The Butler Who Never Left Wallis Simpson

April 29, 1986. St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Mourners gathered beneath the chapel's vaulted ceiling for the funeral of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor. Among them were Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, the Queen Mother, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Anne, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. At the center of the service rested an English oak coffin lined with lead, topped by a single wreath of white, orange, and yellow lilies gathered from the gardens of Windsor Castle and sent by the Queen herself. The silver plaque bore a simple inscription: "Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, 1896–1986." Conspicuously absent was the style "Her Royal Highness," omitted not only from the plaque but later from the gravestone as well. The service itself was striking for what it did not contain. In accordance with Wallis's own wishes, there was no funeral address, no eulogy, and no direct reflection on her life. Only once was she mentioned explicitly, when the Dean of Windsor referred to her simply as "our sister" during the prayers. As Edward Elgar's Nimrod echoed through the chapel, eight Welsh Guards carried the coffin down the nave while the congregation stood in silence.