Customer Reviews

The Windsor Style

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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.

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.