Baltimorean ‘Super Diva’ Paved the Way for American Divorcee Meghan Markle’s Marriage into the House of Windsor

Edwin Warfield, an entrepreneur, publisher and author, announces he is teaming with several nationally recognized directors and filmmakers to tell the story of the marriage between an American woman and a British monarch. Except, he says, his new documentary, “The Duchess of Maryland: In Love We Tryst,” is about so much more than today’s headline-makers.

"Before Meghan Markle, there was Wallis Warfield Simpson, who paved the way for a divorcee marrying into the House of Windsor,” says Warfield, who is collaborating on the project with director Ted Bogosian, an award-winning documentary filmmaker known for his work with Barry Levinson and others, and cinematographer Richard Chisolm, who has worked for PBS and the Discovery Channel, and was a camera operator on the HBO series "The Wire.”

“With the pending royal wedding, the popularity of Crown-watching, and the promise of a Hollywood ending, it is perfect timing to tell our version of the story,” Warfield adds.

No Fairy Tale

Markle, a divorced actress from California, is set to become a member of the British royal family upon her marriage to Prince Harry in May 2018. Warfield says that the capture-the-throne story he’s telling about Simpson — who was, he says, “in genealogical terms, my great aunt once removed” — is anything but a fairy tale.

For starters, consider her scandalous affair with the King of England in 1936. Edward VIII caused a constitutional crisis In England by proposing marriage to Wallis Simpson, an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second, and then abdicated the throne to be with her. Born Bessie Wallis Warfield, the future Duchess of Windsor was also an imposing figure at home, says Warfield: “My father said the only thing that terrified him more than being shot down over the Pacific was having to dance with his Aunt Wallis.”

Warfield adds that, over the years, history has accorded the Duchess “super-Diva status.” Her style, panache and savoir-faire are still admired, as are her achievements in the fields requiring sublime decorating and entertaining skills. Her extravagant self-indulgence and unflinching acceptance of lavish gifts, as well as questions surrounding her sexuality and morality, have made her legendary in the years since her death in 1986.

“A forerunner to Bette Midler, Madonna and Martha Stewart, the Duchess was the first gay icon, rock-and-roll queen and home-maker diva,” he says. “My attraction to her as the subject of a movie is her exile from Maryland and the Crown and her entrepreneurial love journey. Of course, it is a Maryland and familial story."

50 Shades of Simpson

Based on his book, Warfield, A Maryland History, Warfield's documentary explores the many shades of Wallis Warfield Simpson.

• An ode to Baltimore — the Duchess resided on Biddle Street in downtown Baltimore, attended the Oldfields School, and returned to her home town numerous times.
• A history lesson — a story full of controversy and intrigue (spoiler alert: Hitler plays a role) and one that altered the future of the British monarchy.
• A passion play — theirs was one of the most popular love stories of the 20th century. Dozens of books and movies have chronicled Edward and his “one love.”

Ultimately, it is a story about power and struggle, popularity and its temptations, and the fate of the people caught in the middle.

Baltimore historian and writer, Fred Rasmussen, sums it up this way.

“Journalist H.L. Mencken, famously a curmudgeon and iconoclast, once quipped that Simpson’s affair with Edward was ‘the greatest story since the Crucifixion,’” says Rasmussen. “What better endorsement for this project do you need than that?”

In addition to Rasmussen, a number of other Baltimore notables have lined up to pitch in, as well:

• Mark Letzer, Executive Director Maryland Historical Society,
• Ramsey Flynn, an experienced writer, editor and communications consultant,
• Zippy Larson, a local historian and tour guide for the Duchess of Windsor,
• Henry Mortimer, a storyteller and collaborator with Warfield on warfield.co CEO Interviews

Filming is set to begin in mid 2018, and locations will include local hotspots, such as the Maryland Historical Society, whose collection features the Monkey Dress, shoes, a painting of the couple in Palm Beach, and a portrait of her benefactor Solomon Davies Warfield.

Edwin Warfield was publisher of The Daily Record and Warfield's magazine in the 1980s and 1990s. Recent projects include serving as a local digital media entrepreneur, and has conducted over 300 CEO Interviews at warfield.co. You can find out more about Warfield at LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinwarfield