Duchess – Bessie “Wallis” Simpson 1896-1986
- Wallis was married three times. Her third husband was Prince Edward Duke of Windsor and former King Edward the VII of the United Kingdom
- Wallis and the King started their relationship when she was still married. The Duchess was a very difficult woman to deal with. The Duchess died alone in Paris.
- Duke – Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor and former King Edward the VII of the United Kingdom. 1894-1972 – 78 yrs old.
- He started expressing interest in marrying Wallis when she was still married. Everyone in the UK was against the marriage because Wallis had been married twice before and was American.
- King Edward ceded the throne in 1936 to marry the Duchess.
- The Duke and Duchess stayed at the hotel between 1941 and 1961 and would primarily come into the city for the social season in the fall.
- They traveled on the USS United States because of the large rooms.
- They stayed in an R Suite until the situation with Queen Elizabeth II and Price Phillip occurred in around 1960. King Faoud became sick and had to stay in the suite that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were due to check into. The hotel had to scramble to create a Royal Suite for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip (42R). Once the Duchess heard about this she demanded that she get the Royal Suite for all of her future stays. She latched on to suite 42R, making it her suite. She had the suite painted a light blue which was later named “Wallis Blue”.
- April in Paris Ball – The Duchess was the co-chair of this ballroom event, with Elsa Maxwell. This was a huge event that the Director of Catering created, in order to drive business into the spring.
- The Duke and Duchess conceived a child together in 1934 before they were married. At birth the Duke and Duchess were told the child died however in 1995 it was revealed that the child, was born alive, and was sent to live in Ohio under a different identity. The Duke and Duchess never knew that their daughter was alive. This loss bonded their love deeply.
