Edward VIII vandalised 'love seat' sold to original lodge owners
A settee said to have played a part in Britain's abdication crisis has been sold for £4,200 to the owners of the house where it was a feature in 1931.
The pink velvet settee was owned by the girlfriend of Edward, Prince of Wales, Lady Thelma Furness, who lived at Burrough Court in Melton Mowbray. She introduced Wallis Simpson to the future king but was later jilted. The three often sat together on the sofa, now going home, Northamptonshire auctioneer Jonathan Humbert said. When she heard King Edward Vlll wanted to marry Mrs Simpson and she had been jilted, Lady Furness cut up the settee in a fit of pique, Mr Humbert said. The king would later abdicate in 1936 to allow him to marry Mrs Simpson. The restored two-seater settee, which originally had three seats, was sold in heavy bidding at the Silverstone auction rooms on 22 May. Mr Humbert said the price was reached after a battle between a telephone bidder and the current owners of Burrough Court, the former home of Lady Thelma Furness. "It's a very fitting end to the amazing story of this settee that it should be going home after 80 or so years. "I am delighted that the current owners of Burrough Court have secured this little piece if British history." The pink velvet settee had been 'cut down' three years after the trio had first met sitting on the settee at a house party in 1931. The same sofa was sold at auction in 2009 for £2,150.