Royal Ladies in the Kitchen

Duchess is the nobility title given to the wife or widow of a duke. Duchess potatoes are mashed potatoes mixed with cream, eggs, butter, and seasonings, piped onto a baking sheet or platter, sprinkled with grated cheese, and browned in the oven. They are also called pommes de terre or duchesse potatoes.
Two real duchesses who became very important in English history are:

- Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

Her name at birth was Bessie Wallis Warfield but she will be rembered as the Duchess of Windsor.
Wallis Simpson was the American divorcee for whom King Edward VIII gave up the throne of Great Britain. She met the future king (then Prince of Wales) early in the 1930s and a few years later they became lovers, though she remained married to her second husband, businessman Ernest Simpson. Matters came to a head when Edward became king in 1936. Simpson filed for divorce from her husband, but the royal family and the British government would not allow Edward to marry her. In December Edward stepped down as king, saying in a radio broadcast "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love." They were married in France on 3 June 1937, becoming the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and spent the rest of their lives in exile from England, living mainly in France and the United States. In 2003 the British government released documents showing that while she was involved with Edward in the years before he became king, Simpson also was having an affair with a London car dealer named Guy Trundle.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were buried together on the grounds of Windsor Castle... The Duke and Duchess visited Germany in 1937 as guests of Adolf Hitler, creating the lasting impression that they were Nazi sympathizers... Her first marriage took place in 1916, to U.S. Navy pilot Earl Winfield Spencer, but barely lasted a year... She is often credited with the popular saying, "No woman can be too rich or too thin."

- Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York

The title Duke of York is a title of nobility given to the second son of the British monarch. The current Duke of York is The Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II. Andrew currently has no male heirs and (since his 1996 divorce) is unmarried. The wife of the Duke of York is known as the Duchess of York. Duchess of York is the principal title held by the wife of the Duke of York since the creation of the title in 1384. The title is gained with marriage alone and is forfeited upon divorce. Sarah Ferguson was duchess of York from 1986 to1996. Following their high-profile marriage and divorce, she became known as Sarah, Duchess of York (the proper address for the divorced wives of peers). In addition, she lost the style of Royal Highness as well as all other dignities related to the title of British princess. Contrary to popular belief, Sarah, Duchess of York, is not The Duchess of York for that is the title reserved for the wife of the Duke of York. She retains only the style, not the title of Duchess of York. This is to emphasize her changed status from wife to former wife of the Duke of York.