A six-month-old Wallis Simpson with her mother, Alice Warfield, 1896. Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 ¡V April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King-Emperor Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcee caused a constitutional crisis that led to Edwards abdication.