Remember her? Probably not. Few do. I never knew who she was until very recently. Several years ago I found out I was English (ethnically, I was adopted as a baby) and I started reading everything I could about the monarchy. I knew almost nothing about the British Monarchy before a few years ago. Now that I've started I enjoy reading about the English Civil War and the Edward VIII abdication fiasco.
"Be careful what you wish for, you might get it"-One of those sayings that gets more true the longer you live. Wallis Simpson was a mistress of Edward VIII, the king of England for about one year. In 1936 he abdicated to marry her, a twice divorced American woman. In 2016 we find that strange, but at the time the English public couldn't accept her being divorced. The government threatened to resign and that would have lead to a constitutional crisis. Since Edward wanted to marry Wallis, he abdicated the crown so he could do so.
By all accounts, their marriage was "difficult". Simpson seemed to realize that the union would not be a happy one. She wrote that "you and I will only create disaster together". Simpson wanted a royal life with servants, lavish parties, and that lifestyle. What she got was a basically life in a golden palace. She viewed Edward as a "Peter Pan" who was unable to grow up. They seemed to have bored each other.
The entire situation is interesting. Edward is widely considered a romantic because he "gave up" so much to be with her. In reality, she gave up much more. Her second marriage was to her true love. The letters she wrote him during the abdication crisis are heartbreaking. She seems to realize that she destroyed everything by agreeing to be first the kings mistress than his wife. It's a tragic case, not a romantic one.
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