MRS. SIMPSON

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22719, 4 May 1937, Page 11

MRS. SIMPSON

DIVORCE COMPLETED DECRE-E MADE ABSOLUTE DECISION OF THE COURT By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received May 3, 11.5 p.m.) LONDON. May 3 An application for the decree nisi granted to Mrs. Ernest Simpson to be made absolute was heard in the Divorce Division this morning and was duly granted. The decree nisi was granted at Ipswich on October 27, and the necessary six months expired on April 27. However, there were certain preliminary proceedings to be complied with which made it impossible for the application to be heard before to-day. The proceedings to-day lasted only 50 seconds and less than 100 words, spoken by Sir Boyd Merriman, president, and by the clerk of the court, sufficed to make absolute 86 decrees, including Mrs. Simpson's, which was numbered 56.

Although the procedure was merely formal hundreds of people queued up outside the entrance to the Court. The president's Court was crowded when Sir Boyd took his seat on the Bench beneath the rope and anchor which constitute the symbolic sign of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division. Immediately the clerk rose and, reading from an official list, said: "Applications to make absolute decrees in causes numbers 1 to 7S from the principal registries." Sir Boyd asked: "Does anyone appear to show cause why the decrees should not be made absolute?" There was a pause of five seconds during which there was silence. Then Sir Boyd said: "I then pronounce the decrees nisi as made absolute." Similar procedure followed in the case of other decrees from district registries and the crowd evaporated. Within a few moments of the decision the Duke of Windsor and Mrs. Simpson were informed by telephone. It is now reported that the Duke will leave St. Wolfgang this afternoon —a day before lie was expected to do so —and will go by train to Salzburg on the way to France. The Duke of Kent is expected to represent the Royal Family at the wedding. The first part of the honeymoon will be spent at the Villa Le Roc, Lord Cholmondeley's estate at Cannes.

COMING WEDDING MAYOR TO OFFICIATE WIFE RECALLS INCIDENT (Received May 3. 5.<10 p.m.) LONDON, May 2 The Tours correspondent of the Daily Mail says a story of the Duke of Windsor when he was Prince of Wales, kissing a pretty French girl on the Somme battlefield lies behind the plans for his marriage. The Mayor of Monts—the nearest town to the Chateau de Cande where Mrs. Simpson is staying—is Dr. Charles Mercier. His wife recalls that when King George V. visited the Somme front in war time the British headquarters were situated in the village where she resided. Her father frequently entertained officers and she was chosen to present a bouquet to King George who thanked her and asked the Prince of Wales ako to express thanks. The Prince thereupon shook her hand and kissed her on the cheek. Now Dr. Mercier, as chief magistrate, will marry the Duke of Windsor and Mrs. Simpson. Dr. Mercier confirms the statement that the date of the wedding has not been fixed but says he has been asked to visit the chateau shortly to discuss thp arrangements with Mrs. Simpson and the Duke.

Mrs. Simpson has been playing golf and looks sunburnt. The Duke is expected to bo met at a secret rendezvous near Paris with a car from the chateau in which Mrs. Simpson may travel to greet him.

DUKE OF WINDSOR VILLAGERS' FAREWELL SIMPLE PAGEANT IN AUSTRIA (Received May 3, 8.5 p.m.) LONDON, Way A message from St. Wolfgang, Austria, states that villagers crowded in 50 illuminated boats bade a picturesque farewell to the Duke of Windsor. Singers, dancers and a brass band assembled on a platform supported by two barges, went to the villa after dusk leading a procession of water craft. The Duke stood on the balcony for two hours listening to folk songs and watching performers wearing clogs demonstrate their national dances. At the conclusion he received the Burgomaster, who expressed the villagers' sense of the honour of the Duke's visit. The simple pageant was not marred even by Nazis who seized the opportunity to set fire to a. giant wooden swastika on the side of a hill.

MR. BOLITHO'S BOOK REPLY TO CRITICISM LONDON, April 2!) Mr. Hector Bolitho, the New Zealand journalist, lias replied to criticism which greeted his book, "Kdward VIII." The criticism consisted mainly of assertions that Mr. Bolitlio, who had earlier written of the Duke in adulatory terms, turned a somersault to criticise hint. Mr. Bolitlio said to-day: "1 am tired of the whole affair. I received 80 to 100 letters a day accusing me of inconsistency.'' He declared that he wrote n series of articles on the life of the Duke of Windsor (then Prince of Wales) several years ago, although they were published only after the death of King George V. It is with these articles that critics compare the book. "The articles were written according to mv judgment and knowledge of the Duke's life and character at that tinje," Mr. Bolitlio continued. "The biography is a different matter. Several years had passed and everything had changed."