Freda Dudley Ward

Freda Dudley Ward ( born July 28, 1894 in Nottinghamshire as Winifred May Birkin, † March 16, 1983 in London) was a British high- society lady and mistress of the Prince of Wales and future King Edward VIII.

Life

Winifred May Birkin was the eldest daughter of four children of a wealthy textile manufacturer and Colonel Charles Wilfred Birkin (1865-1932) and his American wife Claire Lloyd Howe († 1934). Along with her ​​siblings, Violet Hilda Margaret (1899-1953), Vera Lilian Margaret (1903-1970) and Charles Lloyd (1907-1985), spent Freda - as she was called in the family - the summer months in Nottinghamshire and in Biarritz. She was educated by private tutors and at the exclusive girls' boarding school Les Ruches in Fontainebleau.

On July 9, 1913, she married at St. Margaret 's Church, Westminster, London, MPs William Dudley Ward ( 1877-1946 ), son of William Humble Ward and Eugenie Violet Adele board. From his marriage, in 1931 divorced, two daughters went forth:

  • Penelope Ann Rachel (1915-1982)
  • Clare Angela Louise (1916-1999)

In February 1918, Mrs. Dudley Ward was with a friend on the road when a bomb alert forced them to look in a doorway at the Belgrave Square protection. The lady of the house, which was just a party, the two women in the safe Keller asked to come. Here Freda met the British heir to the throne Edward, named David (1894-1972) know and stayed at the party later. In the next five years Fredie was, as he called them, his constant companion for dinners, garden parties and festivals in the higher society where every decision knew about the affair, even Freda's husband. 1929 Thelma Furness was, Viscountess Furness, the wife of a shipping magnate, the new favorite of the prince. Freda Dudley Ward still remained his closest confidant until 1934 and at the beginning of his relationship with the second time divorced Wallis Simpson.

On October 20, 1937 Freda 's second marriage was the aristocrat Pedro Jose Isidro Manuel Ricardo Mones Maury, Marques de Casa Maury († 1968). The marriage was divorced in 1954. Later she lived in seclusion in her London town house.

Name in different stages of life

Worth mentioning

  • In the memoirs of the Duke of Windsor is Freda, mentions the great love of his youth with a single word. It is believed that his widow Wallis Simpson has taken out the passages from the manuscript.
  • Freda Dudley Ward was the great-aunt of actress Jane Birkin.
  • See also: List of mistresses of the Kings of England
Carol Reed Robert Laycock Union Station (Toronto) Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness Integrated Authority File
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