If you stop by any chance at National Portrait Gallery you don't want to miss Wallis. [[ The first time I went to National Portrait Gallery I saw only a random crowd of faces. Tousands of pairs of eyes looking straight at me. Some of them, I must admit, made me feel a little bit uncomfortable. Their eyes without hidden words, having absolutely nothing to tell me but how much do I interrupt their private post scriptum, when they cannot defendbut only agree in silence with an unknown mind's judgement. I used to have mixed feeling about such an exposure of their private lives to public, lives which used to be neither more nor less true than ours. Now I think otherwise. I actually found a magic about it. In this grand and majestic tabernacle of stories captured in a wink, this imaginarium of muted footsteps. The library of forgotten stories.
I have my personal favourites I like to visit there. Sir Beckford caught on a canvas to work forever on his unfortunate gothic novel not read anymore even by English literature students. Princess Charlotte Mecklenbourg, her gentle smile and wide open eyes, hungry for a conversation after years spent in linguistic isolation. Everytime I see her I promise that I will learn her language and then come on my day off so we can talk for hours. The women of other times, young female artists from good families daring to art or brave women leaving their mad husbands despite the curse of scandal. Nell Gwyn, a compelling story of a woman saving herself from poverty by becoming a lover of potential protectors to finally make her own history as a last word of the king. And then, there is Wallis. It's signifcant that her portrait is slightly hidden from the main view, so you would rather notice it while leaving than coming into the room. To make sure you spot her, you need to slowly turn to the right hand side while moving towards the exit and take three steps away from the main track. Wallis doesn't insist on anybody's company.
Once you see her you cannot remain indifferent. There is something which makes her memorable amongst all of the portraits around. She's authentic.
I remember the first time when I met Wallis. I really needed a friend and it was a love at first sight. Her warm smile, her open shoulders inviting to a conversation, her gaze so brave and adventurous encouraging to face with a smile whatever you have to face. To chase your dreams, grab them, jump on them and never let them go. I could imagine her asking me whether I want a coup of tea and moving her arms to show me the landscape behind her. 'It's beautiful over here, isn't it?'- would ask she and her voice would sound a bit lower and deeper than normally female voices do. Then I slowly realized that she's no one else but Wallis Simpson, the only woman in the history who made a man give up the kingdom.
I have my personal favourites I like to visit there. Sir Beckford caught on a canvas to work forever on his unfortunate gothic novel not read anymore even by English literature students. Princess Charlotte Mecklenbourg, her gentle smile and wide open eyes, hungry for a conversation after years spent in linguistic isolation. Everytime I see her I promise that I will learn her language and then come on my day off so we can talk for hours. The women of other times, young female artists from good families daring to art or brave women leaving their mad husbands despite the curse of scandal. Nell Gwyn, a compelling story of a woman saving herself from poverty by becoming a lover of potential protectors to finally make her own history as a last word of the king. And then, there is Wallis. It's signifcant that her portrait is slightly hidden from the main view, so you would rather notice it while leaving than coming into the room. To make sure you spot her, you need to slowly turn to the right hand side while moving towards the exit and take three steps away from the main track. Wallis doesn't insist on anybody's company.
Once you see her you cannot remain indifferent. There is something which makes her memorable amongst all of the portraits around. She's authentic.
I remember the first time when I met Wallis. I really needed a friend and it was a love at first sight. Her warm smile, her open shoulders inviting to a conversation, her gaze so brave and adventurous encouraging to face with a smile whatever you have to face. To chase your dreams, grab them, jump on them and never let them go. I could imagine her asking me whether I want a coup of tea and moving her arms to show me the landscape behind her. 'It's beautiful over here, isn't it?'- would ask she and her voice would sound a bit lower and deeper than normally female voices do. Then I slowly realized that she's no one else but Wallis Simpson, the only woman in the history who made a man give up the kingdom.
There are plenty of theories about the real story of W.E. (as they used to call themselves). The one I always knew the most was captured in a famous movie 'The King's Speech' where Wallis Simpson (suggestively recreated by Eve Best) was quite a nasty and manipulative woman. Some other ones focus on the romantic side of the story seeking a fairy tale romance in it, which can be supported by common oppinion that Edward and Wallis were actually a very happy couple. (The romantic drama has found a result in a movie called 'W.E.' and was recalled by Madonna, claiming she identifies herself with Wallis Simpson in many ways.) Despite the legend of one of the world's most famous romance, some historians neglect the real role of Wallis in Edward's abdication. It's hard to state it if an affair with an American divorcee would have raised such a scandal if Edward supported the political line of the British government. Therefore some say his relationship was not a main problem with his succession, but his sympathy to Nazi Germany. It's worth recalling some of the conspiracy theories suggesting that his meeting with Wallis had been set up in order to force his demission.
About Wallis herself there's rather more of unknown. We can read that she was an American socialite and a dog lover and that she remained in contact with her previous husband while married to Edward. The story of her life is still a field for endless suggestions and deductions missing any description of her real personality. Maybe that is why I got such an interest in her portrait in National Portrait Gallery hidden in a row of instant stories. I really want her to be more than a scandal icon of the twentieth century alongside with Monica Lewinsky. I feel sorry for what happened to her own, personal story which is now impossible to reassemble. Maybe the creators of 'The King's Speech' owe an apology to Wallis' living relatives (probably very distant if there are any still around). I wish they could come here, to National Portrait Gallery, to meet her and fall in love, just like Edward. Just like me.
The article is a 'making of' of the story called 'Wallis'.
Her "sin" was to be so powerful
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