The two future Kings were Edward VIII and his brother who succeeded him after the 1936 abdication, George VI. The mistresses were both upper-class women: Mrs Freda Dudley Ward and Lady Sheila Loughborough. The Times printed a photograph of the latter in an article on October 2, but said it was Freda Dudley Ward. Alistair Lexden sorted out the confusion in a letter published in edited form on October 6.
Sir, Mrs Dudley Ward, mistress of the future Edward VIII, is not the woman in the picture between him and his brother Prince Albert, later George VI (“The unseen portraits of a lovestruck future king”, Oct.2). The woman pictured was the latter’s mistress, Lady Sheila Loughborough, wife of the Earl of Rosslyn’s son, when the photograph was taken in the summer of 1919, two years before the future Queen Elizabeth came on the scene. The two couples spent much time together. A letter from “Buckhouse SW” on June 7, 1919, brought Freda Dudley Ward (“precious darling beloved little Fredie”) the news that “Bertie rang Sheilie up this morning & fixed up for us both to go on to Lankhills tomorrow after we have played golf.” In June 1920, however, Bertie was dumped by his lover.
Lord Lexden
London SW1
Pictured: Freda Dudley Ward
