Mimi Sands has always been fascinated by the scandalous love affair between King Edward VIII and the American divorcee he married. Now she hopes to claim a piece of their memorabilia for herself.
"It's a real Cinderella story - to have a king for a third husband, at least he was a king for a while," said Sands, who previewed a portion of the couple's estate Monday at Sotheby's in Beverly Hills.King Edward VIII had been king less than a year when he abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson on Dec. 10, 1936, in what many consider to be one of the greatest love stories of the century.
As king and head of the Church of England, Edward was forbidden to marry a divorced woman. So the two moved to Paris and became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
Mohamed al Fayed, chairman of Harrods in London and owner of L'Hotel Ritz Paris, bought their villa and its contents after the duchess' death in 1986, and now is auctioning it off at Sotheby's in New York. Proceeds will go to children's charities.
Portions of the 40,000-piece collection are on display at various Sotheby's sites before the 10-day auction begins Sept. 11.
"He gave up not just the throne of England, but the British Empire," said Joseph Friedman, who was curator of the Windsor collection from 1988-93 and now heads Sotheby's furniture department.
"The sacrifice he made was enormous. I don't think he ever had any regrets," Friedman said. "The collection is full of love tokens that passed throughout them all of their lives."
Some of those tokens were on display, including a brief note written by Wallis to Edward when their courtship began. "God bless WE/ Good night/ From Her to Him/ the Gardenia," said the veiled love letter. The note and the gardenia that accompanied it are for sale as a package.
The preview in Beverly Hills ends Thursday and includes only a small portion of the giant collection, which is divided into 3,200 lots. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' auction, by comparison, had 1,200 lots.
The collection is "one of the largest auctions of all time," Friedman said. The 1,200-page catalog takes up three volumes and is available for $90.
The catalog gives a glimpse into the lives of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor: photos and paintings of the duchess with pug dogs (the couple's favorite breed), paintings by Andy Warhol, a photo album from President Nixon to the couple with an estimated worth of $800 to $1,200.
The sale is expected to generate $7 million, but Henry Wyndham, chairman of Sotheby's in Britain, said he believes it will make even more because of the romance of the Windsors.