The heft came from the tie, not the technique: the Duke had his cut with thicker interlining so a plain four-in-hand sat fat, a trick tailors still use. The symmetrical 'Windsor' was engineered later by people faking that volume with standard ties, then named after him. He set it straight in his 1960 book 'A Family Album,' pinning the knot on wartime GIs.
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The post, as it ran
01THE DUKE OF WINDSOR, THE MAN THE WINDSOR KNOT IS
NAMED AFTER, NEVER ACTUALLY WORE ONE.
02THAT FAT, SYMMETRICAL KNOT EVERYONE COPIED WASN'T
A KNOT AT ALL. HE ORDERED BESPOKE TIES CUT WITH A THICK
INTERLINING, THEN TIED THEM WITH AN ORDINARY FOUR-IN-HAND.
03SO THE BULK CAME FROM THE CLOTH, NOT THE TECHNIQUE.
THE WIDE SYMMETRICAL 'WINDSOR' KNOT WAS INVENTED
LATER AND NAMED FOR THE LOOK, NOT BY THE DUKE.
04IN HIS 1960 MEMOIR HE SHRUGGED IT OFF, WRITING HE WAS
'IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS.' MENSWEAR'S FAMOUS
WINDSOR KNOT IS A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY.