Wally dines with Queen Mary

November 11, 1936

Mrs. Ernest Simpson, the American friend of King Edward VIII,  dined with his mother, Queen Mary, this week, according to an exclusive report in the Los Angeles Times.
Queen Mary's invitation, "tantamount to a command," was not prompted "so much by a desire for friendship with the Baltimore-born beauty," but, according to sources "close to the throne, Mary wanted to have a "heart-to-heart talk as a woman to a woman over her son's friendship" with Mrs. Simpson.  This friendship has created an uproar outside England and the repercussions now threatening home."
No one knows the result of the conversation, but it does not seem to have affected the King's friendship with Wally.
Insurance brokers on London's Stock Exchange "are doing a brisk business in policies" against the postponement of the King's Coronation.  This is the "direct result" of the latest rumors that the King plans to marry Mrs. Simpson.  A new rate for the policies is the belief that the King is determined to marry Wally, as well "as in his possible abdication."
Since Edward's succession in January, there have been "two parties around the palace."  One represents a more modern type of courtier, and the other "the older traditional courtier, headed by Lord Derby, " opposes the younger element.
The "old guard" disapproves of the new "court of moderns," and Lord Derby "is far too astute a politician to stoop to such methods," but many believe that the "older palace set started certain unsavory rumors, without Lord Derby's consent, connecting the King and Mrs. Simpson.
The old guard has two "valuable factors" for an attack: the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York.
The "old guard" appears to have had some success.  A rumor was spread in Aberdeen during the King's recent vacation in Balmoral that "he had turned down invitations to officiate at local functions in order to spend more time with Wally."  This rumor resulted in "insulting attacks" on the King written in chalk in large letters on the sidewalks of Aberdeen, "referring to his friendship with foreign ladies."