In the bitter cold of December 1936, a constitutional crisis reached its climax when King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne. His decision to choose Wallis Simpson over the crown sent shockwaves across the empire and upended all traditional royal plans for the festive season.
An Unwelcome Royal Exile in Austria
Instead of celebrating at Sandringham as the reigning sovereign, the newly created Duke of Windsor found himself in an unfamiliar and gloomy setting by Christmas Day. He was installed at Schloss Enzesfeld, an 11th-century castle located 25 miles from Vienna in the Austrian countryside.
This obscure refuge was offered by Wallis Simpson's American friend, Kitty de Rothschild. The thrice-married, socially ambitious doctor's daughter from Philadelphia was married to the immensely wealthy Baron Eugene de Rothschild. The couple rarely used the vast hunting lodge, preferring their life in Paris.
The plan was straightforward: Edward would remain there in seclusion until Wallis's divorce from Ernest Simpson was finalised four months later, allowing them to marry. However, the fussy former king never wanted to be there and disliked the arrangement from the start.
The House Guest From Hell
Baroness Kitty de Rothschild went to extraordinary lengths to prepare the schloss for her royal guest. She hired swathes of staff, polished every surface, and even purchased a string of white Lippizaner horses to make the stables appear lived-in.
Her efforts were met with utter indifference. Biographer Stephen Birmingham noted that Edward "seemed to regard Enzesfeld as his own domain and consider Kitty, his hostess, as a somewhat unwelcome house guest." His primary occupation became telephoning Wallis, who was waiting out the divorce in the South of France.
The ex-king called her up to a dozen times a day on the poor-quality line, running up colossal telephone bills that even annoyed the fantastically rich Baron. Edward's sense of entitlement knew no bounds; when he went shopping in Vienna using a Rothschild limousine, he simply had the bills sent to his host.
A Solitary Christmas and a Swift Exit
Kitty planned a lavish Christmas Eve gala, bringing musicians and decorators from Paris and redecorating an entire salon with a massive tree. On the night, the Duke sent word he would not attend. The ultimate insult came on 25 December 1936, when he ate his Christmas dinner entirely alone.
Wallis Simpson's insecurity soon poisoned the atmosphere further. Biographer Andrew Morton wrote that she "accused him of having an affair with Kitty," a notion that was utterly baseless. Kitty, meanwhile, was anxiously counting the days until her expensive guest departed.
After three months, the Rothschilds' patience expired. "As far as I'm concerned, anyone can have him any time," Kitty snarled. The Baron finally halted the financial bleeding by directing all future bills to the Duke himself.
Startled by the cost of living—having never personally paid bills before—the penny-pinching Duke packed his bags and moved to a modest $10-a-day pension hundreds of miles away. He left without bothering to thank or say goodbye to his hosts. Unsurprisingly, when Edward and Wallis married near Paris in June 1937, the Rothschilds did not respond to their invitation.
Back in Britain, life moved on. Edward's younger brother, Bertie—King George VI—presided over a traditional Christmas at Sandringham, embracing his new role despite initial reluctance. For one ex-king, however, the 1936 holidays were a stark lesson in loneliness and fallen status.
