The 8 Best Books About the Duke and Duchess of Windsor

This biography of Wallis Simpson by Anna Pasternak argues that Wallis never wanted Edward to abdicate, and that she was the real victim of the abdication. "Instead of simply belittling Wallis and defaming her reputation," Pasternak writes, "we might try to understand this modern, intelligent, remarkable woman and the impossible situation she was placed in."

Read an excerpt of The Real Wallis Simpson here

Author Andrew Lownie begins his story on the day of King Edward VIII's abdication. Lownie focuses in on the Windsors' time in exile, including their tour of Nazi Germany—he calls them "actively engaged with the German intrigues"—then covers Edward's time as governor of the Bahamas during World War II.

Charles Murphy ghostwrote both the Duke of Windsor and the Duchess of Windsor's memoirs (A King’s Story and The Heart Has Its Reasons, respectively) so he has unique insight into both their lives. The book features interviews with those who knew the couple best.

Unlike other books on this list which feature the lives of the Windsors post-abdication, The Crown in Crisis by Alexander Larman focuses on the run-up to the abdication. Using archival material and interviews with close friends of the Duke and Duchess, the book is a definitive account of the weeks, days, and hours leading up to the the king's decision to step down.

Read an excerpt from The Crown in Crisis here

Andrew Morton, who famously wrote Diana: Her True Story—In Her Own Words, turns his attention to Wallis Simpson in this exhaustive biography. The book follows her from her childhood as a young girl in Baltimore to climbing the social ladder in London society.

Read an excerpt from the book here

Andrew Morton also authored 17 Carnations, which details the relationships between Edward, Wallis, and the Nazi party. Under something called "Operation Willi," Germany planned to re-install Edward after defeating Britain in the war—a plan, Morton argues, Edward surely knew about.

This biography focuses on "the twentieth century’s Prince Charming," drawing on Edward's diaries and love letters to Wallace to paint a portrait of the British king who gave it all up.

In 1980, The Sunday Times commissioned author Caroline Blackwood to write an article on the Duchess of Windsor. She soon came up against the Duchess's lawyer, Maître Suzanne Blum, who refused to give Blackwood access to the Duchess. Nearly two decades later, she turned her experience writing that story into this compelling look at the final years of Wallis Simpson.