Edward- A Young Man of Contradictions

Letters From a Prince- Edward VIII to Freda Dudley Ward 1918-1921 (Installment #2)

One of the things I want to accomplish with this series is to get to know who Edward was, rather than just the facts of his story. One thing about most members of royal families past and present is that we know relatively little about who they actually were/are, because we only see them in official capacities. The rest of their lives are often lived very privately (as they should be) and in the early 20th century, they had even more privacy. In addition to the recent things like royals being on podcasts, or having social media, in the past, the media had generally protected the royal family, which as we know is very different than today. In fact, later in his life when he was wanting to marry Wallis Simpson, their relationship was put all over the pages of American papers, but nothing was to be seen in British papers until the very final hour. (For my Downton Abby lovers, there is a scene where this is illustrated well. When Lady Rose is being Presented at court, Mrs. Leavinson (Lady Grantham’s Mom) is introduced to the fictional Freda Dudley Ward. When she hears her name she says “Of course you are” and that she was in the American Papers. This would not have been something Freda would have likely experienced in England as their relationship would not have been made public by the British media.) These mysteries are what make letters written by historical figures so incredibly important. There is no bias from another persons retelling, or from history that has been revised through the years. Letters are a very small window into a person thoughts, desires, interests and character and from them we can learn so much. So, in this post we will dive into some of Edward’s words that show that he was indeed, a very contrary young man.

Edward Prince of Wales During WWI

In a letter from April 14th 1918, Edward writes that he heard the King had personally written to Lady Drogheda to remonstrate her for hosting a dance at such bleak time in the war. Edward went on to comment to Freda that hosting a dance at such a time is in very poor taste (and we learn in an author’s note that it was Holy Week to add insult to injury). While upon first reading this, one might look highly upon the regard that the Prince holds for his fellow soldiers and countrymen who were brutally fighting each day. But, about six weeks later, we see another letter penned by Edward where he asks Freda how she heard about a party he attended in Rome and that they tried to keep it a secret, but they did indeed dance. He writes that he hopes the papers had not reported on the incident….