The King Of Love

The desk at which the Duke of Windsor signed away his throne for the woman he loved will be auctioned off in September along with more than 40,000 objects from the couple’s home in Paris. The highlight of the nine-day Sotheby’s acution, which will benefit chilren’s charities worldwide, is the “Abdication Desk” at which the duke, having reigned as King Edward VII for less than a year, signed his abdication in 1936 to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. As king, and head of the Church of England, he could not marry a divorced woman. Also on the block are artworks, antiques, rare books, 10,000 photos going back to the 1860s, Mrs. Simpson’s paste jewelry, even a preserved piece of the couple’s wedding cake from 1937 and needlepoint cushions made by the duke himself to amuse himself in the evenings.