Freda Dudley Ward

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Freda Dudley Ward (born July 28, 1894 in Nottinghamshire as Winifred May Birkin , † March 16, 1983 in London ) was a British high society lady and mistress of the Prince of Wales and later King Edward VIII.

Life

Winifred May Birkin was the eldest daughter of four children of the wealthy textile manufacturer and Colonel Charles Wilfred Birkin (1865-1932) and his American wife Claire Lloyd Howe († 1934). Together with her siblings, Violet Hilda Margaret (1899–1953), Vera Lilian Margaret (1903–1970) and Charles Lloyd (1907–1985), Freda - as she was called within the family - spent the summer months in Nottinghamshire and Biarritz . She was educated by private tutors and at the exclusive Les Ruches boarding school for girls in Fontainebleau .

On July 9, 1913, she married in St Margaret's Church , Westminster, London, the MP William Dudley Ward (1877-1946), son of William Humble Ward and Eugenie Violet Adele Brett. The marriage, which was divorced in 1931, had two daughters:

⚭ 1939–1944 Harry Anthony Compton Pelissier
⚭ 1948 Sir Carol Reed
  • Clare Angela Louise (1916–1999)
⚭ 1935 Maj.-Gen. Sir Robert Laycock
The Prince of Wales and Freda Dudley Ward at the opening of Union Station in Toronto , 1927

In February 1918, Mrs. Dudley Ward was out with a friend when a bomb alarm forced her to take shelter in a doorway in Belgrave Square. The lady of the house, who was having a party, asked the two women to come into the safe basement. It was here that Freda met the British heir to the throne, Eduard , known as David (1894–1972), and later stayed at the party. For the next five years Fredie , as he called her, was his constant companion at dinners , garden parties and celebrations in the higher society where the liaison was well known, Freda's husband also knew about it. In 1929, Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness , the wife of a ship magnate, became the Prince's new favorite. Freda Dudley Ward remained his closest confidante until 1934, when his relationship with the twice divorced Wallis Simpson began .

On October 20, 1937, Freda married the aristocrat Pedro Jose Isidro Manuel Ricardo Mones Maury, Marques de Casa Maury († 1968). The marriage ended in divorce in 1954. She later lived in seclusion in her London townhouse.

Name in different phases of life

  • 1894–1913 Winifred May Birkin
  • 1913-1931 ( canceled ) Winifred May Dudley Ward
  • 1937–1954 ( canceled ) Winifred May Mones, Marquesa de Casa Maury

Worth mentioning

  • In the memoirs of the Duke of Windsor, Freda, the great love of his youth, is not mentioned in a single word. It is believed that his widow Wallis Simpson removed the passages from the manuscript.
  • Freda Dudley Ward was the great-aunt of actress Jane Birkin .
  • See also: List of mistresses of the kings of England

literature

  • Rupert Godfrey (Ed.): Letters From a Prince: Edward to Mrs. Freda Dudley Ward 1918–1921. Little, Brown & Co., 1998 ISBN 0-7515-2590-1 .
  • Tom Levine: The Windsors: Glory and Tragedy of an Almost Normal Family. Campus Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-593-37763-2 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  • Wilhelm Bittorf: God's curse on the English bitches! In: Der Spiegel . No. 11 , 1989 ( online - about new insights into the life and love story of the Dukes of Windsor).

Web links