MONTS, France -- History was made and tender romance climaxed in the ancient Chateau De Cande today when the Duke of Windsor took as his bride the woman for whom he renounced throne and empire, Mrs. Wallis Warfield of Baltimore.
First a civil and then a religious' ceremony joined the world renowned couple in the bonds of matrimony.
Dr. Charles Mercier, the mayor of Monts, intoned the solemn but simple phrases which united the pair under the laws of France.
Religious Ceremony
And a few minutes later a rotund, partly bald vicar of the Church of England who braved ecclesiastical wrath to salve his own conscience and accord the Duke and his American-born bride a religious ceremony they devoutly desired, married them again under the old, somewhat terrifying ritual of the Church of England.
He was the Rev. R. Anderson Jardine, vicar of St. Paul's. Darlington, in whose life the next chapter will be an enforced appearance before his ecclesiastical superiors for a rebuke and perhaps more.
For until the last, the hierarchy the Church of England kept its face stonily set against condoning the marriage of the man who was for a year Britain's king and the woman, twice divorced, for whom he abandoned his heritage. Only four persons in addition to the little mayor of Monts witnessed the civil ceremony in the crimson-brocaded Louis XIV salon of the chateau.
Forty-eight at Nuptials
But forty-eight were present in the flower-banked music room where the Rev. Jardine united the blue-clad Mrs. Warfield and the Duke in religious marriage.
They included sixteen invited guests, a list made notable by the fact it contained the names of no dignitaries or members of the peerage for the British government had ruled against it, officials of Tours and Monts who had paved the way for the wedding, and a handful of newspapermen and photographers.
Standing before an improvised altar fashioned of a massive oaken cabinet from the chateau's furnishings and draped with a cloth of white satin, the Rev. Jardine read from his prayer book the time-honored words:
"We are gathered here together in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony.
The Church of England service then calls for intonation of two stern and forbidden paragraphs dealing with the sanctity of marriage and the "carnal lusts" it was instituted to overcome.
Vicar Skips Passages
The Rev. Jardine surprisingly skipped these passages although they are an integral part of th church rites rites that the Archbishop of Canterbury strove vainly to deprive the former king and his bride from observing.
Then came the words, old but ever new:
"Wilt though, Your Royal Highness, take this woman as thy lawful wife?"
And:
"Wilt thou, Wallis, take this man as thy lawful husband?"
There were tears in Mrs. Warfield's eyes as she answered her steady, "I will."
Crowd Outside Gates
Outside the gates of the chateau a crowd of several hundred, apprised of the fact that the man and the woman whose every movement for months has been watched by a keen and avid world, had at last been married. A great cry of "long live the Duke and duchess" went up, and was multiplied again and again when the newlyweds posed on the steps of the chateau for photographers.
If there ever was a radiantly happy bride it was the Duchess of Windsor today, and if there ever was a joyous bridegroom, it was the Duke.
He shook hands with everyone in the flower-banked music room where the ceremony was performed and not even the lowliest servant missed the thrill of a royal handclasp.
Bride's Costume
Mrs. Warfield's oft-described wedding gown of Wallis blue was a ravishing costume. Beneath the veil of her off-the-face hat tears could be clearly seen glistening in her eyes and the Duke himself was not without emotion during the ceremony.
But when it was over, all was smiles and happiness. Major Dudley Metcalfe, an old and treasured friend, proposed a toast the moment the ceremony was finished and in reply the Duke said:
"We are happy to see you all here on the occasion of this ceremony so important to us in our lives."
The Duke wore the traditional cutaway. As he entered the west door of the music room at 11.42 A. M., all present rose and stood. His morning coat was a raven black and his grey trousers as delicately striped as Bond Street could ask. He wore a white shirt with a pencil stripe, a grey cravat with flowered design, a fawn-colored waistcoat and turned down white stiff collar.
Ceremony Begins
It was at 12:05 p. m. when the Rev. Jardine, standing directly in front of a great silver cross brought especially from Paris to bedeck the altar, began the ceremony.
Both the Duke and his bride answered each question quickly and clearly, although toward the end his voice plainly showed the emotion it did when after his abdication last December, he broadcast "at long last" to the world his own story of "the woman love."
It was a really beautiful wedding that the enamored Duke gave his American bride. The seen was one of breath-taking splendor.
Great banks of cream and red roses, huge bouquets of peonies and lilies of the valley and countless vases stacked high with the wild flowers of the Lush Touraine countryside flanked the altar.
A soft summer breeze blew through the partly-opened south window, carrying to the assembled guests the soft fragrance of the flowers.
Mrs. Warfield was a few minutes late entering the wedding room. In the interim, the Duke shook hands all around, not overlooking members of the press, and chatted with William Cumming Graham, British consul at Nantes, one of the guests.
They talked a little about Ecuador, where Graham had served and Windsor visited.
Bride Enters Room
At 12:08, the bride entered, a vision of loveliness. The Duke moved tentatively toward the altar, but Herman L. Rogers, Mrs. Warfield's former Riveira host, motioned both to chairs.
The pale grey-blue wedding gown worn by the new Duchess was a masterly creation, of the sort designed to draw gasps of admiration from ladies competent to judge the whys and wherefores of Paris style.
To the newspapermen present, it was merely sheer loveliness. It fit her slim figure snugly. She wore gloves of the same color and her jaunty hat sported a turned-up brim with a tiny blue veil.
In her ears were brilliant earrings, each bedecked with eight sapphires, and on her wrist a sapphire and diamond bracelet.
Civil Marriage
During the civil service the Duke and Duchess did not look at one another until Mayor Mercier reached the words "united in the bonds of marriage."
At that moment the Duke, with an almost naive motion, leaned toward his bride and whispered something. She glanced at him quickly and flashed a smile, then again looked straight ahead of her.
The Duke's hand trembled visibly as he placed upon his bride's finger the marriage circlet of Welsh gold, fashioned of metal taken from the single gold mine in all of Wales as is traditional with the Kings of England.
Mayor Mercier exercised his prerogative as officiating dignitary to deliver an oration when his part of the ceremony was completed.
Mayor's Remark
"Obedient to destiny " he said "this moving ideal of marriage has taken place under the blue skies of France and amid the flowers and trees of the Chateau de Cande.
"I feel it a great honor that I have been the one to celebrate your marriage. I salute your royal highness as former sovereign of a great and friendly nation.
"Monsieur and Madame Bedaux could not have conceived a finer setting even had they been able to foretell, when they bought this chateau, what would happen here today.
"As for my part in this famous love story which innumerable hearts celebrate today and in which I am an agent I feel I represent a nation which is always attracted by a gallant spirit of independence and by audacious behavior inspired by the dictates of the heart.
"Therefore I salute the Prince who was the beloved sovereign of a friendly country and the lady he has selected as his bride. Your happiness, your Highness, and your happiness, dear Duchess, makes happy each one of us."
Meanwhile, the guests had assembled in the music room, where the delicately tinted green walls furnished an attractive background for the floral displays. In addition to the cross, there were on the altar two tiny goblets of silver tilled with flowers.
Faint organ music which came from the outside of the room swelled to a brave diapason as the Duke entered, accompanied by his best man, Major Metcalfe.
The Duchess entered on the arm of Rogers. The Rev. Jardine, attired in a white surplice, stood waiting. Before the altar, Major Metcalfe, huge of build and a seeming tower of strength, stood next to the Bridegroom.
Angelican Rite Used
"Dearly beloved," the minister began in his paternal voice, "we are gathered here together in the sight of God and this congregation to join this man and woman in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate instituted of God in a time of man's innocency, signifying the mystical union betwixt Christ and church which the holy estate of Christ has adorned and beautified with his presence.
"It is therefore ... not to be enterprised nor taken wantonly, but discreetly, advisedly and soberly and in fear of God, duly considering the causes for which matrimony was ordained.
"It has ordained the mutual society of help and comfort that one ought to have of another in both prosperity and adversity.
"Into which holy estate these two persons have come now to be joined. Therefore if any man can show any just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, let him now speak, else hereafter forever hold his peace.
Then, as the Duke stood erect with his hands clasped behind him and the Duchess listener intently, the Vicar continued:
"I require and charge ye both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of ye know any impediment why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matrimony ye do now confess it.
"For be you well assured that so many couples joined together otherwise than by God's word doth allow, are not Joined together by God, neither is their matrimony lawfully.
In asking the Duke to promise he would cherish and treasure the Duchess, "forsaking all others and keep thee only unto her so long as ye both shall live," Rev Jardine addressed him by his full name of Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David.
The Duke's "I will" was given in a bold, clear tenor voice.
"Bessie Wallis, the vicar then asked, "wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance In the holy state of matrimony? 'Wilt thou obey, serve, love, honor and keep him in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto him ao long as ye both shall live?"
Soft and low but clearly audible to the assembled gathering came the Duchess' words: "I will."
Given Away By Rogers
"Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?" asked me vicar.
"I do," said Rogers in a staccato voice.
The couple then recited after the minister:
"(Edward, Bessie Wallis) take thee . . . to be my wedded (husband, wife) to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do us part according to God's holy ordinance, and thereto I plight my troth,
It was while he spoke tnese words that I clearly saw a tear in Edward's eye.
The minister had placed their right hands together as the couple repeated the troth. When they had loosed their hands, the vicar handed the thin gold ring to Edward, who placed it on her finger as he repeated the minister's words:
"With this rine I thee wed: with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."
Wallis voice broke more than once during the service, the vicar had to prompt her twice at the point where she pledged her love to the man who chose her before throne and country.
At conclusion of the ceremony the couple knelt on white satin cushions before the altar.
"Let us pray," intoned the Rev. Jardine. "Oh, eternal God, creator and preserver of all mankind, giver of all spiritual grace, author of ever-lasting life send thy blessing to these thy servants, this man and this woman.
