Before Wallis - Edward VIII's Other Women

An original history of the women who left a mark in Edward VIII's life before Wallis Simpson dominated it. Much has been told about the love story between Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, which led to his abdication but Wallis was not Edward VIII's first or only love. There was Rosemary Leveson Gower, the girl he wanted to marry and who would have made the perfect match for a future king; the Prince's long-term mistress, Freda Dudley Ward, who exerted a pull almost equal to Wallis over her lover, but abided by the rules of the game and knew she would never marry him. Then there was Thelma Furness, his twice-married American lover, who enjoyed a domestic life with him but knew it could not last forever and demanded nothing more than to be his mistress. Each one of them could have changed the course of history. This book is about those fascinating women and the impact they had on the heir to the throne during his formative years. AUTHOR: Rachel Trethewey read History at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where she won the Philip Geddes Prize for student journalism. During her subsequent journalist career she wrote features for the Daily Mail and Daily Express. She regularly reviews historical books and biographies for The Independent. Her astonishing history of the Red Cross pearl necklace campaign of 1918 will be published by the History Press in February 2018. 31 b/w illustrations, 16 b/w plates

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