Wallis Simpson
While Kiki Preston’s influence brought down the reputation of a Prince, Wallis Simpson would go one better and bring down a King. Portrayed as the ultimate “gold digger” by the British press, Simpson, the twice-divorced American socialite still remains a controversial figure in British history not just for her relationship with King Edward VIII, but for both their leanings and sympathies towards a certain mustachioed malcontent who would soon sweep through Europe.
The first inkling that the future King was involved with Simpson was in 1934 when staff at Windsor stumbled across Simpson and the Prince of Wales in bed together.
Trying to explain to his furious father King George V that it was all a big misunderstanding, any pretenses were dropped when the king passed away on 20 January 1936, and Edward, Prince of Wales, ascended the throne as King Edward VIII.
