King & Queen of the COUPON CON
Oh, the sheer grasping nerve of it: astounding cache of off icial letters show how Edward and Mrs Simpson tried to cheat wartime rationing... to buy lingerie for her, glad rags for him and fancy uniforms for their servants!
THE WAR had just ended, Britain was bankrupt and everyone was s still being g urged to ‘ make do and d mend’. But while the rest t of the country – including g the future Queen – repairedd and recycled clothes, thehe former King, Edward VIII,I, and his American socialite te wife Wallis Simpson hadad other ideas.
Previously unseen docu- cuments detail how in January ary 1946, with the country fac- acing another three years of clothes rationing, Mrs Simp- mpson went on an extravagant ant lingerie shopping binge e– – without having the rationing ing coupons allowing her to make the purchases.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that it was one of the many instances in which hich Wallis – by then the Duchess hess of Windsor – and her husband band abused the system. Eventu-ntually Government officials s ran out of patience and issueded an official rebuke.
After the war, people were required to provide coupons upons and money whenbuuyingying clothes to comply withh the rationing orders. But during uring her visit to Madame Isar, ar, an exclusive London boutique,ue, the Duchess blew 72 vouchers ers on lingerie – three times a woman’soman’s annual allowance. Brazenly, nly, she told the store that the couponsoupons would be supplied at a later date by the Board of Trade, the body which oversaw rationing. On numerous occasions, her husband, who abdicated in 1936 to marry Wallis, used the same ruse.
Letters in the National Archives show that the Duke demanded lavish new uniforms for his chauffeurs and ensured his two footmen were supplied with ‘some special things for the South of France’.
In addition to shopping for suits and shirts for himself in Mayfair, the Duke also asked staff at Harrods to deliver a pair of shoes for his valet ‘as the current pair are quite impossible’.
On one occasion, the couple flouted strict regulations by leaving the country with a number of purchases before their bill had been settled. It prompted a senior civil servant to complain to the Duke’s secretary on December 4, 1946: ‘This does, I am afraid, place us in rather a difficult position since. As I explained in one of my previous letters to you, the execution by a trader of an order in this way without the prior surrender of coupons is contrary to the Consumer Rationing Order.
‘To repeatedly close our eyes to the contravention of this Order by certain traders is not only unfair to others but might… lead eventually to hurtful criticism for the Duke and Duchess themselves.’
At the time the Duke still enjoyed relative popularity in England as his Nazi sympathies were not then known. Historian Andrew Roberts said: ‘It is a sad, sorry and shocking story and if this had been made public it would have altered the warm feelings that an awful lot of British people had for him. It is not a surprise though. He had an insouciant disregard for rules.’
Clothing rationing was introduced by the Board of Trade in 1941 because the unprecedented demand for uniforms had put enormous pressure on the textile industry. Along with everyone else, each member of the Royal Family was issued with ration books for clothes and food. King George VI, the Duke’s brother, gave instructions that all members of the family should comply with the rationing order.
Princess Elizabeth used coupons to pay for her wedding dress when she married Philip in 1947. Other Royals cancelled their usual orders for clothes.
The system worked by allocating each type of clothing item a ‘ points’ value which varied according to how much material and labour went into its manufacture. When buying new clothes, the shopper had to hand over coupons as well as money.
Every adult was initially given an allocation of 66 coupons a year, but this allocation shrank as the war progressed. Between September 1945 and April 1946 it was reduced to just 24 coupons. The Duke and Duchess visited London several times after the war and before their permanent move to Paris, and it was during this period that they went on their shopping sprees.
In January 1946 the Duke’s secretary, Thomas Carter, wrote to Board of Trade officials admitting that ‘while the Duke of Windsor has been in London, he has managed to do a certain amount of
‘It’s not a surprise. He had an insouciant disregard for rules’
shopping, and in connection with this a number of coupons will be required. I expect you know that His Royal Highness has no stock of these coupons, and I am therefore to ask that the Board of Trade would very kindly sanction the following: For kitchen cloths, rubbers etc… 36 [coupons] For a pair of shoes for the Duke’s valet (the present pair are quite impossible)… 9 For Madame Isar of Putney to supply the Duchess with some lingerie… 72 To enable the Duke to obtain a new suit… 26 ‘His Royal Highness would be very grateful if this could be arranged.’ After discussions in Whitehall, officials decided to issue the vouchers to prevent embarrassment as the shops had already delivered the orders and required coupons to meet legal requirements. Two months later the Duke sought uniforms for his two footmen – each costing three times an adult’s annual clothing ration. Then in September that year, Mr Carter wrote to the Board of Trade asking for more coupons to cover two pairs of shoes already supplied by Harrods.
Admitting that he had ‘ outrun the constable’, Mr Carter said: ‘ His Royal Highness told me before leaving England, if I could possibly get a pair of shoes each for the coloured footman, Sidney Johnson, a British subject from the Bahamas, and another foot man, a French subject, he e would be very gratefull and rather than disappoint both the Duke and the two men, I asked d Harrods to let me have e the shoes – and now the e day of reckoning has arrived. However, the joy of seeing the two men trying on the shoes was worth it.’
Board of Trade official Margaret Judges replied: ‘Should any further orders for rationed goods from this country need to be placed on behalf of the Duke or his staff, we should be grateful if you could let us have particulars before the goods are actually delivered to you. Because under the Rationing Order, it is not permissible for a trader to supply any rationed goods without the appropriate number of coupons.’
By this time, the couple had moved to France. After his demands for summer uniforms, Mr Carter wrote once more in May 1946, this time requesting coupons for the Duke’s valet who did not want to spend his own coupons. This appeared to be the final straw for exasperated officials.
Miss Judges replied: ‘From the information you give us about the valet it does not seem likely that he is, in fact, eligible for an issue but, in view of the fact that coupons have already been expended on his behalf I am enclosing vouchers in order that he may be reimbursed.’ Mr Carter wrote to apologise to the Board of Trade and insisted that no such future error would be r repeated. But in November 1 1946 another unauthorised s shopping trip forced him to go cap in hand to officials once more. He wrote: ‘During the time theth Duke and Duchess were in this country, they did an amounta of shopping. I have heardhe that orders were placed with Hawes & Curtis and Harrods.ro The former requires 38, andan the latter 48.’ ForF the first time, the Board of Trade refused to hand over the clothing vouchers. However, civil servants then came up with a scheme to bury the scandal before it could cause problems. The Board of Trade arranged in November 1946 to ‘rather belatedly fit these purchases under the personal export scheme’. This allowed the Duke to buy as much as he wanted, as long as he paid in foreign currency and promised to take any purchases overseas. The advice, an official wrote, ‘may be the best possible way in which to avoid similar difficulties in the future’.