Wallis Simpson: Kingmaker (2023)

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Wallis Simpson was an American socialite who had been married twice when she met Edward, Duke of Windsor (then the Prince of Wales), at a party. She became Edward's mistress, leading to the "abdication crisis" in which he stepped down as king in order to be with her.

Hearsay and conjecture have clouded the assessment of the Duchess of Windsor's life. There is no document which proves directly that she was anything other than a victim of her own ambition, who lived out a great romance that became a great tragedy.

The Duchess is reported to have summed up her life in a sentence: "You have no idea how hard it is to live out a great romance."

[Lonesome__Dove]

His choice to abdicate was the best thing to ever happen to the UK and its people. Without that QE2 would of never been.

[KateTarrant-Dean]

We never forgave her but we never forgave him more.
As it turned out, we got a fabulous King who had courage and led us through WWII.

[kyliecross]

I personally feel that his obsession with Wallace Simpson was an act of divine intervention. Regardless of his popularity, he did not have the selfless and dutiful personality that the following two monarchs both had in spades. And his views towards Nazi Germany speak to his true character.

[andyroo]

Finally, a documentary that does not slander the Duchess of Windsor. Thank you!

[thejournalkeeper]

I have read many books and watched many documentaries on this couple. Many feel Wallis wanted to be Queen - not sure that is the case- but one thing is certain, Edward did NOT want to be King. I believe he planned a way out knowing that Wallis would not be acceptable and it would end in abdication, so he would be free to lead his own life. Unfortunately it backfired somewhat in that they were never wanted back in England and spent an aimless life.

[aprilsky]

England got the right king when Edward abdicated, no two ways about it. Edward got who he wanted, selfish as usual

[PatriciaPalmer-oe]

❗Bless you Wallace. You saved a nation by marrying their King.

[marilynpenner]

How can Wallis Simpson be called a "king maker"? Not her fault, but the affair took down a king, not made one.

[gc]

HE was incredibly selfish. A bigger person would NEVER have put someone they loved through the shit he put her through. He was a coward who hid behind her, for 35 years, allowing her to take the flak and damning her, to a whole generation. He wasnt up to the job, his popularity created by, what we call today "spin", went to his empty little pea brain. I never thought her, particularly likeable either, but she did deserve better than what she got .
If the powers that were, did conspire to rid us of this clown , then thank God they did . Probably the last sensible thing any British politicians did.

[cschof]

I don't believe she was intersex and she wouldn't have told any man about it before her wedding .

[amytrottier]

I am beginning to feel empathy towards Mrs. Simpson. A lifetime with a completely infantile man, ugh!

[yass]

She looks much more sophisticated than the Queen mother

[jgibbs]

Edward had the self-awareness of a brick. What on earth did he think would happen - that the RF and the British public would welcome his American divorcee with open arms? This was a society in which even the "innocent" party in a divorce was prevented from attending Court, couldn't enter the royal enclosure at Ascot, was not "received" in many households - why did he think things would be any different for him and Wallis? The answer is that, with his usual arrogance, he thought the rules wouldn't (shouldn't) apply to him.
Of course, with the benefit of hindsight we can see that in fact Wallis Simpson did Britain a huge favour in removing from the scene a man wholly unsuited to the role to which he was born.
Yes, there probably was what would now be termed emotional neglect, but he wasn't specially singled-out in this, and we know that he, rather than being a unifying figure for his siblings, in fact undermined, disrespected or was downright cruel to more than one of them. His feelings and thoughts on his unfortunate youngest brother Johnny can only be described as abhorrent, and his bullying of his brother Bertie is well-documented. Outside the family, his treatment of his female lovers once an affair had ended was cavalier and nasty, proving that he didn't reserve his unpleasant traits for his family.

[Lucy]

She loved her dogs. As an animal lover that’s good enough for me. I also admire her for not breeding ❤

[DanielEckhout]

I also think that Mr Simpson initially encouraged the relationship between Wallis and Wales. It opened doors that were previously closed to him. But be careful what you wish for. I truly believe that Wallis and her husband had not anticipated that the relationship would go so far and found they had ended up between a rock and a hard place. How the heck could she get away from

[HarryMarsee-fwot]

I have watched several stories about Mrs. Simpson and I have NEVER heard such outrageous excuses as this woman has out forth.

Madam, you insult your audience by assuming we are all idiots! She may have been intersexed, as in not having a womb; but, to still be a virgin!!!!? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[gorgiegorgie]

Very biased in favor of Wallis. No, I'm sorry, she did NOT 'try to make him happy every day', that is just ridiculous. There are any number of verifiable accounts of her despising him more or less openly, at least in the presence of others. Theirs was NOT a 'love story', it was a story about obsession and narcissism. It's a big mistake historically to make 'victims' or martyrs out of selfish people. They were not only traitors to their countries and active pro-Nazis, they were traitors to decency and humanity. The fact that they were rich and celebrated for the rest of their miserable, useless lives is testament to the bad judgement humans make about other humans and how evil is often rewarded. We need to consider that more now than ever, what with all this counter-factual 'revisionism' of history's villains. King George XI and Queen Elizabeth were the heroes of this piece. Wallis and David the villains.

[bernardcassidy]

Had he known how unpleasant his situation would be after the abdication, he would have abdicated for sure , he was a complete coward and didn't want the responsibility ( and hard work ) of being King , she was the perfect excuse, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that a twice divorced woman, with two living ex husbands could never, under any circumstances be Queen of Great Britain and the dominions, impossible , the very rules surrounding this were non negotiable, he could quite justifiably been incarcerated as a national security threat or exiled without titles of any kind and no income, in a sense it was a national crime that he committed, having played the role of Prince of Wales with the expectation of becoming King, then the great betrayal. A God job if there ever was one .

[barryvincentredmond]

Such a well narrated documentary, and great footage.The two interviews for tv from the 50's and 1969 would perhaps have been good additional material, also Edward and Wallace's time living in the Bahamas during WW2 was not covered.

[DanielEckhout]

I think you might be a little mistaken over the married woman thing. The heirs and the spares have always preferred married women as their mistresses. In fact this was expected as first of all the women had experience which generally led to the royal involved to tend to stick to her while he sows his royal oats and the obvious reason is that the potential illegitimate offspring of the pair could be explained away by the husband. The husband pretty much always knew what was going on and it was often in his interest to look the other way.