Auction Offers Glimpse Into Scandalous Life of British King and His American Mistress

“The woman I love.”

That enduring phrase is how the King of England described his future wife, Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced Baltimore woman at the heart of a scandal that rocked the British crown.

King Edward VIII – the uncle of the current Queen Elizabeth II – gave up his throne to marry Wallis, who scandalized royals in the 1930s.

A photo album from a notorious cruise the illicit lovers took together, jewelry and other personal items given to friends by the famous couple will be auctioned Tuesday, June 14, by Kerry Taylor Auctions in London.

Edward abdicated his throne with the famous declaration: "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love."

British custom forbid the monarch to marry someone who was divorced, so after ruling less than a year, King Edward stepped down on Dec. 11, 1936, throwing his kingdom into turmoil. Taking the title of Duke of Windsor, Edward and Wallis married in 1937 in France, where they lived the rest of their lives.

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The “Passion for Fashion” auction features Windsor items that were kept for decades by their friends, Katherine and Herman Rogers. The keepsakes were discovered by Herman Rogers’ granddaughter in a safe after her grandmother’s death.

Among the pieces to be sold are a 200-piece photo album from a cruise taken by Edward and Wallis – the Maryland socialite was a married woman at that point, and not to the king.

In August 1936, Edward took Wallis on an Adriatic cruise, along with a small group of friends, including the Rogerses. The photographs taken by Herman Rogers record the trend-setting group on the Nahlin yacht and are valued at an estimated $2,206 to $3,676 (or 1500 to 2500 pounds).

The auction house says, “The king appears in the photographs swimming and sunbathing bare-chested (which caused much comment in the overseas press at the time). Wallis sports rather unflattering rubber bathing hats, elasticated one piece swimsuits or shelters under parasols (not for her the newfangled suntan). Whilst Britain remained unaware of the royal romance (thanks to acquiescent press barons who quashed all mention), in the US and Continental Europe the affair was widely reported. Not all of the coverage was flattering.”

Three months after the cruise and a holiday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, Edward gave up the throne to his younger brother while the press hounded Wallis. She fled to the south of France, staying with the Rogerses again at Villa Lou Viei.

The beleaguered Wallis wrote in her memoirs:

“As the moment approached, everyone at Lou Viei, including the domestic staff, gathered around the radio in the sitting room. David’s (the informal given name for Edward) voice came out of the loudspeaker calmly, movingly. I was lying on the sofa with my hands over my eyes, trying to hide my tears. After he finished, the others quietly went away and left me alone. I lay there a long time before I could control myself enough to walk through the house and go upstairs to my room.”

A year later, Katherine and Herman Rogers helped organize the wedding of Edward and Wallis at a chateau owned by an American friend. By royal standards it was a humble affair, the guest book shows only 28 names listed including the married couple.

“Most British aristocracy and establishment now shunned the couple and disapproved of the marriage,” the auction house says. “Poignantly, not one member of the Royal Family attended despite the Duke’s heartfelt pleas. Edward VIII had chosen to follow his own personal desires rather than putting duty and his country first – something that was not to be forgotten or forgiven by the British establishment.”

Herman Rogers walked Wallis down the aisle and gave her hand in matrimony. As a token of their gratitude he was given a Cartier sapphire-encrusted cigarette case with the wedding date and the date Wallis stayed with them during the abdication crisis – an item estimated to sell for $29,407 to $44,110 (20,000 to 30,000 pounds).

Other gifts to them include an 18th century engraved silver salver, given by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to Herman Rogers when he remarried in 1950, estimated at £2000-3000, and an 1823 silver-gilt snuff box given by the Windsors as a gift to Katherine and Herman Rogers for Christmas 1948, estimate £2000-3000.

»Photos used with permission of Kerry Taylor Auctions of London.