#I was 43 years old when I got married in the second issue of the headline #Edward VIII. To the present, it is also a representative of late marriage and late childbearing. It is said that when the son gets married, he must be very happy to be a mother, and he must be very generous. Moreover, Edward's mother, Queen Mary, had always been known for her generosity. But that day, she only gave her daughter-in-law a necklace with a short neck as a gift. The daughter-in-law is not angry and often wears it around her neck. What's going on?
▲ Queen Mary
Queen Mary is the woman with the most jewelry in the world, and she is said to have more jewelry than she "illuminated" half the world. Even Queen Elizabeth later publicly admitted that she owned less than half of her own jewelry, Queen Mary.
Queen Mary's first jewelry gift came from her in-laws (and aunt), Queen Victoria.
When Mary was 18 years old, Queen Victoria took the lead and chose her as the princess of her eldest grandson, Albert.
Unfortunately, on the eve of the wedding, Prince Albert died of pneumonia. To comfort Mary, who had lost her fiancé, Queen Victoria gave her more than 1,500 pieces of precious jewelry, including 3 crowns, 26 bracelets, 44 brooches and 15 necklaces, all of which were studded with precious diamonds and precious stones.
After Mary spent a year of mourning, Queen Victoria married her second grandson, Prince George, and became the Duchess of York.
In 1910, Edward VII died of illness. Prince George, Duke of York, succeeded to the throne for George V, and Mary became queen.
It is said that Mary was "dazzling" at the coronation. Some people have counted that she wore as many as 10,000 gems and diamonds that day, and the crown on her head alone set 2200 diamonds. Moreover, there are three diamonds on the crown weighing 530 carats, 186 carats and 63.6 carats. In addition, she has a 22.48 carat diamond on her necklace and a gown embroidered with sparkling rubies and pearls.
Although Queen Mary was full of pearlescent and extravagance, the jewels draped on her body not only did not disgust the people, but also made the people feel the strength and dignity of the British Empire, because it was a symbol of the wealth of the British Empire.
George V and Queen Mary
Queen Mary did love jewelry that shone with a soft glow, and collecting jewelry became the only hobby of her life.
Shortly after Queen Mary's coronation ceremony, she turned her face to her brother Francis in order to retrieve a batch of precious jewelry from her ancestors.
The jewels were inherited from her maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Cambridge, and included 40 emeralds, the Duchess of Cambridge pearl brooch, the King of Austrian gemstone brooch, and so on. Originally, Queen Mary was eager to get these family jewels, but her mother, Princess Cambridge, passed them all on to her second son (Mary's younger brother) Francis, who in turn gave them to her lover.
After learning of the jewels, Queen Mary sent various threats and warnings to Francis's lover, eventually forcing her to hand them over.
This matter was hyped up by the media at the time and also caused great controversy. Some people think that Queen Mary is too impersonal, while others think that Queen Mary is doing a good job, and that ancestral treasures really should not be given to outsiders. Queen Mary didn't care what anyone else said, and when she returned, she found a jeweler and made the emeralds into a set of luxurious ornaments.
After the overthrow of the Tsar, Mary's mother-in-law, Empress Alexandra's sister, the last empress dowager of the Tsar, fled to Europe. Queen Mary knew that she had brought a large amount of Tsarist jewelry, so she often came to her door to buy it, and even sold her jewelry to others for 3 times the price to buy back.
When it comes to her favorite jewelry, Queen Mary doesn't care if it's coming from the right place.
Once, an English nobleman sold a crown stolen from the Grand Princess of Russia to Queen Mary, who knew that the source of the crown was not clean, but she did not hesitate to buy the crown, and put it on her head on the same day, and received the nobles who had fled from Russia to England.
At that time, Britain still had a considerable number of overseas colonies, and those colonies, in order to please the king and queen, also voted for him, giving thousands of diamonds and precious stones to Queen Mary.
In short, the jewelers, auction houses, etc. at that time maintained long-term contact with Queen Mary, and once there was expensive jewelry, they would definitely ask the VIP customer to choose it first.
▲ In the middle is Queen Mary
Although Queen Mary loved to collect jewelry, she was also very generous to her descendants.
For example, the jewels that her daughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth, wore at the coronation ceremony were all derived from her gifts. For example, the Cambridge crown and necklace and bracelet worn by her daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Kent, when she got married, were also her wedding gifts. Of course, it was Queen Elizabeth who received the most jewels. But even so, the queen only gets two-thirds of her jewels, which shows how impressive Mary's jewelry is!
However, Queen Mary was very stingy with her eldest daughter-in-law, and when her eldest son, Edward, married her eldest daughter-in-law, Simpson, she gave Simpson only a necklace.
The necklace itself is made up of 28 pearls and many diamonds, which is quite beautiful. However, the necklace was so short that even Mrs. Simpson's skinny person wore it around her neck and strangled her neck. So why is Queen Mary so stingy with her eldest daughter-in-law alone?
Queen Mary had a total of 5 sons, and her most beloved son was her eldest son, Edward.
Unlike other sons, Edward was the successor to the throne. In order to make him a qualified king, his father George V and his mother, Queen Mary, had high hopes for him and cultivated him.
Edward was indeed very kingly. He was tall, handsome, versatile, and very personable.
Edward liked women. However, he preferred married women to those aristocratic ladies. Therefore, there are often rumors about him and married women. Speaking of which, this is also an old tradition of the royal family, so neither George V nor Queen Mary has attracted enough attention to think that it is harmless. It wasn't until the appearance of Mrs. Simpson that the king and queen realized the seriousness of the problem.
Mrs. Simpson was married twice. She and Edward had a scandal when she was still married to her second husband, Ennister Simpson. Because she and Edward frequently dated, they were inseparable. As a result, Mrs. Simpson soon became a hot figure, and even the public boldly speculated whether she would marry into the royal family and become a princess.
▲ Edward and Mrs. Simpson
The British did not love Mrs. Simpson.
On the one hand, Mrs. Simpson was American and a fan of Nazi Germany; On the other hand, she had two marriages and split the crown prince in the second marriage, so they believed that Mrs. Simpson was a very immoral woman. So, they wanted Edward and Mrs. Simpson to just play tricks and play.
Because of the influence on the royal image, the conservative and serious King George and Queen Mary, also dissatisfied with Mrs. Simpson, repeatedly persuaded Edward and Mrs. Simpson to break up, but Edward refused.
In January 1936, King George died of illness and Edward succeeded to the throne for Edward VIII.
It was also at this time that Mrs. Simpson finally dissolved her second marriage. Subsequently, she and Edward VIII went on vacation abroad. As a result, the American media reported the two men's relationship at length. When the British in the United States saw the reports, they angrily wrote a letter to the British government, claiming that the faces of the British people had been disgraced by the American woman, and strongly demanded that the king must leave the woman.
Just when the British government was at a loss, Edward VIII informed British Prime Minister Baldwin that he was ready to marry Mrs. Simpson. After the news came out, it immediately aroused fierce opposition from the British people. Baldwin challenged the king that "if the king must marry this woman, the cabinet will resign as a whole."
Contradictions and conflicts have escalated, and the image of the royal family has also been seriously damaged.
It was also at this time that the people shouted the slogan "the royal family should be dissolved".
Mrs. Simpson
In order to save the dignity of the royal family and maintain the status of the royal family, Queen Mary, who had already withdrawn from the royal stage, had to come out to mediate. Since Edward VIII never broke up with Lady Simpson, at her persuasion, Edward VIII resigned from the throne and became Duke of Windsor. Queen Mary herself issued an edict banishing Edward.
Raising a child is not easy, and raising a king is even harder. Seeing that her son "loves beauty and does not love Jiangshan" and actually gave up the throne, Queen Mary's heart must be very uncomfortable, which made her hate Mrs. Simpson. When Edward resigned as king, Queen Mary took back all the jewels she had given to Edward in order not to see them and wear them on Lady Simpson.
In 1937, Edward and Mrs. Simpson were married, and no one in the British royal family attended their wedding.
However, Queen Mary, who has always paid attention to etiquette, still sent a congratulatory gift, that is, the necklace that strangled the neck. Obviously, this inappropriate necklace does not represent her blessing the couple, but represents her attitude towards this marriage.
Interestingly, Mrs. Simpson, though she knew what the necklace meant, gladly accepted it. And she joked: "In order to be able to wear this necklace, she has to make herself more beautiful and have a thinner neck!" Since then, she has often worn the only short necklace given to her by the royal family to attend major events.
This is exactly what she said, as long as she is not embarrassed, it is someone else who is embarrassed!