Before Wallis

by Rachel Trethewey

  Analysing her mother’s life, Gloria Vanderbilt has written that she believes the only person her mother truly loved was her twin, Thelma.59 When considering if she was like her mother, Gloria, who became a very successful businesswoman, believes that she is more like her aunt. She wrote that while her mother was passive and remote, Thelma was more extrovert with a burning desire to live life to the full.60

  After Gloria senior’s death, her daughter remained in contact with her aunt. Many years later, Gloria told a newspaper that she found it ‘astonishing’ that Thelma could live without her twin because ‘they really were one person’.61 In 1970 Thelma died of a heart attack. She had been visiting her niece in New York, and dropped dead on her way to see her doctor. It was clear that she had never totally got over her relationship with the Prince of Wales; in her handbag was the now threadbare miniature teddy bear they had exchanged decades before as a way of remaining close to each other when apart.62 In death as in life, Thelma wanted to be close to her twin; she was buried with Gloria in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles.

  NOTES

  Introduction

  1 Andrew Morton. 17 Carnations: The Windsors, The Nazis and the Cover Up. London: Michael O’Mara Books, 2015. 1–2.

  2 D.J. Taylor. Bright Young People: The Rise and Fall of a Generation 1918–1940. London: Vintage Books, 2008. 29, 36.

  3 J. Bryan III and Charles J.V. Murphy. The Windsor Story. London: Granada Publishing, 1981. 72.

  4 James Pope-Hennessy. Queen Mary. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1959. 514.

  5 Frances Donaldson. A Twentieth-Century Life: A Memoir. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1992. 219.

  6 Ralph G. Martin. The Woman He Loved: The Story of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. 13.

  7 Duff Hart-Davis (ed.). King’s Counsellor: Abdication and War: The Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2006. 112–13.

  8 The Duchess of Windsor. The Heart Has Its Reasons: The Story of the Abdication. London: Tandem, 1975. 243.

  9 The Duke of Windsor. A King’s Story: The Memoirs of HRH the Duke of Windsor. London: Pan Books, 1957. 200.

  10 Donaldson. A Twentieth-Century Life. 205.

  11 Duchess of Windsor. The Heart Has Its Reasons. 149.

  12 Philip Ziegler. King Edward VIII: The Official Biography. London: Fontana, 1991. 105.

  13 Tommy Lascelles to Joan Lascelles. 23 November 1936. Duff Hart-Davis (ed.). In Royal Service: Letters and Journals of Sir Alan Lascelles from 1920 to 1936. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1989. 201.

  Chapter 1

  1 J.M. Barrie. ‘Obituary. Lady Ednam.’ 25 July 1930. The Times. 14.

  2 In an interview with Michael Thornton on 29 May 1972 Lady Victor Paget confirmed that the Prince of Wales was present at this incident. Michael Thornton. Royal Feud: The Queen Mother and the Duchess of Windsor. London: Michael Joseph, 1985. 45.

  3 The Duke of Sutherland. Looking Back: The Autobiography of the Duke of Sutherland. London: Odhams Press, 1957. 80.

  4 Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales. 29 July 1917. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN/A/2080. The Royal Archives.

  5 Natasha McEnroe. ‘Life in a First World War Field Hospital is Depicted in a New Exhibition.’ History Today. Vol. 64, Issue 3, March 2014.

  6 20 February 1916. Edward, Prince of Wales’s Diary. RA EDW/PRIV/DIARY: 1915–1917. The Royal Archives.

  7 Ibid. 1 March 1916.

  8 Ibid. 25 February 1916.

  9 Philip Ziegler. King Edward VIII: The Official Biography. London: Fontana, 1991. 51.

  10 25 February 1916. Edward, Prince of Wales’s Diary.

  11 Turtle Bunbury. The Glorious Madness: Tales of the Irish and the Great War First-hand. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan Ltd, 2014.

  12 Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales. 16 March 1916. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN/A/1817. The Royal Archives.

  13 Edward Prince of Wales to Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland. 5 March 1916. Sutherland Collection. Staffordshire Record Office. D6528-15-174-2.

  14 Duke of Sutherland. Looking Back. 80.

  15 ‘Mentioned in Despatches for Distinguished Service at the Front.’ 17 January 1917. The Tatler.

  16 Frances Donaldson. Edward VIII. London: Futura Publications, 1976. 50.

  17 Desmond Fitzgerald to Edward, Prince of Wales. 9 October 1914. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN A/1386. The Royal Archives.

  18 Desmond Fitzgerald to Edward, Prince of Wales. 28 December 1914. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN A/1444. The Royal Archives.

  19 Desmond Fitzgerald to Edward, Prince of Wales. 23 June 1915. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN A. The Royal Archives.

  20 September 1915. Edward, Prince of Wales’s Diary.

  21 The Duke of Windsor. A King’s Story: The Memoirs of HRH the Duke of Windsor. London: Pan Books, 1957. 124.

  22 Ziegler. King Edward VIII. 76.

  23 Sir Almeric Fitzroy. Memoirs. London: Hutchinson, 1925. Vol. ii. 802–3.

  24 Helen Hardinge. Loyal to Three Kings: A Memoir of Alec Hardinge, Private Secretary to the Sovereign 1920–1943. London: William Kimber, 1967. 66.

  25 Robert Vacha (ed.). The Kaiser’s Daughter: Memoirs of HRH Viktoria Luise, Duchess of Brunswick and Luneburg, Princess of Prussia. London: W.H. Allen, 1977. 46–8.

  26 Ziegler. King Edward VIII. 44.

  27 Michael Thornton. Royal Feud: The Queen Mother and the Duchess of Windsor. London: Michael Joseph, 1985. 44.

  Chapter 2

  1 Denis Stuart. Dear Duchess: Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland 1867–1955. London: Victor Gollancz, 1982. 29.

  2 Ibid. 47.

  3 The Duke of Sutherland. Looking Back: The Autobiography of the Duke of Sutherland. London: Odhams Press, 1957. 40

  4 Ibid. 33–5.

  5 Ibid. 39.

  6 Ibid. 48.

  7 ‘Ball of the Season.’ 20 June 1911. Sheffield Daily Telegraph.

  8 ‘Woman’s Sphere.’ 2 July 1904. The Sphere.

  9 ‘Princess Victoria’s Birthday Party.’ 26 July 1905. The Tatler.

  10 ‘Debut of the Duchess of Sutherland’s Daughter.’ 19 May 1911. Lichfield Mercury.

  11 Duke of Sutherland. Looking Back. 54.

  12 ‘Lady Ednam’s Schooldays.’ 13 December 1922. Yorkshire Evening Post.

  13 Duke of Sutherland. Looking Back. 54–6.

  14 Richard Davenport-Hines. Ettie: The Intimate Life and Dauntless Spirit of Lady Desborough. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2008. 117–18.

  15 Ethel Grenfell, Lady Desborough. Pages from a Family Journal 1888–1915. Berkshire: Eton College, 1916.

  16 18 March 1902. Mid Sussex Times.

  17 Mabell, Countess of Airlie. Thatched with Gold: The Memoirs of Mabell, Countess of Airlie. London: Hutchinson, 1962. 112.

  18 Anne Edwards. Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor. London: Rowan and Littlefield, 2015. 95–102.

  19 Ralph G. Martin. The Woman He Loved: The Story of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. 53.

  20 The Duke of Windsor. A King’s Story: The Memoirs of HRH the Duke of Windsor. London: Pan Books, 1957. 33.

  21 Ibid. 49.

  22 James Lees-Milne. The Life of Reginald, 2nd Viscount Esher: The Enigmatic Edwardian. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1986. 188, 214.

  23 Edward, Prince of Wales to Queen Mary. 24 May 1916. RA QM/PRIVCC09: 1916–1918. The Royal Archives.

  24 Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales. 10 February 1917. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN/A/2022. The Royal Archives.

  25 Edward, Prince of Wales to Queen Mary. 2 June 1917. RA QM/PRIV/CC09: 1916–1918. The Royal Archives.

  26 Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales. 8 June 1917. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN/A/2068. The Royal Archives.

  27 Edwards. Matriarch. 145.

  28 Countess of Airlie. Thatched with Gold. 112.

  29 For a full description of Prince Edward’s childhood see Philip Ziegler. King Edward VIII: The Official Biography. London: Fontana, 1991. 1–13.

  30 Andrew Morton. 17 Carnations: The Windsor
s, the Nazis and the Cover Up. London: Michael O’Mara Books, 2015. 8.

  31 Duke of Windsor. A King’s Story. 36.

  32 Edwards. Matriarch. 147.

  33 For a full description of Prince Edward’s childhood see Ziegler. King Edward VIII. 1–13.

  Chapter 3

  1 Edward, Prince of Wales to Queen Mary. 4 September 1917. RA QM/PRIV/CC09: 1916–1918. The Royal Archives.

  2 Ibid.

  3 Edward, Prince of Wales to Queen Mary. 12 September 1917. RA QM/PRIV/CC09: 1916–1918. The Royal Archives.

  4 Diana Cooper. Darling Monster: The Letters of Lady Diana Cooper to her Son John Julius Norwich. 1939–1952. New York: The Overlook Press, 2014. Accessed via Google Books.

  5 Lady Victor Paget’s description in her interview with Michael Thornton. Royal Feud: The Queen Mother and the Duchess of Windsor. London: Michael Joseph, 1985. 46.

  6 22 November 1917. Lady Cynthia Asquith. Lady Cynthia Asquith: Diaries 1915–18. London: Hutchinson, 1968. 369.

  7 Diana Cooper. Autobiography. London: Michael Russell, 1979. 321.

  8 J.M. Barrie. ‘Obituary. Lady Ednam.’ 25 July 1930. The Times. 14.

  9 Thornton. Royal Feud: The Queen Mother and the Duchess of Windsor. 44.

  10 Lady Victor Paget, in Thornton. Royal Feud. 46.

  11 A Correspondent. 25 July 1930. The Times. 14.

  12 ‘Lady Ednam’s Schooldays.’ 13 December 1922. Yorkshire Evening Post.

  13 Ettie Grenfell, Lady Desborough. Pages from a Family Journal 1888–1915. Berkshire: Eton College, 1916. 199.

  14 ‘The Debutante of the Season.’ 14 June 1911. The Bystander.

  15 ‘The Debutante of the Season.’ 14 June 1911. The Tatler.

  16 Monica Salmond. Bright Armour: Memories of Four Years of War. London: Faber and Faber, 1935. 17.

  17 Billy Grenfell to Ettie Lady Desborough. 31 January 1914; May 1914. Desborough. Pages from a Family Journal. 437.

  18 Cooper. Autobiography. 321.

  19 Cooper. Darling Monster.

  20 Salmond. Bright Armour. 156–60.

  21 Richard Davenport-Hines. Ettie: The Intimate Life and Dauntless Spirit of Lady Desborough. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2008. 216–17.

  22 ‘Crowns, Coronets, Courtiers.’ 13 December 1916. The Sketch.

  23 Philip Ziegler. Diana Cooper: The Biography of Lady Diana Cooper. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1981. 81.

  24 John Julius Norwich (ed.). The Duff Cooper Diaries. 1915–1951. London: Phoenix, 2006. 44–5.

  25 Ibid. 47.

  26 Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland to Lady Rosemary Leveson-Gower. 18 January 1917. Sutherland Collection. Staffordshire Record Office. D6578-15-175-7.

  27 Duff Cooper. Old Men Forget. London: Faber and Faber, 2011. Accessed via Google Books.

  28 2 December 1917. Norwich (ed.). The Duff Cooper Diaries. 61.

  29 Ibid.

  30 Ibid. 29 December 1917. 63.

  31 Duff Hart-Davis. King’s Counsellor: Abdication and War: The Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2006. 110.

  32 Roger Powell. Royal Sex: Mistresses and Lovers of the British Royal Family. Stroud: Amberley Books, 2010. Accessed via Google Books.

  33 1 November 1915. Edward, Prince of Wales’s Diary. RA EDW/PRIV/DIARY: 1915–1917. The Royal Archives.

  34 Ibid. 18 April 1915.

  35 Ibid. 5 January 1916.

  36 Philip Ziegler. King Edward VIII: The Official Biography. London: Fontana, 1991. 91–2.

  37 5 January 1916. Edward, Prince of Wales’s Diary. RA EDW/PRIV/DIARY: 1915–1917. The Royal Archives.

  38 Ibid. 17 January 1916.

  39 Ibid. 31 January 1916.

  40 Ibid. 7 March 1916.

  41 Ibid. 1 February 1916.

  42 Ibid. 7 November 1915.

  43 Ibid. 6 December 1916.

  44 Ibid. 10 January 1917.

  45 Ibid. 16 Janaury 1917.

  46 Ibid. 22 January 1917.

  47 Ibid. 15 March 1917.

  48 Ibid. 27 May 1917.

  49 Edward, Prince of Wales to Queen Mary. 2 June 1917. RA QM/PRIV/CC09: 1916–1918. The Royal Archives.

  50 Edward, Prince of Wales to Queen Mary. 27 July 1917. RA QM/PRIV/CC09: 1916–1918. The Royal Archives.

  51 Ziegler. King Edward VIII. 89.

  52 James Lees-Milne. The Life of Reginald, 2nd Viscount Esher: The Enigmatic Edwardian. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1986. 300.

  53 18 December 1916. Edward, Prince of Wales’s Diary. RA EDW/PRIV/DIARY: 1915–1917. The Royal Archives.

  54 Ibid. 16 December 1916.

  55 Ibid. 1 January 1917.

  56 Ibid. 18 December 1916.

  57 Andrew Rose. The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder. London: Coronet, 2013. 30–42.

  58 Ibid. 59.

  59 Ibid. 42.

  60 Ibid. 53.

  61 5 May 1917. Edward, Prince of Wales’s Diary. RA EDW/PRIV/DIARY: 1915–1917. The Royal Archives.

  Chapter 4

  1 The Duke of Windsor. A King’s Story: The Memoirs of HRH the Duke of Windsor. London: Pan Books, 1957. 127.

  2 2 March 1918. Lady Cynthia Asquith. Lady Cynthia Asquith: Diaries 1915–18. London: Hutchinson, 1968. 416–17.

  3 Ibid. 14 March 1918.

  4 Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon to Beryl Poignard. 22 March 1918. William Shawcross (ed.). Counting One’s Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. London: Macmillan, 2012. 57.

  5 2 March 1918. Lady Cynthia Asquith. Lady Cynthia Asquith. 416–17.

  6 Robert Wainwright. Sheila: The Australian Beauty Who Bewitched British Society. London: Allen Unwin, 2014. 65.

  7 Lady Victor Paget’s interview with Michael Thornton. Royal Feud: The Queen Mother and the Duchess of Windsor. London: Michael Joseph, 1985. 46.

  8 Helen Hardinge. Loyal to Three Kings: A Memoir of Alec Hardinge, Private Secretary to the Sovereign 1920–1943. London: William Kimber, 1967. 66.

  9 Edward, Prince of Wales to Freda Dudley Ward. 19 February 1919. Rupert Godfrey (ed.). Letters from a Prince. London: Little, Brown, 1998. 140–1.

  10 Philip Ziegler. King Edward VIII: The Official Biography. London: Fontana, 1991. 94.

  11 Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart. Friends, Foes and Foreigners. London: Putnam, 1957. 211.

  12 Sushila Anand. Daisy: The Life and Loves of the Countess of Warwick. London: Piatkus, 2008. 44.

  13 Andrew Rose. The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder. London: Coronet, 2013. 160.

  14 Anand. Daisy. 210–15.

  15 Ibid. 159.

  16 Ibid. 198, 201.

  17 Ibid. 230.

  18 Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales. 6 April 1917. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN/A/2047. The Royal Archives.

  19 Denis Stuart. Dear Duchess: Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland 1867–1955. London: Victor Gollancz, 1982. 74.

  20 Thornton. Royal Feud. 46.

  21 Wainwright. Sheila. 38–40.

  22 Ibid. 41–2.

  23 Lady Victor Paget, in Thornton. Royal Feud. 48.

  24 Duke of Windsor. A King’s Story. 125.

  25 Ziegler. King Edward VIII. 87.

  26 Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales. 6 December 1918. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN/A/2204. The Royal Archives.

  27 Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales. 14 December 1918. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN/A/2207. The Royal Archives.

  28 Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales. 29 December 1918. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN/A/2211. The Royal Archives.

  29 Edward, Prince of Wales. 15 December 1918. RA QM/PRIV/CC09: 1916–1918. The Royal Archives.

  30 Stuart. Dear Duchess. 1.

  31 Lady Angela St Clair-Erskine. Fore and Aft. London: Jarrolds, 1932. 24.

  32 Stuart. Dear Duchess. 106.

  33 ‘Potteries Cripples’ Guild Bazaar and Fete at Trentham.’ 18 July 1908. Wellington Journal.

  34 Stuart. Dear Duchess. 109–10.

  35 The Duke of Sutherland. Looking Back: The Autobiography of the Duke of Sutherland. London: O
dhams Press, 1957. 45–6.

  36 ‘The Duchess of Sutherland’s Garden Party.’ 11 July 1899. Pall Mall Gazette.

  37 ‘Hardly in Homespun at the Homespun at Home.’ 22 July 1914. The Sketch.

  38 Duke of Sutherland. Looking Back. 47.

  39 Ibid. 79–80.

  40 Dora M. Walker. With the Lost Generation 1915–1919: From a VAD’s Diary. Hull: A. Brown and Sons, 1970. 18.

  41 Stuart. Dear Duchess. 142–3.

  42 Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales. 22 July 1917. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN/A/2077. The Royal Archives.

  43 Edward, Prince of Wales to Queen Mary. 27 July 1917. RA QM/PRIV/CC09: 1916–1918. The Royal Archives.

  44 Ziegler. King Edward VIII. 79.

  45 Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales. 4 April 1918. RA EDW/PRIV/MAIN/A/2128. The Royal Archives.

  46 Duke of Windsor. A King’s Story. 127.

  47 A Correspondent. 25 July 1930. The Times. 14.

  48 Ibid.

  49 Lady Victor Paget, in Thornton. Royal Feud. 47–8.

  50 Hardinge. Loyal to Three Kings. 67.

  Chapter 5

  1 Frances Donaldson. Edward VIII. London: Futura Publications, 1976. 59.

  2 J. Bryan III and Charles J.V. Murphy. The Windsor Story. London: Granada Publishing, 1981. 78.

  3 Barbara Cartland. We Danced All Night. London: Arrow Books, 1977. 322.

  4 Rupert Godfrey (ed.). Letters from a Prince. London: Little, Brown, 1998. xviii.

  5 Frances Donaldson. A Twentieth-Century Life: A Memoir. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1992. 25.

  6 Donaldson. Edward VIII. 59.

  7 ‘The World of Women.’ 27 January 1923. Illustrated London News.