Editing Wallis Simpson (section)

==Second World War==
As the German troops advanced into France in 1940, the Windsors fled south from their Paris home, first to [[Biarritz]] then to Spain in June. Wallis told United States ambassador to Spain [[Alexander W. Weddell]] that France had lost because it was "internally diseased".<ref>Telegram from Weddell to Secretary of State [[Cordell Hull]], FRUS 740.0011 1939/4357 European War, National Archives, Washington, D.C., quoted in Higham, p. 323 and King, p. 343</ref> The couple moved to Portugal in July. They stayed in [[Cascais]], at Casa de Santa Maria, the home of [[Ricardo Espírito Santo|Ricardo do Espírito Santo e Silva]], a banker who was suspected of being a German agent.<ref>Bloch, ''The Duke of Windsor's War'', p. 102</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Damas |first1=Carlos Alberto |title=Duke of Windsor and Ricardo Espírito Santo |journal=British Historical Society of Portugal Annual Report |date=2002 |volume=29 |url=https://www.bhsportugal.org/library/articles/duke-of-windsor-and-ricardo-espirito-santo |accessdate=July 26, 2020}}</ref>

In August 1940, the Duke and Duchess traveled by commercial liner to [[the Bahamas]], where Edward was installed as governor.<ref>King, pp. 350–352; Duchess of Windsor, pp. 344–345</ref> Wallis performed her role as the governor's consort competently for five years; she worked actively for the [[Red Cross]] and in the improvement of infant welfare,<ref>King, pp. 368–376; Vickers, p. 331</ref> as well as overseeing [[Government House, The Bahamas#1940s renovations|renovations of Government House]]. However, she hated [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]], calling it "our [[St Helena]]" in a reference to [[Napoleon]]'s final place of exile,<ref>Bloch, ''The Duchess of Windsor'', pp. 153, 159</ref> and sarcastically commenting on the government surveillance.<ref name="Aldrich">{{cite book |last1=Aldrich |first1=Richard J. |last2=Cormac |first2=Rory |title=Crown, cloak, and dagger: the British monarchy and secret intelligence from Victoria to Elizabeth II |date=2023 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-1647123710 |pages=166–170}}</ref> She was heavily criticized in the British press for her extravagant shopping in the United States, undertaken when Britain was enduring privations such as rationing and blackout.<ref name="dnb" /><ref>Sebba, p. 244</ref> She referred to the local population as "lazy, thriving niggers" in letters to her aunt, which reflected her upbringing in [[Jim Crow]] Baltimore.<ref>Bloch, ''The Duchess of Windsor'', p. 165</ref>{{efn|When telling a story of how Wallis complained about blacks being allowed on [[Park Avenue (Manhattan)]], Joanne Cummings, the wife of [[Nathan Cummings]], said of Wallis, "She grew up in the South, at a certain time, with certain prejudices." Source: Menkes, p. 88}} Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] strenuously objected in 1941 when she and her husband planned to tour the Caribbean aboard a yacht belonging to Swedish magnate [[Axel Wenner-Gren]], who Churchill said was "pro-German", and Churchill complained again when the Duke gave a "[[defeatist]]" interview.<ref>Howarth, p. 130; King, pp. 377–378</ref> Another of their acquaintances, [[Charles Bedaux]], who had hosted their wedding, was arrested on charges of treason in 1943 but committed suicide in jail in Miami before the case was brought to trial.<ref>King, p. 378</ref> The British establishment distrusted Wallis; [[Alexander Hardinge, 2nd Baron Hardinge of Penshurst|Sir Alexander Hardinge]] wrote that her suspected anti-British activities were motivated by a desire for revenge against a country that rejected her as its queen.<ref>Howarth, p. 113</ref> The couple returned to France and retirement after the defeat of Nazi Germany.<ref name="dnb"/>