Letters from a Prince

Book excerpt: While the letters exchanged between the man who was to become King Edward VIII/ Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson/ Duchess of Windsor have been preserved and published, it had long been thought that many of the Prince of Wales' letters to his earlier mistress, Mrs Freda Dudley Ward, had been destroyed by her some time before her death. But in November 1996, editor Rupert Godfrey came across by chance while holidaying abroad: 262 letters, dating from 1918 to 1921, over 100 photographs and assorted cards and memorabilia. They covered the last year of the First World War and the Prince's official tours of Canada, New Zealand and Australia, when he was in his early twenties. Revealing and touching, the letters will alter our perception of the man born to give up the throne for the woman he later came to love.