DUKE OF WINDSOR MARRIED

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 450, 4 June 1937, Page 5

DUKE OF WINDSOR MARRIED

CHATEAU CEREMONY OAK CHEST AS IMPROVISED ALTAR “Bridegroom The Picture Of Happiness” Press Association —Copyright. Received June 4, 10.5 a.m. London, June 2. The Duke of Windsor and Mrs Wallis Warfield were married today at 11.47 a.m. Mrs Warfield rose at 8 a.m. and summoned her hairdresse- and maids. She wore a cocktail drees, with a long skirt, of “Wallis blue.” It is a shade between pastel and hyacinth blue, matching here eyes, and had a high-draped neckline, worn with a fitted longsleeved jacket of the same shade and wrist-length gloves of the same blue crepe. She also wore high-heeled openwork sandals of a similar shade. The hat was a tiny skullcap of “Wallis blue” straw with turnedback halo brim. Its blue tulle base was a bandeau of blue and with pale pink ostrich feathers. The Duke wore a morning suit with a wing collar and with a white buttonhole. While Mrs Warfield was completing her toilet the Duke walked the terrace of the Chateau and consulted with a French official regarding road protection arrangements. The official subsequently said that the Duke was radiant and the very picture of happiness. Beautiful Decorations The sun grew steadily hotter as the morning advanced. The guests, men in morning coats and top hats and the women in simple garden party dresses with wide straw hats, rested in the shade of the trees while preparations were being completed for decorating the Chateau. They were beautiful but simple .in compliance with Mrs Warfield’s wishes. Peonies, which are at their best at this time of the year, predominated. The altar was decorated with syringa, lilies and trails of clematis.

The police were busily occupied during the early hours of the morning ejecting gate-crashers from the pro, hibUed zone. Many entered last night under cover of darkness and others hired rooms in peasants’ houses in the precincts of the Chateau de Cande. The cleverest glided up the River Indre, which flows within a hundred yards of the chateau itself. Special contingents of gendarmes were detailed for duty and there was rigid control of the enormous crowds in the neighbourhood of the Chateau de Cande. After the ceremony the road was blocked by gendarmes to prevent pursuit of the departing bride and bridegroom. The post office dealt with an unprecedented flow of letters and packages. Honeymoon Dresses Packing continued inside the chateau to-day, Mrs ‘Warfield’s honeymoon trunks containing at least sixty of the newest Paris dresses. The Duke and Mrs Warfield made further studies of the French wedding ceremony so that they would be thoroughly familiar with the text. The religious ceremony was carried out before an altar improvised from an old oak chest which was selected for the purpose because of its suitable height. It was covered with a white altar cloth and surmounted by a gold cross. After the religious ceremony the guests gathered in the salon to drink the toast of the bride and bridegroom, who left the chateau by car about 6 p.m. for Loches, where they boarded a train. They are expected at Wasserleonburg to-morrow.

The whole village of Monts observed a holiday to celebrate the occasion. Three big flags were flying at the entrance to the village—the Union Jack, the Stars and Stripes, and the French -Tricolour, The local musical society offered to serenade the bride and bridegroom, but the Duke replied regretting that he was unable to accept. Charabanc excursions were running to the chateau from many parts of France bringing hundreds more to join the thousands of visitors already in the district.