The woman for whom Edward VIII renounced the throne was vilified in the press as a scheming social climber but Anne Pasternak portrays a very different person. Testimony from the couple’s closest friends reveals a woman whose impoverished childhood and unconventional looks taught her to rely on her intelligence and intuition – qualities that made her ‘too bright and witty’ for a royal consort of the time. It also provides evidence of the depth of their mutual feelings.