What is your opinion of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor?

Question

Tell me why you like/don't like her.

Answer 1

I don't really have an opinion. She was an interesting character. My aunt had friend who knew her. According to her, she was very funny but a bit caustic, and fiercely loyal to those she cared about. She stood by the Duke of Windsor and cared for him devotedly in his last days. Would she have made a good queen? I don't think so. I pray Edward would not have sold England out to Hitler. That's one reason he and the Duchess were shipped off to the Bahamas for the duration of World War II. It's a mercy he abdicated.

Answer 2

I have a feeling from things I've read that Edward VIII would have been a disaster had he remained King, and I think the UK should be very grateful to "that woman from Baltimore" for making sure he didn't!  

Answer 3

She was typical of rich woman in her time- self centered and only interested in the fine things in life. Devoid of any intellectual capacities, she never did an honest days work in her life. She was only ever interested in parties and would not have made a good Queen.

However, I do feel sorry for her in a way. She was blamed for the abdication when in fact she was ready to stand aside and leave the UK- it was Edward VIII's strong desire to marry her that caused the abdication, not her desire to become Queen. In later life, she led a lonely existence as the Windsor's star faded. Following Edward's death she was bedridden and increasingly senile. With no real family, and few friends, she died alone with only her staff for company.

However she is an interesting character in British history and in some ways a very remarkable woman going from the slums of America to one of the richest women in the world.  

Answer 4

I feel she seemed to have been a role model for Diana in many ways, although their careers rose and fell in opposite directions.  I can't claim to like either - both were cynical, scheming characters, both shallow and obsessed by fashion, both exploitative - and I can't even begin to imagine what an intelligent man would see in either - and while Edward VIII was as daft as a brush, which explains much, Charles, as an intelligent man, quite simply should have known better - but then he should have defied his sad, dysfunctional parents and asked Camilla to marry him in the first place - even if it meant the Royal elopement of  the age - and there's another interesting parallel, if you like.  Can you imagine Charlie Mountbatten, for example, far from Mother England and The Mother Of The Nation (yuk!), making a living as an eco- journalist, perhaps for the Herald Tribune??  At least it's more than his great uncle would have had the wit to do!

Answer 5

She is a little before my time, so I don't have a real opinion, just the stories of Edward abdicating the throne. She never looked like a very "nice' person, kind of cold. I did see a movie about her with Jane Seymour back in the 80's or 90's. It was on TV. I think it's ironic that if Queen Elizabeth were to die and Charles would become King, I do not think his marriage to Camilla, although she was divorced would stop him from taking the throne. Maybe it's what I thought all the time when I heard the story, my Grandma used to say it was not because Wallis Simpson was divorced, but because she was American that she was not accepted.

Answer 6

my opinion is not required as the woman is dead

she probably saved the monarchy in her own way by ensuring that princess elizabeth did become queen

some of their friendships were questionable   hitler for one

and as to her being american it was more that she was divorced and maybe she could produce and heir and not having been chaste..........