Wallis Simpson was born in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, on June 19, 1896. In honor of her father and her mother's older sister, she was named Bessie Wallis Warfield; she later dropped her name to become Wallis Warfield, because cows were often called Bessie and it was embarrassing for Wallis to be called Bessie. Her father was Teackle Wallis Warfield of Baltimore and mother was Alice Montague, Wallis was an only child and they were a distinguished American family. Wallis's grandfather ran for mayor of Baltimore in 1875. Her father died of tuberculosis shortly after her birth on November 15, 1896, and her mother Alice found it difficult to provide for Wallis alone, so Wallis and her widowed mother became dependent on charity from their wealthier relatives, notably from Wallis's uncle, Solomon Davies Warfield, who was her father's brother. Wallis and her widowed mother moved in with her uncle Warfield. He contributed to Wallis's education and cared for her in many ways. He paid for Wallis to attend Oldfield's School, the most expensive girls' school in Maryland, where she earned a reputation. to smoke, sneak out and have boyfriends. She displayed a strong, outgoing personality that made her magnetic to some girls, particularly her best friend, Mary Kirk. In 1901, Wallis's aunt, Bessie Merryman, for whom she was named, was widowed, and the following year Wallis and her mother moved in with her, living here for at least a year until they could afford an apartment, and then a house own, Wallis had a difficult childhood as she and her mother had always struggled to pay their expenses leading to Wallis needing constant financial security throughout her life while Edward lived... middle of paper... Giorgio's firm conviction VI that the Duchess should not be given a royal title was shared by Queen Mary and George's wife, Queen Elizabeth. At first, the royal family did not accept the duchess and did not formally receive her, although the former king sometimes met with her mother and brothers after her abdication. The Duchess bitterly resented the denial of the royal title and the refusal of the Duke's relatives to accept her as part of the family. The Duke and Duchess lived in France in the pre-war years. In 1937 they made a high-profile visit to Germany and met Adolf Hitler. After the visit, Hitler said of Wallis, "she would have made a good queen." The visit tended to corroborate the strong suspicions of many in government and society that the Duchess was in fact a German agent. US FBI files compiled in the 1930s also portray her as a possible Nazi sympathiser.