Wallis Simpson found herself at the centre of a national scandal when she was seen to ensnare Edward VIII and lure him from the throne of England. Anne Sebba sifts through newly discovered documents that contain 15 secret letters written by Wallis Simpson to herself around the time of the abdication. These extraordinary personal missives have the power to rewrite both history and our perception of Wallis. They reveal she was deeply in love with another man, and chart her fear, desperation and loneliness as she found herself becoming trapped into marrying the man who should have been king.