Did Wallis Simpson Really Want to Marry the King?

This book suggests that Wallis Simpson was trapped into marriage with the King

Years ago I had only the haziest knowledge of the affair that rocked the world many years before I was born. The new king of England, in the first year of his reign, gave up the throne for Wallis Simpson, a divorced American woman. What was the truth?

That woman - the villain of the piece

What's more, Mrs Simpson was always seen as the bad guy in the affair; she had seduced and lured the king away from his throne and his duty. The couple were banished from the land and Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) always referred to her as 'that woman'.

But was Mrs Simpson just a pawn in another game?

Anne Sebba, the author of this book, certainly thinks so. Yes, Wallis was having an affair with the king. Yes, she was a social climber who enjoyed the unofficial status the affair gave her. But had she truly wanted the king to abdicate to marry her?

Was she still in love with her ex-husband?

The author had access to papers that have only recently come to light.Some of these are letters from Wallis to her ex-husband. Yet they are love letters. She despairs about the situation with the king, saying that the situation had become out of hand and beyond her control.

Authentic letters from Mrs Simpson

Anne Sebba confirms that the papers she has used to create this book have been declared authentic.

There are also government records that are on public display which back up her theory that Wallis never wanted to marry the king but was forced into the situation.

Government intervention

It's speculated that the government of the day disapproved of King Edward VIII as the nation's monarch, especially with the Second World War looming on the horizon.

Was Wallis Simpson really the scheming woman that history portrays?

Watch an interview with the author

Anne Sebba explains why the world is still fascinated by this woman. She tells of the papers that have come to light and shows just one of the letters Wallis wrote to her ex husband at a time when she and Edward were supposedly in the throes of 'the affair of the century'.

Ever since I discovered the story of the king who abdicated for his love, I have studied the romance and read many books.

It's not just what was referred to as the 'abdication crisis' that is worthy of study, what about their later life?

Wallis wasn't a beautiful woman by any means. Although she is sometimes described as having 'charm', she wasn't a sparkling wit or particularly intelligent.

See her most famous quote below.

So. That's her most famous quote, is it? Once married to the king (demoted by then to the Duke of Windsor) Wallis knew that she would go down in history. And yet she has left no quotes other than it's impossible to be too rich and too thin. (And I'm sure you'll agree that she was wrong).

Of course,she may well have said that. She might possibly have made more intelligent remarks too. But I've seen copies of her letters and they show no wit, no intelligence. So why would the king be so enamoured?

She wasn't beautiful. She wasn't intelligent. She wasn't young.

How did she captivate a man to such an extent ... without help?

It's no secret that the government of the day were unhappy with Edward as their king. War was on the horizon and the king was strongly believed to be a Nazi sympathiser.

Were both Edward and Mrs Simpson part of a plot to remove him from the throne?