Overview
The bizarre story of Woolworth heir Jimmy Donahue's life and the last untold episode in the lives of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.The story of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor is one of the most romantic of all time-Edward VIII abdicated his throne so that he could marry the woman he loved, American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Very few people knew that the Duchess cuckolded him and almost gave him up for a gay playboy twenty years her junior.
Blond and slender, Jimmy Donahue was the archetypal postwar playboy. The grandson of millionaire Frank W Woolworth, Jimmy knew he would never need to work. Instead, he carved for himself a career of mischief. Some said evil.
Gay at a time when the homosexual act was still illegal, Jimmy was notorious within America's upper class, and loved to shock. He was thirty-five when he was befriended by the Duke and Duchess in 1950. The Duchess was fifty-four, and despite the difference in age, there was an instant attraction. Together with the Duke they became an inseparable trio. As Jimmy had planned, the royal couple became obsessed with him.
With information from surviving contemporaries, this is the extraordinary tale of three remarkable people and their unique and twisted relationship.
About the Author:
Christopher Wilson is a broadcaster, author, and journalist. He lives in London.