Wallis, Part 9

This is part nine, so if you're new to the story you can find parts one through eight on my blog linked in my profile. Not too hard to find; there's a side bar with links to my old posts and the series starts in late May.

After leaving the Bahamas in Spring 1945, the Windsors took up residence in the Waldorf Towers in New York. Wallis and David brought everything they had with them and bought more in New York. They kept their suite as an apartment for whenever they were in New York for the next thirty years. Their next door neighbors and close friends there were Cole and Linda Porter. Cole Porter being the famous (and secretly gay) composer, and Linda being his witty and popular wife. Cool people, both of them; there was a musical about them called De-Lovely which I would highly recommend.

They would often go out to dinner together, and the Porters threw the Windsors a dinner party to introduce them to other members of New York society they didn't already know well. They would even walk their dogs together. Another person the Windsors became friendly with in New York was Elsa Maxwell, "The Hostess with the Mostest", who ruled society with an iron fist. Elsa was a party planner, author, songwriter, gossip columnist, decorator, and general busybody with more jobs than Ryan Seacrest. Still, she made sure she was at every major party and society event and made a point of knowing everything about everybody. Wallis and Elsa had known each other off and on in the past, but after the war was when they really became friends. They were later better known as what we'd now called frenemies, and would end up having horrible feuds, making up and being friends again, until they started feuding about something else. Elsa was from Iowa, started off with few connections, and never married. She got everything by sheer willpower and wasn't going to let anyone come along and take it from her. Elsa was also gay, which was well known at the time but not talked about. The Windsors also made friends with Hollywood types like Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Judy Garland.

When they weren't in New York City, Wallis and David were in the Hamptons, swimming and staying with some of their rich friends. They also, during the next few years, spend a lot of time in Palm Beach. During one of those trips they met Jimmy Donahue, one of the Woolworth heirs and a cousin of Barbara Hutton, who was the Paris Hilton of her time but with more marriages. During the next few years he would cause a lot of drama in Wallis's life, but for the time being, they were just on friendly terms. In the fall of 1945, the Windsors headed back to France. Their house had been empty for the last five years and though there was a lot of dust, Wallis was happy to be back. The only problem was that they were renting, and the house was sold around the time they got back. They were allowed to stay through April 1946, but still needed to look for a new home. In October 1945, David went to London (without Wallis) to visit his mother, who he hadn't seen in nine years. Though she had previously proclaimed he could only return to London when he came to her funeral, her attitude had softened a bit during the war. Also, her memory was starting to go a bit so it's possible she forgot why she was mad at him temporarily. By the time he actually got there, she clearly remembered. They made small talk occasionally, and though David was staying with her they didn't actually see much of one another. He didn't mention Wallis at all until right before he left, when he told his mother "Don't forget; I am a married man now." To which May responded "Forget? As if one ever could!"

The previous summer Winston Churchill had been voted out. The new Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, wasn't nearly as sympathetic to Wallis and David as Churchill had been. Still, David hoped he might be able to get some kind of position as an ambassador in America. It wasn't going to happen. He also was still hung up about Wallis not being an H.R.H. and despite his complaining, that wasn't going to happen either. He returned to France less hopeful than when he'd left. The next time David returned to England, Wallis would be with him.

In 1947, Wallis and David went on a little trip to the U.K. and stayed with their old friends Lord and Lady Dudley (descended from Robert Dudley's family, if you're wondering). For the most part, the trip was kind of boring. They went shopping, took in a play, and were followed around by David's still loyal fangirls. Until the house they were staying in was robbed and the guy walked off with Wallis's jewelry case. It was a big deal.

Part of it was Wallis's fault. She didn't believe in safes or locks or any of that nonsense. No, Wallis firmly believed in leaving your valuables unlocked under your bed. Because no one would ever look there, right? Well, apparently she was wrong. The whole situation was a bit of a scandal, and it wasn't helped by Wallis's comment after the fact when asked about something that was missing. "A fool would know that with tweed and daytime fabrics, one wears gold, and with silks and evening fabrics, one wears platinum." Clearly her Marie Antoinette phase was not completely over.

Wallis never got her jewels back though the thief was eventually caught twenty years later. To this day, there's a popular theory that the theft was arranged by the royals to get back royal jewelry David had unrightfully given to Wallis. Which isn't true; Wallis never had any royal jewels at that point. There are no photos of her wearing royal jewels and no royal jewels that went unaccounted for during her involvement with David. There certainly weren't any that went unaccounted for in 1936, were seen on Wallis, then were stolen in the robbery and magically turned up back with the royal family.

For the most part, the Windsors spend the rest of the '40's in France. Right after the war, there was an amusing anecdote about Wallis throwing a very formal dinner party. Ladies had evening gloves, champagne was served, and the main course was hot dogs and baked beans. Rationing and all. Wallis explained the situation: "Y'all have to understand my meals have suffered."

They eventually found a new house outside Paris with floors paved with gravestones from the French Revolution. Most people would find that creepy, but Wallis loved it. The French government also gave them a good deal on rent. Wallis promptly stocked up in antiques and paintings for her new house. Her prize was a small end table that had once been in Versailles during Marie Antoinette's days. Though in many ways they preferred America, David and Wallis were resolved to live in France. The French government thought they were so cool they didn't make them pay taxes. That was a big deal for David. Before his abdication he had not fully understood those horrible things called taxes (presumably he believed the royal family's allowance grew on trees) and once he was made aware of the concept he'd become obsessed with getting out of paying them. Which he managed to do fairly easily by living in France most of the year. The French had similar arrangements with many European ex-royals. In the years after World War II Paris was full of foreign royalty and there were a dozen or so other ex-kings David could hang out with living there.

Wallis and David spend most of their time entertaining and being entertained. They went to lots of movie premiers and formal balls. They even had the occasional house-guest. One British noblemen described visiting and having dinner with them when Wallis asked him if there was anything he wanted to do in France. The guy said he wouldn't mind seeing some of those lovely nude dancers. Wallis didn't see the point. Her quote on the subject was that "the only woman worth seeing naked is one you've undressed yourself."

During my time digging through library archives I found an interesting article from a woman who partied with them for a while during this period. It's very reliable and believable. Not a lot of dirt or anything, though. She described Wallis:

"The Duchess was a petite woman, with a very trim figure. She had the tiniest waist I had ever seen. Her hair was jet black and cut short. It was becomingly coiffed, parted in the middle, and drawn off her face in soft waves. It was the same familiar hairstyle she wore throughout her life. She had high cheek bones, lovely violet blue eyes and a very warm personality. She spoke with a slight British accent, and I thought she looked more intriguing than beautiful."

And David:

"I observed he had wistful blue eyes, light blond hair, a turned-up nose, and deep furrows on his face. He had a small physique and was about five feet, seven inches tall. He was a wonderful dancer and had great humour. He acted very natural and charming, and wasn't a bit pretentious."

While she didn't find him pretentious, other people sometimes did. The problem was that David was so pissed off about Wallis not being an H.R.H. (she didn't care all that much) that he insisted everyone they knew call her that and curtsey to her anyway. But there was still fun to be had. In a letter to her aunt, Wallis described inviting twelve people over for a party and then drinking thirty bottles of champagne between them. A good time was had by all.