A Maryland couple plans to part with a collection amassed over two decades devoted to Baltimore’s very own duchess, the late Wallis Simpson.
The Baltimore Sun reports Philip Baty and his husband are allowing members of the public to preview their private collection on the weekends, before it is sold on eBay in May.
For $40, visitors can peruse their basement museum dedicated to the Duchess of Windsor, and get brunch and a tour of the neighborhood where Simpson grew up.
A Baltimore, Maryland couple are auctioning off their private collection of Wallis Simpson memorabilia. The Duchess of Windsor is pictured above on her wedding day in 1937, with her husband, the former King Edward VIII
Baty said he and his husband are selling the collection in preparation for their move to Florida.
‘Maybe someone else can have fun with it for a while,’ Baty said.
While he’s sad to part with the collection, Baty said he’s not too troubled by the auction.
‘It’s just stuff,’ he said. ‘When you’re dead you can’t take it with you.’
For the past 20 years, the couple have collected rhinestone brooches, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia related to the woman known as Wallis Warfield during her Baltimore upbringing.
Among the items is a pair of gloves once owned by Wallis that Baty says still smell like her perfume.
Baty says Wallis ‘wasn’t a beauty’ so she focused more on cultivating her personal style.
Simpson was an American divorcée who captured the heart of Prince Edward, the future King of England, in 1931. She caused a constitutional crisis when Edward tried to marry her on becoming king
Edward abdicated so that he could marry Simpson, giving the throne over to his younger brother, King George VI. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor are seen aboard the SS United States in 1962
‘She reportedly said, “I’m not much to look at so I just have to dress better than everyone.” And she did! She wouldn’t show up anywhere unless she was perfectly coiffed and perfectly dressed,’ he said.
Over the years, Wallis has developed a negative reputation for causing a constitutional crisis in Great Britain for her affair with King Edward VIII.
But Baty thinks she’s been treated terribly by history.
‘People said that she was a gold-digger. It’s not true,’ said Baty. Baty says she was just trying to secure a good marriage, like any other woman of her time.
Wallis met Edward, the future King of England, in 1931, when she was married to her second husband, shipping executive Ernest Simpson.
They started a love affair, which eventually caused Simpson to divorce a second time.
Their relationship caused a crisis when just months into his reign in 1936, Edward announced his plans to marry Wallis.
Parliament rejected the idea, causing Edward to cede the throne to his younger brother, who became King George VI.
Edward and Wallis married the following year, becoming the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
Baty thinks Wallis was a hero for forcing Edward to abdicate, since he thinks he would have made a terrible king.
King George VI, though he had a speech impediment, became a highly respected leader of his people, helping to fend off the Nazis and get the country through World War II.
The collection will be sold as one lot on eBay in May to coincide with the May 19 royal wedding of Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle.
Baty says he doesn’t know how much it will go for since he hasn’t had the items appraised.
However, experts estimate it may sell for about $3,000.