Edward VIII, in 1936, changed the course of the British monarchy by voluntarily renouncing the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorced woman. A constitutional crisis that forced the father of Elizabeth II (King George VI) to assume the crown and that the former king of England would take the title of Duke of Windsor. “I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and perform my duties as king as I would like to do without the help of the woman I love,” he said upon abdicating.
But, who was she? She was born as Bessie Wallis Warfield on June 19, 1896 in a country house in a town in Pennsylvania, and from a young age she was known for always being impeccably dressed. Her previous relationships before Edward and the idyll she lived with him made her unwelcome in the British monarchy and after marrying, her life consisted of reading, doing some sports, throwing parties, brushing her hair and enjoying jewelry. Yes, these latter were her other great love.
Wallis was very interested in fashion and spent a great deal of her time shaping her wardrobe. Mainbocher was her go-to designer and then Balenciaga; not far away, Dior and Déssès. In fact, Balenciaga created for her a blue that was not the famous ‘Wallis blue,’ but a darker shade, leaning toward violet, that accentuated her black hair and blue eyes.
Wallis Simpson with the pearl necklace (1950).
But, without a doubt, what made her stand out above other women of the era were her jewels, which were not merely adornments. They were symbols, memories, gestures of love and an extension of her own aesthetic language. Sophisticated, enigmatic and deeply elegant, she wore pieces with exquisite taste that have even gone down in history.
The Pearl Necklace She Inherited from Queen Mary
It is the case of the pearl necklace, which belonged to Queen Mary. It is a piece of 28 natural saltwater pearls, from the Persian Gulf or Western Australia, both known for high-quality pearls before the trade of natural pearls collapsed in the mid-20th century. Queen Mary, a lifelong collector of fine jewelry, passed the necklace to her son, King Edward VII. He, after his marriage in 1937, gave it to Wallis, who became a hallmark of her sophisticated style.
The pearl necklace was Wallis’s favorite jewelry.
For almost four decades, she wore it often, consolidating her association with her image. In 1950, the Duke of Edinburgh commissioned Cartier to create matching earrings that featured a large natural drop-shaped pearl, slightly baroque at 18.4 mm and weighing 190.60 grains. Covered with a diamond-set bell-shaped cap and a detachable clasp in the shape of a stirrup, it was also designed to adorn the necklace elegantly.
Another of the notable pieces in her jewelry box is the Toi et Moi bracelet, a Cartier ruby and diamond bracelet from 1937 that was a wedding gift from the Duke of Windsor on the occasion of their marriage. Or the heart-shaped brooch with the monogram “W” in emeralds, referencing the first letter of her name. Also from Cartier and dated 1957, it was a profoundly symbolic jewel linked to the Duchess’s identity.
The Cartier brooch with Wallis’s initial.
