Magpie #18

“It’s such a beautiful house; too bad they have to leave it.”
“Yes, but life in the Bahamas isn’t all that bad, especially if you’re the Governor’s wife.”

“But think of it, our pal Wallis is not only world-famous, she could almost have been Queen of England! Who could have imagined such a thing when we were kids back in Baltimore?”
“So where is she? We’ve come for a visit and all we do is wait. She may not even be home.”
“Oh, she’s here all right. One of the servants told me she’d be coming down shortly. He said she’s eager to see old friends. You know Wallis; she’s going to take her good time getting ready to make an entrance.”
“Well, she didn’t make it to Queen, or even Royal Consort. What is her title nowadays, exactly?”
“It’s a bit complicated; you know British protocol. She’s officially the Duchess of Windsor, but the phrase that usually accompanies that title – ‘Her Royal Highness’ – is not permitted for her.”
“H’mm. Bet that makes Edward angry.”
“Of course. They’re both angry. The Royal Family refused to so much as meet her. And of course Edward was forced to give up the throne. They’re both mad as wet hens.”
“I imagine that trip they took to visit Hitler didn’t sit well, to say the least, with Whitehall. And now they're shipping them off to the Caribbean to keep them out of trouble while Britain goes on with the war."
“You know, just between the two of us, what in God’s name does he see in her? Wallis is okay; she was always bright and knew how to turn on the charm and all that – she was fine as a school chum – but I mean, as far as the British are concerned, as a potential spouse for a king she has everything in the world wrong with her: she’s an American and she’s not only divorced, she’s been divorced twice!”
“Yes, but there’s no question, Edward is crazy about her. I think one of the things he loves is the sharp, sarcastic attitude she has toward the Royal Family; as Prince of Wales he had never come across that before. She calls the Queen, who after all is his mom, ‘Cookie,’ because of her fondness for food. Her name for the Queen Mother is ‘Cake,’ because Wallis feels that her fashion sense makes her look like a wedding cake. And she calls the girl, the Princess Elizabeth, ‘Shirley,’ as in Shirley Temple.”
“Incredible. By the way, what on earth is this doing here?”

“Ah, that. That’s a gift officially sent by Princess Elizabeth, but Wallis feels it was sent by the whole Royal Family as a kind of insult. The Coronation of George VI in 1937? What else could she think? It’s as though they’re saying, you brought this about. You caused Edward VIII to abdicate and now you’re going to get nothing! So she puts the thing right here on display and keeps it filled with pencils to show how little it means to her.”
“You know, it’s as though our Wallis experienced the ultimate fairy tale: becoming the adored favorite of the most glamorous eligible bachelor of his time, and now – well, it all seems to be going wrong.”
“As fairy tales often do.”