0:00:02 > 0:00:06One thousand years of history under one roof,
0:00:06 > 0:00:11the National Archives, a treasure house of secrets.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15The records of extraordinary times and people.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20These files are this nation's story, our shared past.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Documents housed here were highly classified,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28intended for the eyes of only the privileged few,
0:00:28 > 0:00:31protected from your sight for decades -
0:00:31 > 0:00:33but not now.
0:00:37 > 0:00:44I've been granted special access to files once kept hush-hush.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48I'll unearth amazing tales from our hidden history.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53Forget what you've been told - these documents tell the truth.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Coming up in this programme - celebrity scandals.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13The musicians who rocked the establishment
0:01:13 > 0:01:16and the detective determined to bust them.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18This was the last famous trial against pop stars.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21Do you think anybody was tipping off the press?
0:01:21 > 0:01:24That's a very difficult question. It certainly wasn't me.
0:01:24 > 0:01:25The unknown Oscar -
0:01:25 > 0:01:29how Wilde's private life was exposed to the public.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33The lynchpin in the whole case - "Did you kiss him?"
0:01:33 > 0:01:34"Oh, no, he was far too ugly."
0:01:34 > 0:01:35Whoops.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37And spying on the King.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42The files that show how the police slandered his lover Wallis Simpson.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Are you surprised that Special Branch were spying on this couple?
0:01:46 > 0:01:49No, because the establishment was terrified of having
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Wallis Simpson as Queen Wallie.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56So they were looking for every reason not to like her.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00You know the saying -
0:02:00 > 0:02:05"If you can remember the 1960s, you weren't really there."
0:02:05 > 0:02:09Well, I was a youthful and innocent spectator living in 1960s London...
0:02:11 > 0:02:12..enjoying the pretty girls...
0:02:14 > 0:02:17..ogling their avant-garde fashion,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20and above all, loving the music.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23MUSIC: It's All Over Now by the Rolling Stones.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31And this - Carnaby Street - was its epicentre
0:02:31 > 0:02:35and the generation that gathered here was young and rebellious
0:02:35 > 0:02:38and experimental and part of the permissive society,
0:02:38 > 0:02:45which for some represented a threat to traditional British values.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53The biggest threat, it seemed, came from the Rolling Stones.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58# Let it roll right now... #
0:03:01 > 0:03:04As tales of their excess filled the tabloids,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08stories of their drug use brought a crackdown by the authorities.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11From the late '60s to the early '70s,
0:03:11 > 0:03:16there was high-profile bust after high-profile bust.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Why were the police determined to go after them?
0:03:20 > 0:03:22What happened during those arrests?
0:03:22 > 0:03:27The secrets are in these documents that remained sealed for decades.
0:03:31 > 0:03:37What I have here is a Metropolitan Police file dated July 1973
0:03:37 > 0:03:40of a raid that occurred in Cheyne Walk in London
0:03:40 > 0:03:42against Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45who were discovered in bed together there.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50It is a great big, thick Metropolitan Police file
0:03:50 > 0:03:53and it contains, amongst other things,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55a huge list of the things that were found there.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Oh, my goodness, Keith. What a beginning.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01One Smith and Wesson revolver. Wow.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Any number of tablets - white, green, brown,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07virtually every colour. It goes on and on and on.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Now, here we have some of the conversations,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19very tense conversations that took place between the Met
0:04:19 > 0:04:21and Keith Richards.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23A policeman says, "What's in this envelope?"
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Richards says "Grass."
0:04:25 > 0:04:27"How do you know when I haven't shown it to you yet?"
0:04:27 > 0:04:30"Well, I guessed. It is grass, isn't it?"
0:04:30 > 0:04:32And then Keith Richards tries to imply
0:04:32 > 0:04:34that it belongs to somebody else.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37And then I rather like this.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39There's a moment where they're searching the house
0:04:39 > 0:04:41and, of course, Keith Richards heads towards the bathroom,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45maybe to dispose of certain substances,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48and the policewoman says, "Keith! Would you come back here?"
0:04:48 > 0:04:52He said, "Mr Richards to you."
0:04:52 > 0:04:57Well, I wonder how Keith - Mr Richards - would have felt
0:04:57 > 0:04:59when he was being charged with these offences
0:04:59 > 0:05:02had he known that his friend and fellow Rolling Stone
0:05:02 > 0:05:05would one day become Sir Mick Jagger?
0:05:05 > 0:05:11MUSIC: Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones
0:05:11 > 0:05:15But this was far from a one-off case.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18By the time of that 1973 raid,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22the police had been targeting rock stars for seven years.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27And driving much of it was a plain-clothes drug squad detective
0:05:27 > 0:05:31from Scotland Yard, Norman alias Nobby Pilcher.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36He'd convinced his superiors to pour resources
0:05:36 > 0:05:38into investigating the rich and famous.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44Nigel Gunning, as a Detective Constable, worked for Nobby Pilcher.
0:05:44 > 0:05:49He was a South London boy with a good CID officer's background.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52He was a great guy to work for, devoted to what he was doing.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57He was also quite charming but could be very, very hardnosed at times.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00But overall, he was very, very shrewd.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Was he, in any sense, a crusader?
0:06:02 > 0:06:04He'd find a hoop to hang something on.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08We will try and clean up London and deal with the drugs situation
0:06:08 > 0:06:12as we knew it then, which has now spiralled out of all proportion.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18No rock star was exempt from Pilcher's attention.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22As well as busting the Stones, he arrested the folk singer Donovan
0:06:22 > 0:06:24and raided the home of Eric Clapton.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28His crackdown bought him tabloid fame,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32especially when he and his team targeted a Beatle.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37You were involved in a raid on John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Yes, I was. And some alleged drugs were found,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43which subsequently were analysed.
0:06:43 > 0:06:48John and Yoko were gathered up and taken out the front door
0:06:48 > 0:06:52and suddenly, we were surrounded by lots of still cameras.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Press photographers snapped John and Yoko as they were led
0:06:55 > 0:06:59out of their apartment and down to the station.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01How were the paparazzi there?
0:07:01 > 0:07:05The suspicion was that the police had tipped them off.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09And as these formerly secret files now reveal,
0:07:09 > 0:07:11even the Home Secretary was suspicious,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14asking Pilcher why a simple arrest
0:07:14 > 0:07:18had involved seven officers and two dogs
0:07:18 > 0:07:21and why photographers were there within minutes.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27It is notable that many of the raids on rock stars
0:07:27 > 0:07:32were accompanied by extraordinary publicity at the moment of the raid.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34Now, do you think anybody was tipping off the press?
0:07:34 > 0:07:37That's a very difficult question. It certainly wasn't me.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39To answer your question, it's not impossible.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43When you go up to the court, maybe somebody, you know, saw the paperwork
0:07:43 > 0:07:46and made a phone call and the press would turn up with still cameras.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52Lennon's arrest made headlines, but the biggest drugs case of all
0:07:52 > 0:07:55involved, once again, the Rolling Stones.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58MUSIC: Let It Rock by the Rolling Stones
0:08:00 > 0:08:06In February 1967, the West Sussex force mounted a raid on a mansion.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Inside were Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16During the operation, police found cannabis and amphetamines
0:08:16 > 0:08:18and charged both men with drugs offences.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21Cue a media frenzy.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25Smoking cannabis resin, better known as hashish...
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Richards, who earlier had talked in his evidence
0:08:27 > 0:08:29of what he called "petty morals"...
0:08:29 > 0:08:33Four months later, the trial, and guilty verdicts.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38The judge jailed Jagger for three months and Richards for a year.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Stones fans were outraged.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43Judge Block said sternly to Richards
0:08:43 > 0:08:46that the offence of which he'd been found guilty
0:08:46 > 0:08:48carried a maximum sentence of 10 years.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50There was a gasp of pure horror from the youngsters
0:08:50 > 0:08:53crowded into the public gallery.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56In the event, after their trials Jagger and Richards spent
0:08:56 > 0:09:01just one night in the cells before being released pending an appeal -
0:09:01 > 0:09:03an appeal that was successful.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Jagger received a conditional discharge
0:09:05 > 0:09:08and Richards' conviction was overturned.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12# If I have to sleep on your doorstep all night and day... #
0:09:12 > 0:09:17Despite that judicial leniency, Pilcher and other detectives
0:09:17 > 0:09:21pursued rock stars for drug taking throughout the '60s and beyond.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27In 1973, Richards again became the focus
0:09:27 > 0:09:30of that extraordinary raid that I read about.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43I've come to where he was tried -
0:09:43 > 0:09:47the Great Marlborough Street Magistrates Court, now a restaurant.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50I've invited my next witness to meet me here.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56Simon Wells, do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth
0:09:56 > 0:09:57and nothing but the truth?
0:09:57 > 0:09:58Yes, Your Honour.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Is this or is this not the magistrates court where
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Anita Pallenberg and Keith Richards were tried on drugs offences?
0:10:05 > 0:10:07Very much so. Way back in...
0:10:07 > 0:10:09Well, it must be over 40 years now,
0:10:09 > 0:10:14emanating from the charges in Cheyne Walk residence, 25 charges.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16I feel this was the last-ditch attempt of the drug squad
0:10:16 > 0:10:18to try and put a Stone in jail.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Once again, the attempt to imprison Richards failed.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26He pleaded guilty to the drugs charges,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29but the magistrates imposed minuscule fines
0:10:29 > 0:10:32of just £10 on each offence.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37So, a very different outcome from the 1967 trial
0:10:37 > 0:10:41where Keith Richards had received a one-year custodial sentence.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43By this point, I think though,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47the steam had run out of the whole prosecution against pop stars.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Decades after they were pursued by the police,
0:10:50 > 0:10:52the Stones continue to roll,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56defying their age to pack out stadia around the world.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00But what of the detective Norman 'Nobby' Pilcher?
0:11:00 > 0:11:03MUSIC: I Am The Walrus by the Beatles
0:11:03 > 0:11:08Well, at the end of 1967, he found himself immortalised on vinyl.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11In the Beatles track I Am The Walrus,
0:11:11 > 0:11:16John Lennon supposedly refers to his old adversary as Semolina Pilchard.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18# Semolina Pilchard
0:11:21 > 0:11:24# Climbing up the Eiffel Tower... #
0:11:24 > 0:11:27A bit of an indignity for a proud detective?
0:11:27 > 0:11:28Yes.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32But a few years later, things became a whole lot worse for him.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36What happened to Norman Pilcher in the end?
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Well, he was found guilty on a perjury charge in 1973.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43He'd tried to go to Australia but was deported straight back
0:11:43 > 0:11:44and he was jailed for four years
0:11:44 > 0:11:47and I think many people in the counter culture
0:11:47 > 0:11:48were clapping their hands with joy.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51# I am the walrus Goo goo g'joob. #
0:11:59 > 0:12:03My next story is about a talent that many celebrities possess
0:12:03 > 0:12:05for self destruction.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14playwright, poet and wit,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18the toast of Britain's literary scene and an early modern celebrity.
0:12:20 > 0:12:21But at the very height of his career,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24when his comic masterpiece The Importance Of Being Earnest
0:12:24 > 0:12:27was playing on the London stage,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30he made a calamitous error that would lead to his downfall.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35There's a document in the National Archives rarely seen,
0:12:35 > 0:12:39tiny in size, massive in its consequences.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43In the 19th century, every gentleman carried a calling card.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45When he made a visit, it could be presented,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48carried up to the drawing room by the servants
0:12:48 > 0:12:50to announce who it was who had arrived.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53But also, more sinisterly, it could be used as part of a ritual
0:12:53 > 0:12:55that might lead to a duel,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58perhaps presented with a militaristic click of the heels.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02It was perhaps in that tradition that a card was presented
0:13:02 > 0:13:06by the Marquess of Queensberry, a man who was desperately upset
0:13:06 > 0:13:10that his son had been involved in a four-year homosexual affair.
0:13:10 > 0:13:16He presented the card at the Albemarle Club to Oscar Wilde
0:13:16 > 0:13:22and on the card he wrote, "For Oscar Wilde, posing sodomite."
0:13:22 > 0:13:25This tiny document, this calling card,
0:13:25 > 0:13:27the very thing that I have before me here,
0:13:27 > 0:13:31unleashed the biggest social scandal of the Victorian period.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39We know what happened from a statement made by Oscar Wilde
0:13:39 > 0:13:41in his own handwriting.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44"I spoke to the hall porter at the club.
0:13:44 > 0:13:45"In handing me the envelope,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47"he said there was a message from the defendant.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52"The message was, 'Lord Queensberry desired me, sir, to hand you this
0:13:52 > 0:13:54"'when you came to the club.'
0:13:54 > 0:13:56"I read what was on the card as well as I could.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59"Immediately, I communicated with my solicitor."
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Oscar Wilde commenced a criminal libel proceeding
0:14:03 > 0:14:05against Lord Queensberry.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13Had Wilde's case against Queensberry succeeded,
0:14:13 > 0:14:15the Marquess would have gone to jail.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20But Queensberry was determined to turn the tables
0:14:20 > 0:14:23and to expose Wilde as a homosexual.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28The Marquess of Queensberry hired investigators who were able to prove
0:14:28 > 0:14:31that Wilde was involved in a homosexual affair with his son
0:14:31 > 0:14:33and indeed with other men.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36This was serious for Wilde because homosexuality at the time
0:14:36 > 0:14:37was a crime
0:14:37 > 0:14:41and Lord Queensberry, having been acquitted, a new trial began.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44Oscar Wilde was tried and sent to prison.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51Two years of hard labour must have taken a huge toil on Wilde
0:14:51 > 0:14:54because, as the files now reveal,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57the man who many think of as a gay icon
0:14:57 > 0:15:01was prepared to say almost anything to get out of jail early.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Now, this is a pathetic document.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07This is Wilde in prison making an appeal to the Home Secretary,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10seeking to have his sentence commuted.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13And now he refers to his homosexuality
0:15:13 > 0:15:17as a "form of sexual madness".
0:15:17 > 0:15:22He talks about diseases that ought to be treated by a physician
0:15:22 > 0:15:27rather than crimes to be punished by a judge.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30This is extraordinary to a modern audience
0:15:30 > 0:15:33to talk about homosexuality in this way.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Perhaps Oscar Wilde's finest moment was at his trial
0:15:36 > 0:15:40where he spoke of the love that dare not speak its name.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Wilde clearly made a colossal error in choosing to prosecute the libel.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52But how did he behave once the hearing was underway?
0:15:52 > 0:15:55His only surviving grandson, Merlin Holland,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57has studied the transcripts.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59They reveal that Wilde started off
0:15:59 > 0:16:02with less than his celebrated self-assurance
0:16:02 > 0:16:06and show how the quick wit that brought him fame and fortune
0:16:06 > 0:16:09also proved his undoing.
0:16:09 > 0:16:15What we've got now is Oscar starting off quite modestly,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18finding his feet,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22teasing Edward Carson, who was Queensberry's defence lawyer,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24becoming overconfident and then,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27that moment at which the whole thing turns,
0:16:27 > 0:16:31the lynchpin in the whole case - "Did you kiss him?"
0:16:31 > 0:16:33"Oh, no, he was far too ugly." Whoops.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35A flippancy too far?
0:16:35 > 0:16:37A flippancy too far and he's talked himself into prison.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42The other document that I've seen
0:16:42 > 0:16:45is a rather pathetic petition that he's making
0:16:45 > 0:16:48- to see whether his sentence can be reduced.- Ah, yes.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51And now he's talking about his homosexuality as being
0:16:51 > 0:16:53a kind of madness, about being a disease.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55How do you reflect on that tone?
0:16:57 > 0:16:59I've always felt deeply uncomfortable about it.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01I mean, I've always felt his...
0:17:01 > 0:17:03It's the behaviour of a man
0:17:03 > 0:17:07who's been utterly cowed, bowed down, broken by prison.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10But I think it's one of those compromises in his life
0:17:10 > 0:17:13which is very unexpected but so totally understandable.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16After his eventual release,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Wilde never recovered from his imprisonment.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21Within three years, he was dead.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Today, his literary achievements overshadow the scandal
0:17:26 > 0:17:29that made him an outcast in his day,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31and yet it's hard not to see his downfall
0:17:31 > 0:17:34as part of his enduring appeal.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Is Oscar Wilde a gay icon, should he be and would he be pleased to be?
0:17:38 > 0:17:43I think he is a gay icon, I think he'd be pleased to be
0:17:43 > 0:17:45and I think he should be.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50I think he's also a sort of role model for young people today
0:17:50 > 0:17:52because here was a man back in Victorian times
0:17:52 > 0:17:56who stood out against everything which was authoritarian,
0:17:56 > 0:18:02and one loves to find someone who is older and who is historical
0:18:02 > 0:18:06and to whom one can say, "Thank you for being a role model to me,"
0:18:06 > 0:18:08and I think in a sense, Oscar does perform that function
0:18:08 > 0:18:11to a lot of young people today still.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27Nothing sells tabloid newspapers better than salacious gossip
0:18:27 > 0:18:30about the Royal family.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Normally, these scandal sheets endure only as wrapping
0:18:34 > 0:18:37for tomorrow's fish and chips.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41But occasionally, the tittle-tattle assumes a genuine,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45deep-seated, constitutional significance.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49As it did in 1936.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Think you've heard everything about the abdication crisis?
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Think again.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57These archives reveal the secret actors
0:18:57 > 0:19:00who make this real-life drama stranger than fiction.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07As King George V neared the end of his life,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10his son was a very handsome Prince of Wales
0:19:10 > 0:19:14with a very marked taste for the ladies.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17But at a time when the press imposed self-censorship
0:19:17 > 0:19:20in order to avoid embarrassment to the Royal family,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23his many affairs were of no particular concern.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28Until, that is, he took up with Mrs Wallis Simpson,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32a married woman who, in fact, had two living husbands.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35And then get this - Special Branch began to follow
0:19:35 > 0:19:40the Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson and to open a file.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Here we are - "Mrs Wallis Simpson.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46"She was regarded as a person very fond of the company of men
0:19:46 > 0:19:49"and to have had many affairs.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53"She was with different men at these addresses."
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Then Special Branch have pursued the Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson
0:19:58 > 0:20:02to an antique shop where they've done some shopping.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03"The opinion of the dealer,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07"expressed after his distinguished client had left, was that
0:20:07 > 0:20:11"the lady seemed to have the Prince of Wales under her thumb."
0:20:11 > 0:20:13Then it says, very shockingly,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17"The Simpsons are regarded in some circles as Jews."
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Things get worse for Mrs Simpson.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29Special Branch is convinced that she has a secret lover.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33"The identity has now been definitely ascertained.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37"He is Guy Marcus Trundle, a very charming adventurer,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41"very good-looking, well-bred and an excellent dancer.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45"He meets Mrs Simpson quite openly at informal social gatherings
0:20:45 > 0:20:46"as a personal friend,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49"but secret meetings are made by appointment
0:20:49 > 0:20:53"when intimate relations take place."
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Now, if this file was made available to the Cabinet,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59it's scarcely surprising that when, as King Edward VIII,
0:20:59 > 0:21:03he sought to marry this woman and to keep the throne,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05the Cabinet would have none of it.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12How true were these secret Special Branch reports?
0:21:12 > 0:21:15And why did Wallis Simpson provoke enough suspicion
0:21:15 > 0:21:17to warrant being followed?
0:21:20 > 0:21:23- Hello, Anne.- Hello, Michael. Lovely to meet you.- Welcome.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Time for afternoon tea at the sort of place that Mrs Simpson loved,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29London's Langham Hotel,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33with the woman who's written a definitive biography of Wallis.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Heavens. Pages of teas.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40How lovely. Thank you.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45- That's beautiful. Thank you so much. - Delightful.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Why did the Prince of Wales apparently fall in love with her?
0:21:48 > 0:21:50She was different.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54And I think the first occasion when they met, he said to her,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58"Oh, madam, may I say how wonderful you look tonight,"
0:21:58 > 0:22:01and she shot back quick as a flash
0:22:01 > 0:22:04because she'd overheard him saying to an aide,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07"But, Sir, I thought you said all the women in this room looked ghastly."
0:22:07 > 0:22:10And he thought this was so funny, so brash,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13it showed such a lack of deference
0:22:13 > 0:22:16and I think that was really what attracted him to her.
0:22:16 > 0:22:17I think he had lots of pep
0:22:17 > 0:22:19and I think he was very much ahead of his time.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21If there was anything new came along,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23I always wanted to try it out, always.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25What sort of a woman was she?
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Fearful, deeply insecure.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30But I'm surprised to hear you call her insecure,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34because the image we have of her is that she was assertive,
0:22:34 > 0:22:37that she was witty, that she was domineering even.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40No, this insecurity was seared deep.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45Her late father's brother paid an allowance into her mother's account,
0:22:45 > 0:22:46but it was irregular.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49Sometimes there was a lot of money, sometimes there was no money at all.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53So, Wallis grew up believing that you have to depend on men.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56On the other hand, you can't depend on men cos you just never know,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58they use and abuse you.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01And that too was part of this insecurity
0:23:01 > 0:23:04that there just was never enough money for her.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Ah, we're on to the scones.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14- Oh, look, they look lovely. After you.- Don't they?
0:23:14 > 0:23:19I've been looking at the papers of the Special Branch operation,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23because they were tailing Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Special Branch believe that Wallis Simpson
0:23:26 > 0:23:29was having an affair with Guy Trundle. Do you believe it?
0:23:29 > 0:23:30I don't believe it, no.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33They were trying to find some reason,
0:23:33 > 0:23:37because the establishment was terrified of having Wallis Simpson
0:23:37 > 0:23:39as Queen Wallie.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44So, they were looking for every reason not to like her.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47And I think they found this man - Guy Trundle -
0:23:47 > 0:23:50who was a notorious womaniser, a boaster.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55I don't believe she had time or an appetite for this sort of man.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57She didn't want a second-hand car salesman.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03Did she think she was going to become Queen or...?
0:24:03 > 0:24:05No, Wallis did not want to be Queen.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08So you see her as really getting trapped in a situation
0:24:08 > 0:24:10- which she hadn't intended. Is that right?- Yes.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12I'm afraid the old cliches are the best.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14You know, if you play with fire, you get burnt,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17hoist by her own petard, all those things.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21I think she thought she would have a few months of fun,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24acquire some jewels, and then go back with a little bit more money.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29In January 1936, when his father died,
0:24:29 > 0:24:31the Prince of Wales became King.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34He was determined to marry Mrs Simpson.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37He established her in a safe house,
0:24:37 > 0:24:42the very address that she used on her petition for a divorce.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46The voluntary self-censorship of the press broke down,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49the story got out and the public was shocked.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52The Prime Minister, Mr Stanley Baldwin,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55said that the marriage was impossible,
0:24:55 > 0:24:58even if Mrs Simpson were not to become Queen.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Unable to convince the government
0:25:01 > 0:25:04and determined to marry the woman that he loved,
0:25:04 > 0:25:08the King was left with only one possible choice -
0:25:08 > 0:25:11the terrible decision to abdicate.
0:25:13 > 0:25:18'I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility
0:25:18 > 0:25:23'and to discharge my duties as King, as I here would wish to do,
0:25:23 > 0:25:28'without the help and support of the woman I love.'
0:25:31 > 0:25:34To this day, people argue about whether Edward
0:25:34 > 0:25:38could have kept the throne if he married Mrs Simpson.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42I've come to Fleet Street, where in 1936, journalists' typewriters
0:25:42 > 0:25:46went into overdrive when news of the scandal broke,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50to meet someone who feels that the truth has been kept secret
0:25:50 > 0:25:51for too long.
0:25:51 > 0:25:52- Hello, Susan.- Hello, Michael.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Historian Susan Williams has an explosive theory
0:25:56 > 0:25:59about the real reason that Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
0:25:59 > 0:26:01was so set against Edward.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05Certainly, one of the things that bothered the Prime Minister
0:26:05 > 0:26:09and also other aspects of the establishment, if you like,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12was his support for the long-term unemployed.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16He went to South Wales and he visited the long-term unemployed,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20who received him in their heart and were so pleased that he came
0:26:20 > 0:26:24and he said, "Something must be done to bring work to these people,"
0:26:24 > 0:26:27and the Conservative-dominated government
0:26:27 > 0:26:30was really unhappy about this behaviour
0:26:30 > 0:26:33because they perceived it as criticism
0:26:33 > 0:26:35of what they were failing to do.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38So, your view is that the government engineered the abdication
0:26:38 > 0:26:41because they didn't like the policies of the King?
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Yes, I think that's right.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45It's not simply that he went to South Wales
0:26:45 > 0:26:49and was perceived to be criticising the Government implicitly,
0:26:49 > 0:26:54but also, that visit to South Wales was recorded on news reels
0:26:54 > 0:26:56and news reels were shown all over Britain.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Baldwin told the King that to marry Wallis, he must abdicate.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07But was it as straightforward as that?
0:27:07 > 0:27:11Do you think there was a compromise that would have enabled the King
0:27:11 > 0:27:14to marry Mrs Simpson and be on the throne?
0:27:14 > 0:27:18Well, there really was a compromise and a solution
0:27:18 > 0:27:21and it was put forward by Winston Churchill, Edward's champion,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24and that was for a morganatic marriage,
0:27:24 > 0:27:28by which Mrs Simpson would be Edward's wife but not his Queen.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30But the Prime Minister asserted
0:27:30 > 0:27:33that a morganatic marriage was unacceptable.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35Edward and Mrs Simpson moved to France
0:27:35 > 0:27:38and lived the rest of their lives in exile
0:27:38 > 0:27:40as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45How, decades later, did he feel about the awesome choice that he'd made?
0:27:45 > 0:27:48'Do you have any regrets at all
0:27:48 > 0:27:50about not having gone on being King?'
0:27:50 > 0:27:51No, I would like to have
0:27:51 > 0:27:54but I was going to do it under my own conditions.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56So, I do not have any regrets.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Today's documents have been scandalous.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05A playwright involved in a gay liaison,
0:28:05 > 0:28:09a musician caught in possession of mind-altering substances
0:28:09 > 0:28:14and a monarch wishing to wed a woman with two living husbands.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18Perhaps it was the misfortune of Oscar Wilde, Keith Richards
0:28:18 > 0:28:21and King Edward VIII to be born too early.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Now homosexuality is legal,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28sex, drugs and rock and roll has become a cliche,
0:28:28 > 0:28:34and nowadays we can even contemplate a king being married to a divorcee.