The Duke and Duchess of Windsor There are few people better qualified to talk about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor than Hugo Vickers, who has been studying them since the 1960s. Though he never met them, he once saw the Duke of Windsor at Windsor in 1968, noting the sadness of his spaniel eyes. And he went many times to the house in the Bois de Boulogne where they spent their last years. He first visited it in 1972 when both were still alive, and he saw the house operating at full steam, then gradually going into decline during the long years of illness of the Duchess, last visiting in 1976. He went again just after her death, and several times in the early 1990s during and after the restoration of the house by Mohamed Fayed - during which time he researched his book, The Private World of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. This lecture looks at their lives, illustrated with images from their own collection. It also looks at the house where they spent their last years. It aims to give an overview of the elements that led to the Abdication, and give a personal insight into how they spent their lives, locked together by the momentous decision made in 1936.