https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-15345341/The-Duke-Windsor-adopted-British-war-orphan-fix-tarnished-reputation-preposterous-PR-advice-reveals-CHRISTOPHER-WILSON.htmlThe Duke of Windsor almost 'adopted a British war orphan' to fix his 'tarnished' reputation in preposterous PR advice, reveals CHRISTOPHER WILSON
By CHRISTOPHER WILSON
Published: 07:03, 8 December 2025 | Updated: 08:47, 8 December 2025
The Duke of Windsor was so desperate to restore his popularity after the abdication that he considered adopting a son, the Daily Mail can reveal. At the end of World War II when the royal couple were trying to establish themselves as credible individuals on the world stage much like Prince Harry and Meghan today the duke and duchess found themselves hit by a wave of damaging publicity which accused the ex-king of a shameful war record, snooty behaviour, vast extravagance, and unpaid bills. The distinguished writer Joe Bryan, who was considered a friend, described Edward as 'A millionaire miser'.
Another friend, Lady Diana Mosley, admitted, 'The Windsors always attract a bad press. The newspapers are determined to emphasise the emptiness of their lives. There's a moral there somewhere.'
From being the most popular Prince of Wales in the title's 900-year history, Edward's reputation had sunk so low that wherever the royal couple travelled, people counted the excessive number of bags which followed them in their luggage. They had become a worldwide joke. The couple were desperate to re-set a news agenda that had spiralled out of control. So they called in Clare Boothe Luce, the famous writer, diplomat and politician to a crisis meeting in New York. 'Our publicity has been frightful,' wailed the duchess. 'The duke is worried sick. What are we to do?'
Mrs Luce promised to think about it and left. But within minutes she was back. 'I have it!' she cried, 'why don't you adopt a British war orphan, a boy? You might even name him "David Windsor"!'
The childless duke slowly nodded his approval. 'But of course,' he said, entirely missing the huge potential uproar such a move could create, 'the boy wouldn't inherit any of my titles. My brother [King George VI] will see to that!'
The couple needed to do something. They'd recently accepted an invitation to the upper-crust Kentucky Derby, stayed as guests with a local multi-millionaire, and then billed their host $1,000 for turning up. The American press turned on them with scorn. The gossip columnists eagerly revealed that when the Windsors were invited to dinner they self-importantly insisted on being sent the menu and guest-list, with the right of veto on either or both. As one biographer described him, 'Edward, Duke of Windsor had become a rather ridiculous, mildly contemptible and half-forgotten figure, so tarnished have his and Wallis's names become.'
The couple needed some good news to stop the rot. And maybe adopting a war orphan would get everything back on track. Pressing home her point, Clare Boothe Luce insisted: 'The important thing [about adopting a child] is that the adoption would remind the English people of your love for England.'
This advice, coming from a woman who herself was 48 and childless, was little short of crazy the Duke was 56 and the Duchess 54. No monarch, or ex-monarch, had ever contemplated such a wild idea. And in post-war Britain, where King George was desperately trying wipe the public's memory of the duke and his abdication, it would have created a huge sensation how would the child be chosen, what was his family background, who were the other possible adoptees, and why were they rejected?
The story would never have left the nation's front pages. Finally the plan was put to bed by the duchess 'one of the most selfish women I ever met', as Winston Churchill described her.
Angrily she put her foot down. 'Who knows how the child would turn out?' she objected. 'He might turn out to be as stupid as [Windsor's brother] Harry Gloucester. The answer's no!'
Clare Luce felt that becoming a 'mother' did not fit with Wallis's idea of herself as a world style icon she would be jealous of the child, forced to tug him round on photo-shoots and public engagements. Far rather she wanted to be seen on a level with screen goddesses of the day, like the fabled Greta Garbo. The two legends met around that time 'It was a historic moment,' recalled the actress Lilli Palmer, who with her husband Rex Harrison hosted a party to introduce them.
'The two women sat face to face and sized each other up from head to toe. Both knew they were legends of the twentieth century.'
In Lilli Palmer's opinion, if the king was going to give up his throne for a woman, that woman should have been Greta Garbo not Wallis Simpson. 'Forever the world's most beautiful woman, she was unique and unattainable. The duchess, in her jewels, wore something white and exquisite but she was no match for Greta in her old blue slacks and a faded blouse.'
So the idea of becoming an adoptive mother fraught with danger, and likely to blacken the reputation of the Windsors even
