Traitor king The scandalous exile of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor

This gossipy dual portrait of Edward VIII and his American wife, Wallis Simpson, opens with Edward's abdication in 1936 in order to marry Simpson, who was recently divorced from her second husband. Biographer and literary agent Lownie (The Mountbattens) explains that as WWII loomed, the British government saw the Duke of Windsor as a "security risk" due to his pro-German sympathies, and notes that the royal family was not allowed to attend the couple's June 1937 wedding. While Edward and Wallis hobnobbed with Nazi officials, rumors swirled that Edward was bisexual and that Wallis was the only woman who could "satisfactorily gratify" his sexual desires. Universally described as "ambitious," the Duchess was extravagant and demanding of her staff, while the Duke was perceived as aimless. After appealing to Prime Minister Winston Churchill for an assignment, he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas, where he befriended Nazi sympathizers and presided over the flawed police investigation into the murder of mining magnate Sir Harry Oakes. Lownie gathers convincing evidence of Edward's collaboration with Germany and amasses a wealth of new material, including intimate details about the Duchess's affair with American socialite James Donahue. Royal watchers will be riveted. (May)

Although numerous books have been written about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson), Lownie's (The Mountbattens) well-researched and comprehensive book proves there's more to learn about the couple. He dispels many myths and misunderstandings about the couple's motivations, while scrupulously avoiding sensationalism. Readers will find not salacious gossip but careful analysis and an accurate portrait of an unpleasant, grasping, manipulative couple trying to find purpose in their lives after Edward abdicated the British throne in 1936. With war looming, the couple made no secret of their affinity for Nazi politics, or of Simpson's friendship with the Nazi politician Joachim von Ribbentrop. Some have argued that Edward's approach to Nazi Germany was simply naive, but Lownie's research establishes otherwise; he concludes that the duke would have betrayed his country as casually as he betrayed his friends. Edward later publicly renounced the worst Nazi offenses, but his friendships, comments, and antisemitism reveal another truth. VERDICT Crisp prose, meticulous research with extensive footnotes, and careful objectivity make Lownie's biography accessible to all readers.--Penelope J.M. Klein