The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

MUCH has been written about Edward VIII, the King of England who abdicated his throne after 11 months to marry the twice-divorced Wallis Simpson in 1937.

Not as much, however, has been written by so close an observer to the King as Jean Hardcastle-Taylor, an American from New York whose life changed when she became the personal secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor when they were Governor and First Lady of the Bahamas from 1940 to 1945.

In 1965, 20 years after she left The Bahamas, never to return, Mrs Hardcastle-Taylor began writing a memoir about her experiences as aide to the royal couple.

Her eldest son, Michael Hardcastle-Taylor, assembled her writings and published them this year in a book, “The Windsors I knew”.

The work provides an alternative perspective to the narrative, popularised by historians and fiction writers over the years, that the pair were socialites whose love quickly muted despite the King’s legendary sacrifice.

“She wanted to set the record straight and that’s the best way to explain why she wrote the book,” Mr Hardcastle-Taylor said of his mother’s motivation. On a recent visit to the Bahamas he met children from Andros while touring Government House and promoting his mother’s book, which teems with details that could only have come from one with close access to the Governor and his wife.

He also came with his wife, Gloria, to experience the culture of the country where he was conceived (his mother left The Bahamas a month before he was born).

Mr Hardcastle-Taylor told The Tribune he would have liked to have published his mother’s book earlier, noting that he was hindered by the Vietnam War in the 1960s which prompted him to join the navy, in which he served for 21 years.

His visit to The Bahamas and the publication of his mother’s memoir is a moment where life for him comes full circle, and during his interview with this newspaper he conveyed a palpable sense of delight at having such a connection to a part of 20th century history that continues to intrigue many around the world.

In her book, Mrs Hardcastle-Taylor beamed with admiration for the Duke and the Duchess. She found the Duke smart, brave and courageous and she found the Duchess “remarkable”, devoted to her husband and fond of executing humanitarian and charitable services.

Many over the years have pondered whether the Duke abdicated his throne because of his love for the Duchess or because he wanted to surrender the responsibilities and burdens of being King. Mrs Hardcastle-Taylor holds the former view, with the Duke’s love for his wife being one of the few things the secretive royal did not keep a secret, she wrote.

“Never in my close association with the Duke or Duchess were either of them unmindful of their duty or dignity,” she wrote. “Nor were they second-rate performers. Knowing them as I did, I have always felt they were destined to meet and when they met, they knew their hearts were linked. That is my unshakable conviction.”

The Duke, she wrote, was a “popular, competent, forceful and well meaning” Governor. Serving as Governor of The Bahamas was not, however, the best use of his talent, she said.

She concluded that despite his “wise and conscientious” administration of this country’s affairs, he was hindered by the Bay Street Boys of Nassau, a group of white businessmen who did little to make the country more progressive.

Mrs Hardcastle-Taylor wrote the book, which is dedicated in part to he people of The Bahamas, before her marriage on December 31, 1943, in Christ Church Cathedral. Her reception was hosted by the Duke and Duchess at Government House.

Mr Hardcastle-Taylor does not believe this view tells the whole story, noting that other accounts, including a favourite of his by Sir Etienne Dupuch, the late publisher of The Tribune, suggest the Duke was often in sync with the Bay Street Boys and inclined not to fight too hard to reduce the paternalism characterised the relationship between wealthy whites and the poorer blacks during that era.

The infamous Burma Road riots of 1942, when black Bahamians protested a social and political order that was stacked against them, was, nonetheless, a consequence of resistance to the kind of change that Mrs Hardcastle-Taylor believed the Duke wanted but that the few powerful white merchants on the island did not.

Mr Hardcastle-Taylor said the Duke would be pleased with how the Bahamas has evolved into a country with a stable democracy and economy. The book suggests, however, that he would also urge the country to diversify its economy so it could rely less on tourism, a view he often expressed as Governor.

The Windsors I Knew, by Jean D Hardcastle-Taylor, is published by Saint Michael’s Press, Winchester, Va.