Freda Dudley Ward

Winifred May Mones, Marquesa de Casa Maury (née Birkin, formerly Dudley Ward; 28 July 1894 – 16 March 1983), commonly known by her first married name as Freda Dudley Ward, was an English socialite. She was best known for being a married paramour of Edward, Prince of Wales, who later became Edward VIII.

Early life Born a member of the wealthy Birkin family, Winifred May was the second child and eldest of three daughters of British Col. Charles Wilfred Birkin (1865-1932), and his American wife, Claire Lloyd Howe (1871-1934), a daughter of Alexander Howe and Ada ( Webb) Howe.

Her father was the fourth son of a lace embroidery and tableware magnate of Nottingham, Sir Thomas Birkin, 1st Baronet, and the former Harriet Tebbutt. Through her brother, Maj. Harry Birkin, she was a great-aunt of the actress and singer Jane Birkin.

Relationship with the Prince of Wales Although married in 1913 to William Dudley Ward, Freda was also in a relationship with Edward, Prince of Wales from 1918, until she was supplanted by American Thelma Furness (née Morgan) from 1929 to 1934; Thelma introduced Edward to 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."

Second marriage

A few years after her divorce, she married on 20 October 1937 the Cuban-born British Army officer turned theatre impresario Pedro Monés, Marquis de Casa Maury (known as Pedro [or Peter] de Casa Maury) (1896-1968), the founder of Curzon Cinemas and former Wing Commander of the Royal Air Force They divorced in 1954.

In popular culture She was portrayed by Kika Markham in the 1978 miniseries Edward & Mrs. Simpson and by Janet Montgomery in the fourth season of Downton Abbey. There she is at the centre of a plot involving an intimate letter written to her by the Prince of Wales being stolen during a debutante ball in Buckingham Palace and its subsequent recovery.