Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Museum

A Princely Visit: The Prince of Wales Tours Lake Forest, 1924

Making It Home Newcomers Timeline

The Prince of Wales in Lake Forest, October 17, 1924.

Lake Forester, October 24, 1924.

Wallis Warfield Spencer (later Simpson), 1896-1986.

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor in Chicago, 1950.

Lake Forester, October 17, 1924.

On October 17, 1924, the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, arrived in Lake Forest by train. He was greeted at the station by over one thousand local residents. The Prince (1894-1972) was the guest of Louis F. Swift at his Westleigh estate on Green Bay Road. The Prince came on the trip “to show the appreciation of the British government for the enormous quantities of meat products sent to the British Empire throughout the war by the Chicago Stock Yards.”

After a brief tour of Lake Forest and a serenade of “Prince of Wales, we are true to you” offered by the students of Ferry Hall, the Prince and Mr. Swift breakfasted at Swift’s Green Bay Road estate before heading back to Chicago to tour the stockyards.

The Prince's future wife, Wallis Warfield Spencer (later Simpson), the wife of naval officer Earl Winfield Spencer Jr., was reportedly living in Lake Forest on Oakwood Avenue in the early 1920s, though she and the Prince would not meet for many more years. Edward the VIII abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry her. They then became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

The Duke of Windsor returned to the Chicago area in April of 1950 with his wife. The "Ex-King" and the Duchess attended a luncheon with six Chicago socialites at the home of Mr. and Mrs. William McCormick Blair. Guests included Mr. and Mrs. John T. Pirie and Mr. and Mrs. Samuel J. Walker.