Customer Reviews

The Windsor Story

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I have virtually every book written about Wallis Warfield and the Prince of Wales. This large book is, by far, the most accurate and informative. It will take you days to read as there are so many facts and stories on each page. They name names and back up the comments as the men and women involved gave them the information personally. Does it gloss over certain aspects of their lives? Yes. This is not an expose. It is a history book of the British Royal Family from the late 1800s onward.

While this story seems no big deal today (almost 2011), one can imagine the Royal Family going through a daily hell wondering when the next shoe was going to drop with regard to the flirtations of the Prince. The truth is told in many comments by his friends and servants that the Prince of Wales did not want to be King. Ever. If it had not been Mrs. Simpson who had distracted him from his Kingly duties, it would have been someone else.

I have never read a more thorough book on any subject as this one. You learn everything about what was going on in England (and Europe) at the time and even what was served at parties at The Fort and Mrs. Simpson's home in London! Who wore what. Who drank what. Who said what and when.

At the end of the day, these were two very shallow, selfish people. They lived selfish lives and spent hundreds of millions of dollars over their life time on parties, clothes, travel and drink. It was no surprise to read this week of the latest sale of the Duchess of Windsor's jewels. They were bought by someone (a couple of significant pieces) for $12 million. These jewels will dazzle for generations to come. What I would give to own the diamond and emerald brooch with the initials WE!! That piece was in the lot and I envy the lady who is going to be wearing it!

If you have any interest in the British Royal Famiy pre-Charles and Diana/Camilla, you must buy this book for your collection. Some day in the future it will not be available and you will regret not buying it while you can. It is a masterpiece.

One of the authors was primarily familiar with Wallis Simpson, and the other with the Duke of Windsor. In the early pages, the book is therefore a parallel biography which comes together as they meet and their relationship develops. Very intersting biographical material about both of them, and the circumstances which led British society to oppose the marriage. Writing style could have been livelier and clearer, but on balance, a valuable contribution to an event which caused the British a lot of heartburn in the 1930's and beyond.

Who can't help being caught up with story of the King of England who left the throne because he wanted to marry a woman whom everyone in power detested? It's truly fascinating reading and methodical, detailed (without being in questionable taste), and downright solid journalism. It covers everything, from Wallis' time in China to the camaraderie of the Duke and Duchess with the Nazis. And it captures the emptiness, the poignancy of an empty lifetime together. The Queen Mother's disgust and revulsion for Wallis made certain that the Duke could never return to England with Wallis-- because the entire royal family would shun her. She was never considered HRH which, by rights, she should have attained (Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, Elizabeth II's mother, was bestowed that title when she married the Duke of York (who became King George VI after Windsor abdicated). She was a commoner, yet she was accorded the honor. To the end of his life, Windsor was angry and disheartened that his wife wasn't accorded the honors she rightly deserved. The royal family treated them shabbily and, frankly, given that attitude, I was surprised that they would unbend enough to allow the Duke and Duchess be buried together in England.The Windsor Story

Copyrighted in 1979 (while the Duchess of Windsor was still alive), this isn't a new book about the Windsors, but, as it contains input from many of their contemporaries, it does provide a more 3 dimensional picture of both the Duke and the Duchess.

The Duke comes off as a man who, having been groomed all his life to reign over a constitutional monarchy, had no idea how to live a productive or gratifying life as a private citizen. Attempting to play a public role without advisors, he succeeded only in embarrassing the Crown and damaging his personal reputation.

The Duchess, who seems to have had few interests or skills, other than being an ornament to society and aspiring to titular honors, gave him the companionship and quasi-royal surroundings he craved, but was unable to give him a purpose in life, other than self-indulgence. Neither are treated as villains here; but neither come across as particularly admirable characters, either. An interesting and very readable account of a man who gave up everything for the woman he loved, and learned the hard way that he was sacrificing more than he'd bargained for. Was it worth the sacrifice in the end? One suspects that the answer to that question was as complicated as the circumstances of his abdication.

This book was definitely worth reading. I felt that it was very well balanced and the authors succeeded in sharing the Windsor saga with grace. The book clearly showed the political upheaval in Britain before, during and after the abdication. The loneliness and emptyness of the Windsors lifestyles and the aimlessness of their existence. It is definitely not a "hate" book against Wallis Simpson, just a straight-forward sharing of her life, politics, and love of life. Like her or hate her, they both had a shared responsibility in the abdication and the mess they left behind in their wake. An incredibly good read.

This dual biography of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, published in 1979, is a gossipy journalistic account, not very well footnoted but full of judgments, mostly adverse to the Duke and Duchess. The account of the time up to the abdication on Dec 11, 1936, is super interesting, even though I did on Jan 3, 1982 read Abdication by Brian Inglis, and so some of the story was familiar. The lives of the couple after their marriage are less interesting, and the great detail as to their possessions and social life does get tiresome. The book ends before the Duchess dies, though she was physically and mentally in bad shape when the book ends..

This is an excellent illustrated book about the Duke of Windsor and his American born wife.It's a must read!!!!!!