The "Could Have Been" Queen, Rosemary Leveson-Gower

Lady Rosemary Leveson-Gower pictured in 1917

Right now, the Mostly British History paid content is focusing on letters that were written by Edward VIII while he was Prince of Wales. The letters are from the Prince, to his longtime mistress and confidant, Freda Dudley Ward. They begin right after The Prince and Freda met while he was home on leave from the Italian front in early 1918. I wanted to dive into these letters because the story of Edward VIII is often written from his mid thirties, when he met his wife Wallis, forward and we forget that he lived for a life before that. 

In some of my posts here on Substack, I have written about the loves of Edward VIII who all had fascinating lives, but one woman I have not touched on, who perhaps set Edward’s life on the trajectory it followed is Rosemary Leveson-Gower, the woman who he wanted to marry. Rosemary was the daughter of the fourth Duke and Duchess of Sutherland and she and Edward knew each other as Children. Rosemary was a decorated nurse during WWI and it was on a visit with his parents to a hospital where the pair came across one another again after a number of years. After meeting they spent a lot of time together in the later half of 1917 and the Prince eventually proposed, and Rosemary accepted. 

Rosemary with Prince Edward in 1917 (They are in the center of the photo

Unfortunately, the King did not give his permission for the Prince to marry Rosemary, even though he very much liked her, (per the Royal Marriages Act of 1772) based on members of her family. Her Aunt Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick was a mistress of George V’s father, Edward VII and he had to use law fare to prevent her from publishing letters between herself and his womanizing father. Rosemary’s Uncle James St. Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn was also found by the King to have character flaws because of his gambling problem. Once Rosemary learned of the King’s qualms, she was also turned off to the engagement. 

Although her union with the Prince was not to be, they did remain friends. Rosemary went on to marry William Ward, Viscount Ednam in 1919. Although there are reports they did not have an extraordinarily happy union, she was a supportive wife to him. The Prince was made the Godfather of Rosemary’s oldest son, and it was said that upon her death in the 1930 Meopham Air Disaster, the Prince cried and was very upset. He later went on to honor her in 1931 by opening the Rosemary Ednam Memorial Hospital in her honor. 

It was very shortly after the break up with Rosemary that Prince Edward went on to meet Freda, and spend a large portion of his life with her as the closest person to him, romantic and not. As we know, after the romantic potion of his relationship with Freda ended, he still remained close to her and it was not until his relationship with Wallis about twenty years later that he was no longer close to Freda. 

But when I think about the Prince not being allowed to marry Rosemary, a few thoughts come to mind. I first can’t help but think of the famous quote by his father, George V saying that the crown would pass to Bertie and Lilibit (George VI and Elizabeth II) and that Edward would ruin himself within a year, which of course, did come true (as the King saw it at least..). I then always seem to ask myself, did George V regret not letting him marry Rosemary? Who actually would have been a perfectly respectable match. What did Queen Mary thin as time went on? After all, she was the one who had to live through all of the drama that followed her husband’s death. And finally, I always ask myself, did Edward VIII refuse to budge on his marriage to Wallis because he was robbed of the chance with Rosemary?

In the Official Biography of the Queen Mother by William Shawcross, we learn that George V decided to not make Prince Albert, his second son, Duke of York because he knew of his affair with Sheila, Lady Loghborough, who happened to be a close friend of Freda Dudley Ward. Prince Albert wrote to his brother that their father was ready to make him Duke of York, provided he would essentially end his relationship with her. This exchange was in 1920, and so one must wonder if that in the three years that elapsed from Prince Edward’s Proposal to Rosemary to him deep into a romance with Freda, if the King and Queen might have started to regret their decision.

I would love to get your thoughts! 

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Until Next Time,

McKenzie