Wallis Simpson Biography

Wallis was born Wallis Warfield, to a distinguished American family.

In 1916 she married Lieutenant Earl Winfield Spencer, a pilot in the U.S. Navy. Spencer was to develop a drinking problem and the marriage soon became abusive. Wallis eventually left him and the couple divorced in 1927.

Only six months after her divorce, Wallis married Ernest Simpson and they moved to London. Soon settling into London social life, Wallis met Prince Edward at a fashionable party and there was an instant attraction.

While many blame Wallis for seducing the Prince, it seems likely that she was herself seduced by the glamour and power of being close to the heir of Britain's throne. On a cruise, Wallis recalled, she and the Prince "crossed the line that marks the indefinable boundary between friendship and love".

On 20 January 1936, King George V, Edward's father, died, and Edward became King Edward VIII. The Government and the people of Great Britain had high hopes for Edward, but his infatuation with Wallis distracted him from his state duties. He alienated palace courtiers and his unorthodox approach to Government matters caused concern amongst ministers.

Some claimed that Wallis may be a German spy, handing State papers over to the German government. Some historians still consider that she might have had connections there, given Edward's sympathies towards the Nazi regime in the late 1930s.

Marriage to a divorcee was a constitutional impossibilty, so King Edward was faced with three options: give up Wallis, keep Wallis and face the resignation of the entire government, or abdicate. He chose the last option.

His brother Albert, second in line to the throne, became King George VI, and bestowed upon Edward the the title of Duke of Windsor.

Mrs. Wallis Simpson sued for a divorce from Ernest Simpson and Wallis and Edward married in a small ceremony on 3rd June 1937. Shunned and exiled from Britain, they lived most of their lives in France.

Edward died in 1972 and Wallis was to remain alone until her death in 1986.