS'S public life in the new reign was busier than ever; she was as much in demand, and her presence worked its familiar magic for charitable causes. She used her influence with the new King as she had with the old, appealing to Edward VIII on behalf of her charities. Not surprisingly, perhaps, she seemed more confident and more willing to express opinions and to intervene with friends in high places than she had been in the lifetime of King George V, in particular over the unemployment and poverty she saw on visits to industrial areas.
As patroness of the Toc H League of Women Helpers she went to several different events celebrating the group's coming of age in June. The text of her handwritten speech for their festival at the Crystal Palace survives; she used the themes of family and home to welcome visitors from the 'family' of Empire to the home country. In one intriguing pa.s.sage she said, 'In these rather puzzling days [these words were underlined in red], it is both inspiring and comforting to feel, that all here tonight are united by the spirit of fellowship in the desire to keep burning the light of sacrifice & service, and to contribute by personal effort to the common good.'29 It is not clear whether her 'puzzlement' referred to the worsening international situation or to events nearer home.
Later in June the d.u.c.h.ess was hostess at a tea party at 145 Piccadilly which she may well have approached with mixed feelings: the Duke was President of the Imperial War Graves Commission, and the Anglo-German-French Committee of the Commission was visiting England. At the beginning of June the Duke decided to invite the Committee to tea, together with the French and German Amba.s.sadors. So the d.u.c.h.ess found herself entertaining the former Chief of the General Staff of the German army and several other German officials, as well as their French and British counterparts.30 At the end of July the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess visited Jarrow, the origin of one of the hunger marches. Much of Britain was by now recovering, but in Jarrow about 40 per cent of the people were still out of work. Feelings were running high in the area, and Walter Runciman, the President of the Board of Trade, was perturbed by the timing of this royal visit.31 In fact, it proved a public success, although a disturbing experience for the d.u.c.h.ess, who was horrified by the poverty she saw. 'I always dread going up to Tyneside,' she wrote to Duff Cooper, now the Secretary of State for War, 'because I admire the people there with all my heart, & it darkens my thoughts for months afterwards, to know how desperate they are.' But at least despair had not given way to apathy. She went to Palmer's Shipyard, the only source of employment in the town, which she thought a scene of desolation. On the streets they drove 'through large crowds of emaciated, ragged, unhappy & undaunted people, who gave us a wonderful reception'. Their courage made her weep, she said; she found it terrible that so many good men should be wasted. She wished that more of these unemployed young men could join the army to that end she asked Duff Cooper if the standards of fitness for recruits could not be reduced to allow more men to benefit from army training. He replied that his Ministry would act upon her suggestion.32 The Duke and d.u.c.h.ess then went to stay with the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle. From there they drove with their friends Clare and Doris Vyner to the Fountains Abbey Settlement at Swarland, where Clare Vyner had created an environment of smallholdings for unemployed people from Tyneside. Each family was given an acre and a half on which to build a bungalow and very quickly a new community had been created of former industrial workers, shipyard craftsmen and clerks. The Duke and d.u.c.h.ess were both impressed; she wrote to Queen Mary about the trip, and he congratulated Clare Vyner on his personal efforts to give people new lives.33 After a hard-working summer the Yorks embarked with their daughters on their annual visit to Scotland, to the intense pleasure of the Princesses. Two weeks at Glamis were to be followed by several at Birkhall. Meanwhile, in early August Queen Mary finally forced herself to return to Sandringham for the first time since her husband's death. While she was there, sadly sorting through his rooms, the King flew up for lunch but immediately afterwards returned to London, leaving his mother to her mournful tasks.34 *
THERE WERE VERY different preoccupations and pleasures at Fort Belvedere. Mrs Simpson dominated the King's life; most weekends she played the part of hostess at the Fort, with or without her husband. Helen Hardinge described in her diary an evening at Windsor Castle. The King had brought his party over from the Fort; they included Mr and Mrs Simpson, and an unknown American woman. They watched a film of the Grand National. 'The unknown American lady was the one already selected to be Mr Simpson's wife! Mrs Simpson was very friendly and agreeable, and admired my Victorian jewellery. It was from this evening that I felt sure the King and Mrs Simpson meant to marry.'35 Many of the staff hated what was going on: Osborne, the King's butler, was frightened he would lose his job because 'Mrs S had got her knife into him and he felt he was doomed.' He also said that he had picked up a label in Mrs Simpson's writing which read, 'To our marriage' and that this had obviously been attached to some present from her to him.36 The British press was still exercising remarkable self-control about Mrs Simpson's very existence, but London's great salons and the Houses of Parliament were buzzing with gossip about the King's adventures and his friend's requirements. The King was said to be less than diligent in reading the daily government papers sent to him in his boxes and, perhaps worse, to leave them lying around at the Fort for anyone to see. His sackings within the Household were also widely discussed. The d.u.c.h.ess of Devonshire, Queen Mary's Mistress of the Robes, told Lady Airlie that there was a rumour that everyone over sixty would have to go. 'I daresay', she continued, 'Mrs S. would have the good sense not to push really unsuitable men in. Can you think of a suitable office for Mr S.?? "Guardian of the Bedchamber" or "Master of the Mistress" might do.'37 On 28 May 1936 the names of Mr and Mrs Simpson appeared for the first time in the Court Circular as guests of the King at dinner the previous evening. The Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, was also present and was introduced to the Simpsons for the first time. According to her own later autobiography, the King had persuaded Mrs Simpson to come by telling her, 'It's got to be done. Sooner or later my Prime Minister must meet my future wife.'38 In June the King was prevented by continued official mourning from attending Royal Ascot but he sent Mrs Simpson in a royal carriage. Shortly afterwards Ernest Simpson moved out of the marital home and the King rented Mrs Simpson a house in Regent's Park. To the horror of even the King's supporters, divorce proceedings were now imminent.39 Helen Hardinge described a dinner which the King gave in July 1936. The Yorks were there, as were the Churchills. Mrs Simpson acted as hostess.
The King was in good form. He circulated among his guests, talking to each of them for a while, and his social technique was admirable ... Winston Churchill was one of the few people around the dinner table that night who found Mrs Simpson acceptable. Curiously enough, he considered that she just did not matter and had no great significance; he believed that, in the ultimate a.n.a.lysis of the Monarchy, she simply did not count one way or the other. Moral and social considerations apart, he considered her presence to be irrelevant to King Edward's performance as Sovereign. The King thought the exact opposite. He considered she was the only thing that mattered.40 Churchill's support was perhaps surprising. He was greatly concerned about the growth of fascist power in Europe, and the King was widely suspected of being too sympathetic to the new Germany. The evidence for this has been thoroughly examined and convincingly a.n.a.lysed by King Edward VIII's official biographer Philip Ziegler, and need not be revisited here.41 Many years later the publication of official German doc.u.ments proved that in 1936 the n.a.z.i leaders were already planning to exploit the King's sympathy to achieve an Anglo-German entente and more. But the British Foreign Office gave little credence to reports of this nature at the time, and Churchill too may well have dismissed the rumours as exaggerated.
Mrs Simpson was another matter: senior Whitehall officials thought her to be 'in the pocket of the German Amba.s.sador', as Lord Wigram recorded in February 1936.42 Helen Hardinge noted in her diary that 'one of the factors in the situation was Mrs Simpson's partiality for n.a.z.i Germans'.43 Her alleged pro-German views certainly cannot have endeared Wallis Simpson to the d.u.c.h.ess of York. In any event, suspicions about Mrs Simpson, combined with the King's carelessness about official papers, were enough to give senior members of the Royal Household the impression that in both his public and his private conduct the King was not entirely sound.44 In early August the King set off on a controversial, indeed damaging voyage around the Mediterranean on a chartered yacht, the Nahlin, with Mrs Simpson and a few friends. All over the Mediterranean the couple were cheered and photographed and the American papers published every detail. Not all was heavenly on board the Nahlin. The Duff Coopers were among the guests and Diana Cooper recorded an unhappy scene when the King got down on all fours to release the hem of Mrs Simpson's dress from under a chair to which Mrs Simpson responded by glaring at him and saying, 'Well, that's the maust extraordinary performance I've ever seen,' and began to attack him for other aspects of his behaviour. Diana Cooper now felt that 'Wallis is wearing very badly.' She also thought that Mrs Simpson was beginning to tire of the pleasure of the King's company.45 After the cruise, the King returned to London but Mrs Simpson stopped in Paris to shop. There she fell ill and had ample time, in her room at the Hotel Meurice, to read all that the American newspapers had written about her and the King on their cruise. She appears to have been appalled by the enormity of what was happening and wrote to the King to tell him that it was all too much for her and she had decided to return to her husband. 'I am sure you and I would only create disaster together,' she wrote. 'I want you to be happy. I feel sure I can't make you so, and I honestly don't think you can me.' Whatever her real intentions, the King was horrified he telephoned her immediately and threatened to cut his throat if she did not come to Balmoral.46 *
ON THE BALMORAL estate there was a good deal of concern about the King's plans. He had already attempted to introduce efficiencies at Sandringham, on which he had asked the Duke of York to advise, and he planned to do the same at Balmoral. The Duke had sought to soften the pain of the job losses which the King imposed in Norfolk, but in Scotland he had not been consulted. Both he and the d.u.c.h.ess were worried about the King's att.i.tude.47 Queen Mary shared such concerns. With restraint, she wrote to the Duke, 'What a pity David went abroad when there is so much for him to do here & at Balmoral.'48 Unfortunately, the new King showed that his interests were elsewhere. Much has been made, and with reason, of the Aberdeen Infirmary incident. Earlier in the summer the King had been invited to open the new Aberdeen Infirmary in September. He had declined, on the grounds that he would still be in official mourning for his father. He deputed the Duke of York to do it in his stead on 23 September.49 A few days before the event the d.u.c.h.ess wrote to the Queen, 'I do wish that David could have done it, as they have all worked so hard for so long ... But he won't, so there it is!' She told the Queen that she and the Duke had been paying visits in the neighbourhood and asked if there were any tenants or others whom the Queen would like them to see. She was not really looking forward to the King's arrival at Balmoral. 'I am secretly rather dreading next week, but I haven't heard if a certain person is coming or not I do hope not, as everything is so talked of up here. I suppose it is natural, the place being empty for eleven months, that the time it is occupied every detail is discussed with gusto!'50 Then, on the day that the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess were opening the Infirmary, an astonishing incident occurred. The King, who had arrived at Balmoral four days earlier, suddenly appeared in Aberdeen. He drove himself the sixty miles, wearing driving goggles, to the railway station, in order to meet Mrs Simpson and her friends Mr and Mrs Herman Rogers off the London train. He put Mrs Simpson in the seat beside him and Mr and Mrs Rogers in the back. In other words, mourning allegedly stopped him from carrying out a duty in the city that day, but it was no barrier to his indulging his caprices. He could not have expected to pa.s.s unnoticed. The Aberdeen Evening Express published a photograph of him, with the words 'His Majesty in Aberdeen. Surprise visit in car to meet guests'. Next to it was a photograph of the Yorks opening the hospital. No clearer indication of the new King's priorities, and of the contrast with his brother and sister-in-law, could have been given to the people of Aberdeen. It was damaging to his reputation.51 Mrs Simpson's arrival at Balmoral was announced in the Court Circular; even Winston Churchill deprecated her going 'to such a highly official place upon which the eyes of Scotland were concentrated'.52 At the Castle her influence over the King was evident. Understandably, he put her in the best spare bedroom but to the surprise of his Household he refused to occupy the King's room himself, preferring to be in the dressing room of her suite.53 The Balmoral staff were concerned that the King would act in as draconian a way against them as he had against the workers at Sandringham. Queen Mary hoped the Duke of York would advise him 'to do the right thing' but in the event the King made sweeping changes on Deeside with no reference to his brother.54 The Duke was upset and wrote to his mother, 'David only told me what he had done after it was over, which I might say made me rather sad. He arranged it all with the official people up there. I never saw him alone for an instant.'55 The d.u.c.h.ess wrote to her mother-in-law to say that there was a great sadness and sense of loss on Deeside. 'You & Papa made such a family feeling by your great kindness & thought for everybody, but David does not seem to possess the faculty of making others feel wanted.'56 The d.u.c.h.ess added that she felt more and more anxious; she knew where the problem lay, but there were so few people with whom she could discuss it all. 'I feel that the whole difficulty is a certain person. I do not feel that I can make advances to her & ask her to our house, as I imagine would be liked, & this fact is bound to make relations a little difficult.' She was quite certain that the Duke should not get involved. 'The whole situation is complicated & horrible, and I feel so unhappy about it sometimes, so you must forgive me darling Mama for letting myself go so indiscreetly. There is n.o.body that I can talk to, as ever since I married I have made a strict rule never to discuss anything of Family matters with my own relations nor would they wish it, but it leaves so few people to let off steam to occasionally!' Thinking ahead, she asked, 'Has anything transpired about Xmas? Can we all spend it together do suggest it to David as he loves & admires you & I am sure would arrange what you wished.'57 Queen Mary was grateful for this 'dear long letter' and replied at once, saying that the subject 'grieves me beyond words'. The King, she lamented, was 'so good in so many ways, & so ill-judged in others'. She knew that the Yorks had been very kind to the people on the Balmoral estate she wished that the King had stayed there longer and had been 'less enc.u.mbered by guests', so that he could have dealt better with all estate matters. She had gathered that he did not want to spend Christmas or any part of the winter at Sandringham, so she had asked him to let her and the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess stay there for a few weeks; 'we 3 must arrange to run it together as we think best but this is for us to discuss & to see how best it can be arranged, for I must confess I should like to have a family party there as usual for Xmas, & to have the Xmas tree for our people, who will be so much disappointed if we are not able to give them some kind of happiness at that festive time of year, & I feel strongly that dear Papa would wish this I am sure you will both agree.'58 But while the King's family struggled to convince themselves that life could go on in the old way, the stage was being set for the inevitable tragedy. After Balmoral Mrs Simpson took up residence in Felixstowe, because the next convenient a.s.sizes in which the divorce could be heard happened to be near by in Ipswich. This proceeding caused some panic among those who knew of the King's friendship with Mrs Simpson; even Winston Churchill was alarmed at the prospect of her being free to marry again.59 On 20 October the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess arrived back in London on the night train from Scotland with their daughters. That same day the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, after searching his conscience, finally confronted the King. He told him that thousands of letters had been received at Downing Street and elsewhere, many from British residents in the United States and most of them very critical of the King's relationship with Mrs Simpson. The Prime Minister showed some of these letters to the King and asked him if he could not be more discreet and if Mrs Simpson's divorce could not be postponed. The King refused, a.s.serting that Baldwin had no right to interfere in the private matters of another person.60 Shortly after this Alec Hardinge, the King's Private Secretary, felt that he should inform the Duke of York of what was happening. Till now the Duke had convinced himself that, however strong his brother's feelings for Mrs Simpson, he would not sacrifice the throne for her. Now Hardinge informed him that the King's refusal to heed the Prime Minister suggested that he would indeed put Mrs Simpson before any other consideration. 'The possibility of abdication could no longer be ignored,' the Duke's biographer wrote, 'yet the Duke recoiled from it with consternation and incredulity. In his mind he sought to free himself from the nightmare web that was slowly enmeshing him, but in his heart he began to realise the inevitability of his destiny.'61 It was not easy. The Duke and the Prince of Wales had been friends as well as brothers all their lives, and since 1923 the d.u.c.h.ess had added to the gaiety of their relationship. Now the King had completely cut them off. If he really planned to marry Mrs Simpson after her divorce came through, it was clear to most of his family, though not yet to the King himself, that he could not remain on the throne. The Duke would become king, his wife queen, and Princess Elizabeth would be the heir to the throne. The prospect for all of them although as yet the Princesses knew nothing of what was happening was terrifying, and until his conversation with Alec Hardinge the Duke had not really believed it could happen.
Queen Mary was also suffering. In the country her public behaviour as dignified widow of the King won her admiration. Within the family, she relied more and more on her other children. So did they upon her: after visiting her at her new home at Marlborough House, the d.u.c.h.ess wrote, 'In these anxious & depressing days you are indeed "a rock of defence" darling Mama, & I feel sure that the whole country agrees.'62 The Queen expressed her own anxiety to the Duke 'how unsatisfactory it all is, so underhand and unpleasant. How will it end, you may imagine how worried I feel.'63 Mrs Simpson received her decree nisi on Tuesday 27 October. The people of Ipswich were astonished by the size of the international press corps which descended upon the town to cover the event, but they remained largely ignorant of the cause. Only the News Chronicle carried a story of any length about the divorce without explaining its importance. The American newspapers had a field day talking of Mrs Simpson's forthcoming marriage to the King. They spun stories that 'Wally' had dined with Queen Mary and that she was going to be created a d.u.c.h.ess before the wedding.64 At the Palace, there were formalities and illusions of normality to be maintained. Senior members of the Royal Household continued to plan the King's Coronation and engagements for him even though they had begun to fear that he might not be there to take part. The d.u.c.h.ess wrote a long letter to 'Darling David', in which she made no mention of the crisis which obsessed them all. Instead she thanked him for lending them Birkhall, without which she did not think she could cope with all the problems of modern life. 'I do thank you from my heart you are always so sweet & thoughtful for us, and I wish that I could thank you as I would wish.' She added a plea that in summer 1937 he might review the St John Ambulance Brigade.
It would do an incredible amount of good, because you know the men are practically all working men who give up holidays & ordinary leisure to do Ambulance service on great & little occasions they hardly ever get a pat on the back, & yet are absolutely essential to us, and I cannot begin to tell you what a marvellous effect it would have if you could possibly spare a day next summer. Oh dear I do hate to ask you this, but the St John gets things like Invest.i.tures for the grand people, and I do feel that the thousands of working men who give up their hard earned leisure to cope with accidents & public occasions would feel so set up if you could have a look at them. Please forgive me for asking you this, but you are so understanding about these things. Please don't give me away, as it really has nothing to do with me. I am being an interfering busybody ... If you possibly can it would be wonderful if you could inspect them. Your loving sister in law Elizabeth.65 As the crisis built, the King continued to avoid his family. The Duke finally saw him on the morning of 6 November, and urged him to come to Sandringham for a day or two at Christmas, if only for their mother's sake. 'He is very difficult to see & when one does he wants to talk about other matters,' the Duke wrote to Queen Mary. 'It is all so worrying & I feel we all live a life of conjecture; never knowing what will happen tomorrow, & then the unexpected comes.'66 The Queen agreed. 'As you say things are not very pleasant just now, everything appears to be in the air, & it is so difficult to get D. to think about what one wants to discuss with him, as he goes off the subject so quickly.'67 The King's own Private Secretary precipitated the denouement. On 13 November Alec Hardinge wrote to the King to warn him that the silence of the British press on the subject of his friendship with Mrs Simpson would last only for a matter of days and the effect of publicity was likely to be 'calamitous'. Moreover the government might resign and the King would then have to find another prime minister. If an election resulted, 'Your Majesty's personal affairs would be the chief issue.' Hardinge recommended that the only way of avoiding these dangers was for Mrs Simpson to go abroad 'without further delay and I would beg Your Majesty to give this proposal your earnest consideration before the position has become irretrievable'.68 It was wise advice but not tactful; the letter infuriated the King, who cut off all contact with Hardinge.
Nevertheless the King was moved to action. On the evening of 16 November he summoned Baldwin and told him that he intended to marry Mrs Simpson as soon as she was free. He would prefer to do this as king, but if he could not, then he would abdicate. Baldwin was appalled and told the King, 'Sir this is most grievous news, and it is impossible for me to make any comment on it today.'69 That evening he pa.s.sed on the news to his colleagues. Duff Cooper recalled that he said that 'he was not at all sure that the Yorks would not prove the best solution. The King had many good qualities but not those which best fitted him for his post, whereas the Duke of York would be just like his father.'70 The Prime Minister might be stunned, but the King apparently felt liberated. After his interview with Baldwin he went to dinner with his mother at Marlborough House, determined to tell her of his decision. Queen Mary's exact response is not known, but she commented later, 'I thought I was extremely outspoken and tried to express my displeasure, but I suppose he never listened to what I said.'71* She simply could not now and would not ever believe that Mrs Simpson was fit to be the wife of her son, let alone Queen. For her, duty came first, and only in duty came fulfilment. But she evidently did not make her feelings clear enough, and next day she wrote her son a letter which he took for encouragement: 'As your mother I must send you a letter of true sympathy on the difficult position in which you are placed. I have been thinking so much of you all day, hoping you are making a wise decision for your future.'72 The King replied with affection, 'I feel so happy and relieved to have at last been able to tell you my wonderful secret; a dream which I have for so long been praying might one day come true. Now that Wallis will be free to marry me in April it only remains for me to decide the best action I take for our future happiness and for the good of all concerned.'73 The Queen was more explicit with her daughter-in-law, to whom she wrote on 17 November, the day after her dinner with the King: 'I am more worried than I can say at what is going on.' The tension, the sorrow and the loneliness were almost unbearable and she asked the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess to come and see her. 'There is no one I can talk to about it, except you two as Mary is away & one can't discuss that subject with friends. What a mess to have got into & for such an unworthy person too!!! Yr sad tho' loving Mama.'74 The same day the King had finally brought himself to tell his younger brother directly of what he planned. The Duke was shocked and incredulous and went straight home to tell his wife who immediately sat down to write to the Queen: My darling Mama Bertie has just told me of what has happened, and I feel quite overcome with horror & emotion. My first thought was of you, & your note, just arrived as I was starting to write to you, was very helpful. One feels so helpless against such obstinacy ... G.o.d help us all to be calm & wise.
Your devoted daughter in law Elizabeth75 The next morning, Wednesday 18 November, the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess went to see Queen Mary to discuss the crisis, which was still unknown to all but a very close circle. Indeed some of those in the know wished that the press were less 'responsible'. The d.u.c.h.ess of Devonshire, with whom the Yorks had spent the previous weekend at Chatsworth,* wrote to Lady Airlie, 'What in the world is going to happen about Mrs S! one sees no good solution at all. I think it is getting time for the English Press to utter a few carefully chosen warnings.'76 At the end of the week, on 20 November, the Yorks went to stay for a shooting weekend with the Pembrokes at Wilton House, near Salisbury. Their inability to discuss the matter with which they were totally preoccupied must have made the stay very difficult for them. The d.u.c.h.ess wrote to Queen Mary: 'Staying here, in a very normal English shooting party, it seems almost incredible that David contemplates such a step, & every day I pray to G.o.d that he will see reason, & not abandon his people. I am sure that it would be a great shock to everybody and a horrible position for us naturally. However, it is no good going over the same ground again, but I must repeat that I do not know what we should do without you darling Mama ... It is a great strain having to talk & behave as if nothing was wrong during these difficult days especially as I do not think anybody here dreams of what is worrying all of us.'77 His family found it almost impossible to reach the King. It was particularly distressing for the Duke of York, who wrote to his beloved brother on 23 November saying, 'I do so long for you to be happy with the one person you adore,' and adding, 'I feel sure that whatever you decide to do will be in the best interests of this Country and Empire.'78 The d.u.c.h.ess wrote to the King on the same day with a plea on behalf of her unhappy, bewildered husband: Darling David Please read this. Please be kind to Bertie when you see him, because he loves you, and minds terribly all that happens to you. I wish that you could realize how loyal & true he is to you, and you have no idea how hard it has been for him lately. I know that he is fonder of you than anybody else, & as his wife, I must write & tell you this. I am terrified for him so DO help him. And for G.o.d's sake don't tell him that I have written we both uphold you always. E.
Across the top of the page she wrote, 'We want you to be happy, more than anything else, but it's awfully difficult for Bertie to say what he thinks, you know how shy he is so do help him.'79 The d.u.c.h.ess's concern both for her husband's inability to express himself and for his future was understandable. In the event the King still declined to see his brother.
The d.u.c.h.ess also wrote to Alec Hardinge's wife Helen, one of the few people with whom she felt it safe to communicate: 'It's bad, whichever way one looks at it, both from our point of view, and the country's.' She felt, she said, 'very depressed and miserable'.80 A few days later, the Duke wrote to Sir G.o.dfrey Thomas, the King's a.s.sistant Private Secretary, expressing the depth of his fears. 'If the worst happens & I have to take over, you can be a.s.sured that I will do my best to clear up the inevitable mess, if the whole fabric does not crumble under the shock and strain of it all.'81 Meanwhile, the King went away on a tour of the mining villages of South Wales. He displayed the best of himself, engaging sympathetically with the dest.i.tute, unemployed miners. He made the memorable statement 'Something must be done' which, when reported, gave many people hope that their monarch was advancing their cause, while worrying some politicians that the King was trespa.s.sing beyond his const.i.tutional role. There was no doubt that he felt keenly the plight of the unemployed, and there was equally no doubt that the signs of his own popularity emboldened him to think that perhaps, after all, he could stay.82 By the end of November a morganatic marriage in which his wife would not become queen but would hold some lesser t.i.tle had become the King's ambition. The Prime Minister, however, considered this a distasteful solution, which neither the public nor the Dominions were likely to accept. The leaders of both Labour and Liberal parties agreed with him.83 Early on the morning of 28 November Baldwin sent out telegrams to the Dominions Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Irish Free State to seek their views on the possibility of the King's marriage. The answers varied in tone from Australian trenchancy to Irish coolness, but they allowed Baldwin to conclude that the Dominions, collectively, would not accept the idea of a morganatic marriage, let alone the notion that Mrs Simpson might become queen.84 *
ON THE NIGHT of 29 November, the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess took the train to Edinburgh, so that the Duke could be installed as grand master mason of Scotland, succeeding the Prince of Wales, who had resigned the post upon becoming king. Upset and uncertain, the Duke wrote to his Private Secretary, 'I feel like the proverbial "sheep being led to the slaughter", which is not a comfortable feeling.'85 They kept in touch by telephone.
While they were in Scotland the crisis finally became public. On 1 December the Bishop of Bradford, Dr Walter Blunt, addressed his Diocesan Conference with a criticism of the King not for his a.s.sociation with Mrs Simpson but for his irregular attendance at church. He commended the King to G.o.d's Grace, which the King needed no less than others 'for the King is a man like ourselves.' And he added, 'We hope that he is aware of his need. Some of us wish that he gave more positive signs of his awareness.' Subsequently it was said that when he originally drafted his address the Bishop was not aware of the King's friendship with Mrs Simpson.86 The provincial papers immediately commented on the Bishop's remarks and the London press then finally followed suit. By Thursday 3 December all caution was gone, and when the Yorks stepped off the night train at Euston they were greeted with newspaper placards emblazoned 'The King's Marriage'. This was a terrible shock to them both. The Duke recorded later that the sight 'surprised and horrified' him.87 'We have just arrived back from Scotland, to be greeted with the bombsh.e.l.l of the daily papers it is all so dreadful & wasteful,' the d.u.c.h.ess wrote to d.i.c.k Molyneux; 'we both are unhappy & terribly worried.'88 That morning, 3 December, the Duke hastened to talk first to his mother and then to his brother, whom he found 'in a great state of excitement', saying he would ask the people what they wanted him to do and go abroad for a while.89 But first the King decided to send Mrs Simpson abroad, away from the public drama and private turmoil. She was receiving poison-pen letters and after a brick had been thrown through the window of her rented house in Regent's Park, she had taken refuge at Fort Belvedere. She left that night, 3 December, for the villa of Mr and Mrs Herman Rogers in Cannes; she was accompanied by a friend, Lord Brownlow, and carrying some 100,000 worth of jewellery. She walked out of Fort Belvedere without saying goodbye to any of the staff. Weeping, the King said farewell to her and begged her to call him when she stopped for the night. According to her own later account, he said, 'You must wait for me no matter how long it takes. I shall never give you up.'90 It took just eight more days for him to give up everything else.
After Mrs Simpson's departure the King went to Marlborough House and saw Queen Mary, the Duke of York and Princess Mary. He made what the Duke called the 'dreadful announcement' that he could not live alone as king and that he must marry Mrs Simpson.91 The hitherto silent press was now, to the astonishment of the overwhelming majority of the British people, filled with stories and photographs of the King and the hitherto completely unknown Mrs Simpson. Reading them in Cannes, Wallis Simpson was horrified by the often critical tone of the papers. So, for very different reasons, were members of the Royal Family. It was the first time that a monarch had been so roundly attacked since Queen Victoria had been criticized for shutting herself away after Prince Albert's death.
The effect of the news on many in Britain was ill.u.s.trated by an entry in the diary of the d.u.c.h.ess's childhood friend, Freddy Dalrymple Hamilton (now Captain of the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth), on 3 December.
This morning we got the biggest shock of all the shocks we have had in the last 18 months when we read in the papers that the City was upset Govt. stocks were falling & that there was some trouble about H.M. the King. In the 6 o'clock news we heard that The King was at variance with his Ministers on the subject of his private affairs ... Apparently he wishes to marry an American lady called Mrs Simpson, who it is said has already been twice divorced in America ... Heaven knows one wishes H.M. nothing but happiness but such a marriage would be so repugnant to the British people generally that it could never be approved by any Cabinet ... it seems incredible that H.M. with all his consideration & sympathy for others should really contemplate abandoning the ship in the middle of the storm especially as he is the most popular man in the British Empire.92 Public opinion was divided between those who held this view and those who felt that the King should be allowed to marry the woman he loved. At Buckingham Palace huge quant.i.ties of letters were received from the public at home and abroad, reflecting both sides. Susan Williams in her study The People's King examined the letters from the public preserved in the Royal Archives and concluded that the majority of ordinary people supported the King.93 On the same evidence King George VI's biographer John Wheeler-Bennett came to the opposite conclusion, and Tommy Lascelles commented that 'the day-to-day realization of that [highly critical] opinion had, at the time, a deep influence on the thought of [the King's] brother, and still more of his mother, who read every word of the stuff ... it was a constant feature of that nightmare month.'94 Baldwin and Clement Attlee, the leader of the Labour Party, who both kept close to public opinion, were convinced that the King had little backing in the country. The King's supporters were a curious combination Winston Churchill, Oswald Mosley, the fascist leader, and the press lords Beaverbrook and Rothermere. The aim of Beaverbrook and Churchill was, in Beaverbrook's words, to 'b.u.g.g.e.r Baldwin'.95 Over the weekend of 56 December much of the support the King enjoyed seemed to evaporate as the enormity of what he wished to do sank into the minds of the British people. Any notion of a 'King's Party' faded. The Duke wrote to his mother that he had spoken to David who seemed quite calm, though he could not be hurried in his decision. 'I feel so terribly sad for you darling Mama & I can well imagine through what anxiety you must have been going during this last 3 weeks. It has been awful for all of us, but much more so for you, when David has been trained for the great position he holds, & now wants to chuck away. I am feeling very overwrought as to what may befall me, but with your help I know I shall be able to carry on ... I really cannot believe that David is going.'96 The d.u.c.h.ess was grateful to the many friends who wrote to offer their support. She replied to a letter from Osbert Sitwell, 'In these last few days, when every minute has seemed an hour, we have been sustained & helped by the sympathy of our friends ... It is extraordinary how one's heart lightens at the kindness of friends.'97 *
ON 6 DECEMBER Baldwin went to see Queen Mary at Marlborough House. He was nervous because he always found her shyness rather difficult to overcome, but she greeted him with the words, 'Well, a pretty kettle of fish we're in now!' and this homely phrase revealed to him that he had no need to pick his words in describing the King's conduct.98 She thought the idea of a morganatic marriage was the worst solution of all; she simply would not countenance it. Apart from anything else, she thought, it would create a court within the Court and would make her own position intolerable she saw no reason why she should compete with Mrs Simpson.
Throughout the weekend, the K