Behind Closed Doors: The Tragic, Untold Story of the Duchess of Windsor ebook

by Hugo Vickers

According to Hugo Vickers, she was a victim. It is at this point that Behind Closed Doors, a book in two parts, begins

According to Hugo Vickers, she was a victim. The marriage, from her side at least, was less romance than tragedy and in widowhood her life became a horror story. Never in love with Edward, she listened to his abdication speech while moaning with misery from under a blanket. An unloved child, Edward had an overwhelming need to be dominated and to adore; Wallis had a need to dominate and found his adulation tiresome. It is at this point that Behind Closed Doors, a book in two parts, begins. One of her staff once said that before the Duke died the Duchess knew everything, and after he died she knew nothing.

The duchess never forgave Hitler for arriving 10 minutes late for a private audience, so she couldn't have been a Nazi. But as I did get to catch sight of the duchess's pugs, I came away with the clear impression I would become the man best placed to write the duchess's tragic biography. Death: It was an immensely sad day when the duke died in 1972 and I was honoured to be a lay steward at the funeral, from which vantage point I can report that the Queen was very gracious while the duchess was the epitome of sadness. After her return to Paris as a widow, the duchess began the decline that ended with her own death in 1986.

Rosemary Hill wonders whether Wallis Simpson's tale is a tragedy or a damp squib. When does a story end?" Hugo Vickers wonders halfway through this mesmerisingly awful book about the last years of Wallis Simpson (pictured), adding "Perhaps it never does. For Vickers, who has been obsessed for decades with every detail of the Duchess of Windsor's life and long-drawn-out death, this is clearly true. For most people, however, the story of Edward VIII's abdication and its aftermath is fixed in a handful of phrases and images.

So what is 'the tragic untold story'? .

So what is 'the tragic untold story'? It is her long-drawn-out living death as the prisoner of her fearsome French lawyer, Maitre Suzanne Blum, who battened upon her like a leech. The Duchess takes the first two-thirds of this book to die. Since almost nothing happens from the Duke of Windsor's death in the opening chapter in 1972 until her own in 1986, this requires much spinning with little thread by the author, Hugo Vickers. He is the man for the task, fascinated since his boyhood with the Windsors and a snapper-up of gossip about them, however trifling.

The tragic, untold story of the Duchess of Windsor. Hugo Vickers' "Behind Closed Doors" is an interesting read, one that easily jumps from fascinating and hard to put down, to confusing and scattered. See all Product description. Overall, I'd say that if you're a fan of Wallis- or even if you think you hate her- this is probably an essential perspective into a life that I'd never considered. The overall layout of the book is different from other biographies as it begins at the end of Wallis' life rather than at the end. While everyone thinks they may know how the story ends, most do not, and it's a heartbreaking story.

I plan to read this book but Vickers is a well known apologist for her; I shall be looking for old chestnuts, rumpy pumpy stories about von Ribbentrop, the death of Sir Harry Oakes, the Baltimore Clinch and various androgynous characteristics that he tries to gainsay. Newer Post Older Post Home.

Hugo Vickers relates a tragic story which has lost none of its resonance over the years since the Duchess died in 1986. Hugo Vickers has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Royal Family, and has had a fascination with the story of the Duchess of Windsor since he was a young man. There have been a number of books about this doomed couple, but this book brings a new perspective on the story by focussing on the later years of exile.

Hugo Vickers has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Royal Family and has had a fascination with the story . Hugo Vickers relates a tragic story which has lost none of its resonance over the years since the Duchess died in 1986.

Hugo Vickers has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Royal Family and has had a fascination with the story of the Duchess of Windsor since he was a young man. There have been a number of books about this doomed couple but this book brings a new perspective on the story by focussing on the later years of exile.

Behind Closed Doors book. There have been a number of books about this doomed couple (and Channel 4 is very interested in doing a programme based on Hugo's text), but this book brings a new perspective on the story by focussing on the later years of exile.

Levion

Hugo Vickers' "Behind Closed Doors" is an interesting read, one that easily jumps from fascinating and hard to put down, to confusing and scattered. Overall, I'd say that if you're a fan of Wallis-- or even if you think you hate her-- this is probably an essential perspective into a life that I'd never considered.

The overall layout of the book is different from other biographies as it begins at the end of Wallis' life rather than at the end. While everyone thinks they may know how the story ends, most do not, and it's a heartbreaking story. Edward and Wallis are probably two of history's least understood people, and although Vickers attempts to help us understand them a little better, I only walked away feeling sorry for everyone involved. The Wallis and Edward "epic love story" was more of an epic tragedy that injured almost everyone involved.

Regardless of what you think Wallis may or may not have done, the end of her life was not what she, or anyone else, deserved. I gave the book 4 stars because I think it was very well researched and pretty well written, but I walked away with questions. What happened to Maitre Suzanne Blum? Was she ever exposed and made to answer for anything she did? What about any of her other accomplices? Did the French government even care of the elder abuse that was going on right under their noses in one of their properties? What about Dr Thin? How does the Pasteur Institute feel about being named as a benefactor under such circumstances?

Now I'm rambling off on tangents as Vickers seems to do on occasion. Anyhow, I think I paid a penny for the book and $3.99 shipping, so for $4, it was worth the money. Now I just feel bad for Wallis, and I feel like she got the shaft and has gone down in history as a shrew when she was simply misunderstood and unfairly scapegoated. It's unfortunate that so many people took advantage of her papers while she was incapacitated. It's a shame that the world blamed her for something that history has pretty much proven was out of her control.

And Mr Vickers: I enjoyed the book, but after all that, I really expected a POW! of an ending. But, just like the Duchess, Behind Closed Doors just came to a quiet, unremarkable end.

Watikalate

If you are interested in this subject, or the British royal family in the 20th century, this book is a godsend. (Bear in mind this NOT a book about the abdication -- it is two other books; the first a book about Wallis and David AFTER the abdication, and, second, a long appendix about the Duchess' ancestry (more aristocratic than i knew) (tidbit: apparently Ernest Simpson's father was born Jewish).
(I loved Caroline Blackwood's Last of the
Duchess, but that was really a bravura aria; this work is a definitive treatment.) (1) Vickers is fair. His judgments on Wallis, David and the other players seem balanced, humane and well-supported by evidence and insight. Bearing it mind it seems there is nothing about 20th c. the royal family
(and England's peerage more generally) that Vickers doesn't know. (2) Vickers is thorough. Nothing missing. (3) Vickers can be amusing.
(4) He deals with previous writers versions. (5) He is himself a bit player in the drama, having met the principals in situ, stayed in various houses in which they or others in the story lived. He is not a royal, but his background gave him access much greater than the typical ink-stained wretch (his grandfather founded a major London merchant bank and was,e.g., Winston Churchill's stockbroker. Three cheers.

Gralinda

It is a very well written book by a distinguished author.From what Mrs Simpson got from life,life got it back with an interest,during her last years.Mr Vickers,describes vividly all the manipulations of her French lawyer,in order to steal huge amount of goods and money.Reading almost breathless the book,we wonder,if it should be much better for her,to have remained with her second husband.The world would not have heard anything about her,but maybe the end,would not have been so frightening for her.A prisoner in her own house,suffering terribly without a way out..

Kadar

Vickers tells of the tragic last years of the Duchess of Windsor - and they were tragic. I learned a number of things that I haven't read before and was interested in his take on the various books previous that have come out about the Windsors and the abdication. Didn't agree with everything but his points are compelling, especially as someone who had some involvement in trying to ferret out the situation while the Duchess was still alive. My main complaint concerned the flow - I found some items repeated and while maybe necessary, the item would appear as if not mentioned before (sometimes, he did state that he was referring to an earlier section of the book.

Vickers had the advantage of a long time span, close to 40 years, of encounters with different people involved in the story. For that reason alone, the book is worth reading for anyone interested in the Abdication of Edward VIII and the story of the Windsors.