13 Scandalous Facts About Wallis Simpson, the Woman Who Seduced a King

Born Bessie Wallis Warfield in 1896, the woman who would become Wallis Simpson entered life in scandal: her parents had only been married for seven months when she was born. Still, she was born into a life of privilege in Baltimore society. It was not always a happy childhood, though. Her father died when Wallis was a baby and her mother remarried after relying on family for financial support.

Money problems followed her mother around - she lived just long enough to see all of her investments lost in the Great Stock Market Crash of 1929 and died penniless. 

She married her first husband - Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr. - in 1916, at the age of 20. Spencer was an aviator for the US Navy. By all accounts, the marriage was unhappy for both parties, and Spencer was alleged to be abusive and an alcoholic. They separated and reunited a number of times, and by the time they finally divorced, she had already had an affair with an Argentine diplomat.

Her second husband, Ernest Aldrich Simpson, was a wealthy Anglo-American shipping executive. Since Simpson was a naturalized British citizen - he had renounced his American citizenship after graduating from Harvard - he introduced his wife to British society. The marriage ended in divorce in 1937.

While married to her first husband, Simpson - then Mrs. Spencer - traveled in China for a year while her husband was stationed in Asia. While there, some claim, she had a grand old time. Some people claim that there is a secret "China dossier" that supposedly chronicles all manner of indiscretions in China - including a sexual education at a Chinese brothel, an affair with the future son-in-law of Benito Mussolini, and a botched abortion that rendered her infertile.

Most historians dismiss this "China dossier," however, and point to it as evidence of a slander campaign against Simpson. 

As the newly remarried Simpson navigated her way through British society, she relied on a network of American expats - including Thelma, Lady Furness, who happened to be the current mistress of the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII. In fact, it was Furness who first introduced Simpson to the future king in January 1931.

Though it may or may not have been love at first sight, Simpson and the Prince did not immediately become lovers. Though he hosted parties in Simpson's honor - as he did for most of his friends - the Prince and Simpson were simply friends. It was not until January 1934 at the earliest when Simpson supplanted her friend as the Prince's mistress.

Edward fell fast and hard for Wallis Simpson - she was so adept at flirting that her ex-sister-in-law remarked, "She could no more keep from flirting than breathing." By all accounts, Edward was smitten - so smitten, that he seemed to spend less time on his princely duties. He spent lavishly on Simpson and took her on vacations abroad, acting more like a globetrotter than a duty-minded royal.

Criticism of the Prince's relationship came quickly. Members close to the royal family claimed that Simpson's strong and direct personality was transforming Edward into her personal slave and that he followed her "around like a dog." It was entirely inappropriate for a woman, they claimed, to control a man so totally. Indeed, most people assumed what Edward liked best about Simpson was that she could be domineering.

Some biographers refute this assessment and offer a more psychological interpretation of the relationship between Simpson and Edward.