the Way of the Windsors: Untitled in Virginia

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I am wrapping up the Hugo Vickers book on the Windsors-specifically the Duchess. It is (what I think)  an honest look at a life Behind Closed Doors. If you have notions of their Life- for better or worse-richer or poorer-in sickness and in health, I suggest you take the Vicker's Cure.

While I may dote on her Style & in many ways this was what she Did- or better said perhaps- what was left for her to do. I have never made bones about the likes I have for- the Stylish- the Artist- the Talent-but never have I mistaken that attribution for- the Saint or the Sinner-whichever you think.  People are fallible- and as we have seen in  Royals- whether born to the crown or married to it-they are all too much so.

The Windsors were in an untenable position- as was their once beloved brother sovereign George VI. To assign blame to one camp or the other is a time waster and the Vickers book wastes no time there, yet  the author paints us a sympathetic picture of the aging Duchess tempered with stacks of facts and proof of- in the book. I was impressed, almost to the point of the text going dry in a few spots with a precise recap of events, yet this is all too necessary and no true Windsor diehard will object-nor will the historian that wants the facts born out by proof and Vickers let's Us all have it! Readers-I hope will not just be the Windsor fan base-but their detractors as well and If they do read it-will find  a good case for burying the hatchet-whether they admit it or not.

We all know how the story ended-and began to an extent-but everything from there out was mostly Behind Closed Doors-and Hugo Vickers has painstakingly opened that door to cast some light where a Life led in Exile and for a good part of  it-ostracism -deserves some sunshine. We can not begin to know the absolute truth where the Windsors are concerned, but I can not help thinking less Fear from both Sides -the King and the Once King and all factions would have served the Monarchy one man escaped- and the other became imprisoned by- to the better end.

The Windsors did do good- Vickers recounts their good works in the book- no more-no less. They could have done more-done better- but they didn't. They did what many wealthy couples did-still do, They were fallible in a world where most onlookers think there is a royal decree of infallibility.

While the Duke left his crown in England it seems he spent much time embittered by the slights he was served up and there were many- and many were just that-only slights. That idea of being Royal is more than just a title & that it run through the veins or gets in the veins and head certainly applies to the Duke. He was after all-meticulously groomed to be King. His lifelong quest to gain the title of Royal Highness for his bride-wife was his ultimate goal-I guess he thought it would in some way validate her in the public's eye-her own vanity and his self esteem. What he sought meant the world to Him-His Royal Highness-and was that title was fiercely withheld as was his absolute freedom to move about as he pleased without gaining permission. It must have been hard-Damn hard.

In one of the many wonderful first hand accounts and quips some of the best came for Cleveland Amory and Lady Diana Cooper. Amory had been selected to ghost write a book for the Duchess and got of on the wrong royal foot with the Windsors  by suggesting said title be Untitled. The royal WE was not amused.
From Diana Cooper- her take was that she always curtsied  to the Duchess- though not decreed because of the Highness issue-but out of Respect and Politeness for the Duke. She also said had she "taken him on" she would have removed the Duke to the Virginia colonies and immersed him in the things he would have loved most about America. Seems fittin'.

Perhaps it was Cecil Beaton that put it best when upon first meeting Wallis-pronounce she was all wrong. While on the next meeting- she was much improved and as time went by she was down right Royal.
Was it Beaton's opinion that improved- or Wallis that improved as she rose to her the height of her powers-as far as she could -but not to the Duke's much desired-Her Royal Highness?

 Photo by Tim Whitby/Getty Images Europe

Hugo Vickers' website here

Scrapping with Cecil

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eagerly awaiting, the ultimate SCRAPbook.

from Assouline  with a delayed release date of November - It may be THE ultimate holiday  gift for purveyors of STYLE.

compiled by James Danziger of Danziger Projects in New York & former Director of Photography at the London Sunday Times Magazine, features editor of Vanity Fair, and director of Magnum New York.

ASSOLINE says:
As one of the 20th century’s most important photographers, Cecil Beaton helped invent the cult of the celebrity image while pushing the boundaries of his art form with innovative techniques and staging. In the course of his decades-long career as a photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair, as well as a British war correspondent, Cecil Beaton documented lives both famous and quotidian in dozens of scrapbooks now held by Sotheby’s London.

I can just see Cecil & Garbo "scrapping" in Beaton's living room at the Plaza Hotel, c.1964.

photograph by Dmitri Kessel, from LIFE

Garbo.

Cecil snaps a photo.

image from here

in the meanwhile read LOVING GARBO by Hugo Vickers-a- can't put it down read.
or any of the Cecil Beaton diaries from Knopf.

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Let's Go Beaton

Beaton by Irving Penn

In conjunction with the LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL, Hugo Vickers-Beaton's biographer, lectures on Cecil Beaton with excerpts from Beaton's diaries and illustrations. here

The London lecture 25/09/09

BEATON

along with the lecture the launch of" the SKETCHBOOK" Collection adapted from Beaton's fashion drawings in his THE GLASS OF FASHION. The designs are presented in fabrics and papers. One of the most delightful of the collection is Saucy Sailors, and Garbo's Eye. (click here for the link)





at the least get a copy of this delicious Beaton confection





& this oh, irresistible

(from the site)
"Have your portrait taken in a classic Beatonesque pose by professional photographer James McMillan."

Dress for the occasion - bring your own props, hats, jewels and accessories to make your picture a witty, glamorous and memorable recreation of a classic Beaton image. Take Cecil Beaton's advice and '...Be daring, be different, be impractical...'!

Norma Shearer
by
BEATON

My Pick- and I don't have to bring a thing, except Francois Nars .
What about You?

Norma Shearer is quite my favorite from the era, unless it is Garbo- but who doesn't moon of Garbo, Beaton certainly did.