Synopses & Reviews
The definitive biography of the Duchess of Windsor— newly updated with recently declassified information. Wallis Warfield Simpson’ s story has become the stuff of romantic legend. Millions have wondered how a plain, middle-class, divorced Baltimore woman was able to enchant and capture Prince Charming— the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, who loved Wallis so much that he gave up his throne for her. What was the secret allure, so powerful that she almost became the queen of England? In "The Duchess of Windsor, the author makes many sensational revelations, including the secret of Wallis’ s birth that precluded her becoming queen; her harrowing years with her first husband, an alcoholic and bisexual aviator; her extraordinary experiences in the bordellos, luxury hotels, and gambling saloons of a China racked by civil war; the abrupt end of her only pregnancy, and her subsequent medical problems; her friendships with top Nazi and Fascist officials; the role it is possible she played in the leaking of critical intelligence information to Nazi Germany; the couple’ s involvement, while exiled to the Bahamas during World War II, in the cover-up of a famous murder case; the reasons for the Queen Mother’ s much-publicized vendetta against the duchess; and the duchess’ s shocking romantic life, both premarital and extramarital. The author tells the story of Wallis’ s conquest of the duke with more illuminating detail than in any oth book on the Windsors.
Synopsis
The 1.3 million-copy New York Times bestseller entirely revised and filled with riveting, recently declassified information
First published in 1988, this spellbinding biography was the first to expose the secret life of Wallis Warfield Simpson, the woman who captured a king, Britain s Edward VIII. From the duchess s first marriage to a bisexual aviator to her feud with the Queen Mother, the first edition The Duchess of Windsor unearthed a trove of astonishing revelations and spent weeks in the top five of the New York Times bestseller list. Now, Charles Higham has updated this extraordinary biography with new information on the numerous extramarital liaisons of both the duke and duchess, the bisexuality of the duke, the blackmail plot in Paris that almost brought the Windsors to ruin, and the secret radio broadcasts the duke and duchess made from France to Germany.
Charles Higham (Los Angeles, CA) is the author of many bestselling books, including Murdering Mr. Lincoln, American Swastika, and Trading with the Enemy as well as biographies of Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles, and others.
Synopsis
"Deeply researched, valuable."
The New York Times Book Review
"A shocker . . . stunning . . . absolutely hypnotic. . . . A world of beautiful houses, ceaseless travel, trendsetting fashion, and powerful figures. . . . Fascinating revelations."
Cosmopolitan
Wallis, the Duchess of Windsor, was one of the most famous women in history, the American divorcée who captured the King of England, Edward VIII, and cost him his throne. Until Charles Highams 1.3 million-copy bestseller, much of her life was a glamorous mystery. Now, fifteen years later, major new documentary evidence, classified at the time, makes for a book far more sensational than the original bestseller. Drawing from long-suppressed archives in France, England, and the United States, Higham has uncovered the duchesss passionate affair with a top-ranking political figure, the dukes romantic involvement with a male equerry, the secret radio broadcasts the couple made to Hitler, and the blackmail plot in Paris that almost brought themand the British royal familyto ruin. This updated new edition of The Duchess of Windsor is essential reading.
"Highams best. . . . Serious, deliciously fresh . . . documented by newly opened secret government files in the U.S. and England."
Kirkus Reviews
"Smooth and entertaining."
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
"An excellent biography . . . alert to every nuance."
The London Sunday Telegraph
About the Author
Charles Higham is the author of many bestselling books, including Howard Hughes, a basis of The Aviator, a major motion picture starring Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as acclaimed biographies of Katharine Hepburn, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, and Marlene Dietrich. He received the Prix des Créateurs from the Académie Française and was a Hollywood feature writer for the New York Times from 1970 to 1980.
Table of Contents
Author’s Note.
1. A Baltimore Childhood.
2. A Stubborn Young Lady.
3. Running Up the Ladder.
4. A Stylish Marriage.
5. China.
6. Ernest.
7. The Prince.
8. Moving Toward the Throne.
9. Almost Glory.
10. Abdication.
11. Exile.
12. Wedding of the Decade.
13. Outer Darkness.
14. A Dark Plot.
15. Elba.
16. Crime of the Century.
17. Return to Europe.
18. Wandering Years.
19. Late Afternoon.
20. Evening and Night.
Notes on Sources.
Index.