The Duchess Of Windsor, page 45
The success of Wallis’s first experiments at La Croë became apparent when the Windsors arrived to take up residence at their villa. The twelve-acre estate lay hidden behind a tall stone wall and tall, carefully clipped hedges which completely ringed the grounds on the three sides facing the land. On either side of the entrance gates were small lodges, one of which housed the secretaries and members of the household, the other serving as the house of the concierge, Monsieur Valat, and his family. The gates were always kept locked; a telephone call alerted the lodge at the expected arrival or departure of a car to the estate, and Monsieur Valat always stood ready with his keys to open the gates.4
From the entrance gates, visitors could not see the villa; the drive swept in a great curve through the green lawns of the park, shaded by fir, pine, yew, eucalyptus, and cypress trees. A service drive branched off from the main road, leading through the thick groves of trees to the garages and kitchen court; hidden by a screen of flowering shrubs lay the tennis court and vegetable and cutting gardens.5 At last the trees parted to reveal the tall, gleaming white villa, its windows hung with green shutters and shaded by matching awnings. “It was exquisitely simple and beautifully proportioned,” recalled Dina Wells Hood, “and there was about it a certain air of remoteness. It seemed to me a dream-like place, cool, serene and aloof.”6
Perched at the edge of the sea, La Croë rose three stories above the green lawns and stone terraces. A central portico supported by corinthian columns marked the main entrance to the house; above, a low balustrade rimmed the hipped roof, which was crowned with a small belvedere overlooking the Mediterranean. On the opposite façade, facing the sea, was a semicircular colonnade with ionic columns and enormous blue-and-white-striped awnings.
To advise her in decorating her new house, Wallis called upon the talents of her friend Lady Elsie Mendl. Lady Mendl arrived at La Croë with two assistants: Tony Montgomery, a former apprentice and an authority on antique furniture, and John McMullin, a features editor for Vogue and a respected arbiter of international taste and style. With Wallis, they pored over paint and fabric samples, examined artists’ sketches, and planned and replanned the arrangement of furniture. Wallis wished to emulate the sense of light and space beyond the house, and Lady Mendl advised her to paint the rooms in bright colors and use mirrors and the tall windows of the house itself to reflect the sea and sky beyond. Under her guidance, La Croë shone: the gilding of the woodwork, the lacquered screens and consoles, the enormous mirrors and glittering silver, all contributed to the sense of being adrift, creating a luminous prism of sun and sea. Before the Windsors took up residence, central heating and air conditioning were installed, along with an elevator.7
La Croë gave Wallis and David a chance to fill the house with their belongings that had been stored in England. The Duke’s things from the Fort and York House, along with Wallis’s possessions from her London flats, were shipped to the south of France. One afternoon, a long line of moving vans rolled up the drive at La Croë, and for the next few days, Wallis supervised the unpacking and distribution of crates of china, furniture, boxes of books, trunks of clothes, chests of linen, and hundreds of personal souvenirs, photographs, and paintings.8
From the portico at La Croë, tall double doors opened to a marble-floored vestibule, which in turn led to a large hall rising two stories. A magnificent marble staircase twisted to a second-floor gallery with wrought-iron railings, resting atop piers of grouped pilasters jutting into the room. The hall was dominated by the Duke’s Order of the Garter banner, the ceremonial flag which had hung above his choir stall in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. Below it stood an antique lacquered Dutch chest on which rested a leather guest book.9
Directly through a set of mirrored double doors was the salon, an oval room with three tall French doors opening on to a semicircular colonnade. No one ever used the salon at La Croë; it was designed as a very formal space, an extension of the hall, and a means of reaching the terrace. Gilded consoles supported tall mirrors reflecting the shifting sunlight during the day and the glow of candles burning in the carved wall sconces at night, but there was little furniture.10
These two rooms served as an immediate and stunning introduction to the splendors of La Croë. There were only three principal rooms on the first floor—a drawing room, a library, and a dining room—but the effect created by their deliberate, almost theatrical decoration could not have been greater. Ceilings rose twenty feet, supported by walls paneled in elegant boiserie and pierced with French doors, which provided welcome breezes from the sea on long summer afternoons. Entire sections of wall were covered in mirrors surrounded by white-and-gold cornices and moldings; doors were also mirrored to provide an even greater sense of light and space. The luxurious effect was heightened by the antique Chinese vases and porcelain bowls kept filled with lavish, towering displays of the Duchess’s favorite white arum lilies and orchids.
Wallis decorated the drawing room in shades of white, blue, and yellow, with accents of red and gold. The French doors were hung with yellow-and-light-blue curtains, which echoed the upholstery of the sofas and overstuffed chairs that had been brought from the Fort. Between the French doors stood gilded consoles on which sat two antique Chinese chests in red, gold, and black lacquer. The most significant piece of furniture in the room was the large mahogany desk on which David had signed the Instrument of Abdication, a rather curious piece, laden with memories, which would follow the Windsors to every house in which they lived.11
The library, used primarily by the Duke, was dominated by a portrait of Queen Mary, painted in the robes of the Order of the Garter, which hung above the marble fireplace. Two walls were covered with bookshelves of light oak; these were filled with his collection of presentation volumes and military awards and trophies. The sofas and chairs, carpet and curtains, were in red and white, designed by Wallis to provide both sharp and neutral contrasts to the pale beige of the bookshelves. In a far corner of the room stood a Steinway grand piano, used by the Windsors while entertaining.12
The dining room, like the other main rooms on the first floor, occupied a corner of the house, with windows on both outside walls. Wallis wanted a space which would dazzle in candlelight. The walls were painted white, with delicate boiserie picked out in blue and gold; the double doors and rounded overdoors were mirrored to reflect the yellow, white, and blue curtains which hung at the French doors. A large Chippendale table occupied the center of the room, surrounded by Empire-style chairs in white and gold. Above the sideboard hung a masterful equestrian portrait, The Prince of Wales on Forest Witch, painted by Sir Alfred Munnings.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor each had a suite of rooms on the second floor. At La Croë, Wallis faithfully duplicated if not the exact surroundings then at least the spirit of David’s bedroom at Fort Belvedere. The walls were painted cream, with white mouldings and cornices, which contrasted with the beige-and-scarlet curtains and carpet. The comfortable furniture was upholstered in chocolate and red. Against one wall hung a large damask tapestry in black, scarlet, and gold, showing the arms of a knight of the Order of the Garter.
Wallis’s bedroom was decorated in shades of pink and apricot. Most of her furniture was in the fashionable art-deco style, with rounded edges and chrome accents; across her bed lay a heavily tufted satin spread embroidered with her intertwined initials. The most fascinating pieces of furniture were a dressing table and matching chest, painted with trompe l’oeil reminders of her relationship with the Prince of Wales: duplications of his letters to her; an invitation bearing the royal crest; a fan; a pair of long white evening gloves; a lipstick; a jeweled handbag; and a pair of David’s golf socks.13 Her bathroom, in scarlet and black, was dominated by an enormous gilded tub in the shape of a swan.14
There were six guest rooms at La Croë, two on the second floor and four on the third. The Rose Room took its name from the color of its decoration; French doors opened to a balcony overlooking the sea. Two antique red-and-gold beds, with a matching bow-fronted chest, gave the Venetian Room its exotic flavor. A staircase and elevator connected to the third-floor guest rooms: the Wedgwood Room, in blue and white; the Toile de Jouy Room, in red and white; the Blue Room, in pale shades of blue and white; and the Directoire, in gray and blue. Wallis kept these rooms filled with fresh flowers, selected especially to match the decoration of the room; towels, linens, even bath soap, were all coordinated to match the decorative scheme.15
At the very top of the house was the belvedere, surrounded by the roof terrace. Aside from a wet bar, a closet, and bathroom, the belvedere consisted of one large room which David used as his study. Wallis took particular care over this room and gave it a nautical theme to complement the rest of the house as well as the views of the Mediterranean. The walls and carpet were white, while the curtains at the enormous windows were navy blue, with anchors and rope designs in white. Most of the comfortable, overstuffed furniture was white, edged with navy blue piping. Shelves on two sides of the room held David’s family photographs, further military awards, and racing and jumping trophies.16
The swimming pool stood at the edge of the sea, reached by a twisting staircase which led from the lawns above to the beach. Burton had cut the pool out of the side of the bluff; it was surrounded by rocks and resembled a natural tide pool. Two small pavilions also stood here, containing dressing rooms shaded by large red-and-white awnings. The red-and-blue-striped sun mattresses, deck chairs, and white lifebuoys were all crested with the Duke’s coronet and the intertwined initials WE, for Wallis and Edward.17
La Croë also gave Wallis and David an opportunity to reestablish some of the trappings of the world which he had left behind in England. The Duke consulted his tailor in London, who produced the various liveries for the footmen: scarlet coats with gold collars, cuffs, and buttons for formal occasions; black suits with crimson, white, and gold—striped waistcoats and silver buttons for ordinary day and evening wear; and lightweight dress suits of pale gray alpaca for summers at La Croë. The buttons on these liveries were also crested with the Duke’s coronet and the intertwined initials. This monogram also began to appear on stationery, note cards, envelopes, linens, and menu cards.18
Certain servants remained year-round at La Croë. This number included Monsieur Valat, the concierge, who, with his family, lived in the main gate lodge during the Windsors’ residence and in the main house itself during their absence. Valat and his wife had a young son who was crippled and could not obtain any work. When the Duke and Duchess discovered this, they promptly gave him a position as clock winder in the house, for which he was handsomely paid.19
The Windsors entertained rather infrequently at La Croë, although there were almost always guests during their stays. More formal parties and receptions were reserved for the city; here, in the country, both Wallis and David relished the sense of freedom and sought to live as informally as possible. Often meals were served on the terrace overlooking the Mediterranean. In the evening, the house was floodlit: Hidden lights shone upon the milky-white façade, against the tall trees that rose into the night sky, and around the riot of colorful flowers and shrubs that filled the gardens. On the terrace, watched over by the gently swaying fronds of the tall palm trees, Wallis and David might host separate tables at dinner, serenaded by music floating through the open French doors from a gramophone in the hall. After dinner, they would dance on the terrace beneath the light of the moon that sparkled over the still waters of the sea beyond.20
Occasionally, the Duke and Duchess were entertained by their neighbors. One, the former American actress and hostess Maxine Elliott, lived at a splendid white mansion above Cannes called Château de l’Horizon. Elliott’s nephew, Vincent Sheean, recalled dinner with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as “a strange, surrealiste” experience.21 On one occasion, the dinner conversation turned, at the Duke’s instigation, on the welfare and hygiene of Welsh miners; soon the Duke was busy expounding on the virtues of Germany’s treatment of its workers. “The Duchess was so slim and elegant, so suggestive of innumerable fashionable shops, dressmakers, manicurists, and hairdressers that she seemed at the uttermost remove from the pithead of a mine.”22
They also dined with Somerset Maugham at his Villa Mauresque at Cap Ferrat on August 5, 1938. Fellow guest Harold Nicolson wrote:
In they came. She, I must say, looks very well for her age. She has done her hair in a different way. It is smoothed off her brow and falls down the back of her neck in ringlets. It gives her a placid and less strained look. . . . There was a pause. “I am sorry we were a little late,” said the Duke, “but Her Royal Highness couldn’t drag herself away.” He had said it. The three words fell into the circle like three stones in a pool. Her (gasp) Royal (shudder) Highness (and not one eye dared to meet another).23
The Duke and Duchess spent Christmas of 1938 at La Croë. “The Duchess took Christmas seriously,” recalled Dina Wells Hood. “She loved an old-fashioned festival, with a tree, turkeys, good Christmas fare and lots of presents for everyone.”24 The Windsors traveled from Paris to the Riviera overnight by the famous Blue Train. They booked a set of private compartments, although they took their meals along with the rest of the passengers in the dining car. When the train made occasional stops, David used the opportunity to put their cairn terriers on their leads and take them for short walks along the siding.25 Upon their arrival at Antibes, the Duke and Duchess would be met by the mayor and a deputation of other officials, who welcomed them, presented Wallis with a bouquet of flowers, and saw them off in a convoy of cars bound for La Croë.
That Christmas, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were joined by Lord and Lady Brownlow and their two children, the Honorable Caroline and the Honorable Edward Cust; Sir Charles and Lady Mendl; John McMullin; and Wallis’s aunt Bessie.26 They arrived at La Croë to find the hall piled with trunks, boxes, parcels, hundreds of cards, and in their midst, a huge, bare tree which Wallis had selected earlier that week in Paris. John McMullin helped Wallis design the white-and-silver decorations, which everyone helped place on the tree all through Christmas Eve.27 On Christmas morning, the Windsors and their guests drove to a small Anglican church on the road to Antibes to attend services. Thoughtfully, the Duke and Duchess regularly dispatched welcome checks to the minister to help his parish.28
The big event came in the afternoon, when the household and servants assembled in the hall for the presentation of their gifts. For weeks, Wallis had spent long days shopping for gifts: every member of the household or staff, along with their families and anyone who had worked for the Windsors or provided services during the year, received a present, most carefully wrapped by the Duchess herself. The Duke and Duchess stood together before the Christmas tree, receiving each member of the household and staff. They shook hands, smiled and chatted, and Wallis presented them with their gift, which ranged from the useful—household accessories and the newest novels—to the extravagant—alligator—skin wallets and handbags for women, gold cuff links and tie clips for men.29
With the Windsors settled in at La Croë, their thoughts turned to a proper Paris house. The lease on the house at Versailles had expired, and they decided not to renew it; instead, Wallis resumed her search for a house in the city itself. Finally, after much negotiation, she and David signed the lease on 24, Boulevard Suchet. Situated at the end of the avenue Henri Martin in the Sixteenth Arrondissement, near the Bois de Boulogne, this was a large, four-story town house surrounded by a small garden and boasting a suite of reception rooms designed for entertaining.30
To help decorate the new house, Wallis consulted Stephane Boudin, of Maison Jensen, on the rue Royale. Boudin, who had created Chips Channon’s famous blue-and-silver rococo dining room in London, was a short, meticulous little man with immense energy and reserves of talent. Often he would personally scrub woodwork with a wire brush or apply a coat of glaze to achieve the desired effect. He and Wallis spent endless hours hunting for exactly the right furnishings. “Tirelessly,” recalled Dina Wells Hood, “she searched for exactly the right furniture, rugs, materials, lamps and bibelots. She came to know intimately every antique shop, large and small, in Paris.... Tradespeople called . . . at all hours to deliver parcels and to discuss and receive orders. The telephone there too rang incessantly.”31
If La Croë represented something of the informality of the Fort, the Parisian house was pure Buckingham Palace. It was not a style with which Wallis had much experience; her own tastes at Bryanston Court had run to comfort mixed with a few interesting period pieces. She had shown no inclination to furnish her own rooms with valuable antiques or create stately atmospheres. These things she did for the Duke; at the same time, she began to absorb these tastes as her own, so much so that eventually the Windsor villa in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris was a perfect expression of the woman into which Wallis had transformed herself.
The house at 24, boulevard Suchet stood on a small corner lot overlooking a paved square and surrounded by a tall iron fence and thick hedges. From the boulevard, a short flight of stone steps led to the front door, which in turn opened to the entrance hall. Wallis had wanted a very formal introduction to the house; in the entrance hall, the black-and-white Carrara-marble floor, white columns supporting the ceiling, and tall white caryatids wearing crowns of candles in the mirrored corner alcoves all spoke of the ancien régime. A Louis XVI clock, whose face was set within the center of a gilded sunburst, hung above an antique gilt console on which stood the red and gold visitors’ books. White Louis XVI stools, with carved legs and green leather seats, stood at intervals around the hall; above, from the center of the ceiling, hung a crystal chandelier; along with the candles atop the caryatids’ crowns, it would be lit on the evenings the Windsors entertained.32
