Freda Dudley Ward


Winifred May, Marquesa de Casa Maury, universally known by her first married name as Freda Dudley Ward, was an English socialite best known for being a married paramour of the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VIII.

Biography

Born Winifred May Birkin, she was the second child and eldest of three daughters of British Colonel Charles Wilfred Birkin, and his American wife, Claire Lloyd Birkin.
Freda was the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales, from 1918 to 1934, when he fell in love with Wallis Simpson. The relationship between the Prince of Wales and the married Ward was common knowledge in aristocratic circles. Winston Churchill observed in 1927, after travelling with them on a train, "It is quite pathetic to see the Prince and Freda. His love is so obvious and undisguisable."

Marriages and children

Freda was married twice. Her first marriage was on 9 July 1913 to William Dudley Ward, Liberal MP for Southampton. They had two daughters. Her first husband's family surname was Ward, but 'Dudley Ward' became their official surname through common usage. Their divorce took place on the ground of adultery in 1931.
A few years after her divorce, she married, on 20 October 1937, Pedro Jose Isidro Manuel Ricardo Mones, Marques de Casa Maury. From 1938, the couple took up residence in St Johns Wood, London, at 58 Hamilton Terrace, which they commissioned from the architects Burnet, Tait, and Lorne. They divorced in 1954.

Legacy

A portrait of her by the artist John Singer Sargent was discovered on the television series Antiques Roadshow in 2016.

Footnotes