The Windsor Style [Hardcover]

Suzy Menkes (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British fashion editor and historian Menkes, author of The Royal Jewels, has created an album of great appeal with considerable new information about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. With nearly 200 photographs (over half in color), this showcase evokes the magnificence of the exiled couple's homes in France and the United States and the opulence of the duchess's wardrobe and jewels. Quotes from friends and critics of the former king and his wife add poignancy to this portrait of famous lovers who led empty lives. In the otherwise elegant bedroom of the duke, Menkes found toys from his nursery days, including one made by his mother, Queen Mary. Her account of the often mean-spirited if always exquisite Wallis makes a sad commentary on living like Midas as the best revenge. First serial to European Travel & Life.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Salem House Pub; 1ST edition (April 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881623210
• ISBN-13: 978-0881623215
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 7.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,070,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A View Inside A Shrine to Self, March 22, 1998

By 

Gloria E. Salavarria ([e-mail]) (Middlebury, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Windsor Style (Hardcover)

The Windsors, while they were living, epitomized style, glamour, and wit. Ultimately theirs was a wasted life, empty of meaning in the end. From the heady days of their scandalous romance, life was all downhill, a private struggle to conserve their dignity in the aftermath of the abdication. To fill this emptiness and lack of purpose in life, the Duchess obsessed on perfection; of herself, of the things she collected and of the table she set. The Windsor's sous chef spent hours sorting salad leaves into leaves of exactly the same size to be set before their guests. Their relationship was a hollow recreation of the childhood the Duke never could leave behind. Moulin de la Tuilerie, their country home outside of Paris, was the York Cottage of Edward's youth reborn. Wallis herself was Queen Mary, obsessively arranging the display of small objets and cosseting the little boy who was King. A long time servant said, "They had nothing and no-one. They were just two lonely old people." Suzy Menkes takes the reader on an interesting tour through not only of the tangible objects of this relationship, but of the relationship itself.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars opulent recounting of a bizarre couple, December 6, 2010

By 

M. Jurmain (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Windsor Style (Hardcover)

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor continue to fascinate. While they spent their lives in decadent partying and contributed little to society after the Duke's abdication, they lived in grand style, and this book reflects it. With numerous black and white and color photos recording their flamboyant and expensive taste, the book covers their homes, their interior decorating, their clothing, and the Duchess' fabulous jewels. Suzy Menkes, a recognized royal fashion authority, tells the rather pathetic tale of their self-absorption and great wealth with warmth and understanding. If they lived superficial lives, at least they provided some entertainment for the rest of us. And the Duchess did will her estate to a charity.