Facts about Wallis Simpson

Scandalous Facts About Wallis Simpson, The Queen Of Controversy
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Scandalous Facts About Wallis Simpson, The Queen Of Controversy
Jun 28
PEOPLE
Scott Mazza
It’s hard for us to imagine now, but during a certain era, people thought of Wallis Simpson as the woman who nearly brought down the British monarchy singlehandedly. Had Edward VIII not fallen for this scandalous American divorcée, the world would surely be a different place. So how did Simpson come to change the course of history? Let’s find out.
1. She Was Born Into Privilege
Wallis Simpson lived much of her life in the lap of luxury, and her birth was no different. Born Bessie Wallis Warfield, her wealthy parents—both from wealthy Baltimore families—were vacationing at a ritzy Pennsylvania resort when she came into the world in June of 1896. The circumstances of her birth lived up to her later life in more ways than one.
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2. It Haunted Her
Wallis Simpson led a privileged life, and, as we’ll come to see, an incredibly controversial one—and the scandal began right at the moment that she was born. See, her parents had only tied the knot in November of 1895, just seven months before their daughter's birth. Was she conceived out of wedlock? It’s impossible to say, but one thing is for sure: Simpson scrambled to keep that information secret.
She often claimed that her parents had wed in June of 1895 instead. Well, the potential controversy wasn’t the only thing that tainted her early years.
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3. She Never Knew Him
As if luxury and scandal weren’t dramatic enough, a sudden and heartbreaking tragedy also marked Simpson’s infancy. When she was just five months old, her father contracted tuberculosis. The disease took his life, and his passing had a devastating impact. Wallis was without a father, and Alice was all alone. Suddenly, their high-society life was in deep jeopardy.
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4. They Lived On The Edge
Simpson’s mother Alice came from an old-money family, but her husband’s passing completely uprooted the life she’d known. She’d have to depend on the kindness of someone , and soon enough, her deceased husband’s new money family stepped up to the plate. Sadly, the family treated them like charity cases, doling out the money for them to live dollar by dollar. Alice and Wallis moved into their grand home in Baltimore—but they didn’t rest their heads there for long.
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5. They Got It Together
Wallis Simpson’s childhood was turbulent, to say the least. Her father’s family begrudgingly supported and housed her and her mother—until one day, when they suddenly turned on them. The whole time, Wallis’s Uncle Sol had been the one controlling the purse strings. Well, rumors had spread that the relationship between Alice and Sol had turned romantic.
The family reacted swiftly . They kicked Alice and little Wallis out of the house.
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6. It Changed Her Life
While her father’s family had effectively cut her mother Alice off, Wallis’s wealthy uncle still insisted on sending her to the most expensive girl’s school in the state. At school, Wallis Simpson began to take the lead in her own life instead of just being a victim of circumstances. Classmates said that she was decisive and ambitious. Once she set her mind on something, she got it.
At the same time, many remarked about how many admirers she had. Wallis was preparing for a life where she’d get whatever she wanted—there was no stopping her now.
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7. She Was A Social Climber
Wallis Simpson was undoubtedly aware of the tenuous position that she occupied in Baltimore society. After all the tumult she’d experienced, security was of the utmost importance. One way to ensure that she’d be comfortable was to pick the right husband by high society's standards. There were a few steps she could take to ensure this, including becoming a debutante and throwing a coming-out ball of her own afterward—however, her timing couldn’t have been worse.
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8. Her Uncle Was Brutal
Wallis received the invitation she’d been waiting for, to Baltimore’s 1914 Bachelors Cotillon. Many people expected her wealthy Uncle Sol to pay for her coming-out ball— but his reaction was utterly cold-blooded. Sol took out an ad in a local newspaper. In it, he said that he would not be throwing his niece any parties, and especially not when “thousands of men are being slaughtered in Europe.”
The rejection was one thing, but the way he delivered it was especially hurtful.
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9. She Was Waiting For Prince Charming
Wallis Simpson decided to skip town and visit her cousin Corinne in Pensacola, Florida. At first, this was a welcome change from the stodgy world of Baltimore high society. Corinne’s husband was a Navy pilot, and life as Corinne’s sidekick threw her into the thrilling world of aviation, a field that was still new at the time. Sadly, the thrill soon wore off, and she would walk away absolutely traumatized.
While in Pensacola, Wallis witnessed not one but two horrific air accidents. These instilled a strong fear of flying that stuck with her for the rest of her life. This was somewhat ironic, considering what happened next.
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10. They Fell Fast
At a lunch organized by her cousin, Wallis met a young Navy pilot by the name of Earl Winfield Spencer Jr.—and it was love at first sight. While he might not have been the old-money type she’d courted in Baltimore, aviation was a new and promising field, and the fact that this young pilot was handsome and charming didn’t hurt. They spent the summer together in Pensacola, and Spencer eventually popped the question.
Their wedding took place in November of 1916, and they followed it with a trip to a posh resort. However, that honeymoon would not last—in a quite literal sense.
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11. His Dark Side Emerged
Wallis and Spencer spent their honeymoon at a resort in West Virginia. That’s where Wallis made a disturbing discovery about her new husband. See, Spencer liked to drink—a lot. This hadn’t appeared to be an issue before, but now they were in a dry state. Spencer’s reaction was chilling. At first, he wanted to cancel the whole thing, but then he remembered he’d packed a bottle of gin, and acquiesced to staying. Was this a red flag? Absolutely.
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12. He Broke All The Rules
Surprisingly, considering her high society exploits, Wallis was pretty naïve about drinking—and drinking problems. Suddenly, all the puzzle pieces began to fit together. Naval officers were not supposed to drink for 24 hours before flights. Now, Wallis caught on to all those times that Spencer and his friends had shared a curious “consommé” at dinner parties. It had actually been martinis that the men sipped out of soup bowls.
The drinking was the first problem, but it wouldn’t be the last…
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13. It Was A Recipe For Disaster
Spencer brushed aside Wallis’s concerns, and for a while, things were okay. After all, they were young and in love. They had a lively social circle, with plenty of parties and Navy functions to…

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