The Shadow Queen: A Novel of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor

The Shadow Queen: A Novel of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Rebecca Dean  471 pages

I must admit that before I read The Shadow Queen, I didn’t know much about Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor. 

Before I read this novel, Wallis’s life seemed like a fairy tale. A king abdicated his throne to marry her, and she was a socialite from the late 1910s through her death in 1986. However, Wallis not just another silver-spoon. She was driven, ambitious, intellectual, and witty.

 Her maiden name was Warfield, a prominent Baltimore family, and although she and her widowed mother were destitute, they relied on the support of her deceased father’s family and lived with relatives.

 

At school, she would have voted most likely to succeed.  The book chronicles her life from birth up until Prince Edward, who was about to become King Edward VIII. It goes into detail about her life as a child, a teenager, the devastating first love who betrayed her, a young woman, and both of her marriages. Throughout the story, Edward is present, having become the fascination of a young friend, and many times, Wallis was either near him or in his company.

Two things fascinated me the most. First, that she was homely, with a square jaw and flat-chested.  She was tall and angular. A women who gets around as much as Wallis did usually does not fall in the ugly category. Second, was her sexuality. Although she appeared normal, she was unable to have normal intercourse. Recent research suggests that she was born with a Disorder of Sexual Development, or intersexuality. Fortunately, the novel doesn’t linger on this aspect, but it runs subtly throughout.

 

I give this novel 5 out of 5 stars.