Gone With the Windsors

Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham is a re-telling of the love affair between Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales, soon to be Edward VII. Told through the journal entries of Wallis’ best friend Maybell Brumley, a fellow American. Wallis and Maybell grew up in Baltimore together and were schoolmates. When Maybell’s millionaire husband dies, she move to England and becomes reacquainted with Wallis. With Maybell’s money and Wallis’ connections, they set their eyes on meeting the Prince of Wales as knowing him gives them an entree into the high society that they wish to be part of.

There were two camps to English high society, those who strictly followed the age-old rules and were on the side of King and Queen. They shook show more their heads over the lively society that the Prince of Wales kept. His was a society of cocktails, gossip and high jinks that reminded me somewhat of high school with the Prince of Wales as the head boy and his current paramour at his side laying down the rules to everyone else. Wallis neatly snags the Prince away from his current companion and takes over all aspects of the Prince’s life. He is totally enthralled by Wallis and does his best to marry her and have her proclaimed Queen of England. The scandal and the eventual abdication play out while storm clouds are gathering over Europe with the likes of Hitler and Mussolini coming into power.

Gone With the Windsors was very humorous as the author uses her witty insight to skewer not just the situation, but the people, customs and rules that came into play during these years leading up to the abdication. Wallis Simpson comes across as a controlling, ambitious, and very intelligent woman. She lures the rather simple-minded Prince into her snare and he becomes putty in her hands. The author gives this familiar story a fresh spin by giving a voice to the rather dim Maybell who admires Wallis and see most things through rose-coloured glasses. I found Gone With the Windsors to be an entertaining and enjoyable read. show less

Gone with the Windsors is a novel written through a series of entries in Maybell Brumby's diary from 1932-1939. Maybell is a somewhat dim-witted socialite widow who moves from Baltimore to London, bringing along with her a vast amount of money. We get an intimate look into her full calendar of lunch with friends, family drama, long trips to exotic European locales, and her friendship with the (in)famous Wallis Simpson.

Soon after arriving in London, Maybell meets up with her old school chum Wally (aka Wallis Simpson), and life takes an exciting twist. Maybell has the money and Wallis has the ambition, and the two set out to win over London society, their coup culminating successfully when Wallis ropes in the Prince of Wales.

The Prince is show more portrayed as a lonely and dull man (he is described by nearly everyone as being a 12-year-old in man's clothing) who is easily led astray. Enter Wallis Simpson, social climber extraordinaire, and the rest, as they say, is history. But history is much more fun when told from Maybell Brumby's point of view.

Graham tells her story with a light touch- Maybell is so naive and just so completely ignorant that one cannot help but laugh out loud at her faux pas (such as talking about the brilliant "Alfred" Einstein). Her family drama is fun, too- especially the telling ways in which her neice names and renames her stuffed animals.

Graham litters her book with famous cameos- Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill being two. But for those of you romantics who think that the story of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor is one of true love conquering all, beware! Graham does not portray either the Prince of Wales or Wallis Simpson in a very appealing light. But all of her characters are so delicious and fun that it would be impossible not to enjoy this romp of a book.

If you like this book, you might also like Snobs, by Julian Fellowes. show less

A very amusing and sometimes horrifying fictional account of the relationship between Wallace Simpson and Edward Windsor. Written in diary format this faux historical account confirms everything you thought about the 1930s cafe society set.

This novel is in diary form, which I was able to tolerate, but may not be for every reader. This “diary” is kept by a fictional character, Maybell Brumby, who is a close friend of Wallis Simpson. Wally, as her friends call her, is famous for being the woman that King Edward VIII abdicated his throne for– and eventually marrying.

There are many real-life characters that Maybell socializes with and often refers to in her diary — mostly distant royal relations of Edward’s, and Americans that Maybell knows such as the Vanderbilts. I don’t know if a reader unfamiliar with the European royal family tree would enjoy this book as much.

Maybell is a somewhat shallow socialite who is also naive. For a long time, she is unable to see show more through Wally’s true character and constantly provides money to Wally so that she can work her way up the social ladder and associate with Edward.

After a while this became annoying reading, but especially annoying was Maybell’s attitude towards her younger sister, Doopie. Doopie is deaf, and Maybell is constantly stating in her diary entries her low opinion of Doopie. In fact, when Doopie becomes engaged, Maybell tells Doopie’s fiance that she (Maybell) hopes the two of them never have children. It would have been bad enough for Maybell to denigrate Doopie a couple times in her diary, but this constantly went on through the book.

I do know that there always has been, and always will be, people who are ignorant towards deaf people and there are better books that address that problem. I’m not sure what was the purpose of having a deaf character in this book, unless it was an attempt to prove how ignorant (and not very likeable) that Maybell was. Here is one typical passage, about Doopie:

“Violet says there’s nothing can be done about her ears. Apparently Prince Hymie with a J [Jaime, son of King Alfonso and Queen Ena of Spain] tried a hearing aid, an electrical box that hung around his neck and plugged into his ears, for when he had to go to receptions, but it didn’t help him at all. I’m not surprised. No one at receptions can hear anything. The only thing to do is nod intelligently and move swiftly along.

Rory says Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, was also deaf. Greek aunts [Prince Philip's mother], ex-Prince Hymie, Thomas Edison. Suddenly, deafness is all the rage”.

Sheesh. That was one of the nicer entries regarding Maybell’s attitude towards deafness. After a while, I started skimming (mainly to see how much more insults could be thrown towards Doopie).

I have read one of Laurie Graham’s previous books, "The Future Homemakers of America" , which I liked and was a very different book than this one. I hope that Laurie Graham went back to her usual style with the rest of her books, because I didn’t care for how “Gone With the Windsors” was done. show less

Really fun book by one of my favourite authors. Just whipped through it - wish we knew for sure if this was anything like the relationship between Wally Simpson and Prince Edward.

Back Cover Blurb:
The scandalous divorcee who led the besotted Prince of Wales to abdicate his throne first appears in the fictional diary of Maybell Brumby as her schoolmate Bessie. 'I'm Wallis,' she snarls, 'and if you call me anything else you're going to be sorry.'
One social climber swiftly recognizes another. When life's whimsical currents toss these two gilt-edged gold diggers together again as adults, history will change its course.
Maybell is the wealthy, friskily young widow of a Baltimore bore, eager to break into London society. Wallis has jettisoned show more husband number one and is looking for the escape hatch from husband number two; impoverished as ever, she's armed only with that terrific bone structure, a few erotic tricks she's picked up in the Far East, and the determination to land the most eligible bachelor in the world. And now, to help her on her quest, she has her old chum Maybell, along with her inexhaustible trust fund and her useful inability to recognize the deft touch of a born con artist.
Trailing a cloud of Worth perfume and an ermine stole, missing the point of every conversation, the deliciously dim Maybell witnesses the courtship of the twentieth century and the scandal that rocked a monarchy - recording all in her diary. show less

At first I thought, this isn't as good as her other books, but slowly the characters grew on me and I was very sorry to come to the end. I thoroughly enjoyed my daily fix of Maybell and her best friends Wally (Wallace Simpson) and David (Edward VIII). Here is a story of high society in the 1930s/1940's, the lives of royalty, the abdication of King and the start of international travel.

Hysterically funny work of fiction about the Duchess of Windsor. It is admirable because the author does not take the usual narrow view of Wallis Simpson. The books heroine is absolutely hysterical. I guffawed my way through this book.