Twenty-five years after her death, Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, exerts a more powerful fascination than ever. Channel 4’s explosive new film Wallis Simpson: The Secret Letters (available to watch here on 4OD http://www.channel4.com/programmes/wallis-simpson-the-secret-letters ) explains how Anne Sebba’s discovery of a cache of secret documents will change forever our view of the love affair between Wallis and Edward VIII, who abdicated 75 years ago.
In the documents were 15 letters written by Wallis Simpson herself around the time of the Abdication. These extraordinary personal missives will rewrite both history and our perception of Wallis. They reveal she was deeply in love with another man and charts her fear, desperation and loneliness as she found herself becoming trapped into marrying the man who should have been king.
In THAT WOMAN, first full scale biography written by a woman about the Duchess of Windsor, historian Anne Sebba, one of Britain’s most distinguished biographers, turns her focus on one of the most glamorous and vilified women of the last century. In order to understand the real person behind the iconic image, Sebba explores the mind and motivations of this enigmatic American divorcee who nearly became Queen of England and provides a new interpretation of what really happened during the abdication crisis.
Anne Sebba’s scrupulously researched biography offers a new understanding of the character and motivations of this complex woman at the heart of a key moment in history. It also re-evaluates the role of politicians in the 1930s as well as the crucial significance of their wives - Nancy Dugdale, Helen Harding and Lucy Baldwin.
Following a trail from the Mexican desert, via Baltimore and the brothels of Shanghai, to a house in Southern England where the hidden cache of letters and diaries were found in an attic, Anne Sebba now questions: Was this really the romantic love story of the century?
Roland Mouret is designing ‘That Dress’ inspired by Wallis Simpson, for sale exclusively at www.net-a-porter.com, to coincide with the launch of the book.
Watch Anne Sebba being interviewed about THAT WOMAN on BBC Breakfast here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/12564921
