Editing Wallis Simpson (section)

==First marriage==
[[File:Spencers.jpg|thumb|upright|Wallis and her first husband, Earl W. Spencer, 1918]]
In April 1916, Wallis met [[Earl Winfield Spencer Jr.]], a [[US Navy]] aviator, in [[Pensacola, Florida]], while visiting her cousin [[Corinne Mustin]].<ref>King, p. 38; Sebba, pp. 20–21; Vickers, p. 257; Duchess of Windsor, pp. 59–60</ref> It was at this time that Wallis witnessed two airplane crashes about two weeks apart, resulting in a lifelong fear of flying.<ref>Higham, p. 20</ref> The couple married on November 8, 1916, at Christ Episcopal Church in [[Baltimore]], which had been Wallis's parish. Win, as her husband was known, was a heavy drinker. He drank even before flying and once crashed into the sea, but escaped almost unharmed.<ref>Duchess of Windsor, pp. 76–77</ref> After the United States entered the [[First World War]] in 1917, Spencer was posted to [[San Diego]] as the first commanding officer of a training base in [[Coronado, California|Coronado]], known as [[Naval Air Station North Island]]; they remained there until 1921.<ref>King, pp. 47–52; Vickers, pp. 258, 261; Duchess of Windsor, pp. 79–85</ref>

In 1920, [[Edward VIII|Edward, Prince of Wales]], visited San Diego, but he and Wallis did not meet.<ref>King, pp. 51–52; Sebba, p. 36; Vickers, p. 260; Duchess of Windsor, p. 85</ref> Later that year, Spencer left his wife for a period of four months, but in the spring of 1921 they were reunited in Washington, D.C., where Spencer had been posted. They soon separated again, and in 1922, when Spencer was posted to the Far East as commander of the {{USS|Pampanga|PG-39|6}}, Wallis remained behind, continuing an affair with an Argentine diplomat, Felipe de Espil.<ref name="dnb">[[Ziegler, Philip]] (2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38277 "Windsor, (Bessie) Wallis, duchess of Windsor (1896–1986)"], ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', [[Oxford University Press]], {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/38277}}, retrieved May 2, 2010 (subscription required)</ref> In January 1924, she visited Paris with her recently widowed cousin Corinne Mustin,<ref>Bloch, ''The Duchess of Windsor'', p. 22; King, p. 57; Sebba, pp. 41–43; Duchess of Windsor, pp. 100–101</ref> before sailing to the Far East aboard a troop carrier, {{USS|Chaumont|AP-5|6}}. The Spencers were briefly reunited until she fell ill, after which she returned to Hong Kong.<ref>King, p. 60; Duchess of Windsor, pp. 104–106</ref>

Wallis toured China, and while in Beijing stayed with Katherine and Herman Rogers, who were to remain her longterm friends.<ref>King, pp. 62–64; Sebba, pp. 45–53; Vickers, p. 263; Duchess of Windsor, pp. 112–113</ref> According to the wife of one of Win's fellow officers, Mrs. [[Milton E. Miles]],<ref>Higham, p. 50</ref> in Beijing Wallis met Count [[Galeazzo Ciano]], later [[Mussolini]]'s son-in-law and [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Italy)|foreign minister]], had an affair with him, and became pregnant, leading to a botched abortion that left her infertile.<ref>Higham, p. 50; King, p. 66; Sebba, pp. 55–56</ref> The rumor was later widespread but never substantiated and Ciano's wife, [[Edda Mussolini]], denied it.<ref>{{citation |author=Moseley, Ray |year=1999 |title=Mussolini's Shadow: The Double Life of Count Galeazzo Ciano |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=978-0-300-07917-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mussolinisshadow00mose/page/9 9–10]}}</ref> The existence of an official "China dossier" (detailing the supposed sexual and criminal exploits of Wallis in China) is denied by historians and biographers.<ref>Higham, p. 119; King, p. 61; Vickers, p. 263; Ziegler, p. 224</ref> Wallis spent over a year in China, during which time—according to the socialite [[Madame Wellington Koo]]—she managed to master only one Chinese phrase: "Boy, pass me the champagne".<ref>{{citation |last=Koo |first=Madame Wellington |title=Hui-Lan Koo: An Autobiography as told to Mary van Rensselaer Thayer |location=New York |publisher=Dial Press |year=1943}}</ref><ref>{{citation |first=Catherine |last=Maher |title=Madame Wellington Koo's Life Story |journal=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 31, 1943 |page=BR7}}</ref> By September 1925, she and her husband were back in the United States, though living apart.<ref>King, p. 66</ref> Their divorce was finalized on December 10, 1927.<ref>Sebba, p. 60; Weir, p. 328</ref>