2110-8-3-13

[Violet Markham]

Moon Green, Wittersham, Kent Parcels, Wittersham Road Station.

Telephone: Wittersham 5.

December 21st 1936

My dear John

I was delighted to receive your kind letter last week & thought it most kind of you to find time to write to me. I only saw Susie once alas, but she came to dine with me alone & we spent a long & happy evening together. You & she have indeed had cruel domestic anxieties in the middle of your strenuous & difficult job. I am thankful to know that the invalids are both doing well & I hope that the New Year may bring sunshine to lighten the clouds. What a change for Johnnie to exchange tropical Africa for Hudson's Bay! He would have been miserable in any city job & at last he will have the wild life he loves. I leave for Budapesth tomorrow where I am spending Xmas with the Tylers. I did not feel I could face this season of the year in England & thought it better to get

away. Things don't really get easier as time goes on. Grief sinks deeper but it has a sharper edge & the growing silence makes the sense of loneliness more keen. I never realised till I lost Jim that his vitality & joyousness had become the background of my whole existence though we led different lives so far as our external interests were concerned.

But with him the zest & joy in life have gone. Duty remains & the wonderful kindness of friends & so I try & carry on & keep the lamp of patience alight. I know you dont like Wales but there are some words of his to which I cling—"the best one can do is to train oneself to keep one's courage in the forefront of one's mind, to cling to courage, to wear the habitual practice of courage like a private amulet."

Believe me I know how many & abounding are my mercies & I don't fail to count them. Countless women are tenfold worse off than I am.

Moon Green, Wittersham, Kent. Parcels, Wittersham Road Station.

Telephone Wittersham 5.

Well, we have come through a terrific time—surely the most amazing page in history? Little blighter; thank God he has gone, but it is no thanks to him we did not have shooting in the streets or anyway internal divisions which would have reduced the country to chaos. I have no words to say what I think of Edward's behaviour & his great betrayal of trust. What will history say of a man who held an American harlot of more importance than the welfare of the nation & Empire? And for her sake was prepared to gamble with such stakes? However the country was spendid & S.B. magnificent. E. thought his popularity was so great that he could put that woman across us, but he ran up against the fundamental decencies

of the country which found expression at the Jubilee. And here he & his advisors - Esmond Harmsworth Beaverbrook Winston miscalulated. One breathes a sigh of relief now that Palace gang is cleared out, & once again I can sing God Save the King with intent & sincerity. I feel so much safer with stupid stuttering George who any way restores decency to the throne. Support for Edward comes from Baldwin's political enemies who are furious to see him emerge from the crisis the strongest man in England. They had hoped to turn the crisis against the National Government & to make the morganatic marriage the spear head of an attack directed to ends remote from the King himself. It is from this quarter that snarls & growls proceed. You will have heard most of the gossip—never has London been such a shouting gallery as during this time—how Edward has been shunned by the lady to

Moon Green, Wittersham, Kent. Parcels, Wittersham Road Station.

Telephone Wittersham 5.

whom he gave Queen Alexandra's jewels, how he has left debts etc etc. Only England could have come through such an upheaval intact & things have settled down amazingly. All the same I dont think we are at the end of the business yet. There are bound to be repercussions especially when the Civil List comes along. And that pair floating round in Europe as Duke & Duchess of Windsor is a prospect which makes my gorge rise.

Now dear John a word in your ear. I was delighted to read what you say of the intimate & affectionate terms you are on with Rex & of his wisdom during these troubled days. But I am bound to tell you the impression here of his attitude during the crisis was very different & created sharp comment. Just at the start when everyone was confused & bewildered

[in margin, continued from overleaf:] wish me to write candidly about matters here - it is one of the very few services that an old & intimate friend can render in a position like yours. My love & every good wish to Susie yourself & the children for the New Year.

Ys ever

Violet