How interesting...

[dangermousie]

I mainly got arrested by this photograph because of the hairstyle (it looks really really labor-intensive to have it that flat on top and curled on the bottom) and then I realized who this is:



This is Wallis Simpson, the notorious divorcee to marry whom Edward VIII of England abdicated his throne (IMO just as well because his sympathies would have made him pretty unsuitable for WW2).

So interesting - I have never seen a picture of her before. I have always imagined some amazing beauty but she isn't. She isn't even pretty but is actually plain. Now I am curious as to what on earth she had to convince Edward to abdicate - must have been some personality.

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

She looks beautiful to me, and full of character?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

She definitely had character :)

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

I recommend the UK tv-movie Wallis and Edward with Stephen Campbell Moore (from The History Boys and Joely Richardson as Wallis.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I am in Britfic mode :)

[ancarett]

Wallis Simpson was considered very fashionable for the 30s in her looks and style. Not strictly "movie-star gorgeous" mind you, but the embodiment of the aesthetic of the day very much so. And she's famous for the "One can never be too rich or too thin" pronouncement!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Now I am imagining a well-dressed skeleton.

She does look very fashionable in the 1930s style, but not very gorgeous. Still, just as well she was appealing, as EdVIII would have probably loved to turn the country over to Hitler.

[myrna-nora.livejournal.com]

She is not gorgeous. But she does have strong striking features and very elegant look about her.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's the eyebrows, they are fierce :)

[myrna-nora.livejournal.com]

I will admit, I was admiring her sculpted brows.

[mishane.livejournal.com]

She's got a very striking face to me, her eyes and cheekbones especially.

I've always wanted to do my hair like that. :( One day I'm gonna go to the salon and pay to get it done. Just need a fancy event to wear it to.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Also need to find a salon which will do it right.

[sundae-sweet.livejournal.com]

From what what I've read of her, she was incredibly charismatic. All she had to do was sit next to Edward at a dinner (that her former husband had been attending with her) flash a smile and Edward fell like a stone. And she does have a unique face that seems more interesting than vapid prettiness.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Totally unrelated but where is the icon from?

[sundae-sweet.livejournal.com]

Its Kouga and Kaoru from Garo: Beast of the White Night, a jdrama tokusatsu. Very cool show that's sort of like a live action shounen but a lot more graphic at times.

[koalathebear.livejournal.com]

It's certainly a very interesting face. The accounts seem to indicate that she was a bit of a man-eater, beguiling many men along her path to Edward so perhaps her charm was something that can't be captured by a photograph. I think her eyes are pretty but her face is a little too hard/stern for beauty

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Sort of like a more vapid Cleopatra? Hmm.

[thinking-lotus.livejournal.com]

the usual speculation is that, having been married a few times, she knew what to do in the bedroom.

But, honestly, I think it was just that she was his soul mate, both of them were kind of vapid and shallow.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

both of them were kind of vapid and shallow.


LOLOLOL that is what I think too.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

It makes me think of that Seinfeld episode where J. Peterman refers to the Windsors as "the most dashing and romantic Nazi sympathizers of the entire British royal family." I saw a thing on History or NatGeo that really paints the former Mrs. Simpson and the former Edward VIII in an unflattering light. Her life was more scandalous than merely being a divorcee or well, being a Nazi sympathizer.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah - they were really not people I'd care about - both rather horrible and with awful political beliefs (what she said when England was bombed? Ugh).

[bae-mac.livejournal.com]

I actually have a book (biography) of hers. Forgot who wrote it. But it was a very good read.

She isn't even pretty but is actually plain.

She acknowledged that fact herself. She was cunning and so much more. But at the same time, I feel for her especially when she was dealing with the Royal Family. I have to check the book again but I remember that at first her body wasn't even allowed to be buried beside her husband's.

Oh...Edward loved her so much. I remember that when she died...they found something that was written by Edward and it was just so sweet.

And I believe she loved him,too in the end.

The pictures in the book were fun to watch,too. Golly! The way she dressed up was something.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I would love to own some of those outfits.