The book puts us into the mind of Wallace, which as much as I despise her, I have to give her props for asserting herself in a time and place that usually had pushed so many constraints upon women. Why this had to occur is a mystery to me because none of Angelique's employees were involved in the murder and to operate a brothel was not against the law. Hiernaast boeide de relatie tussen Ernest en Wallis mij niet zo, ik had graag meer nadruk gehad op hoe Wallis de prins leerde kennen en hoe het allemaal begon. Out of curiosity, I found a conversion calculator that told me that 25,000 pounds in 1827 would be 2,511,448 pounds today (actually 2017) due to inflation. Angélique Latham grew up in her magnificent country house, Belgrave Castle with her father, the Duke of Westerfield, after the death of her mother.

Unable to secure employment without references or connections, Angélique desperately makes her way to Paris, where she rescues a young woman fleeing an abusive madam—and suddenly sees a possibility: Open an elegant house of pleasure that will protect its women and serve only the best clients. If each is a bit too good to be true, that is a hazard of the first person and is easy to overlook with two such interesting and able characters. Author Wendy Holden introduces the reader to a new viewpoint on the relationship between Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales. You didn't even know that that woman invaded your wife's room while she's in pain for having that tea the woman gave her, she screams yet no one hear her?The scenes involving the portly Prince of Wales, sometime consort of the duke's own fearsome mother, are a comic delight: notoriously touchy about his weight, at one picnic he wobbles dangerously on his bicycle, with none of the assembled party allowed to smile. An intimate view of the royal family at a time of great uncertainty and change, The Royal Governess is a beautifully written and richly detailed piece of historical fiction. I applaud Holden for being brave enough to attempt to illuminate Wallis in a different light however this book just wasn't for me. But here, Holden paints an intriguing portrait of the spirited, stylish woman who has been blamed for the abdication of King Edward VIII… and, daringly, imagines Wallis as an unwitting victim of a man who never wanted to be king and deliberately used their affair as an escape route from his royal destiny.

Laat ik nu net nieuwsgierig zijn naar hoe het verder met hen verliep, hoe was hun leven in Frankrijk na het schandaal?Things getting complicated after Zayn collapsed, making Ariana have to make another big decision in her life. The second timeline starts in 1928 with Wallis marrying her second husband the reliable and loving Ernest who thinks the world of her.