The Last of the Duchess
The Strange and Sinister Story of the Final Years of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor
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3.1 • 19 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The Last of the Duchess is the account of Caroline Blackwood's attempts to write a final article on The Duchess of Windsor, who spent her last years under the thumb of her eccentric lawyer. • “A sharply observed (and sometimes very funny) portrait of the frivolous world of wealth and luxury inhabited by the Windsors.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
In 1980, Lady Caroline Blackwood was given what she thought would be a simple task: write a Sunday Times article on the aging Duchess of Windsor, who was said to be convalescing in her rambling French mansion. Unknown to Blackwood, what began as an easy assignment would become one of the most troubling experiences of her writing career, and would launch her into a cat-and-mouse game of wits with the Duchess's grande dame of a protector, Suzanne Blum. Fiercely protective of her client, Maitre Blum refused to let Blackwood near the Duchess, spinning elaborate excuses as to why she was unavailable but threatening to sue anyone who dared suggest that the woman who once inspired a king to abdicate his crown was in less than the best of health. Blackwood turned her experiences into this riveting and excoriating modern classic about the frailties of old age, the foibles of society, and the dual-edged nature of celebrity.
“Beguiling. . . . Blackwood is witty, understated and perceptive.” —The Washington Post
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novelist and journalist Blackwood has pulled off quite a coup here: she has written a biographical portrait of the late Wallis Simpson, duchess of Windsor, without ever having seen more of her than the outside of her magnificent house near Paris and a murky photograph taken through the window by an Italian paparazzo. In 1980, the Sunday Times of London sent Blackwood to interview the 84-year-old duchess for a piece to run with photographs by Lord Snowdon, Princess Margaret's husband. The assignment was dynamite, but the pair are stopped dead by Suzanne Blum, an 83-year-old eccentric and vitriolic French lawyer known as Maitre Bloom, who identifies so closely with the duchess that her life is a round of suing newspapers, perpetrating both lies and legends of her charge's beauty and good health. Maitre Bloom firmly takes over this book. A few derivative chapters cover the well-known details of Wallis Simpson's early life, but Maitre Bloom shapes every page with her tantrums and vanities. The portrait is interesting psychologically and one admires this poised effort to salvage an aborted assignment. However, the absence of denouement-neither Blackwood nor Lord Snowden make it past the ferocious protector-makes the reader wonder why she is paying this much attention to a little-known, if complex, eccentric. In the end, one can only feel sorry for both the obsessed and the object of her obsession.
Customer Reviews
A Royal "Julie & Julia"
This truly reminded me of the Julie & Julia book. In this case the Duchess of Windsor is the much sought after and admired Julia Child who remains elusive to the Writers.
I thought the book was witty, funny, sad and fascinating at different times. It is a worthwhile read if you are a Wallis Windsor (or Duke) fan or enjoy the machinations of what it takes to right a major piece on a well guarded historical figure.
You do get glimpses in the behind the scenes world of the Duchess and her protective and bizarre attorney Maitre Blum, who appears to be pulling all the strings.
I recommend this as a follow-up read to other books on the Windsors!
Off topic
This book is the very literal story of a writer who can't get access to the duchess of Windsor (in order to write an article). The author never gets access, so the entire book is a waste of the readers time. The book merely references other people who are actually writing about the duchess, I recommend buying their books instead.