The King had either to sacrifice me to remain on the throne, or to sacrifice the throne to marry me
to the Fleet; then he shortly excused himself to pay a visit to the palace, returning to us afterward... And the moment he entered the library, I knew there was something strange in the air... He looked pale, inscrutable, and would not speak at all of what was troubling him... But he could not conceal the cause for long; he revealed his secret, the secret he had tried in vain to hide...
The cause of his distress was a letter that had reached him that day, by the hand of his private secretary, containing a warning from the British press, which declared that it would not keep silent much longer over his relationship with Mrs. Simpson, and a communication from the Prime Minister and the governing body demanding that he attend to the affairs of his kingdom, and asking him to remove me from London...
The news fell upon me like a thunderbolt. Here I was, face to face with the truth I had so long ignored; nothing remained for me but to depart. I told David so, and he forbade me to leave, and declared with all boldness: They shall not be able to stop me... even if I leave the
throne. And he wished to head matters off before they occurred... And David answered him that my divorce concerned me alone, and was no business of his whatsoever... And to keep rumors from leaking abroad, he gathered the proprietors of the great press houses and asked them to publish the news of the divorce plainly, stripped of any coloring.
And for the first time in my life I felt afraid, in spite of the confidence David gave me. Aunt "Bessie" was coming to visit me in November, and with her she brought the news the American papers were passing from hand to hand... As for London, despite the silence of the press, society was buzzing over the subject of the divorce, and I could no longer go out to public places; looks of astonishment pursued me whichever way I turned.
David intended to pay a short visit to the Royal Fleet, and he invited me, with Aunt "Bessie," to accompany him. That was in the second week of November; and I still remember Friday the 13th of that month; I went with my aunt to the castle, and the King arrived in high spirits, after his visit
Meanwhile, I had rented a house on the seashore, as though set apart from mankind, and there I
stayed awaiting the outcome of the divorce... And I must say that, whatever the circumstances, divorce is a hard thing; to this day I remember the night I spent pacing the floor of my room, back and forth, sleep finding no way to my eyelids; and to this day I remember the judge's look at me as he handed me the divorce paper. But I was not yet wholly free, for I had to wait six months before the divorce became effective...
I had hardly reached home that day when I received a telephone call from David — my news had reached him — and we decided to dine together that night... And the King failed to suppress his feelings; he tried his utmost to appear cheerful, but I felt that he was hiding more than cheer; he was worn out, bewildered... and afterward I understood the reason... The Prime Minister had sent asking the King to meet him, and during the interview he asked David to persuade me to change my mind in the matter of the divorce; he had reckoned what might happen after that
we would marry. And my turn came to be embarrassed... I fell to imploring him to allow me