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Posts tagged Duke of Windsor:
‘Jumpology’
When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears” ~ Philippe Halsman
The freezing of motion has a long and fascinating history in photography … But rarely has stop-action been used in the unlikely, whimsical and often mischievous ways that Philippe Halsman employed it. [B]ecause of Halsman’s sense of play, we have the jump pictures—portraits of the well known, well launched.
This odd idiom was born in 1952, Halsman said, after an arduous session photographing the Ford automobile family to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. As he relaxed with a drink offered by Mrs. Edsel Ford, the photographer was shocked to hear himself asking one of the grandest of Grosse Pointe’s grande dames if she would jump for his camera. “With my high heels?” she asked. But she gave it a try, unshod—after which her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Henry Ford II, wanted to jump too.
For the next six years, Halsman ended his portrait sessions by asking sitters to jump. It is a tribute to his powers of persuasion that Richard Nixon, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Judge Learned Hand (in his mid-80s at the time) and other figures not known for spontaneity could be talked into rising to the challenge of…well, rising to the challenge. He called the resulting pictures his hobby, and in Philippe Halsman’s Jump Book, a collection published in 1959, he claimed in the mock-academic text that they were studies in “jumpology.”
Images: 1. Marilyn Monroe, 2. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, 3. Sophia Loren, 4. Shirley Maclaine, 5. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, 6. Hattie Jacques, 7. Audrey Hepburn, 8. Grace Kelly, 9. J. Fred Muggs.
[Source: Smithsonian Mag | More Images]
The future King Edward VIII as a toddler.
David and Bertie
On this day, 10th December, 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII’s proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who was divorced from her first husband and was pursuing a divorce of her second.
The marriage was opposed by the governments of the United Kingdom and the autonomous Dominions of the British Commonwealth. Religious, legal, political, and moral objections were raised. As British monarch, Edward was the nominal head of the Church of England, which did not allow divorced people to remarry if their ex-spouses were still alive; so it was widely believed that Edward could not marry Wallis Simpson and remain on the throne. He was succeeded by his brother Albert, who took the regnal name George VI.
I’ve posted the above image before and although it’s crap quality I think it’s the best photograph of David and Bertie ever - the informality of it and casual expression of brotherly love…
The Duke of Windsor.
David Lloyd-George and Edward VIII. 1919.
What is your fascination with Edward VII? asked by Anonymous
NB: The anon who asked this changed ‘VII’ to ‘VIII’ in a second message.
Oh, I only wish I had a good enough command of the English language to articulate what my fascination with Edward VIII is! That being said, how long have you got…
For a start I’m interested in royalty, and especially British royalty, in general, and then Edward VIII’s story is just quite unique. Partly I sympathise with his predicament, and partly I think he needed to man up! I think there’s something undoubtedly noble in giving up everything you have ever known for love, but then I think, he had a duty! He was given a privileged life in exchange for him serving his country and he failed in the most monumental fashion … but then, he never really wanted to be king, so why should he have had to be!? I cannot imagine what it must have been like to make that decision. Its also somewhat harsh to blame him alone entirely for the abdication, the powers that be conspired to get him out because they feared his method of ‘kinging’ would be too radically different from that of his father, George V.
What people seem to forget though, is that Edward was a fantastic Prince of Wales. He genuinely cared about the poor in Britain and is famous for getting into trouble for saying ‘something must be done’ when he visited some poverty stricken area because it was seen as him meddling in political matters on which he should remain neutral! His trips around the British Empire following WWI also did a lot of good with regards to foreign relations. He was extremely popular and charismatic - people often compare his popularity with that of Princess Diana’s, for example. And, for what its worth, I think he would have made a good king if he’d have been allowed to carry on in the same manner. I think Britain would have a much more modern royal family now, like other European royal families, if he had remained king, but alas, it was not to be.
I’m much more interested in him pre-abdication than I am post-abdication, though that is not to say I am uninterested in him after he abdicated. His relationship with his family was bizarre, but fascinating! And Psycho Nanny! But also his relationship with Wallis Simpson is quite interesting too.
I think I like him because he’s become a historical figure that history has distorted almost beyond recognition. People just love to hate him, but when you actually read about him you realise he really is badly portrayed both in history and modern culture - The King’s Speech, I’m looking at you… His story is far more complex and emotional than any Daily Fail article or Channel Four documentary would have you believe! Oh, and he absolutely was NOT a Nazi!
I just think he’s a remarkable figure in history, with a remarkable story, but, if nothing else, he was incredibly easy on the eye!!!
I’m sorry this answer was so long. I’ve never really given much thought to why I liked him, I just sort of did! But there you have it!
Edward VIII on the day of his investiture as Prince of Wales, 13th July 1911.
Edward VIII.
I’d never seen this one before today.
George VI and Edward VIII.
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