Queen Mary Only Spoke To Her Son King Edward VIII Twice After He Abdicated the Throne to Marry Wallis Simpson
Queen Mary and King Edward VIII had a fractured mother-son relationship that greatly affected the future of the royal family. It laid the foundation for his controversial abdication that changed the royal line of succession — much to Mary’s dismay. In fact, she was so distraught by his decision to give up the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, she only spoke to her son twice after he abdicated.
Queen Mary and King Edward VIII had different views about royal duty
In June 1894, when Mary gave birth to her first son David — who would later be known as King Edward VIII — there was no expectation that he would one day be on the throne because he was fourth in the line of succession.
As blogger Rebecca Starr Brown explains, during this Victorian era, royals like Mary had a strict view of the monarchy’s function, their royal titles, and their royal duty that was quite separate from their personal relationships as family members. This dynamic was taken to the next level by King George V’s wife Mary of Teck, later Queen Mary, who was so distant from her children that she rarely saw them and “quite literally had no idea what to do with them.”
“My mother had been schooled to put duty in the stoic Victorian sense before everything in life. From her invincible virtue and correctness she looked out as from a fortress upon the rest of humanity with all its tremulous uncertainties and distractions,” David once wrote.
When he became an adult, David had absolutely no interest in marrying a “suitable” woman who was worthy of being the wife of a monarch. He preferred having affairs with married women, and some believe that this was the result of his broken relationship with his mother and the abuse he suffered at the hands of the nannies who raised him.
Queen Mary only spoke to her son twice after he abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson
When David became the heir to the throne, Mary only saw her oldest son as the future monarch — not as her child — and she treated him that way. But, David didn’t change his wild behavior. He thought nothing of his public duties and continued his affairs with married women.
Eventually, David would fall in love with American divorcée Wallis Simpson. And this is what would change the royal line of succession forever. Instead of marrying a “suitable” woman that he could have kids with and produce an heir, David wanted to marry Wallis.
He became King Edward VIII in January 1936 but was only on the throne for 11 months before he abdicated to marry Wallis. Queen Mary was so disgusted by her son’s actions that she spoke to him just twice after his abdication.
After David signed the Instrument of Abdication, delivered his goodbye message over the radio, and left the Royal Lodge, Queen Mary reportedly wrote in a letter that “the whole thing was too pathetic for words.”
King Edward VIII attended his mother’s funeral as the Duke of Windsor
Mary refused to attend David and Wallis’ wedding, but she did send a telegram giving her best wishes. Mary was reportedly furious that David had chosen his father’s birthday for the occasion and found the decision unforgivable. When he asked his mother to meet his new wife, she responded with a letter.
“I do not think you have realized the shock, that the attitude you took up caused your family & the whole nation. It seemed inconceivable to those who had made much greater sacrifices during the war that you, as their King, refused a lesser sacrifice,” Mary wrote.
“My feelings for you as your Mother remain the same, and our being parted and the cause of it, grieve me beyond words. After all, all my life I have put my country before everything else and I simply cannot change now.”
The only time they spoke in person was in the autumn of 1946 at Marlborough House, where David received a cold reception from his mother and family. And in 1952 when he traveled to London for the funeral of his brother, King George VI.
Queen Mary died in 1953, just weeks before Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, but years after her son’s abdication. David did attend his mother’s funeral as the Duke of Windsor but was not invited to join the royal family for the private dinner afterward.
