AN EXTENDED TOUR MEANS THAT FREDA DUDLEY WARD AND PRINCE EDWARD ALBERT MUST BE APART: HE WAS MORE IN LOVE WITH HER THAN SHE WITH HIM

In March of 1920, after the war had ended, Edward was sent on a 7 month tour of Australia and New Zealand. Parting was sweet sorrow and may have made his love for Freda stronger. He continued to depend on her letters to lift his spirits. He also hoped she might be pregnant with his child. Possibly the prince was not able to beget a child. And one does wonder if she had any desire to have another child at all, let alone with a man she could never marry. Even if she was widowed, rather than divorced, there would have been objections to her becoming his wife and eventual Queen.

Excerpt page 287/1074 e-book : Separated from the flesh-and-blood Freda, he idolized her; she became his Madonna or goddess whom he worshipped. ...

Excerpt page 289/1074 e-book:  Edward believed  that Freda was good for him. He claimed that she had set him high standards that he tried to live up to. In both his private and public life. She had made him more of a man and less of a boy. He wrote to her that if only they could live together, "I would become of some use perhaps and have a will of my own and be strong!'...

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Back at the palace, the King and Queen - and his brother Bertie - who would eventually take the throne after he abdicated - were concerned that Prince Edward Albert continue to be groomed for his eventual role as King and they wanted him to break with Freda. Freda knew it and believed she should let him go but he wouldn't allow it.

Excerpt page303/1074 e-book:  As with Wallis during the abdication crisis, Edward just would not let Freda go, and bit by bit he eroded her resolve. He used every form of emotional blackmail he could muster....

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Back from the tour he wanted to spend every moment with Freda. They tried to be 'just friends' but the passion and love was too strong.  Maybe Freda was tiring of his devotion, for she went ahead and had an intense affair, beginning in 1918, with a man named Michael Herbert, a rich banker with a high status in society, a good reputation and connections and had also fought in World War I. Throughout the 1920's she continued have both lovers. It would seem Michael Herbert was as obsessed with her as the Prince. The two men knew of each other, were jealous of each other, and Freda juggled them, prioritizing the Prince when he was not away on a tour. 

Michael wanted to marry Freda and in 1922 there was talk of the Dudley's divorcing.  But she decided against it because the law at the time was such that she might loose custody of her daughters. Divorces were rare, there was a stigma to it and consequences. 

The Prince had many affairs including with women who were in Freda's social circle. It was clear that these relationships were becoming impossible.

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