Canadian Wedding of Edward VIII
Secret First Marriage of Prince of Wales, Later King Edward VIII
A look at the claim of a Canadian woman that she became the bride of the Prince Of Wales (later King Edward VIII) in the 1920s.
In the 1920s a Canadian woman from Rockwood, Ontario, alleged that she was married to the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, and she carried that story to her grave in the Mountview Cemetery, Cambridge, Ontario. How did this come about? She was a teacher who, the early 1920s, moved with her sister to Calgary where she taught in one of the outlying schools. At about the same time the Prince purchased a ranch in the area and spent a few summers there. Millicent Milroy claimed that she first met the Prince while he was staying at the Iroquois Hotel in Galt. He had been introduced to her father, so there is a strong possibility that the two did meet.
Although her story changed from time to time, she always insisted that she and the Prince were indeed married. And to top it off, there were two boys born to the couple who were named Andrew and Edward. Apparently the Prince facilitated an adoption process and the boys were spirited off to their new homes without anyone being the wiser. Milroy was more forthcoming about the wherabouts of her boys and on several occasions told different stories as to where they were.
One story told of them having been taken back to England by the Royal Family; another told of one of the boys having been in a fatal car crash and still another maintained that one of the boys had risen in the ranks of the Canadian government and had a very important position. She always refused to tell anyone their names or where they were so as not to embarrass the Prince or to put their lives in peril. Milroy stuck to her story and went to her grave insisting that she and the Prince had, indeed, been married. The only proof she had was a bible, some pictures of the Prince and a marriage certificate. She would occasionally show these documents to visitors.
Milroy did not have an easy life. Apparently she was not too good at managing money, which at times left her in dire straits financially. She was unable to keep up her cottage on Richardson Street in Rockwood and at times would not have enough money for the essentials. Apparantly someone named 'Ted' came to her rescue and supplied enough money to get her back on her feet. She gave the impression that 'Ted' was, of course, the Prince of Wales.
Milroy died in 1985, and shortly thereafter the house was robbed. The only thing taken was the bible!
Her gravesite, in Cambridge's Mountview Cemetery reads, "Millicent A.M.M.M.St.P-Daughter of James and Helen Milroy, 1890- Wife of Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor, 1894- "
Sources:
Interview with the late Eva Howlett, Guelph, Ontario, friend of Millicent Milroy.
Article in the Wellington Advertiser, by Stephen Thorning, August 29, 2003.
