Duchess: The Story of Wallis Warfield Windsor

by Stephen Birmingham

The story of Wallis Warfield Windsor!

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

344 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Pat Camalliere · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose this book is pretty good for a biography, but it reminded me of why I seldom read biographies for pleasure, only for facts. I generally find that no matter how the writer may try to be unbiased, I usually feel his opinions show through and I resent being told how to feel about a person. In this biography, it was clear he thought little of Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, and only a little better of the Duke. He would describe something unpopular she had done, then take a sentence or two to justify it, then follow it with pages of more similar examples to make the point of how wrong, or selfish, she was. That being said, it gave a lot of facts in a well-structured biography of a person I wanted to know about, in a clearly-written voice. For those reasons, and recognizing my personal bias against biographies, I am giving the book 3 stars.

[SEH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birmingham makes it clear early on, and reiterates it throughout the book, that nobody really could string together an accurate, true description of Wallis Simpson - and after finishing the book, that's the same feel I get. She was certainly ambitious in social climbing - but did she actually expect the King to give up everything for her? Did she really want him to? I don't know, and I'm not sure Birmingham or anyone else does either. (Interestingly - this book was published only a few years before she died; I wonder if he would have had more access to sources, people willing to speak up, after her death; maybe it wouldn't have mattered; it's a pretty darn well researched book.)

The person that comes across least favorably in this book is definitely Edward. He seems to be beyond full of himself to the point of weirdness (there's an interesting passage about how he would randomly decide that he only wanted to speak German, and would do so at evening parties and not care in the least that nobody could understand him. wtf??), not at all above using people and ditching them when he decided they weren't useful anymore, and dim witted to the point that... he honestly seems downright stupid at times. Birmingham takes the liberty of going on several diversions from the actual story where he talks about ALL THE WAYS that Edward/Wallis could have avoided ending up in dilemma #239482390483, all except for the whims of the King (or ex-King, depending on the time) and there were times when Wallis knew he was making bad decisions...but... le roi le veut.

The story drags a bit during the later years, not because of the author, but just because the couple don't really do much beyond buy buy buy (Wallis) and whine whine whine (Edward). Birmingham notes here again that there were a number of ways Edward could have actually made himself useful or applied himself to...but surprise... he didn't. ("And yet it would be wrong to conclude that he was simply lazy...the fact seems to be that he did not understand the concept of work. To him, work was rank and status. It did not involve contributing something. Though servile by nature, he had no idea of what service was.")

To Wallis's credit it sounds like she did the best she could in keeping the unemployed and bored manchild happy for 30+ years.

It's interesting to read about George VI and Elizabeth in the years prior to their ascending the throne when Edward was the golden boy and his brother and SIL were thought of as being rather plain and boring in comparison. History now deems Edward to be the failure and we look favorably back on George and Elizabeth.

Finally, I enjoyed taking intermittent breaks to wiki some of the more interesting figures of the time that I had never heard of - Jimmy Donahue (who apparently led a far more colorful life than his wiki page would indicate), Bill and Ann Woodward (what a terribly sad story, yikes).

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

To start, I really enjoy this author's style, research, and ability to craft a story. I have read some of his other books and really enjoyed his writing.
Like other books about royals I find it interesting to read about their very different lives from the ordinary person.
I found this fascinating:

In the presence of royalty, i.e., small intimate gatherings, one could not:
Speak to the Royalty before they spoke to you
Sit until the Royalty sat
Leave the party before the Royalty left
Talk of politics, Royal matters
Precede royalty out of a doorway
Interrupt royalty during conversation
Touch royalty in a casual social manner
Address them by first name, only Sir or female equivalent

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of many books I have on The British Royal family that has that have been waiting around on my books shelves for many years. An interesting character study of Wallis & her relationship with the duke.

[TK · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty sure there are better biographies available than this one! For those who enjoy spotting the typos that were over looked prior to publishing, this one’s for you!

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dislike her, not the book.

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting bio, I highly recommend it