Duchess of Windsor

[Georgiana]

I was just currently reading a biography on Queen Elizabeth the first and it stated one of the rumours about why she never married and had children was that was that, like the Duchess of Windsor, she suffered from Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). Is there any truth in the fact that the Duchess was born with this disorder?

[Miss Scarlett]

Wait, the Duchess of Windsor had this?  Or was it just a nasty rumour made up about her?

Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is when a person who is genetically male (has one X and one Y chromosome) is resistant to male hormones called androgens. As a result, the person has some or all of the physical characteristics of a woman, despite having the genetic makeup of a man.

I think QEI's issues were more that she was quite high-ranking and perhaps didn't want to marry who was "acceptable" at the time.  Also, didn't she take a lover?

And there IS a difference in being infertile (which can occur from many different things) and having this AIS thing.

[sandy]

QE I also had issues with marriage. She told Robert Dudley early on she'd never marry after seeing her stepmother Catherine Howard in hysterics because Henry VIII was about to arrest her and ultimately execute her. Her own parents' history didn't help her have a rosy picture of marriage either. She also saw the cold way Philip of Spain treated her elder half sister which probably wouldn't have encouraged her to marry.

I read that Wallis had an abortion early on which ruined her reproductive system. She had taken a lover during her marriage to abusive husband Winfield Spencer.

[Trudie]

I think if Wallis suffered from AIS she wouldn't have married 3 times. If genetically she had the make up of a man I would have thought she would have preferred women. Also wouldn't her first 2 husbands have picked up on that? I believe that was nasty rumours like the supposed China adventures that were made up to smear her.

[lilibet80]

Women with AIS do not menstruate.  If Elizabeth I had not menstruated her laundresses would have known all about it and the gossip would have spread.  I believe she did not marry because she was afraid of giving up her power to any man.  As far as Wallis Simpson is concerned, if she did have an abortion she was fertile.  Woman with AIS are not fertile, therefore she did not have it.  However, we will never really know.

[Georgiana]

Thanks for the responses I was just curious after reading that rumour

[Lindelle]

Georgiana I think that's the same book I read recently.
IMO, it's just a case of rumour.

[Georgiana]

Was the book Elizabeth the Queen by Alison Weir?

[Lindelle]

Yes!
I really enjoyed it.