The Woman He Loved

Anthony Andrews is terrible as Edward V111. Wooden, emotionless and unconvincing. Jane Seymour was just okay. Seen a few versions of this story and this was definitely the worse.

The story of King Edward VIII and The Woman He Loved has been told on two levels, the romantic and the geopolitical. This production starring Anthony Andrews as Edward and Jane Seymour as Wallis Warfield Simpson prretty much opts for the romance.

There is a political angle here though that is barely hinted at. You'll see it in a brief conversation with Andrews and David Waller as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin where Baldwin tells him Germany is rearming and that will be a big problem for his successor. Andrews says while he is king there will be no British soldiers dying on a European battlefield. Something Hitler counted on.

The Prince of Wales and his lady were big favorites with the Cliveden set of British appeasers. After their wedding in France the Duke and Duchess of Windsor did the grand tour of Europe Hitler rolled out the red carpet for them and had he conquered the Unite Kingdom he would have restored Edward VIII to the throne.

But we love to concentrate on the great romance at least on this side of the pond. If thst's what you want here it is for you.

Andrews and Seymour are a fine royal pair. And making what was her farewell appearance is Olivia deHavilland as Wallis's Aunt Bessie who was her confidante.

If Wallis Warfield Simpson had listened to Aunt Bessie the whole course of history might have changed.

How true "The Woman He Loved" is debatable. So why do I say the truth is debatable? Well, in recent years, several documentaries have claimed that King Edward VIII did NOT abdicate in order to marry an American divorcee as was publicly announced but because he was so pro-Germany that he could not be trusted to look after the best interests of Britain as WWII approached. This more recent interpretation seems reasonable, as Edward really did admire the Third Reich...to the point of making some very bad decisions. And, many in government did distrust him...so they sent him off to the Caribbean (where he was made governor of the Bahamas) to get him out of the way instead of allowing him to remain in his own country during the war. This film clearly is meant to promote the commonly repeated theme that he was incredibly in love with Wallace and he sacrificed everything for this love.

So why would I watch this film even though I am inclined to believe the new image of the couple? Well, Olivia de Havilland is in the film...and it's her last film appearance. That is what I really wanted to see. Sadly, she was barely in the film at all.

The story begins with the death of Edward in the early 1970s and then bounces back and forth from that time to 1936-7 when she and Edward were a couple. It really doesn't focus much on their life post-marriage.

For me, this was a tough film to love. I have always thought the couple were selfish and foolish....so I really didn't buy into the who romance angle. It also didn't help that Anthony Andrews was stiff and Jane Seymour, in a few scenes, looked positively grotesque with the odd facial appliances they added to her face. Overall, a film that bored me a bit and whitewashed Edward's love of the Reich...and it's really not even part of the story, which it surely should have been.

Seymour--weird facial prostethics. Ghoulish.

Begins with his death.

The story about Edward and Wallis continues to fascinate - especially as it really happened. I have heard the version, that Edward in reality was too weak for the role of king, and needed an excuse to abdicate. And that Wallis got to be this excuse - which made his abdication into a romantic sacrifice instead of a failure. I suppose we will never know the true cause - and maybe it was a little bit of both. People are complicated!

I liked this rendering of the story. It gave a fine and believable picture of the time period. Jane Seymore was just perfect as Wallis, and Anthony Andrews, with his upper-class accent and manners as always, was just as perfect as Edward! He looked very sad, weary, stiff and quite haggard all the time though - but maybe this was deliberate..? I think, however, that more could have been made of this movie, with its very good cast and interesting subject matter. First of all it ought to have been longer - at least as long as an ordinary feature film. And then I would have wanted to see more of the couple's love and courtship and happy times...

But all in all it was a nice movie, well worth watching!

Anthony Andrews imitates Edward, Duke of Windsor (but slightly better than Edward Fox did in 'Edward and Mrs Simpson'), while Jane Seymour is a fairly OK Wallis Simpson, a little bit scheming and a little bit vulnerable. She's backed up by Aunt Bessie (Olivia de Havilland, note-perfect but hardly stretched), while he is supported by Winston Churchill (Robert Hardy, good as ever).

It's the usual story often presented in true TV-movie style, very glossy and very referential to the Royals. So nothing really scandalous or new here, and sadly the film remains flatly unemotional so there is no engagement with the plight of Wallis or Edward.

So it is a reasonable effort, watchable television, but nothing fabulous. 'Edward and Mrs Simpson', having the luxury of more time to tell the story, is better; 'Wallis and Edward', getting the casting and pacing wrong, is worse.