The Duke of Windsor

[McClef]

I heard the he had to abdicate because the King could not be married to a divorcee. Where does that leave Prince Charles?

The attitude towards divorce in the 1930s was very different. Queen Mary considered that nobody who was divorced was an innocent party and divorced persons were excluded from the Royal Enclosure at Ascot. Both church and state were against it and the then Archbishop of Canterbury would have refused to crown Edward. Even in the early 1950s it was taboo for royals and Princess Margaret, even though she was moving down the Line of Succession, was dissuaded from marrying Peter Townsend, a divorced man.

There have been several royal divorces since - Margaret from Lord Snowdon, Anne from Mark Phillips, Andrew from Sarah Ferguson and Charles from Diana.
Technically her death would have dissolved the union in any case and rendered Charles free to marry, even by the standards of the 1930s, but Camilla is divorced and that would then have made her like Wallis, an "unsuitable" consort.

Now church and state have a different attitude and both agreed that there was no Constitutional impediment. There was a question about the legality of registry office marriage for members of the royal family, but government legal advice gave it the go ahead and the Archbishop felt able to bless the marriage afterwards. The Queen did not attend the civil ceremony but she did attend the blessing.

A further contrast is regarding the use of titles. Edward had tried to overcome opposition to his marriage to Wallis by suggesting that she need not become Queen but take a lesser title. Baldwin (PM at the time) stated that such a Morganatic solution was Constitutionally impossible and unknown to British law and that taking a lesser title would imply that Wallis was unsuitable to be the consort of the monarch (he thought she was unsuitable anyway but he was making a legal statement). Yet she was denied the title HRH to which she was entitled by the same reasoning!

Camilla is not a Morganatic wife. She has chosen to use the lesser title of Duchess of Cornwall but is de facto Princess of Wales, whether she uses the title or not. When Charles becomes King she will also be de facto Queen Consort - this talk of "Princess Consort" is nonsense and Constitutionally indefensible.

I hope this clarifies the understanding of the situation for those interested!

McClef, do you mean it was held on by gravity, like a proper Roman toga?

Yes - I have tried to find a photo on the net to illustrate it but have not been able to so far. But unlike a toga it's simply folded and worn over the shoulder. I have only seen it on photographs of Edward and of Prince Albert (George VI). Can't be comfortable and requires a certain deportment to prevent the embarrassment of it slipping off!

[McMurdo]

Just found this


And this one:
The Prince of Wales (later the Duke of Windsor) and Prince Albert (later King George VI)
during a practice shooting session at Balmoral in 1910.
Prince Albert is seen checking the shots on a deer target



The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, with dogs, Christmas Card

[pdcorlis]

Ok Matt, I guess I need some educating. How come this royal stewart



doesn't look like this Royal Stewart?



Is it age, mill, special variant, or am I just imagining the Duke's tartan being so much more attractive than the swatch?

[Nick]

I see it now! It's so faded I didn't even recognize it. It is probably age, that's a 70 year old kilt. And I agree with Pdcorlis, the Duke's kilt looks a lot better.

[Big Paul]

Here are some others

[McClef]

The bottom picture illustrates the plaid I was talking about - thanks Big Paul!

[pdcorlis]

I see it now! It's so faded I didn't even recognize it. It is probably age, that's a 70 year old kilt. And I agree with Pdcorlis, the Duke's kilt looks a lot better.

So if I buy a good quality wool kilt in the Royal Stewart tartan and have spomeone bury it in a peat bog for about a year - will it look like the Duke's?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

It could possibly be age, or it could just be that it was woven in lighter colors to begin with. It's not that different from today's ancient Royal Stewart.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

By the way, if anyone is especially anamoured of the Duke's houdstooth jacket and waistcoat, we can get them made in a similar pattern (just a bit smaller than the Duke's).

Here's an image:
http://giftshop.scottishtartans.org/glen_shee.jpg

Ordering information is here:
http://giftshop.scottishtartans.org/glen_tilt.htm

[mbhandy]

So if I buy a good quality wool kilt in the Royal Stewart tartan and have spomeone bury it in a peat bog for about a year - will it look like the Duke's?

I would think that how many years of hand washing a Kilt might just fade it a bit???

MrBill