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Inside Wallis Simpson's restless rise: How the ambitious socialite treated her stepping stone second husband when she realised she could catch a King
Inside Wallis Simpson's restless rise: How the ambitious socialite treated her stepping stone second husband when she realised she could catch a King

Daily Mail​

time02-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Mail​

Inside Wallis Simpson's restless rise: How the ambitious socialite treated her stepping stone second husband when she realised she could catch a King

The lives of Edward and Mrs Simpson are legendary, but what about the third person in the Abdication Crisis – Ernest Simpson? Written off as the boring husband who willingly gave up his wife for his king, Mr Simpson has too often been dismissed as a dull dog. But in fact, Wallis Simpson 's husband was a very attractive man, who married four times and was involved with a series of worldly-wise women. Rather than just acquiescing while his monarch stole his wife, he was enjoying his own grand passion with Wallis's best friend. Ernest Simpson was certainly a catch. The son of a wealthy British ship-broker and an American mother, he was good-looking, well-connected and chivalrous. His elder sister Maud married a British politician, Peter Kerr-Smiley, and the couple entertained in style in Belgrave Square, in a house crammed with old masters. They hosted lavish parties where the Prince of Wales rubbed shoulders with celebrities and politicians. A protective older sister, Maud was determined to make sure her handsome brother married well. Noted as a 'fastidious dresser' with a 'neat blond moustache' by the New York Times, Ernest's good looks made him a magnet for women. A young Barbara Cartland, the future doyenne of romantic fiction, was one of his early conquests. She often danced with the dark-haired, well-built young man. On one occasion Ernest tried to kiss her in the back of a taxi. However, the canny flapper realised it was just a flirtation, writing to her mother, 'He said some very flattering things but I don't think he is seriously interested in me. Especially as his sister keeps saying to all the girls: "It's no use your falling in love with Ernest, he's got to marry money!"' Mr Simpson was never on the marriage market for long. His first marriage to Dorothea Webb Parsons, a New Englander with whom he had a daughter, ended when Wallis Warfield appeared on the scene. When they met in 1926, the attraction was instant. Wallis later recalled his 'quiet wit' and that he was 'always well-dressed, a good dancer, fond of the theatre, and obviously well-read'. She added that he was 'an unusually well-balanced man'. Wallis and Ernest married in 1928. Although Mr Simpson is now purely seen as a stepping stone to greater things for his ambitious second wife, in fact, the couple were very compatible. Wallis had found the security which had previously eluded her. Ernest brought out the best in her and there is little hint of the dominating side of her character that emerged in her marriage to the Duke of Windsor. Yet Wallis's restless spirit could never be content for long and when the possibility of catching a king arose, there was no way she could resist. At first Ernest encouraged the flirtation, not seeing the boyish immature royal as a threat. Wallis also did not take it too seriously, telling her Aunt Bessie that if her husband raised any objections, she would give the prince up at once. However, as the relationship between his wife and Edward escalated, Ernest resigned himself to the inevitable. He did not cause a scandal because he still loved Wallis. In October 1936, he wrote to her: 'I know that somewhere in your heart there is a small flame burning for me. Guard it carefully my darling, and don't let it go out – if only in memory of all the sacred lovely things that have been.' Rather than mope, Ernest moved on and fell in love himself – with someone too close to home for Wallis's liking. Mary Kirk Raffray had been Wallis' best friend since school and had even been her bridesmaid at her first wedding. When Mary's marriage broke up, Wallis invited her to stay with the Simpsons in their London flat. At first, she encouraged her friend to distract her husband so that she was free to be with Edward. What she had not calculated on was that Ernest and Mary would develop a lasting rapport. After Mary returned to America, Ernest met up with her on a business trip and their affair began. When Wallis discovered what had happened, she was not pleased. It closed a door that she had expected to stay open. Her husband's change of allegiance pushed her further into the arms of the king and meant there was no going back. Ernest and Wallis's marriage was dissolved in May 1937, and in November he married Mary. The affinity between Ernest and Mary was at least as great as the love between Edward and Wallis. In her book The Other Mrs Simspon, Mary's sister Anne wrote about the palpable bond between the couple, describing their 'ecstasy with each other'. Their future seemed promising when they had a baby together in 1939 and moved into a smart town house in Kensington. However, after the Second World War began, the Simpsons evacuated their son to America for safety. Tragically, in 1940 Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer. She told her sister that she was 'heartbroken' on Ernest's account but would try to be brave for him. In summer 1941, when she knew that she was dying, she wanted to be reunited with her only child. Recognising that Ernest behaved extremely well in the Abdication Crisis, Winston Churchill stepped in to help. Mary was flown to America where she was taken by ambulance to collect her son and bring him back to England. As she put on her final birthday party for their child, Ernest wrote that she looked 'divine'. She died shortly afterwards. Ernest was devastated by the loss, describing his soulmate as 'the bravest of the brave'. He told her sister that 'everyone adored Mary' for 'her charm, her kindness, her staunchness'. In 1948 Mr Simpson married for the fourth time and once again, his partner was a chic, cosmopolitan divorcee. Avril Leveson-Gower had been married twice before, first to a Georgian prince. Her sister, Elvira Mullens, was a decadent socialite, who became notorious for shooting dead her lover. Ernest and Avril were happily married for a decade until Ernest died from throat cancer in 1958 aged 61. In both his public and private life, Mr Simpson was an honourable man. After the war began, the Simpsons evacuated their son to America for safety. Tragically, in 1940 Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer. She told her sister that she was 'heartbroken' on Ernest's account but would try to be brave for him It is hard to believe that if Wallis had stayed with him, she would have pursued her flirtation with fascism which has tarnished her reputation. Staunchly patriotic, at the end of the First World War he abandoned his studies at Harvard to join the Coldstream Guards. Of Jewish descent, he had no time for Hitler, unlike his ex-wife. When the Second World War began, he was determined to do his bit and so he was sent on a secret mission to India. Knowing the real Ernest Simpson, instead of just seeing him as the king's cuckold makes an observer wonder whether Wallis made a mistake in leaving him. It seems that at times she regretted it. She always stayed in touch with her ex and never spoke negatively about him. She described him as 'a strong and noble character' who had been a wonderful friend to her. However, the allure of those sparkling Cartier jewels and the promise of a place in history were just too much for a woman who always wanted more. As Ernest, who perhaps knew her better than anyone, once wrote to her: 'Could you possibly have settled down to the old life and forgotten the fairyland through which you had passed? My child, I do not think so.'

Barbara Cartland celebrated in Hertfordshire exhibition
Barbara Cartland celebrated in Hertfordshire exhibition

BBC News

time15-02-2025

  • Entertainment
  • BBC News

Barbara Cartland celebrated in Hertfordshire exhibition

A century after her first novel was published, an exhibition is set to show a "whole other side" to the colourful character of Dame Barbara Cartland. The Art of Romance opens today at Hertford Museum to mark the 100 years of Jig-Saw - the first of her 723 novels. So, who was Dame Barbara and what else is she known for beyond her extravagant outfits and love stories? Heroines and peril Dame Barbara was born in Birmingham in 1901 and moved to London in 1919 after losing her father in World War One. She began to write gossip columns for newspapers and penned her first romance novel, which was published a few years later in would be the first of many, with titles such as A Gamble with Hearts, The Cave of Love and A Knight in average, she wrote a novel each fortnight, dictating the stories to her secretary."She was often asked 'How do you keep churning them out and making them different?' But she travelled a lot and would set them in different countries and historical periods," said Sara Taylor, the museum's curator."There were heroes, often a marquis or duke, and young heroines, who were 18-year-old virgins. There's a bit of peril thrown in and things come right at the end."Dame Barbara, who later lived in Hertfordshire until her death in 2000, became closely connected to the aristocracy herself when her daughter Raine married Earl Spencer - the father of Diana, Princess of Wales. Sex and controversy By the 1970s some questioned why Dame Barbara's chaste heroines never had sexual Taylor added: "A lot of journalists were asking 'Why does nobody ever go to bed with anybody if they're not married?' "But it didn't matter that that wasn't the fashion. She stuck with it and romance came back in style."The issue was famously addressed in a BBC TV interview with Terry Wogan, as Dame Barbara appeared alongside bestselling author of erotic fiction, Jackie Barbara described Collins' books as "terrible, disgusting" and asked: "Don't you think it has helped the perverts?"Collins, unphased, replied: "There's room for both of us: for your books, which I'm sure are terrific, and for mine which are a little more racy."Another author, Georgette Heyer, also reportedly wrote to Dame Barbara in the 1950s and accused her of plagiarising elements of her historical novels, but the dame's son, Ian McCorquodale, dismissed the allegations at the time. Aviation breakthrough Dame Barbara was someone who loved to take on a challenge, according to her granddaughter Tara Parker."Once the men at a dinner party said they were better drivers than the women, and she wasn't having that. So she set up a group of women to race MG cars," she was also an accomplished pilot, and at the age of 30 she looked for a way to make gliders travel 1931, along with two RAF officers she invented the first aeroplane-towed glider and made a record-breaking flight of 200 miles. Campaigner for change Dame Barbara's determination also extended to tackling injustice and helping others."She was an incredibly hard worker - she worked up to 16 hrs a day - but it wasn't always on the romantic books," added Ms Parker."She was a great campaigner for people less fortunate."During World War Two, Dame Barbara took a mobile library around to army officers and put together a wedding dress lending Parker said: "She realised because of rationing, women couldn't get married in white as there wasn't enough cloth. "She bought some second-hand dresses and by the end she was lending out about 1,000 items." "She's often highlighted as somebody who wasn't keen on the emancipation of women - But a lot of what she did was actually for the benefit of women," said Ms Taylor."She was particularly interested in women's health, and she campaigned for better living conditions and nutrition for the elderly."Dame Barbara later became a Hertfordshire county councillor and fought for a change in the law to enable children of Romany gypsies to attend school."Apparently she was really horrified to discover that traveller children weren't allowed to attend local schools because they didn't have a fixed address," her granddaughter said."So she campaigned for traveller sites, and there is one in Hertfordshire called Barbaraville." 'A massive Barbara fan' Ms Taylor said she knew very little about Barbara Cartland before putting the exhibition together, which includes artwork by Francis Marshall and some of the dame's flamboyant clothes."I just thought of the hats and pink dresses, the Pekingese and the novels," she added."I had no idea that she'd campaigned for all these different things."So, I hope that by visiting the exhibition, people can see a different side to Barbara, that there was a serious side to her – because she's perceived as eccentric."She continued: "You'll come out a massive Barbara fan at the end of it, because I don't see how you couldn't. I think you'll still have a ball - you might not think that you will, but you will."Barbara Cartland: The Art of Romance runs from 15 February to 1 June at Hertford Museum. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

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