The Heart Has Its Reasons: The Memoirs of the Duchess of Windsor

by Wallis Warfield Simpson

Photo cover ppbd377pages First Award printing

Genres: Royalty, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Biography, History, Biography Memoir, Historical

372 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Determination of Edward VIII, king of Great Britain and Ireland, in 1936 to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, a divorced American, precipitated a constitutional crisis.

Wallis, duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Spencer, then Simpson), an American socialite, married the prince, duke of Windsor, and former king as her third husband.

Periods of separation punctuated her first marriage, which to a naval officer of United States eventually ended in divorce. In 1934 during her second marriage, she allegedly succumbed as the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales. After accession of Edward as king, Wallis in 1936 divorced her second husband and received his proposal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_...

Reviews

[Kymmy Catness · Rating 4 out of 5]

After less than ten pages, I decided I liked Wallis Simpson very much. If Wallis presented herself in the same ways in person as she did in this writing, then she would have been no less interesting to know. She must have been charming, opinionated, decisive and with a great deal of inner strength to have lived this life with the Duke. Thanks to her ghost writers (apparently there were three), the writing style was very well done and I enjoyed this book immensely. I am still entranced and curious about her.

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of the Duchess of Windsor's early life and first two marriages but the book goes into little depth about the Abdication Crisis beyond assuring readers that she did not encourage the King to abdicate. There are a lot of descriptions of hotels, country houses and castles as well as the culture shock experienced by an American in British high society but little detail about her relationship with Edward VIII. The Duchess of Windsor mentions at the beginning of the book that she never saved her correspondence, held on to family papers or kept a diary so her memoirs does not include any additional primary sources that would provide more context for her reflections.

[Caity · Rating 3 out of 5]

This memoir started out strong and it was really interesting to hear about the start of Wallis’ life. In fact, her younger self was quite likeable.

However, the last half was excruciating. She obviously became obsessed with social hierarchy and climbing the social ladder.

Furthermore, she tries to justify her meetings with the Nazis and her part in the King’s abdication.

I just found her to be a sad woman whose obsession with the good life (materials, status, and wealth) lead her to be absolutely miserable in the end.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The parts about her childhood and first marriage are interesting and not nearly as well known as the rest of her story. There are also wonderful pictures in the book, especially at the end, showing the Duke developing an English garden and the Duchess decorating the interior of the French mill they converted into their weekend home. These pictures also make it clear why the Duchess repeatedly was selected one of the best dressed women in the world.

[Karen M · Rating 1 out of 5]

I knew reading this was a bad idea...from the opening pages where she revealed herself to be not just racist but unaware of her racism. She accepted as her due a level of servitude that I found difficult to read.
I persevered through marriages of convenience - Mr Simpson came over remarkably kindly - possibly needed to for the propaganda. Despite the ghost writers’ best intent it was impossible to see her as anything but a social climbing parasite. Then there were the photos - possibly it would have been better to have written about the fascist sympathies without evidence. Obviously fawning on the SS elite it looks as if recent evidence is correct and she was the driving force - to be a queen must have seemed within her grasp.
I’ll try to see this as a piece of social history .

[Cathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This memoir started out strong, and I was really enjoying it. I felt pleasantly surprised reading about the interesting life that the Duchess had led. Then I hit the 3/5 mark where she put her second marriage in jeopardy, and I felt it was mostly her explaining after that. She even takes a chapter to try to justify the visits with Nazis in Germany. Add that to all the name-dropping and hinting that she barely knew what was going on during the weeks leading up to the abdication... well, I rolled my eyes quite a lot toward the end of this book.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normally I don't care for memoirs, as I prefer biographies, but I very much enjoyed reading from the point of view of the Duchess of Windsor.

[Elma Voogdt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book “memoirs of the Duchess of Windsor” is a book from the late 1950s. It tells the personal story of Wallis Simpson, also known as the Duchess of Windsor.

Born as Bessie Wallis Warfield and known as Wallis Simpson by her second marriage, was an American socialite. King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom abdicated to marry her. For Wallis, it was her third and final marriage. From the moment she married Edward she was Duchess of Windsor. She kept that title until the end of her life, she died in 1986. Since the book is from the late 1950s, you can say that her memoirs are not complete.

In her book, Wallis takes us into her world, it starts with her childhood, her strict upbringing, her school experiences and so on. An extensive description of her two marriages is also made. What went right and ultimately went wrong. We also read about her wanderings in the world, of America, Europe and China.

So we slowly arrive from her meeting with the then Prince of Wales, David. However, this description remains very limited, we read something about their encounters, but there is no real depth about their relationship. It is more about hotels, country houses and castles that they visited or where they stayed. The book also contains no clear content regarding the crisis and the subsequent abdication of King Edward VIII. In her story, Wallis does not get any further than that she has tried to distance herself from Edward… it has not become clear to what extent that distance was. The same can be said about the visit to Hitler, it is dismissed a bit lightly, when it certainly was not….

In summary, we can say that the book was certainly interesting in the beginning, we learn a bit more about her childhood and previous marriages, then the book becomes more superficial. That’s a pity for a memoir, so you expect to learn more about the relationship of Wallis and David, the mob of the press that has been widely discussed everywhere. What is also striking is that in those years the press was already hunting high-ranking people. The myth that the press only started reporting about Princess Diana is therefore outdated. That is, if we are to believe the Duchess of Windsor’s story. The book is also a nice addition to the royal book collection, especially because it is a Dutch translation.

[Alayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book. Wallis Simpson, or the Duchess of Windsor, wrote a very discreet memoir about her life from her birth in 1896 to the publishing date of 1956. I couldn't help but feel that she and the Duke were very naive in thinking that he would eventually be able to work for the Royal family, and in thinking that the Duchess would be eventually accepted as part of that family. A great many of the things that I had "known" about them were not the way she told it, and that was interesting too in the light of all the misinformation that is about today. Almost a century ago, there was just as much misinformation, disseminated by the press for the most part and gossip for the rest. All that "social" media provides is a forum for more gossip than ever before to be spread around the whole world. I felt quite sorry for the Windsors.

[N Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to know what to believe. Wallis was born poor, yet managed to go to private schools and have debutant party (although on a small scale). As an adult after leaving her first husband she survived on $255 a month. This allowed her to travel the world and purchase upscale clothing. Even considering the difference in values of the dollar, in what world does this happen, unless someone else is footing the bill.
Wallis indicated that she never kept notes of her life, yet she was able to describe the parties she went to in details: who was there and what they were wearing.
From this book, I determined that she and her life was perfect.
She didn't end up with a crown. Maybe she should have received a halo.

[Bhavya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started the book with a lot of expectations only to be a tad bit disappointed. Almost half way through the book, there is no mention of the PRINCE. There is a detailed description including the furniture and architecture of each and every hotel, castle or home the author stayed throughout the book which was quite tiresome. Even after reading the entire book, it seems like one wouldn't have any clear idea or insight into the character and decisions of the Prince which were clearly influenced in some way or the other by the author. However, the book tried to bring out the hardships faced due to constant move the Royal couple were on in lieu of the war.

[Barbara Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it fascinating and engaging right up to the abdication, then it seemed to lose momentum for me - maybe bacause from them on everything has been written about by many others and more candidly than by the duchess. She wrote with passion and eloquence on her life pre “David” and from then on it was lack lustre. Maybe because I was no longer learning something new.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this book. Though the Duchess tells us her version of the story, it was an extremely interesting and enjoyable read. Of course, the story should be taken with a grain of salt as the Duchess only tells us what she wished us to know, keeping things half-hidden and leaving parts out.

Any Windsor fan should have this for their collection.

[Danielle Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was keen on knowing what she really thought of it all and would have preferred more in-depth analysis of her life, not just what the decor was up to. Perhaps she felt it was none of my business...

[Alshia Moyez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was EXTREMELY dry to me in the way it was written. I didn't like it. It's sort of an autobiography written by Wallis Simpson (the late Duchess of Windsor)and to me, it almost read like a fairytale. I expected "...And they lived happily ever after" to come at the end of the book. The language in the book was very flowery and over blown. Everybody was painted in the best light possible, which is normal in an autobiography I guess-nobody wants to be the villain in the story. But that makes for boring reading in this case. What can I say? It was just boring. In reading this I felt like Wallis didn't want to reveal anything private (which I can understand), but even her emotions and how she felt during the struggle she & "Edward" went through was glossed over IMO as "Oh well". Her husband had to ABDICATE (give up his thrown as king of England) to marry her, AND his family and all of Britain pretty much hated her. AND they blamed her for everything. But in the book she didn't really get into it in any emotional detail. I must say that I did NOT finish this book. I couldn't. I know that's not really fair, but I do applaud her for writing it and taking a chance on people like me reading it.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though I really liked it in the beginning as I was rushing to get through it to get to the part where she meets the Prince. However, even through it was very detail oriented early on in the book when describing people's house sand material objects and possession, not many intimate details were provide regarding her relationship with David. She makes on brief statement about falling in love while walking on a beach but otherwise she doesn't really go into detail about their personal relationship. She just writes about all the social parties they attend together and then briefly mentions how she just happens to be at his country Estate "the Fort" one morning. Are we too assume she was an overnight guest? It just feels like a lot of detail were passed over about their one on one relationship and not disclosed/discussed in this book. And I guess that is what I was looking for when I started to read this memoir. I mean if I wasn't aware about all the public brouhaha over their relationship I would be left wondering why he abdicated for her. Maybe I will find those details in his memoir.

[Matt Schexnayder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic writing style and editing gives the reader a glimpse into the life of Wallis, an ordinary woman from the South who managed to escape from her town, travel the world, and eventually become demonized for spear-heading the scandal, abdication, and exile of a king of England. Wallis describes her struggles and the due diligence she employed to avoid these unfortunate (and unavoidable) events.

This story also provides a rare glimpse at the finer details of the balance of power between the royal family and the British government. It shows that the royalty, more often than not, receives their "power" from the government and must adhere to strict regulations promulgated by Parliament. And of course, the higher a Royal is in the chain of succession, the more strict the rules.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ghostwriting - I understand there were three. I've read several other things about HRH & his wife; I now realize they were very strongly slanted. This obviously was slanted the opposite direction, but I have a less opprobrious opinion of her, though not of him.

[Joanne St.Clair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Great insight into one of the most talked about loved stories of the decade. Have now ordered Edward VIII's book and await it excitedly.

[Ig-88 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pariatur placeat ipsam. Saepe aut nihil iusto. Aut laboriosam odio amet deserunt aspernatur. Dolore quia ut quis veritatis iusto quo.