Posted on 12/10/2010 10:24:24 PM PST by iowamark
Wallis Simpson was branded a 'miserable second-rate American woman' by BBC founder Sir John Reith after he learned Edward VIII was to abdicate to marry her, it has emerged in his diaries.
The eyewitness account of the abdication crisis by the corporation's then director general shows a distinct lack of appreciation for the divorcee....
He wrote a diary account of the events surrounding the address and extracts are featured in a collection of radio broadcasts, and television footage telling the Abdication story.
The material has been put online to commemorate the anniversary of the broadcast...
"He said that the King simply wasn't sane. He was going to realise later what he had done."
In the document the director general describes how he spoke to Edward's legal adviser Sir Walter Monckton a few minutes after the broadcast about Mrs Simpson.
Sir John wrote: "He said he couldn't find words for her. I said it was awful that all this crisis was caused by a miserable, second-rate American woman."
Before leaving he spoke to Edward telling him "Good luck, Sir" and shaking his hand and bowing.
Reith wrote: "What an occasion. What that young man has thrown away - a greater opportunity than any King or any man ever had."
The BBC Archive collection which is now online includes speeches when Edward was the Prince of Wales, showcases interviews after he became the Duke of Windsor and features other interviews with those who knew him and his wife.
A 1980s radio programme is also available featuring the journalist who first broke the story about the King's affair with Mrs Simpson.
In it he talks about the event that prompted his decision to file the scandalous scoop that ended Fleet Street's "conspiracy of silence".
For more information go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/edward_viii/
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
You can be a Puritan scold if you want. I see it as classic Romanticism, like Tristan and Isolde. The fact that their love endured after they were both middle aged makes it all that more poignant.
By the way, Camilla’s husband had been flagrantly unfaithful to her for years, but I guess that doesn’t count.
You need to reread the book if you think it was love.
you need to reread my post....including the word “imagine”.
That author is incorrect. Her parents weren't married when she was conceived but soon married, and he died of TB when Wallis was still a baby.
One of the media history books I read recently said that the American public couldn’t get enough of the abdication story and demanded as much coverage as possible. Newspapers, radio, magazines, newsreels - that’s all the news consumer wanted to read/hear about.
Meanwhile, Hitler’s rise to power was ongoing, but received much less coverage.
I suppose the modern-day parallels would be Michael Jackson and such similar stories.
I am not a Puritan, lol and anyone who knows me knows that.
However adultery whomever is engaging in it is NOT romantic. It is a destroyer of lives and families.
I guess we just agree to disagree.
You’re exactly right...
Holy crap, what’s that thing in the middle of her face?
This was not suburbia. This was a dynastic marriage in the aristocracy. Which means its also a job. Its unfortunate that Dianw chose to make it into a soap opera about her. I feel sorry for everyone who had to have a clise petsonal relationship with her.
See page 154.
Manipulating The Ether: The Power Of Broadcast Radio In Thirties America
By Robert J. Brown
Marriage is not a job, it is a sacrament and I doubt God distinguishes between aristocratic adultery and that which occurs in the suburbs. There are those pesky 10 Commandments which are read in church at Morning Prayer as a reminder. The admonishment against adultery is clearly in there.
You have brought up Andrew’s adultery. So? That’s an excuse?
Adultery is a destroyer and look at the destruction this “soap opera”as you call it wrought. According to you Diana turned this into a soap opera, what would you have preferred? That she retire quietly to a nunnery as they did in the old days. She told the truth there were always three people in her marriage.
Maybe Charles and Camilla should have told the truth and sat down with Andrew and Diana before their marriages to spell out their intentions to continue their “romantic relationship”. Charles could have said... “I fully intend to exercise my aristocratic princely prerogative during my marriage. If you have any objections to your wife or husband disregarding the admonition that we forsake all others and cleave only unto you now is the time to speak up. Andrew, old fellow, even though I am your Prince, it won’t cost you your rank and Di your face isn’t yet on the tea towels.”
BTW...As an Anglican, not a Puritan, my husband and I made the same vows that Charles and Diana and Camilla and Andrew made. I am blessed that my husband is a man of his word and made them with full intention of honoring them and me.
As I said before I guess we agree to disagree.
Thank you
Royal marriage is diiferent, and everyone in England knows it. Yes, Diana shoyld have kept very quiet and worked on her worthy causes. Her carrying on and creating a psychodrama starring herself just made it harder for everyone. That disgusting, treasonous interview she did about three people in the marriage showed her to be a dangerous lunatic. Her silly death did not come a moment too soon.
yes. It is powerful and makes one do irrational things. And it is addictive, and people who haven’t experienced it can’t understand its power.
I have family and friends in England. I know what they think and believe.
Anyone who thinks that the death of a young woman, the mother of young sons who dared to speak out against a personal wrong, was fortuitous is not someone with whom I care to engage in conversation. I think we are finished.
If you have family and friends in England then you should have a better understanding of the duties and protocol involved in marrying into the royal family. Instead you appear to have obtained all your information about the world from the lower order of women’s magazines.
I don’t read “women’s magazines” lol
As I said I believe our conversation is finished. Have a nice day.
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