"The woman I love" for whom Edward VIII renounced the British throne was not the only one. A forthcoming biography of the late Duke of Windsor, by his friend Frances Donaldson, tells the story of his long friendship with Mrs. Dudley Ward, wife of a Liberal Party whip in the House of Commons. They met in 1917, during an air raid, when Freda Ward took refuge in the cellar of a house where a noisy party was going on. She chatted in the gloom with an unknown guest in his early 20s, and after the all-clear, the hostess pressed her to join the party: "His Royal Highness is so anxious that you should do so." They danced together all night, he escorted her home, and a friendship began that lasted for 17 years. But in the spring of 1934, after several weeks of preoccupation with an ill relative, Freda called St. James's Palace, and an embarrassed operator told her: "I have orders not to put you through." Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson--then married to the brother of the hostess who had introduced Freda to the Prince in 1917--had appeared on the scene.

Splitsville continues to be the country's fastest growing community. Johnny Carson's Joanne received her divorce (plus $100,000 a year, an art collection and other property) when she tearfully told the judge how Johnny--after nine years, no children--was "abusive" and changed the locks on their Manhattan apartment. Peter Fonda's Susan filed suit for divorce after nearly eleven years and two children, claiming "irreconcilable differences" and her half of more than $2,000,000 worth of joint property. Andy Griffith's Barbara also filed for divorce (23 years, two children), while California's Republican Congressman Paul McCloskey, onetime presidential candidate, separated from his wife Caroline after 23 years and four children. By contrast, one California marriage enjoyed a happy 32nd anniversary dinner at the White House. Tricia and Eddie Cox helped the President and Mrs. Nixon celebrate with Pat's favorite foods: Swiss steak, whipped potatoes, corn on the cob, cucumber salad, cornbread.

In a swirl of white feathers, a dazzle of rhinestones and a white Adolfo dress that seemed pasted to her, Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper outswanned them all at the Swan Ball in Nashville, Tenn. She was not there for social swimming, she explained, but for Art--an exhibit of her collages and drawings at the Tennessee Fine Arts Center. It was Gloria's fine-line slimness, though, that caught the eye. What magic diet had brought her 5 ft. 7 1/2 in. down to 98 Ibs.? "It just happened," she told Columnist Eugenia Sheppard. "In the mornings I just drank a cup of coffee. I was working all day in my studio, so I ate a bowl of Granola, one of those health cereals, with some milk. At night I had steak, vegetables and a diet pudding."

It was Martha Mitchell on the phone again, and this time she really knew what she was talking about. She had given John Mitchell "an ultimatum," she said: "Get out of politics" or she would leave him. Calling Washington U.P.I. Reporter Helen Thomas from a motel in Newport Beach, Calif., Martha spoke out in response to a question about the bugging of the Democratic national headquarters. "I'm sick and tired of the whole operation," she said, whereupon the phone seemed to have been taken from her hand. "You just get away," she was heard to say, and the operator refused to restore the connection on the grounds that "Mrs. Mitchell is indisposed." Husband John--in Washington where he is running President Nixon's re-election campaign--gamely confirmed Martha's words: "We aren't going to be in Washington after Nov. 7. We have that understanding. We're going to get out of this rat race."

Edith Irving has begun serving a two-month term for her part in Clifford Irving's hoax autobiography of Howard Hughes, but during her last hours of freedom she unburdened herself about Other Woman Nina van Pallandt. "She'd better watch out that she never crosses two steps in front of me," said Edith. "She is a ruthless person" who is "only interested in money." Nina also seemed immoderately interested in Actor Richard Harris, whom she met on the Johnny Carson show. "He's adorable," said Nina, as she and Harris snuggled in her Manhattan hotel room. "Marriage? Oh, time will tell." Time will also tell whether Nina can act; she is just beginning a movie with Elliott Gould, in which she plays the wife of an author who gets into some unusual troubles.

"I am convinced," said Jack Nicklaus last summer, "that with the right set of golf courses, a little luck and a great deal of careful preparation, the Grand Slam can be won. Next year may be [the] year." Indeed it may, for Nicklaus has just added the U.S. Open title to his Masters victory in April. If he wins the British Open this month and the Professional Golfers' Association championship in August, the big blond belter will be the first man to win golfs four major titles in one year.

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