The preening Prince: Edward VIII’s youthful photos which he had taken for married lover 17 years BEFORE Wallis Simpson are seen in public for the first time – as they’re set to fetch up to £1,500 at auction
- The images are believed to have been given to Freda Dudley Ward
- She and Edward had a 15-year affair which did not end until the early 1930s
Photos which the future King Edward VIII is believed to have given to his married lover have emerged for sale after more than 100 years out of the public eye.
The portrait images, which were taken in 1919 when the then Prince of Wales would have been just 25, show the royal posing side-on in an informal shirt.
Experts handling the sale of the images believe they were given to Edward’s lover Freda Dudley Ward, who he had a 15-year relationship with.
The couple’s intense bond saw the future monarch pen letters telling Freda how he wanted her to ‘give me that hiding’ and ‘chase me into bed with a big big stick.’
The romance came to end after she refused to leave her husband for her royal beau, and he went on to meet American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
His relationship with Simpson led to the 1936 abdication crisis, where Edward gave up the throne so he could marry the American.
The photos are signed on the front with ‘E’ for Edward and – in a sign of their intimate nature – on the back with ‘David’, the name that only family and friends used for him.
Photos which the future King Edward VIII is believed to have given to his married lover have emerged for sale after more than 100 years out of the public eye. The portrait images, which were taken in 1919 when the then Prince of Wales would have been just 25, show the royal posing side-on in an informal shirt
Experts handling the sale of the images believe they were given to Edward’s lover Freda Dudley Ward, who he had a 15-year relationship with. Above: The pair at the theatre
The images are being sold by the great-grandaughter of Freda’s maid, who may have been given them by Freda after her relationship with Edward came to an end.
They are expected to sell for up to £1,500.
Valentina Borghi, auctioneer at Chiswick Auctions, said: ‘Because they were signed as David it is easy to believe they were presented to a very close friend.
‘I think they were initially presented to Frida and possibly when the affair ended she gave them to her maid.’
She added: ‘We believe these might be the only two prints of this particular image that has survived. We couldn’t find any other copies.
‘They show him in a very informal way, he’s just wearing a shirt and no uniform. He was in his early 20s. He looks more like a boy, you can tell he was very young.
‘They have not been seen in public before. I can’t rule out there might be other prints, but if they are they must be very well hidden.’
Author Rachel Trethewey tells in her 2018 book Before Walls: Edward VIII’s Other Women how Edward met Freda by chance during a Zeppelin raid in March 1918, when she took refuge in the doorway of a grand house in Belgrave Square, London.
The photos are signed on the front with ‘E’ for Edward and – in a sign of their intimate nature – on the back with ‘David’, the name that only family and friends used for him
The Prince of Wales was at a party inside. When Freda was invited inside, Edward was immediately captivated by her looks.
Frida had been born Winifred Birkin in 1984 and was the eldest child of a Nottingham lace manufacturer.
She married Liberal MP William Dudley Ward on her 19th birthday in 1913 and the pair had two daughters together.
By the time she met Edward, her marriage to Dudley Ward was under strain. When her husband was made vice-chamberlain to the royal household, Freda opted to pursue an affair with the future king.
The couple often met undetected at a farm in Windsor owned by one of her husband’s sisters.
When they were apart, Edward would often phone her four or five times a night or write letters addressed to ‘My angel’ and signed with ‘tons and tons of love from your E’.
In one bizarre letter, he wrote: ‘You know you ought to be really foul to me sometimes sweetie and curse and be cruel; it would do me worlds of good and bring me to my right senses!!’
In another he said: ‘I do need you so so badly to chase me into bed with a big big stick.’
He also told her how he wanted to be ‘with you always’ and that it would break his heart if she stopped loving him.
He promised ‘to just nip off with you at any moment and to any place in the world if you will make up your mind to do so – if you knew how very deeply and truly I loved you to the exclusion of all else in the world…’
Edward met Freda by chance in March 1918. The couple had a 15-year relationship. Above: Edward with Freda and his brother the Duke of York, who went on to be King George VI after the abdication crisis in 1936
Freda is seen with her daughters Penelope and Angela in an image that was taken for Tatler magazine in 1918
Freda is seen on her wedding day in 1913. She married Liberal MP William Dudley Ward
But Edward had other affairs at the same time he was seeing Freda, who refused to leave her husband for him.
She was also engaged in an intense affair with banker Michael Herbert at the same time that she was seeing Edward.
In June 1930, she divorced her husband. But, little more than two years later, Michael died aged just 39, leaving Freda devastated.
By then, Edward had met Wallis and so his relationship with Freda later came to an end.
She found out when she tried to call St James’s Palace and was told by the operator: ‘I have orders not to put you through.’
The sale is taking place on October 10.
Source: Read Full Article
