European Royalty – Page 2 – Old Magazine Articles

The World He Made for Himself
(Coronet Magazine, 1953)

The ‘real’ world into which the Duke has entered by his ‘own’ free will is international café society, that glittering, gilded bubble floating above the stormy seas of history…The Duke lives a rather different life. An hour or so with one of those American businessmen he admires, following tips on the market, looking over the quotations in stocks and bonds, and he has nothing to trouble about for the day, or the next month or so, until another empty hour obtrudes itself in the almost ceaseless round of pleasure like a hole in time waiting to be plugged by something, anything.

Available at Amazon: Gone with the Windsors

The Duchess
(Coronet Magazine, 1953)

Attached is an unflattering essay by biographer Iles Brody, who beautifully captured the Duchess of Windsor and her unending pursuit of the chic. Obsessed with self-image, this column lists the fashion houses and boutiques that were most favored by Wallis Simpson.

Despite her wealth, the Duchess loved a good bargain.

Edward VIII: As Prince of Wales, His Politics Seemed Radical
(Collier’s Magazine, 1933)

The Prince of Wales, to quote a conservative peer of the realm, day by day is getting commoner and commoner. There are even those who consider him a dangerous radical. But that doesn’t bother the prince. Unperturbed, he continues to fraternize with his unennobled subjects and to defend their interests – hotly and sometimes profanely.

His Fashion Influence
(Men’s Wear, 1950)

The Duke’s influence on men’s fashion throughout the Western hemisphere is undeniable and it is highly likely that there are a number of bucks in your life who loaf about town entirely ignorant that they are wearing the togs that he first introduced.
The attached is a 1950 article from an American fashion trade magazine that lists a number of fashion innovations first sported by the Duke of Windsor, illustrated by seven photos.

The End of the British Press Black-Out
(Literary Digest, 1936)

Attached is a 1936 article that addressed the issue of self-imposed censorship that the British press corps practiced during much of the Wallis Simpson scandal:

Innuendo about King Edward’s friend Mrs. Wallis Simpson, previously barred from London newspapers, crept in last week and even colored the august columns of the London Times.

What was Known About Her
(Literary Digest, 1936)

This article can be divided into two parts: the first half addresses King Edward VIII and his concern for the impoverished souls of his realm who languished daily in squalor, while the second half was devoted to gossip and innuendo as to who Wallis Simpson was, what was her Baltimore life like and when did she first see the king.

(She first saw him in 1920).

Edward VIII: A Regular Guy
(American Legion Weekly, 1919)

George V’s son is a regular. He has the ‘bonhomie’of a Broadway John, smokes all the time, admires a pretty face with an open affection, is bored by Beethoven, is a disciple of American jazz, and he hates to get up early in the morning.

Edward VIII in Ottawa
(Vogue Magazine, 1919)

This torn page from VOGUE will let you in on Edward VIII (1894-1972), Prince of Wales, and his whirl wind tour in the dominion of Canada in 1919. All the swells of the snowy North stepped out in full regalia to meet him.

The Prince of Wales Visits America
(Review of Reviews, 1919)

A five page magazine article which saluted the heir of Britain’s King George V, Edward VIII (1894 – 1972: following his 1936 abdication he was granted the title Duke of Windsor). The article was written by the venerable journalist and U.S. Civil War veteran, George Haven Putnam (1844 – 1930) in order to mark the first visit made to the United States by that crowned head.

Edward VIII and the British Youth at Risk
(Literary Digest, 1935)

In 1935 Edward VIII, while still a prince, wished to launch a national thank-you offering to the younger generation:

‘The Prince’, said The News Chronicle of London, ‘has put his finger on the weakest point in our present social structure. The State shows at least some concern for infancy and childhood, for the blind and defective, for the widow and the aged. The task of helping youth at the most critical age has been abandoned almost entirely to voluntary agencies, and the Prince wisely does not seek to supersede, but to reinforce and extend them.’

Some Character Traits of Prince Edward
(Literary Digest, 1935)

Written a year and a half prior to his abdication, it was written to serve as a profile of the royal and it lays out for the reader the man’s personal preferences as well as his training.

Often reluctant to accept conservative advice, the Prince is aggravated when would-be mentors say something he wants to do ‘really shouldn’t be done, you know’. Thus, long before the problem of kingship are his in fact, the Prince has turned serious.

The Boyhood of the Duke of Windsor
(Literary Digest, 1936)

With an odd sense of foreboding, the very young Edward VIII wrote these words at the age of nine:

…And here he was, at the end of twenty months, a king out of a berth…sent away from his kingdom almost without a single protest from those who he had tried to aid.

I find great pleasure in my talks with the woman who first aroused me to a sense of my kingly duties.

She jokingly refers to herself as the instigator of my downfall.

The primary topic of the article pertains to some hot water that the Duke was stewing in at the time for having attended Catholic services; even as the ‘Former Defender of the Faith’, this was seen as very bad form.

The Living Expenses of the Duke of Windsor
(Literary Digest,1936)

With the news that he was now dependent on checks from his family
the newly minted Duke of Windsor had to learn to cut coupons and bargain:

In the Vienna hotel where he gets a private haircut, he protested that $1.26 seemed a little steep for the brief use of an empty hotel room. The manager sliced the fee in half.

The Empire-Shaking Romance
(Literary Digest, 1936)

Attached is an article from the pages of a 1936 issue of THE LITERARY DIGEST that reported on the concerns of British Prime Minister Baldwin in regards to the scandalous love affair between King Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson:

Tradition vs. Love, Tory vs. Commoner, Baldwin vs. Nature

Her Unpopularity
(Literary Digest, 1937)

Over the weekend Mrs Simpson received a letter that could not be dismissed with a shrug. It was from the Scotland Yard detail that guarded her at Cannes during the first weeks of exile, and it strongly advised her to heed the threats and stay out of England.

His Popularity
(Literary Digest, 1936)

Here are a few editorial opinions concerning the bygone activities of one Dave Windsor authored by the assorted ink-stained wretches dwelling in both England and the United States.

Many felt with George Bernard Shaw that Edward quit, ‘simply and solely because he hates his job and has had enough of it.’

‘What’s the good of being Prince if I can’t do as I like?’ he protested as a youngster after riding his bicycle across his fathers geranium bed. Innumerable incidents supported the popular impression that as Prince of Wales he had not looked forward to kingship with pleasure. Once in a Paris club, he was asked by an American:
‘How shall I behave here?’
‘Like a human-being.’ The answer roused his quick smile, – but just then a Britisher came up, bowed from the waist.
‘How can I?’ Edward sighed.

At the end of the day, history will remember him simply as one of the most henpecked husband to ever walk the earth.

‘He Let Us Down…”
(Literary Digest, 1937)

Eleven months after the abdication, mixed feelings prevailed as to which king was preferred, George VI or the exited brother, Edward VIII:

King Edward was of my generation. I do not know how your parents feel about him, but I think I am right in saying that those of my generation feel that King Edward has let us down! Now let us stand and pray silently for two minutes for King George and Mr. Baldwin.

Re-Touching the Pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
(Ken Magazine, 1938)

Perhaps, one day in that perfect world we seem to be rushing to, all cameras will automatically delete our blemishes, correct our tailoring flaws and add muscle tone as needed to each imperfect image; but until that time, we, like the Duke of Windsor and all manner of other celebrity, must rely on the charitable instincts of the fourth estate. This article pertains to bad pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the courtesy that was, for the most part, extended to them to make them appear just a little bit more glam than they otherwise appeared. The article is illustrated with one bad photograph and one retouched (Photoshopped) image of the couple, so that we might all know what the editors were up against:

Immediately after their marriage Edward and Wally posed for the newsreels. When their pictures were flashed on American screens, Wally was seen to have a large mole on the left side of her face and the Duke stood revealed with a much-wrinkled and worried countenance…