In the archives at Churchill College, Cambridge, Lownie discovered draft notes for an unpublished memoir written by Anne Seagrim who worked for the Windsors in the 1950s. He is immensely discreet We would not wish to be even a small part of yet more unworthy stories concerning The Royal Family."īut for all this womanising, questions remain about the Duke's sexuality.
He received an email from Timothy's wife Camilla: "Over the years, various authors/reporters have contacted Tim but the response was always the same, he is not interested. "The family later played down the story, and refused to talk about it but, after the Duke's death, Seely was contacted by the Duke's lawyers," says Lownie, who himself approached the Seelys in August 2020. He had been best man at Vera's wedding to Jimmy Seely in 1925 and often stayed with the Seelys in Nottinghamshire. "This is interesting, as Seely was born in 1935, after the affair with Wallis had begun, but we know from Special Branch reports that the Prince of Wales was not monogamous - he was enjoying an affair with an Austrian Princess at the same time." "A more convincing case can be made for the actor Timothy Seely, whose mother, Vera, was the sister of Freda Dudley Ward," asserts Lownie. "His birth was registered as the son of a Welsh miner, James Evans, and she told the Prince of the boy and he responded with financial support," says Lownie. Frederick Evans, born in 1918, mother claimed his concert pianist mother, Lillian Bartlett, had an affair with the Prince.
One such affair, says Lownie, was with French seamstress Marie-Leonie Graftieaux, which was alleged to have produced a son, Pierre-Edouard, born in 1916.īut during his own research, Lownie discovered claims for at least four other illegitimate children.The historian's bestselling biography will be published in paperback this spring to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Duke of Windsor's death in May 1972.A Channel 4 documentary based on his research will be broadcast to tie in with it.
The future King - who became the Duke of Windsor after his abdication - always followed his own desires, it seems, regardless of the consequences, conducting his relationships in a clandestine manner. "Before meeting Wallis, the Prince was known to have had many affairsand there have been claims of illegitimate children even though, officially, he died without an heir.
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