He was born into a world of royal privilege, yet King Edward VIII’s reign ended in absolute infamy. Although he’s gone down in history as the man who sacrificed everything for love, the true story of his life reveals a much more complicated—and chilling—truth.
Edward was barely out of his teens when WWI broke out. While in France, he struck up an affair with high-class courtesan Marguerite Alibert—but this steamy relationship would come back to haunt him.
Although Edward and Marguerite flamed out after a year, she returned into the Prince’s life with a vengeance. Marguerite shot and killed her husband at the swanky Savoy Hotel in London, and Edward’s PR department had to go into white-knuckle overtime to make sure his name never came up in the trial.
When it comes to scandal, this was, of course, one of the first for Edward—but certainly not the last. For such a short-reigning king, he left behind no shortage of controversy.
