The Queen Hosted by Wallis Simpson at Difficult Last Meeting with the Duke of Windsor (1972)

On 18 May 1972, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales visited Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor – formerly King Edward VIII – and his wife, Wallis Simpson, at their home in Paris during the Queen’s State Visit to France. The first and only time Wallis Simpson hosted the Queen, the visit was paid as a final courtesy to the dying Duke, who was too ill to dine with the Queen but made a point of getting dressed and standing to receive her in his bedroom. The meeting is remembered by historians for being the occasion at which the Duke asked the Queen to grant him his “dying wish“ – that Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee whom Edward had abdicated to marry, be granted the title of Her Royal Highness. The Queen refused him. King Charles III is in France once again, some 51 years after he visited, as Prince of Wales, his great uncle and aunt. It is rumoured that “Villa Windsor“, the villa once belonging to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, was possibly going to be bought by Prince Charles’ ex-wife, Diana, Princess of Wales and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, at the time of their deaths. The pair visited the property the day before the they were killed in a car crash in the French capital. #QueenElizabeth #ElizabethII #WallisSimpson #KingEdward #EdwardVIII #DukeOfWindsor #CharlesIII #KingCharles #KingCharlesIII #PrincePhilip #DukeOfEdinburgh To license the footage featured in this clip, follow the link below: To search the ITN Archive collection on Getty Images, follow the link below: 🎥 Subscribe to our YouTube channel (tap the bell icon and stay up to date with all the latest ITN Archive videos!) - @ITNArchive 🎥 Follow us on Twitter - 🎥 Like us on Facebook - 🎥 Check out our TikTok - @itnarchive1955