The Duchess of Windsor - Hardcover

An empty account of an empty life, buoyed largely by speculation that Bessie Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson, the duchess of Windsor, although thrice married, was a virgin when she died. Drawing on the correspondence between the duke and duchess and many of the sources that supported his earlier works about the Windsors, the author (The Secret File of the Duke of Windsor, 1969, etc.) tries to define the woman who moved the king of England to give up his throne. Beginning at the beginning, Bloch speculates that Wallis Warfield's birth to a socially prominent family was not registered because of ``gender confusion'' resulting from genital flaws. As she grew up, according to the author, she developed ``a decidedly masculine appearance'' and ``a bossy personality.'' Be that as it may, she made her Baltimore debut with a thoroughly feminine demeanor and married a thoroughly domineering, heavy- drinking male, E. Winfield Spencer Jr. The marriage lasted five years, after which she traveled in Europe and China, where she was rumored to have picked up sexual ``arts.'' In London with her second husband, Ernest Simpson, she launched a social climb that led to her romance with the man who would become King Edward VIII. She, willing to be mistress or morganatic wife, protested mightily when the king planned to abdicate in order to marry her. She predicted rightly that she would be the target of England's disappointment. Spending the rest of her life successfully insuring that the former monarch would never regret his decision, her households, her wardrobe, her parties, and her persona were never less than perfect. Is the throne of England worth a lifetime with a woman renowned for her perfect grooming? Did her alleged masculinity appeal to the duke's rumored homosexual leanings? This book--in prose as flat as the duchess's chest--doesn't begin to probe those questions or convince the reader of her vaunted charm and wit. (130 photos, 30 in color) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

This is a highly sympathetic biography of Wallis Warfield (1896-1986), the American woman for whom, in 1936, Edward VIII gave up the English throne, thus becoming the Duke of Windsor. Bloch (Wallis and Edward-Letters, 1931-37), who was one of the Duchess's legal representatives before her death, quotes at length from her letters and covers information published elsewhere, including the story of Wallis's first two marriages and her love affair with Edward. He details how the hostility of the duke's brother and successor, George VI, and his wife to the Windsors resulted in their self-imposed exile from England. Bloch, however, does make the startling claim, based on little evidence, that Wallis remained a virgin until her death. He theorizes that, because of her masculine appearance, she may not have had a distinct gender at birth. Bloch glosses over the Windsors' sympathy for Hitler and maintains that they were "moderately" rather than "extremely" rich. Photos include some previously unpublished.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.