Notes written by the maligned Duke of Windsor shed fresh light on his reputation. Photo / Getty Images
Notes written by the maligned Duke of Windsor shed fresh light on his reputation. Photo / Getty Images
A biographer has unearthed a treasure trove of unseen papers for her forthcoming book about the Duke of Windsor.
Jane Marguerite Tippett was inspired to delve into the archives by the fanfare surrounding the publication of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare in January.
After locating the private papers of Charles JV Murphy, the US journalist and ghostwriter of the Duke’s 1951 memoir, A King’s Story, she discovered hundreds of pages of transcripts of conversations, hand-written notes and diary entries.
“As soon as I sat down in front of the material, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” she told the Telegraph. Tippett, an Oxford graduate raised just outside of Philadelphia, spent days sifting through the paperwork at Boston University.
She had initially hoped to write a book about the Duke’s trip to Germany and his dealings with the Nazi leadership in 1937, the year after his abdication. But she left Boston knowing she was sitting on material that was much more noteworthy. Material that would paint a picture of Edward VIII in a new light.
The project soon morphed into her first book, Once a King: The Lost Memoir of Edward VIII, which will be published on October 26.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor seated outdoors with two small dogs. Photo / Getty Images
The memoir covers Tippett’s discovery of the archive as well as the many insights she uncovered, weaving together the Duke’s writing and newly uncovered interviews with both the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, diary entries from Murphy and other sources.
Together, they create an extraordinary new portrait of the former King and his recollections and feelings, particularly around his abdication.
Contrary to popular opinion, it portrays the Duke as “the hardest-working British royal”, offering insight into his meeting with Adolf Hitler and his governorship of the Bahamas.
The reasons why Murphy, who died in 1987, opted not to use the material in his own book remains a mystery. Unlike Spare, A King’s Story largely avoided controversy, and the most likely explanation is that the discarded material was deemed too personal or unsuitable for publication in 1951.
“We will never hear as directly from the Duke and Duchess as we do in this material. That is why, for me, it is unprecedented,” Tippett said.
Queen Camilla and King Charles arrive in Bordeaux, France as part of a royal tour. Photo / Getty Images
She added that as Prince of Wales, the Duke spent a whole year on tour, proving his willingness to work hard.
“He writes about spending the 1930s as the human face of the royal family during the Great Depression,” she said.
“He went down into coal mines and visited working-men clubs. This is something new that he developed. He was very popular because he wanted the monarchy to connect with people on an individual level in a very informal way.”
Edward’s true legacy
The Duke of Windsor (1894 - 1972), formerly King Edward VIII, with his memoirs, entitled A King's Story: The Memoirs of the Duke of Windsor, circa 1951. Photo / Getty Images
The author said he also appeared to have far more in common with today’s King than the monarch might like to admit.
“Edward’s vision in the 1930s of a slimmed-down monarchy, of a more circumspect royal establishment, and [his views] on royals and divorce have all now been adopted by Charles,” she said. “Yet, because of his abdication and what followed, his real impact on monarchy and how it developed in the 20th century has been erased.”
“The new King, for example, has kept his own home at Highgrove. When he became king, Edward wanted to keep Fort Belvedere, the home on the Windsor estate that he had rebuilt, but that was opposed. Today, we see it as a sign of Charles’s fidelity to his person, to his interests, and to his private life. Not in 1936.”
Edward paved the way for the King in other ways, too. The Duke’s abdication to marry a divorcee means the Palace handled things rather differently when the now-King, as Prince of Wales, decided to divorce and remarry.
