The woman a king abdicated for
By Caterina Bernardini |
March 16, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WALLIS Simpson was no stranger to controversy and scandal. Her life was filled with many love affairs but her biggest claim to fame was marrying King Edward VII of England, who abdicated the throne for her.
American writer Anne Sebba chronicles Simpson's life, which includes a stint in China, in the eloquent and smart biography "That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor."
The book's title is how the Queen Mother referred to Simpson, whom she despised.
Sebba says she wrote the book because she wanted to extrapolate the "truth from too much gossip."
And she largely accomplished this. Although the author does contextualize the impoverished background that fueled Simpson's determination and ambition to gain financial and social status, the book does not make her especially likeable. Instead, it tries hard to understand Simpson as a person "even if it's not easy to tell a story about something that everybody imagines they know."
The author starts where Wallis Simpson was born, Baltimore, and runs through her life including a difficult childhood - her father died when she was very young.
But the biography clearly focuses on her love life. She married for the first time when she was very young and it ended in divorce less than a year later.
After the divorce, Wallis went to China, to Beijing and Shanghai, where she had a lot of fun and a lot of men. "But that was the moment in which she felt really herself," Sebba writes.
Another turning point in her life is her marriage to Ernest Simpson, which also ended badly in divorce. He later married Wallis's best friend Mary.
Sebba's real coup is the discovery of letters between Wallis and Ernest, dated long after she had become involved with Edward VII. Indeed, Simpson's genuine sorrow at losing Ernest ("the grave of everything that was us") and her terror regarding Edward VII's abdication show an ordinary woman caught up in events she couldn't hope to control, and help to balance the damning indictments written about her, some of which were by her closest friends.
Of course, the most important turning point is Wallis Simpson's relationship with Edward VII. He abdicated the throne because he could not continue "without the help and support of the woman I love." The Queen Mother despised Wallis Simpson, whom Sebba says she described as "the lowest of the low."
Yet many people cannot imagine who such a woman could have such profound influence on a man groomed from birth to do his duty as head not just of Britain but of a great Empire. In the end, it's a story of a woman, or better yet, "that woman" who shook England in the 30s.
American writer Anne Sebba chronicles Simpson's life, which includes a stint in China, in the eloquent and smart biography "That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor."
The book's title is how the Queen Mother referred to Simpson, whom she despised.
Sebba says she wrote the book because she wanted to extrapolate the "truth from too much gossip."
And she largely accomplished this. Although the author does contextualize the impoverished background that fueled Simpson's determination and ambition to gain financial and social status, the book does not make her especially likeable. Instead, it tries hard to understand Simpson as a person "even if it's not easy to tell a story about something that everybody imagines they know."
The author starts where Wallis Simpson was born, Baltimore, and runs through her life including a difficult childhood - her father died when she was very young.
But the biography clearly focuses on her love life. She married for the first time when she was very young and it ended in divorce less than a year later.
After the divorce, Wallis went to China, to Beijing and Shanghai, where she had a lot of fun and a lot of men. "But that was the moment in which she felt really herself," Sebba writes.
Another turning point in her life is her marriage to Ernest Simpson, which also ended badly in divorce. He later married Wallis's best friend Mary.
Sebba's real coup is the discovery of letters between Wallis and Ernest, dated long after she had become involved with Edward VII. Indeed, Simpson's genuine sorrow at losing Ernest ("the grave of everything that was us") and her terror regarding Edward VII's abdication show an ordinary woman caught up in events she couldn't hope to control, and help to balance the damning indictments written about her, some of which were by her closest friends.
Of course, the most important turning point is Wallis Simpson's relationship with Edward VII. He abdicated the throne because he could not continue "without the help and support of the woman I love." The Queen Mother despised Wallis Simpson, whom Sebba says she described as "the lowest of the low."
Yet many people cannot imagine who such a woman could have such profound influence on a man groomed from birth to do his duty as head not just of Britain but of a great Empire. In the end, it's a story of a woman, or better yet, "that woman" who shook England in the 30s.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
