It takes quite a woman to get a man to give up the English throne just to marry her, but twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson pulled off the trick in 1936 when she married King Edward VIII. Here are five things you might not know about the woman for whom Edward abdicated the throne.
1. She Was the First ‘Woman of the Year’
In 1936, Time honored Wallis Simpson’s major coup of getting Edward to abdicate his throne by naming her “Woman of the Year,” the first time the magazine had ever given its “Man of the Year” award to a woman. She didn’t sneak past a field of slackers to get the honor, either; the other finalists included FDR, Mussolini, Eugene O’Neill, Chiang Kai-shek, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Lou Gehrig, Jesse Owens, and Margaret Mitchell.
Why did the magazine choose to honor Wallis Simpson over so many people who changed the course of 20th century history? According to Time, “In the single year 1936 she became the most-talked-about, written-about, headlined and interest-compelling person in the world. In these respects no woman in history has ever equaled Mrs. Simpson, for no press or radio existed to spread the world news they made.”
2. Their Wedding Cake Sold for Big Money…in 1998
Remember the episode of Seinfeld where the fictional J. Peterman bought a slice of Edward and Wallis’ 60-year-old wedding cake for $29,000? That little quirk didn’t just spring from Jerry Seinfeld’s head; it actually happened. In 1998, Sotheby’s held a large auction of the duke and duchess’ personal effects, including a slice of cake in a box marked “”A PIECE OF OUR WEDDING CAKE WE WE 3-VI-37.” (The “WE” stood for “Wallis and Edward.”)
Sotheby’s expected the cake curiosity to sell for $500-1000. The bidding for the slice of cake quickly became heated, though, and in the end California couple Benjamin and Amanda Yim forked over $29,000 for the well-aged baked good. Benjamin Yim explained his purchase by saying, “It is almost unimaginable to have such an item exist. It is something totally surreal. It represents the epitome of a great romance.”
3. She Loved Pugs
As a fellow pug fancier, I had to include this one. The duke and duchess owned a pack of pugs with great names: Disraeli, Davey Crockett, Black Diamond, Imp, Trooper, and Ginseng. Wallis didn’t just love live pugs, though; she also had 11 pug-shaped pillows arranged at the foot of her bed. The pillows were replicas of a needlepoint done 
by actress Sylvia Sidney and sold for $13,800 after the duchess’ death.
At least one funny story sprang from the duchess’ lifelong love of pugs. Famed photographer Richard Avedon got an opportunity to photograph Edward and Wallis during a 1957 stay at the Waldorf Astoria. Avedon didn’t want to take another bland, guarded picture of smiling members of the royal family, so he got creative. After remembering that the couple were dog lovers, he told a long, sad story about seeing a taxi run over a pup. He then snapped the picture right as their faces looked the most concerned. The photo, which now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, is one of Avedon’s more memorable works.
4. She Stayed in Hitler’s Guestroom
Wallis and Edward ran afoul of the rest of the royals (and much of the British government) during World War II. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor made a high-profile trip to Nazi Germany during 1937 to see how the German people lived under Hitler’s regime; they even stayed with the Fuhrer as his personal guests. When tensions flared during the early days of World War II, the couple was still said to entertain fascist friends in their French home.
Others thought that the Nazis were gleaning information about French defenses from the loose-lipped duchess. Some of the rumors were pretty steamy: people speculated that German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop had been Wallis’ lover during the mid-1930s and sent her 17 carnations a day as a reminder of how many times they slept together.
The British intelligence community became so worried that Wallis and Edward were Nazi sympathizers that they decided to make a preemptive strike against any future leaks. Edward received a new assignment—the relatively low-risk governorship of the Bahamas. The couple spent five years there in a Napoleon-like exile. Wallis hated life in the Bahamas and made frequent shopping trips to the U.S., which irked many British citizens who were having to deal with severe rationing and ongoing blackouts.
5. Madonna Wants to Play Her
In February 2009, rumors started to circulate in the British press that Madonna wanted to make a musical about Wallis Simpson’s life and play the starring role. Sources close to the singer reported that Madonna closely identified with Simpson following her divorce from director Guy Ritchie. Apparently Madonna identifies with the idea of a tabloid-mocked American marrying a British institution, but the project isn’t in production yet.
’5 Things You Didn’t Know About…’ appears every Friday. Read the previous installments here.
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According to my great aunt, Wallis Simpson had higher aspirations than being married to an abdicated King. She allegedly wanted to be on the throne beside him. Since they didn’t have People magazine back then, I guess we’ll never know for sure! ;-)
posted by Hyacinth on 12-18-2009 at 12:37 pm
Wow, try not to judge me too harshly as I am in my mid 20′s, but I was under the impression that I was going to read an article about a Simpson character that I was unfamiliar with. “Wallis Simpson…was that Homer’s mother or Marge’s?”
posted by Dan on 12-18-2009 at 1:02 pm
Wow, so Paris Hilton marries Prince Charles and this is a Man of the Year accomplishment? I don’t see wtf the bfd is.
posted by Bern on 12-18-2009 at 1:05 pm
Dan, I thought the same thing “WTH is Wallis Simpson? Is she Homer’s mother?”
posted by Sara in AL on 12-18-2009 at 1:58 pm
Dan, she couldn’t have been Marge’s mother anyway. Marge’s maiden name is Bouvier…
posted by Carole on 12-18-2009 at 2:24 pm
Sillies. Homer’s mother is named Mona.
posted by Bert on 12-18-2009 at 2:25 pm
Agreed! I wondered who this ‘Simpsons guy’ was. God, way to show our ages, guys!
hahaha.
Interesting – so he abdicated the throne, but they continued as Duke and Duchess? Is that correct?
posted by OkieMelissa on 12-18-2009 at 3:10 pm
He gave up his throne…for her?
posted by graham on 12-18-2009 at 3:40 pm
OkieMelissa: If I remember my history correctly they did keep their titles and a reduced allowance from the crown, however is was decreed that the titles would not be inherited should they have children. He was still the King’s brother after all…
posted by BorgQueen on 12-18-2009 at 3:52 pm
@ Hyacinth
From my study of the time and place and personalities involved, I think your great aunt was right: Wallis had higher aspirations than Time’s Woman of the Year. She did want to be queen. Guess she didn’t count on Edward adehering to the rules of succession.
…and to there being no People magazine of the day….by giving the award to Wallis, I think Time qualified as a good substitue given the troubled times of the thirties and the personages in the daily headlines.
posted by Zane on 12-18-2009 at 4:10 pm
The titles were created for them – there is no place Windsor to be duke or duchess of. He did give up the throne for her, and she was MAD about it. There supposedly is still a law that the monarch of Great Britain cannot be or be married to a Catholic. Noone was too thrilled about Wallis being a commoner and American either, and two exes did not help. The book “Sex with Kings” has quite a bit about George and Wallis (“Sex with the Queen” is pretty good too).
posted by Laurel on 12-18-2009 at 5:15 pm
Thanks for the added info, Zane and Laurel. As I recall, my great aunt seemed a little snarky about it. I don’t think she was too impressed with Wallis Simpson.
posted by Hyacinth on 12-19-2009 at 12:37 pm
Great romance is a lot of hooey. Edward VIII didn’t abdicate for the love of a woman, he abdicated because the prospect of the responsibilities of the throne terrified him. He was a man without character. Fortunately for England, his brother was up for the task, the strain of which possibly caused his premature demise, something for which the Queen Mum never forgave Wallis.
posted by Edward on 1-22-2010 at 2:16 pm
I sat at my desk in a Canadian school like other classmates, mesmerized as we listened to Edward give his abdication speech. Hearing a Kind give up his throne was scary. Royals just didn’t do that and as a British subject who was in awe of royalty the experience was awesome.
At a later date, I saw his bother the King and wife as their train pulled in to Windsor Ontario station. I have lived through a turbulent time in history.
posted by Dr. Eve Cappello on 3-10-2011 at 12:56 pm
The King of England was also the Head of the English Church. As the Head of the English Church, he could not marry a divorced woman. Had nothing to do with Wallis being an American although that did get several knickers in a bunch! Cheers!
posted by Robigus on 4-22-2011 at 3:51 pm
The 2010 Oscar-winner ‘The King’s Speech’ had at least hinted that Edward and Simpson were not-so-subtly convinced to abdicate, as they were Nazi-friendly as the war began (and continued to be during the war, as they were exiled to the Bahamas).
The recent BBC movie (shown on PBS in US) “Any Human Heart” was amazing, but fictional, story that included Mountstuart babysitting Edward and Wallis Simpson in the Bahamas, and the troubles they caused there and later in the U.S.
posted by John W on 5-16-2011 at 12:35 pm
That picture of the happy couple isn’t terribly attractive. She has a face that would stop a clock.
One must wonder just why Edward abdicated…was she that wonderful or did he just not want to be king and this was an easy way out.
Either way, they had money when so many Britons didn’t. That was shameful and still is.
I don’t have much use for the royals now and certainly no use for any Nazi sympathizers.
And it is true that a royal cannot marry a Catholic. Like that’s a bad thing?
So glad I am an American.
posted by Kelly on 5-17-2011 at 11:52 pm
She made a great comment after the Duke’s death that her pugs insisted on sleeping in the same bed with her and she said something like: “It is gratifying to know there are still creatures who want to share my bed.”
posted by Jody on 5-20-2011 at 12:08 pm
Excellent summary, but it fails, like the movie ‘The King’s Speech,’ to be plain about the fact that ‘David’ and Mrs. Simpson were traitors whose actions cost the lives of military and civilian men and women, including Americans.
Before his exile to the Bahamas, the abdicated king of Britain did indeed visit Hitler.
He also, in 1940, leaked the Allied war plans for the defense of Belgium to the Nazis. There is plenty of documentation that Mrs. Simpson continued, throughout World War II, to give Allied secrets to her lover, the German foreign minister.
It is also substantiated that the Duke Windsor had an agreement with Hitler that he would act as a willing puppet king if Germany were ever to conquer Britain.
They liked pug dogs, huh? Indeed, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were dogs — traitorous dogs.
posted by Ego Nemo on 5-25-2011 at 1:53 pm