Read Online The Peoples King by Susan Williams - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Susan Williams
Tags: History, Non-Fiction
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similarity ended. Mrs Merryman's kindly behaviour contrasted sharply with the stiff and unbending Queen Mary. So did her comfortable appearance, which was a world away from the very formal dress of the Queen, who was said by Janet Flanner to have resisted
hints from dressmakers, worn her skirts long when skirts were rising, raised hers, slightly, when it was too late; her hats, during her sons' sensitive sartorial twenties, caused them pain . . . She looks like herself, with the elegant eccentricities - the umbrella or cane, the hydrangea-colored town suits, the light lizard slippers, the tip-tilted toque - of a wealthy white-haired grande dame who had grown into the mature style she set for herself too young. 72
Like her aunt, Wallis was affectionate, almost motherly, towards people she loved. This met Edward's need for emotional warmth. Her care of him took many forms, of which one was a simple domesticity. According to gossip spread by Alice Keppel, who had been the favourite mistress of King Edward VII, Wallis was 'an excellent cook and has sent off the cook the Prince has had for long at Belvedere . . . the Prince talked to her of nothing but cooking for two whole hours at an evening party the other night!!!' ' She served good food that was simple and nutritious, 'introducing succulent Southern dishes to a people long paralysed internally by boiled meat and suet pudding.' 74 Edward basked in these comforts. One contemporary reported that
she had a delightful way of bossing him around without being boring or coy about it. 'Don't eat that, Sir!' she would say smiling and taking a caviar canape out of his hand. 'Have this instead?' and she would give him a bit of cream cheese on toast . . .
Wales, who had never been looked after except officially, blossomed and beamed under this fond supervision ... all of Mrs Simpson's menus were planned with a view to his nervous stomach, which became less and less nervous as one calm meal after another vanished within it. 7 '
‘I have learned to make that gooey stuff Mrs Bristol puts on the top of her ham. It's made of peaches,' reported Wallis to her aunt. 'I will send the apple recipe on separate cover,' she added, 'as I'm writing from the Fort where there has been a pompous week-end including the King's secretary and wife.' 76 She did not feel comfortable with Alec Hardinge and his wife, Helen, whose extreme formality exemplified the manners of the royal court.
Wallis helped Edward with royal entertaining. 'Have the table moved back as far as possible', she wrote before a dinner party in 1935. She offered advice on the menu: I would also have two sorts of cocktails and white wine offered as well as the vin rose, the servants to service the wine. Also I didn't see a green vegetable on the menu. Sorry to bother you but I like everyone to think you do things well.' She added playfully, 'Perhaps I'm quite fond of you.' When he finally managed to get away from his royal duties for a summer holiday, she wrote fondly to her aunt, 'At last this poor tired King got off.' 78 Edward was equally solicitous about her and found it difficult to separate his own well-being from hers. 'But I do long long to see you even for a few minutes my Wallis it would help so much', he wrote during the days when his father lay dying.
'Please take care of yourself and don't get a cold. You are all and everything I have in life and WE must hold each other so tight. It will all work out right for us. God bless WE.' 79
Standing by Edward's side, Wallis watched from a window in St James's Palace as he was proclaimed King Edward VIII on 22 January 1936. She tried hard to support him in his work. 'God bless you and above all make you strong where you have been weak', she wrote in a letter, adding that soon she would be happy because 'you would be holding me and I would be looking "up" into your eyes.' 80 Since Wallis was slightly taller than Edward, who was only five feet seven inches, it is
hints from dressmakers, worn her skirts long when skirts were rising, raised hers, slightly, when it was too late; her hats, during her sons' sensitive sartorial twenties, caused them pain . . . She looks like herself, with the elegant eccentricities - the umbrella or cane, the hydrangea-colored town suits, the light lizard slippers, the tip-tilted toque - of a wealthy white-haired grande dame who had grown into the mature style she set for herself too young. 72
Like her aunt, Wallis was affectionate, almost motherly, towards people she loved. This met Edward's need for emotional warmth. Her care of him took many forms, of which one was a simple domesticity. According to gossip spread by Alice Keppel, who had been the favourite mistress of King Edward VII, Wallis was 'an excellent cook and has sent off the cook the Prince has had for long at Belvedere . . . the Prince talked to her of nothing but cooking for two whole hours at an evening party the other night!!!' ' She served good food that was simple and nutritious, 'introducing succulent Southern dishes to a people long paralysed internally by boiled meat and suet pudding.' 74 Edward basked in these comforts. One contemporary reported that
she had a delightful way of bossing him around without being boring or coy about it. 'Don't eat that, Sir!' she would say smiling and taking a caviar canape out of his hand. 'Have this instead?' and she would give him a bit of cream cheese on toast . . .
Wales, who had never been looked after except officially, blossomed and beamed under this fond supervision ... all of Mrs Simpson's menus were planned with a view to his nervous stomach, which became less and less nervous as one calm meal after another vanished within it. 7 '
‘I have learned to make that gooey stuff Mrs Bristol puts on the top of her ham. It's made of peaches,' reported Wallis to her aunt. 'I will send the apple recipe on separate cover,' she added, 'as I'm writing from the Fort where there has been a pompous week-end including the King's secretary and wife.' 76 She did not feel comfortable with Alec Hardinge and his wife, Helen, whose extreme formality exemplified the manners of the royal court.
Wallis helped Edward with royal entertaining. 'Have the table moved back as far as possible', she wrote before a dinner party in 1935. She offered advice on the menu: I would also have two sorts of cocktails and white wine offered as well as the vin rose, the servants to service the wine. Also I didn't see a green vegetable on the menu. Sorry to bother you but I like everyone to think you do things well.' She added playfully, 'Perhaps I'm quite fond of you.' When he finally managed to get away from his royal duties for a summer holiday, she wrote fondly to her aunt, 'At last this poor tired King got off.' 78 Edward was equally solicitous about her and found it difficult to separate his own well-being from hers. 'But I do long long to see you even for a few minutes my Wallis it would help so much', he wrote during the days when his father lay dying.
'Please take care of yourself and don't get a cold. You are all and everything I have in life and WE must hold each other so tight. It will all work out right for us. God bless WE.' 79
Standing by Edward's side, Wallis watched from a window in St James's Palace as he was proclaimed King Edward VIII on 22 January 1936. She tried hard to support him in his work. 'God bless you and above all make you strong where you have been weak', she wrote in a letter, adding that soon she would be happy because 'you would be holding me and I would be looking "up" into your eyes.' 80 Since Wallis was slightly taller than Edward, who was only five feet seven inches, it is
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