Edward and Wallis wedding photos double estimate

A collection of photographs taken at the wedding of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson in 1937 auctioned yesterday.

The lot achieved £11,400 ($14,342) at Bellmans in Billingshurst, UK - almost doubling its estimate of £6,000 ($7,577).


The royals ignored Wallis and Edward's wedding

Only 20 invitees turned up to the wedding. The other royals boycotted it entirely following Edward's abdication in order to marry the divorcee, leaving just the couple's close friends.  

Each was given a folder of black and white photographs from the ceremony.

This is believed to be the first one sold at auction.

Rachel Morgan, a spokesperson for Bellmans, told the BBC: "We've done a lot of research and we've never seen anything like this at auction before.

"We don't think a collection like it has ever gone under the hammer.

"All wedding photos are moving, but these are even more moving because the ceremony was extremely quiet and there was so little publicity about it at the time."

Memorabilia connected to Wallis and Edward has enormous appeal and photographs have proven particularly popular collector's items.

Last year a collection of photographs of Edward taken on a tour of Germany in the 1930s (including one showing him performing a Nazi salute) sold for £1,800 ($2,812) at Morgan Evans & Co.

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