Wallis's marriage to Earl Winfield Spencer (known as Win) started off with him yelling at her because there was no alcohol in West Virginia. Seriously. You see, that was where they went for their honeymoon (why, I don't know...), and it was a "dry state" which meant Win couldn't buy any booze. So he had to make do with the booze he had packed in his suitcase. Which was actually a lot.
Wallis, being underaged at the time, didn't have a lot of experience with alcohol. By the time she and Win moved to Florida, she knew a lot more. Win, who was a pilot, liked to take a flask up with him while he flew. So did most of his buddies. While living on the Navy base with Win, Wallis witnessed two plane crashes, and developed a lifelong fear of flying. If you were married to a drunk pilot, you'd probably feel the same way.
As a Navy wife, Wallis travelled quite a bit. First to Florida, then Boston, then California, and then Washington D.C., which was close to home. During this time, she also discovered Win was an abuser. When he was drunk he liked to push Wallis against the wall, shake her, and lock her in the bathroom. He also liked to rape her sometimes, though this was when forced sex between spouses was not considered rape. In his official biography of Edward VIII, Philip Ziegler helpfully suggested that if Wallis had been "more sympathetic" to Win, he wouldn't have abused her and everything would have worked out fine and dandy. But, it didn't, and Philip Ziegler is kind of a douchebag. When Wallis tried to tell her family what was going on, they basically told her to stop falling on doorknobs. She didn't have much of a choice. If she left Win, she would be cut off from her family and forever branded a "used goods". Wallis committed herself to maintaining the illusion of a happy marriage. She made friends, and went to parties, and borderline stalked Charlie Chaplin for a while in California.
Things came to a head when, one night in Washington, Win beat her to the point that, as she later told one of her friends, she thought he was going to kill her and throw her body in the river so no one would ever know what happened to her. So she slipped out of the house the next morning and went to stay with her mother. Win left Washington shortly after that alone. Wallis spent the next year or so living with her mother in a small apartment outside Washington. She took up with diplomatic and political circles and found herself very popular with men. She fell in love with Felipe Espil, a diplomat from Argentina. He was several years older than her. They would go dancing and to parties. Wallis and Felipe shared a love of antiques and romance novels. He was Catholic, and had a bright future ahead of him, though he needed a wife with money and connections. Wallis was still married and had neither. Eventually, Felipe told her that there was nowhere their relationship could go, and Wallis understood.
She went back to Win. She didn't have much of a choice. She couldn't get divorced without pissing off her family and she couldn't just stay separated forever living with her mother and unable to marry again. Win was stationed in China at this point, and like most abusers he promised he had completely changed and wasn't going to hurt her ever again. That lasted for about a day and a half. In China, Win was more violent than ever before, kicking her once in the kidneys so hard she has to be hospitalized. Supposedly years later she still had a scar on her lower abdomen from a time he cut her with a broken bottle. It was widely believed she got pregnant at some point in China, but either because of Win's abuse or a back alley abortion, she never had any children. There was also the widespread story that she hung out in brothels where she learned weird sexual stuff, which is almost definitely untrue. Terrifyingly enough, her biographer Greg King (in his very good and non-trashy book) suggested she may have gone to brothels in China because Win would force her to come and watch him have sex with prostitutes, or even that he tried to pimp her out to pay off his gambling debts.
Wallis left him again, this time in the middle of the night. She stayed in China, traveling to Peking and Shanghai, and for a while she stayed with her friends Katherine and Herman Rogers. According to the internet, they had some kind of threesome situation going on. There's not much in the way of proof for that, but it seems possible. Apparently, years later, when Katherine Rogers had died, Herman remarried. Wallis attention-whored herself at the wedding, tried to ruin the bride's dress, and crashed their honeymoon with her drunk gay boyfriend. Though there's no solid proof for that one either, just the word of the bride in question, years after the fact.
After spending a lot of time in China (and having lots of boyfriends, which was used as more proof of her evil whoring ways), Wallis got sick and had to leave. She realized she needed to leave Win for good once she got home, and sought a divorce attorney. Divorce was hard in the 1920's, and Wallis had to move to Virginia for a year to qualify for one in Virginia, where they were easier to come by. Apparently she couldn't afford to go to Reno. So she stayed in a hotel in some small town in Northern Virginia for a year, leaving sometimes to visit New York and stay with her childhood best friend Mary Kirk. She tried to get a job, first selling tubular steel, which didn't work because she couldn't do math. Then she wanted to be a secretary, but she needed to go to school for that and didn't have the money. She was a woman, with no education or work experience and this was the late 1920's, so she had no luck.
While in New York, she met Ernest Simpson, who was married (but told women it was only a technicality though actually his wife was in the hospital). He said he was getting divorced, and she was getting divorced. He proposed, and she turned him down. Then she took a trip to Europe and while there, Ernest moved to London. Wallis was an anglophile, so the prospect of living in London was very appealing to her. So she decided to marry Ernest. He was well off enough she wouldn't have to worry about money, though not rich. And at thirty-two, she was considered over-the-hill, so she felt like if she didn't marry Ernest she would probably die alone. So, in 1928 she married Ernest Simpson at a London courthouse, and became Wallis Simpson. While she was in London, some pretty interesting stuff happened, that will be covered in part three, tomorrow night.
Wallis, being underaged at the time, didn't have a lot of experience with alcohol. By the time she and Win moved to Florida, she knew a lot more. Win, who was a pilot, liked to take a flask up with him while he flew. So did most of his buddies. While living on the Navy base with Win, Wallis witnessed two plane crashes, and developed a lifelong fear of flying. If you were married to a drunk pilot, you'd probably feel the same way.
As a Navy wife, Wallis travelled quite a bit. First to Florida, then Boston, then California, and then Washington D.C., which was close to home. During this time, she also discovered Win was an abuser. When he was drunk he liked to push Wallis against the wall, shake her, and lock her in the bathroom. He also liked to rape her sometimes, though this was when forced sex between spouses was not considered rape. In his official biography of Edward VIII, Philip Ziegler helpfully suggested that if Wallis had been "more sympathetic" to Win, he wouldn't have abused her and everything would have worked out fine and dandy. But, it didn't, and Philip Ziegler is kind of a douchebag. When Wallis tried to tell her family what was going on, they basically told her to stop falling on doorknobs. She didn't have much of a choice. If she left Win, she would be cut off from her family and forever branded a "used goods". Wallis committed herself to maintaining the illusion of a happy marriage. She made friends, and went to parties, and borderline stalked Charlie Chaplin for a while in California.
Things came to a head when, one night in Washington, Win beat her to the point that, as she later told one of her friends, she thought he was going to kill her and throw her body in the river so no one would ever know what happened to her. So she slipped out of the house the next morning and went to stay with her mother. Win left Washington shortly after that alone. Wallis spent the next year or so living with her mother in a small apartment outside Washington. She took up with diplomatic and political circles and found herself very popular with men. She fell in love with Felipe Espil, a diplomat from Argentina. He was several years older than her. They would go dancing and to parties. Wallis and Felipe shared a love of antiques and romance novels. He was Catholic, and had a bright future ahead of him, though he needed a wife with money and connections. Wallis was still married and had neither. Eventually, Felipe told her that there was nowhere their relationship could go, and Wallis understood.
She went back to Win. She didn't have much of a choice. She couldn't get divorced without pissing off her family and she couldn't just stay separated forever living with her mother and unable to marry again. Win was stationed in China at this point, and like most abusers he promised he had completely changed and wasn't going to hurt her ever again. That lasted for about a day and a half. In China, Win was more violent than ever before, kicking her once in the kidneys so hard she has to be hospitalized. Supposedly years later she still had a scar on her lower abdomen from a time he cut her with a broken bottle. It was widely believed she got pregnant at some point in China, but either because of Win's abuse or a back alley abortion, she never had any children. There was also the widespread story that she hung out in brothels where she learned weird sexual stuff, which is almost definitely untrue. Terrifyingly enough, her biographer Greg King (in his very good and non-trashy book) suggested she may have gone to brothels in China because Win would force her to come and watch him have sex with prostitutes, or even that he tried to pimp her out to pay off his gambling debts.
Wallis left him again, this time in the middle of the night. She stayed in China, traveling to Peking and Shanghai, and for a while she stayed with her friends Katherine and Herman Rogers. According to the internet, they had some kind of threesome situation going on. There's not much in the way of proof for that, but it seems possible. Apparently, years later, when Katherine Rogers had died, Herman remarried. Wallis attention-whored herself at the wedding, tried to ruin the bride's dress, and crashed their honeymoon with her drunk gay boyfriend. Though there's no solid proof for that one either, just the word of the bride in question, years after the fact.
After spending a lot of time in China (and having lots of boyfriends, which was used as more proof of her evil whoring ways), Wallis got sick and had to leave. She realized she needed to leave Win for good once she got home, and sought a divorce attorney. Divorce was hard in the 1920's, and Wallis had to move to Virginia for a year to qualify for one in Virginia, where they were easier to come by. Apparently she couldn't afford to go to Reno. So she stayed in a hotel in some small town in Northern Virginia for a year, leaving sometimes to visit New York and stay with her childhood best friend Mary Kirk. She tried to get a job, first selling tubular steel, which didn't work because she couldn't do math. Then she wanted to be a secretary, but she needed to go to school for that and didn't have the money. She was a woman, with no education or work experience and this was the late 1920's, so she had no luck.
While in New York, she met Ernest Simpson, who was married (but told women it was only a technicality though actually his wife was in the hospital). He said he was getting divorced, and she was getting divorced. He proposed, and she turned him down. Then she took a trip to Europe and while there, Ernest moved to London. Wallis was an anglophile, so the prospect of living in London was very appealing to her. So she decided to marry Ernest. He was well off enough she wouldn't have to worry about money, though not rich. And at thirty-two, she was considered over-the-hill, so she felt like if she didn't marry Ernest she would probably die alone. So, in 1928 she married Ernest Simpson at a London courthouse, and became Wallis Simpson. While she was in London, some pretty interesting stuff happened, that will be covered in part three, tomorrow night.
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