Held in a French chateau more accustomed to wealth than royalty, the ceremony was a low-key ceremony boycotted by the royal family and all respected priests.
With eyes that royal photographer Cecil Beaton described as “essentially sad”, the former King Edward VIII, 42, tied the knot with Wallis Simpson, 40, on 3 June 1937.
Soon after, Wallis – the woman for whom the Duke relinquished the crown in December 1936 – began her first post-marital affair and, according to royal biographers, did not even love her husband.
This fact was hinted at by Beaton, who, after speaking to her the day before their wedding, surmised that while she felt “tremendous admiration” for the Duke and was “determined” to love him, she was not “in love” with him.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor pose for a portrait after their wedding at the Chateau de Cande in Monts, France on June 3, 1937
Just a month before her wedding, when her second divorce was finalized, the Duchess changed her name to Wallis Warfield – the name she was born with
This contrasted with the Duke’s devotion to her, a fact reflected in his abdication speech when he said it was “impossible” to carry out his duties “without the help and support of the woman I love”.
Guests at the Chateau de Cande in Monts included Edward’s best man, Major Edward “Fruity” Metcalfe, and his chauffeur and equerry, but none of his family were present.
There was also the businessman Hermann Rogers, with whom Wallis fell in love and wanted to marry.
The low-key nuptials were a spectacular downfall for a man who, just months earlier, had been King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India and was set to enjoy a spectacular coronation at Westminster Abbey.
Instead, his brother Prince Albert, King George VI, was crowned in his place and won the admiration of the British people.
In the weeks leading up to his wedding, the Duke was furious at King George’s refusal to grant Wallis Royal Highness status.
Edward bitterly joked that it was a “lovely wedding present.”
When his mother, Queen Mary, failed to send him a genuine gift, he told her that he was “deeply hurt and disappointed that you have virtually ignored the most important event in my life”.
A Fabergé box sent to him as a gift by his younger brother Prince George, Duke of Kent, was refused by Edward on the grounds that his sibling had shown no intention of departing from the family’s official attitude towards him.
The wedding location chosen by Edward and Wallis belonged to millionaire Charles Bedaux, who was later disapproved of by the British and French intelligence services.
The Duke and Duchess are seen on their wedding day alongside Edward’s best man Edward “Fruity” Metcalfe (right) and businessman Hermann Rogers, with whom Wallis later had an affair
In the official photos taken at their wedding, the couple looked anything but happy
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor look out from a balcony at the Chateau de Cande in Monts on their wedding day
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor walk down the steps of the Chateau de Cande on their wedding day
Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor pose in a window at the Chateau de Cande on their wedding day
The castle featured modern conveniences, including a $40,000 pipe organ and a $15,000 telephone system.
On the day itself, Wallis wore a blue wedding dress, which she paired with silk gloves of the same material and a straw hat.
She wore an impressive diamond and sapphire brooch around her neck and also showed off sapphire earrings and a sparkling sapphire bracelet.
Her second divorce – from shipbroker Ernest Aldrich Simpson – had been finalized just a month earlier.
The duke originally wanted a royal chaplain to officiate at his wedding, but this wish was quickly quashed by his brother, the king.
His second choice had been the Reverend Martin Andrews, who presided over a parish in the Duchy of Cornwall.
But the priest refused, saying: “It would be a disappointment to the church and as long as I hold office in the church I must abide by the rules, cruel as they may seem.”
In the end, the Reverend JA Jardine – a Darlington priest described as “turbulent” by Edward’s biographer Philip Ziegler – stepped in and offered his services.
This was a disregard for the Church of England, which ruled until 2002 that it could not perform marriages between rulers and divorced people whose former spouses were still alive.
Jardine was later relieved of his duties when he returned to Britain. He then led a church called Windsor Cathedral in Hollywood before his sudden death in 1950.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Lang, who was instrumental in sealing Edward’s abdication, described Jardine as a “notoriety seeker”.
He questioned how Edward – who had been King of England only a few months before – “could lose his dignity in so far as he asked a man of that kind to celebrate his marriage”.
While Edward believed he made a good choice at Jardine, that idea was somewhat thwarted by the priest’s subsequent tour of the United States, during which he revealed all about the ceremony.
Ziegler described the altar as a “false Renaissance chest adorned with plum caryatids”.
Beaton took official photos of the couple after they tied the knot.
In his journal, he described Edward’s expression when his photograph was taken as “essentially sad, tragic eyes belied by an insolent tilt of the nose.”
He added that the former king had “ordinary hands – like a mechanic’s – weatherbeaten and quite scaly and one thumbnail was disfigured”.
Beaton had spoken to Wallis at length and concluded that she was a “strong force” and “intelligent within her vast limitations”.
“She obviously has a great deal of admiration for the Duke and considers him to be one of the greatest minds…of our time.”
Edward and Wallis pose together on their wedding day at the Chateau de Cande
Reverend JA Jardine – a Darlington priest – officiated at the Duke of Windsor’s wedding. He then emigrated to the United States, where he officiated in the chapel of Windsor Cathedral in Hollywood
Wallis Simpson poses with her Cartier emerald engagement ring and diamond and sapphire bracelet, which was a gift from Edward, in 1936
Edward VIII announces his abdication to his nation and Empire on December 11, 1936
The Declaration of Abdication signed by Edward VIII at his home in Fort Belvedere. His brothers Albert, Henry and George also signed the document
“She admires his character, his vitality and is determined to love him, although I have a feeling she’s not in love with him.”
Guests included his best man, chauffeur and groom, Charles Topper, the Duke’s barber, and Mrs Buchanan Merryman, Wallis’ aunt.
The service itself consisted of a French civil ceremony and ten minutes later there was an Anglican counter-ceremony conducted by the Reverend Jardine.
In both versions, Wallis promised to obey her husband.
Incredibly, the duke did not kiss his bride at either the civil or religious ceremony, although he had tears in his eyes as he slipped the Wallis ring onto her finger.
The couple then posed for the few photographers present before indulging in a wedding breakfast of lobster, cold cuts, strawberries and champagne.
Their wedding cake, which the duke and duchess cut together, consisted of six tiers that rose a meter into the air.
But despite the social gathering at the ceremony, Wallis’ biographer Andrew Morton told how she “made an entrance” in her marriage after realizing that Edward “had given up the throne of the greatest empire to marry a doubly married man marry”. divorced American.
“If she kicked him to the curb she would be the most abused woman in British history,” he said when his book Wallis in Love: The Untold Life of the Duchess of Windsor, The Woman Who Changed the Monarchy was released in 2018.
The Duke and Duchess received more than 3,000 telegrams and 30,000 letters of good wishes after their wedding.
In a statement, the Duke said: “The Duchess and I would like to thank everyone who has so kindly sent us gifts and well wishes on the occasion of our wedding.”
“We will never forget her kind messages that mean so much to us on this day.”
He added that they were looking forward to a “happy” personal life and a “level of peace” that they hoped would be given them.
However, historian Andrew Lownie revealed in his book Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor that their life beneath the surface was far from happy.
He described how Wallis began an affair with the US Ambassador to France, William Bullitt, shortly after their marriage.
Eleanor Tydings Ditzen, the daughter of close friends of the Windsors, detailed the connections and claimed that the British security services knew about them but did not tell Edward.
“The duke accompanied his wife to one of the fashion designers for a fitting and came back in an hour or two to pick her up,” she said.
“Wallis slipped out the back door to meet the ambassador.”
“As British Intelligence was guarding both Windsors, the matter was reported to their government.”
“The British were afraid of the prince.” [Duke of Windsor] might find out, and there would be another big scandal.
“So the Secret Service protected Wallis’ transgressions from the Duke!”
Mr Lownie said it was “doubtful” that Wallis ever loved Edward and wanted to end her relationship with him when he became king.
“But by then he was so obsessed with her that he threatened to kill himself if she left him,” he said.
Wallis had heard Edward’s retirement speech on the radio before spending the next day in bed, depressed.
Her friend Constance Coolidge, who also listened to the show, later said, “Can you think of a more terrible fate than living publicly the legend of a love you don’t feel?” Face-to-face with a middle-aged boy morning, noon, and night who has no other purpose in life than a possessive passion for you?’
In 1938, Wallis had another affair, this time with a used car dealer named Guy Trundle.
When they attended the wedding of Hermann Rogers in 1950, Wallis said meaningfully to his bride Lucy Wann, ‘I will hold you responsible if anything happens to Hermann.’ He is the only man I have ever loved.’
That prompted the other woman to reply, “How nice for the Duke.”
Wallis also had a long-running affair with the much younger Jimmy Donahue, heir to the Woolworth fortune.
The Duke would accompany her to the clubs with Donahue on several occasions before telling her husband to “fuck off” at midnight.
The Chron reported extensively on the Duke of Windsor’s wedding
Their affair ended in 1954 when the younger man went on a yachting holiday with Wallis and the Duke.
After Donahue kicked the Duchess under the table at dinner, the Duke said to him, ‘We’ve had enough of you, Jimmy. Get out!’
Concerning Wallis’s feelings towards her husband, his confidant Kenneth de Courcy gave a scathing verdict.
“Did she love the Duke of Windsor?” he said.
“I’m afraid the sad answer is that she didn’t … I think he knew it and it was what made him surrender his heart to her authority in the hope that love would come.”