Queen Elizabethrejected her uncleKing Edward VIII’s last wish to have his wife,Wallis Simpson, styled as Her Royal Highness, the Duke of Windsor’s former nurse alleges in a new documentary.

“He was terribly sick. He couldn’t have weighed — maybe 80 lbs., if that, and wasn’t eating at all,” Alexander said of Edward’s health when Queen Elizabeth,Prince Philipand then-Prince Charlestraveled to see him at Villa Windsor in Paris in May 1972 (a visit famously recreated inseason 5ofThe Crown).

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Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, his wife Queen Elizabeth II, their son Charles, Prince of Wales, with Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

Though Edward, 77, was suffering from throat cancer and could not leave his room, he was “very, very concerned about his appearance” and “insisted that he’d be sitting up in a chair, not in bed, and wearing clothes to hide any tubes, like intravenous tubes he had” when his family came to visit, Alexander said.

There, the royal had a final request for his niece: elevate his wife Wallis to the HRH title. Though Edward was made the Duke of Windsor after he relinquished his right to the throne and Wallis became the Duchess of Windsor when they married in 1937, it was a sore spot for the couple that Edward’s brother,King George VI, and later,Queen Elizabeth, never gave Wallis the HRH title.

Still, “The Queen said no. She said no, even on that sad day,” Alexander said inThe Real Crown. “It was, you know, breaking his heart, I think. That’s what he wanted. That’s what he wanted, that title for her. Not having that title for his wife was a slap in his face.”

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Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Duke of Edinburgh meet Wallis Simpson (C), Duchess of Windsor, during their state visit in Paris, May 1972

Ten days later, Edward died at home in Paris. His body was transported back to England and buried beside Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Castle;Queen ElizabethandPrince Philipattended the small, private burial.

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Happiest pair aboard the Queen Elizabeth - by all indications - were the Duke and Duchess of Windsor

George Carey, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, also appeared inThe Real Crownto provide context behind the Queen’s decision to deny her uncle the royal styling for Wallis.

“The King chose to put his marriage before the monarchy. That forced this crisis upon our nation, upon his brother. We have to understand that background, I think, to understand the Queen,” he said.

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Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip Duke Of Edinburgh talking to the Duchess Of Windsor after the Duke of Windsor’s funeral

source: people.com