I read this book all night when I was unable to sleep. The book certainly tried to get me there, but obviously did not work and here I am in the light of day having finished it. I listened to some podcast (British Scandal) on these two recently that was citing this book, enjoyed the interview, found it at the library. I found it to be nearly 400 pages of slogging through how these two were stupid, drunk, rude, mean, boring, shallow, spendaholic, cheapskates, gay, obnoxious, ugly, work-shy, etc., etc. etc.....oh yeah, and they were Nazi sympathizers, too. Alas for the author, there's not enough material on that topic--the obvious inspiration for this book--to go for that many pages, so most of the book is dedicated to the incredibly shallow afterlife the two spent together after their marriage. I give the author credit for staking out a new area of material for these two that isn't usually covered, i.e. the aftermath. But lord knows it's unpleasant to read. Then again, the subject matter is terrible, so what do you expect? But even I thought some of the razzing didn't quite ring true. I don't particularly want to defend Nazi sympathizers, but god knows I've read a lot of royal stuff and I was just like, really/! to a lot of it.
The Nazi stuff comes up early on, and is brought up again in the middle and at the end in kind of a "just to recap it" sort of way. There's certainly documentation for most of that, we know the D&D did hang out with Hitler and the Germans were kissing their booties in just the way they wanted and needed. Did they blab stuff if they knew it? Wouldn't be surprised. But the British government manages to maneuver the D&D out to the Bahamas and thus the Hitler stuff never quite comes to fruition. It's creepy and icky, but didn't exactly hurt the nation under the circumstances. A fellow named Nigel Law describes the visit as him seeing very little of real leaders and barely met the Fuhrer, and he didn't understand half of what he said or what was said to him. When warned of the dangers of the Germans, the duchess ignored the warnings and the duke "is in such a state of intoxication most of the time that he is virtually non compos mentis." I'm still trying to figure out how "in" Wallis was with the Germans/von Ribbentrop and I'm still wanting to know how people thought she was juggling both a prince, her husband, and Mr. Nazi all at once.
Basically the duke wanted to do a little somethin-somethin for a "job" but didn't actually want to do a job, just wanted some kind of prestigious title. He wanted to move back home and was categorically NOT ALLOWED TO. I don't see as much bitching over a lack of funds in this one that I've seen other places, but they seem to go back and forth between being cheap, sponging off others, refusing to pay debts, etc. versus doing way too much shopping. After a not-particularly-enjoyed stint in the Bahamas, "jobs" kinda ended for the duke, so they just basically threw parties and went to nightclubs until they were too ill to do so any more. Though I'll give Wallis credit for actually doing some charity work while in the Bahamas, which I get the impression she was into.
I find it very confusing that this author has simply tons and tons of bibliographic listings at the back and all these footnotes citing sources, so you'd think at least all things here are well researched. On the other hand, he tends to throw in total rumors like "Wallis was having an affair with (insert name here, there's a lot of names floated)" and "Both of them were totally gay," and "the Duke cheated too," and "the Duke had an illegitimate child," which I think was in there for like a page with no follow-up, without that much to go on.
I find it hard to believe that the world's most besotted dude was cheating on Wallis, especially so recently after the wedding like the author thinks or at least implies. Given that the duke had mumps, no body hair, and I guess some um, sexual issues and wasn't exactly fully manly matured (which comes up at the end), I'm pretty sure I've read elsewhere that the guy was suspected to be infertile, and we know he didn't knock anyone else up. So how much do we know about this illegitimate child? Not a lot? Hmmmm. There doesn't seem to be much evidence on most of Wallis's suspected affair partners (I'll get to the one that's covered later). The gay stuff seems to come more from the Duke having a femme-y childlike personality and Wallis being an emotional domme more than actual evidence of Wallis banging ladies or the Duke banging men. I'm not entirely sure Scotty Bowers (you may not want to Google that, I'm not gonna), sex procurer, is the world's most reliable source....? The author's convinced that Scotty told the truth in general, apparently but I'm not even sure if it was spelled out more about the D&D? Honestly, the book feels like the author threw in every tacky-ass story he ever heard about these people, and the really weird/scandalous sex shit doesn't always feel like it rings true.
I can't help but laugh at the end of the book, in which it's debated why Wallis had a hold on him. Their emotional S&M relationship seems to be the key--he liked being bullied about--but it also gets into "sex tricks she learned in the Orient" (lol) and how only Wallis could get him off because of her special knowledge and sex games, or have they actually managed to P-i-V at all?! ... Oh my. I felt so dirty.
About the one rumored thing that seems fairly covered is Wallis's "affair" with the extremely gay Jimmy Donohue. The three traveled around as a threesome (Jimmy footed bills and partied with Wallis all night long) for years before the duke hit his limit. I definitely got some kind of pseudo-boyfriend vibes on this one, kind of like Eleanor Roosevelt had various pseudo-boyfriends that were married, and I don't think schtupping occurred, but she more or less "partnered" with them to some degree. I pretty much think that happened here, and also, how plausible is it that a very gay guy and an older lady were schtupping or giving blow jobs, as this book indicates? Jimmy himself said he loved her like his mother.
Mostly this book is a whole lot of quotes as to how awful the D&D are. Probably what I think is the most well researched thing n here is all the quotes about how horrible they are. Just tons and tons of stories of them being bratty rich people, written down in people's diaries. Let's do a brief roundup of quotes!
- Alan "Tommy" Lascelles, who worked for him and hated every minute of it, said he didn't have a soul and no intellectual or artistic interests and had no friends.
- MP Robert Bernays: has a case of arrested development, hasn't thought through abdicating and hasn't realized that "abdication means exile and that for the rest of his life he can serve no useful purpose."
- When drunk, he'd imitate Winston Churchill trying to get him to not abdicate.
- Both of them thought that handing out autographed pictures of themselves were a gift.
- The King refused to take his calls, can't blame him.
- Baba Metcalfe at the wedding, after musing as to how unattractive Wallis is in looks and speech, "I feel I am passing the weekend in an ugly chateau with people (with the exception of HRH) who are unattractive and completely ignorant of what is happening and who I never want to see again."
- Wallis: "Here was someone whose every day had been arranged for him all his life and now I was the one who was going to take the place of the entire British government, trying to think up things for him to do."
- Fruity Metcalfe, the Duke's best man and supposed best friend: "He might do anything--anything except the right thing. I live from hour to hour fearing to hear the worst." He worked for the Duke without pay and one day he's calling in for work and finds out that the Duke has bugged off to Biarritz without a word, left behind. "He has taken all cars and left not even a bicycle!...After twenty years I am through--utterly I despise him, I've fought and backed him up (knowing what a swine he was for 20 years), but now it is finished...The man is not worth doing anything for."
- Wallis claimed to only be interested in buying presents for the children of Nassau. LOL, nope, shopping for herself.
- Patrick Skene Catling ran into him while the duke was drunk and golfing. "I thought he was an awful shit and a fool."
- The duke didn't have interest in much other than golfing, gardening, music/entertainment, and running his mouth. A lot. Apparently not saying much of interest, either.
- Apparently Wallis claimed a bunch of her jewelry was stolen, then it turned up in the Sotheby's catalog. "She clearly could never wear the jewels again after she and her husband had collected the insurance."
- The duke, lifelong party animal: "I never take life easy. I never have and I never shall."
- Naturally they didn't write their own memoirs. It sounds like it was pulling teeth to get anything out of them about it. Naturally the duke claims he was slaving away at it and did it all himself. The duchess went through several authors quitting on her, one of them grumbling that he couldn't turn her into Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and that she lied a LOT.
- Noel Coward: "Poor dear, what a monumental ass he has always been!"
So how do I rate this book? Hell if I know. I guess I'm gonna split the difference and go with 3.5 stars. It was a complete lulu to read, honestly.
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