Wallis wasn’t altogether the bad person that she was painted. Sure she was a party gal and social climber - no crime in that. She had the misfortune to get involved with a weakling Prince, who when she became uncomfortable and threatened to leave him - he threatened to ‘slit his throat’ - his words, not hers.
Prior to their marriage, she wrote to Earnest Simpson, her divorced husband, confessing that she didn’t really love Edward, regretting their divorce and wondering ‘how it came to this’?’ After which, Wallis married Edward anyway, largely because she was afraid he would really kill himself and because she saw no way out. She had made her bed, so to speak.
Thus, her above statement indicates that it was said coming from a place of deep regret. And not only for herself and former husband Earnest - but for the fact that Edward had abdicated for a wife who, as she saw it, was beneath him. Edward didn’t see that - he saw only his obsession with Wallis as having been fulfilled.
Wallis was, however, by no means an innocent by-stander. She pursued Edward when it was all great fun. The consequences of an American taking up with a King in the early 1930s, dawned on her too late. She was caught up in something that had gone way beyond her ability to control. To her credit, she gritted her teeth and continued on, until the very end.
People often compare Wallis and Meghan. Clearly, there are some superficial similarities between the two. On closer look however, I think it’s fair to say that Meghan’s actions - coupled with further research insights about Wallis and Edward, coming to light more than 80 years later - have put Wallis’s actions into far greater greater perspective.
No comments:
Post a Comment