This is the kind of photo that shows you why the Duchess of York drove Wallis Simpson mad: flyaway hair, fussy feathery coat-dress, and a beetle-browed face absolutely devoid of cheekbones. Of course, since the woman Wallis called "cookie" for her annoyingly cosy ways went on to have seven decades of the last laugh, I suppose you could say that the scorn of a brittle society hag didn't really mean all the much to the little Scots girl born on this day in 1900.Yes, she would have been 109 today, and every now and then I'm really quite surprised she's not.
Sharing the day, of course, is our President, along with such jolly luminaries as Louis Armstrong, journalist Helen Thomas, the enchanting Miss Anita Page, and cult vocalist Miss Timi Yuro.
The scorn went both ways....supposedly she was the primary mover behind the Royal Family's refusal to invite Wallis and the Duke to anything, or to provide the Duke with any job title after his Bahamas governorship.
ReplyDeleteShe also blamed Wallis for her husband's 'early' death of stress with the kingship thrust upon him (I suppose his chain-smoking had nothing to do with his lung cancer).
Oh, yeah - I know she gave as good as she got or more, but I can help being on her side, most of the time. The D&D of Windsor turned out to be such yipping bores...
ReplyDeleteThe men in that family have never aged terribly gracefully, and yet the women's longevity just keeps getting more and more so. I wouldn't be surprised if Princess Anne lived to be 120...
I was also surprised to learn a few years ago that the Queen Mother had lived with a colostomy bag for about 18 years before she died....had kept that a big secret from the public.
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