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Let
me ask you to go back with me in time — back to a time very much like our own
— a time of financial difficulty and uncertainty — a time when the love life
of the heir to the British throne was of great interest to most people.
The year is 1934 — the Prince of Wales
is involved with a woman described by one biographer in the following terms:
"her determination, her steely will, her fight to overcome her own
deficiencies; her love of intrigue and her energetic dabbling in espionage;
her pride in herself as an adventuress and a dominant woman who more than
held her own in a world of men."
The British nation and the British
government are shaken by the potential ramifications of the Prince’s romance.
I submit to you that it is only natural that Stanley Baldwin and the powers
that be would turn for help to the man who, in his brother’s words, was
the British government. And it is equally natural that Mycroft Holmes, who
was never comfortable with women, would turn to his brother Sherlock for
assistance.
Ah, yes, I see your raised eyebrows:
Sherlock, too, you say, was uncomfortable with
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women. I answer, Perhaps. After all, as the late W.
S. Baring-Gould proved conclusively, there was one woman the Master was
comfortable with — comfortable enough, at least, to sire a son. And she, too,
was an adventuress, a woman to whom the description I’ve just read might
apply equally well.
Clearly, the Government and Mycroft’s
goal was to end the Prince’s affair. Sherlock was undoubtedly called upon to
meet with Mrs. Simpson, and meet with her he did ... on several occasions. He
found an opponent worthy of his mettle — as resourceful as the late Irene
Adler. They sparred.
And I suggest they went beyond sparring
— the Master found the energy and vitality of this dynamic brash American
woman intriguing. And she, who had the next King of England at her feet,
found it even more exhilarating to have the world’s greatest detective
evincing an interest in her. Besides, as history has shown, the Prince of
Wales was both sexually inept and extremely jealous. While tête-à-têtes with
most men might make him suspicious, the Prince would hardly suspect
Wallis of having a liaison with an octogenarian detective who was known to
dislike and distrust women.
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At last events progressed beyond discussion. Wallis Simpson loved to
play the game for the game’s sake — and viewed the Master as the ultimate
sexual challenge. At the same time, she felt safe from pregnancy — after all,
Holmes was in his 80s. On the other hand, the Master was prepared to make the
supreme sacrifice to save his country from a major constitutional crisis.
After intimacy had been achieved, he felt he could persuade Wallis to step
aside. However, the result of their liaison was something neither of them
envisioned. Wallis became pregnant in April of 1934.
Holmes thought the pregnancy would destroy her hold on the Prince, but
Wallis checkmated him. She pointed out that no one would believe the child
was sired by an aging private detective, no matter how well fortified by the
royal jelly of the queen bee. The assumption
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(Click picture for bio)
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would
be that the child was the Prince’s. Given the Prince’s insecurity about his
sexual abilities (his two prior mistresses had intimated that he had ...
well, shall we say, performance problems), he might even welcome the chance
to prove his virility.
Fortunately, her slight body carried
the additional weight well, though on an August voyage with the Prince, she
spent days in her cabin, ostensibly from seasickness.
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While she could not hide her condition
from the Prince, she could tell him the child was his, thus flattering his
always insecure ego, and that she would arrange for adoption. He agreed, and
the child was carried to term. Towards the end of the pregnancy, her
condition was impossible to conceal. Thus, the Prince went off alone to
Sandringham to spend Christmas 1934 with his family.
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