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Wallis Simpson is a woman whose life was marked by controversy and will be forever remembered as a figure who played a significant role in British history.
In today’s article, we delve more into her life as we explore her life as well as her cause of death and how it all happened.
Wallis Simpson Biography
Wallis Simpson, born Bessie Wallis Warfield on June 19, 1896, was an American socialite and the wife of the former King Edward VIII.
Due to Wallis’ divorce and the couple’s plans to get married, there was a dispute over constitutionality that finally resulted in Edward abdicating.
Wallis had a difficult upbringing while growing up in Baltimore, Maryland.
She and her widowed mother, Alice Montague Warfield, were partially supported by their wealthy relatives after the death of her father, Teackle Wallis Warfield, shortly after her birth.
Wallis managed to get a good education despite having financial difficulties and rose to fame for her beauty and charm.
Her first union, with American Navy officer Win Spencer, endured stretches of separation before dissolving.
During her second marriage to Ernest Simpson in 1931, Wallis met Edward, who was the Prince of Wales at the time, during a social gathering.
They became friends following their encounter, and five years later, after Edward became King of the United Kingdom, Wallis divorced Ernest and wed Edward.
A significant constitutional crisis in the United Kingdom and its dominions was brought on by their plans to marry and by the King’s wish to be with a woman who had two surviving ex-husbands.
The stability of the monarchy and the administration were both at risk because of this.
The decision to quit the throne was ultimately taken by Edward in December 1936, who stated, “I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love.”
Edward was given the title of Duke of Windsor by his brother, King George VI after he abdicated.
Six months after meeting Edward, Wallis got married and was given the title of Duchess of Windsor. She was, however, denied the title of “Royal Highness” as a result of her divorce.
Many people throughout Wallis and Edward’s life, both before and after the Second World War, believed they were Nazi sympathisers.
The pair controversially travelled to Germany in 1937 and met with Adolf Hitler without getting permission from the authorities.
The couple lived in the Bahamas until 1945 when Edward was appointed governor of the country later, in 1940. They lived a leisurely and opulent lifestyle throughout the 1950s and 1960s, splitting their time between Europe and the United States.
Wallis lived alone and made few public appearances after Edward’s passing in 1972. All throughout her life, rumours and debates surrounded her personal life.
She had a number of health problems, including dementia and multiple falls that left her with fractured bones.
At the age of 89, Wallis passed away from bronchial pneumonia on April 24, 1986, in her Parisian residence in the Bois de Boulogne.
Members of the royal family, including Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, attended her funeral at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
Wallis Simpson’s Cause Of Death
At the age of 89, Wallis Simpson passed away from bronchial pneumonia on April 24, 1986, in her residence in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne.
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