Gay Today: World

Duchess of Windsor
(Wallis Simpson) Had a Gay Affair

By Corrine Hicks

London, England—King Edward VIII's planned marriage to Ms. Wallis Simpson and his renunciation of the British throne when an uproar ensued over his relationship with the American-born commoner, stands tallest, perhaps, among the fabled romantic tales of the World War II era.

The Duke (former King Edward VIII) and Duchess (Wallis Simpson) of Windsor after their wedding

In the ensuing years the famous couple, retaining their titles as The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, moved to the United States where the media kept a close but affectionate eye on their daily lives.

According to new evidence, however, the former king's relationship with his wife was put under a severe strain because of her infatuation with a Palm Beach playboy millionaire.

Though the Duke was distraught by what he saw as her betrayal, there is no specific evidence that the Duchess was sexually unfaithful to her husband. The 34-year-old millionaire, Jimmy Donahue, a grandson of the dime store magnate F.W. Woolworth, was gay.

Christopher Wilson, author of Dancing with the Devil, a forthcoming book about the couple, claims that the former king was so grateful for the continued presence of his dissatisfied wife that he endured her relationship with Donahue rather than challenging the duo and possibly losing her.

When the Duchess' freewheeling affair with Donahue began, the Duke had been married to her for 13 years. According to Wilson, she'd become frustrated by the Duke's dependence on her as well as angered by his estrangement from his brother, King George VI, and the British establishment. This estrangement, reportedly, meant that the famous couple remained perpetually short on cash.

Between 1950-54, the Duke and Duchess relied heavily on the gay Donahue to underwrite their glamorous lifestyle. Thus, their regular acceptance of the gay playboy's money is considered by some as another factor which kept the Duke from protesting his wife's relationship with another man, one that caused him much grief.

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Surviving friends of the Duke and Duchess, quoted in Dancing with the Devil, as well as members of Donahue's family have explained that that the Duchess had become so infatuated with the playboy that she contemplated divorce.

The Duke of Windsor, according to one watchful friend, was contemplating suicide.

Author Wilson says: "Had the divorce occurred, as it so nearly did, it would have been the greatest betrayal in the history of love."