There is a royal wedding next month, but for nuptial drama, Paul Taunton looks no further than Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson.

Wallis in Love: The Untold Life of the Duchess of Windsor, the Woman Who Changed the Monarchy

1 Between the lines. Wallis Simpson liked to impress dinner guests with her erudition: “She read the first couple of pages and the ending and then picked out a relevant quote from somewhere inside the tome. In a social situation, she would use the quote as an opening conversational gambit before going on to talk with insight and intelligence about the book of the moment.”

2 “You are about to be launched via pastry back to the wedding of one of the most dashing and romantic Nazi sympathizers of the entire British Royal Family.” Remember the Seinfeld gag in which Elaine takes a piece of the wedding cake from the fridge of her boss, J. Peterman, only to learn it was from Edward VIII’s nuptials to Simpson? It was meant to send up the idea that the erstwhile monarch is remembered largely for his romance, not his Nazi sympathies. Meanwhile, one of the few books Simpson actually read was eugenicist Madison Grant’s The Passing of the Great Race, which Hitler referred to as his “Bible.” When Hitler hosted Simpson and the duke in 1937, she didn’t even have to use her trick.

3 Dogs and horses and Brits, oh my! Simpson “had no time for English people, didn’t get to the pitch of their humour, their strange adoration for the monarchy, their militaristic history, their quiet pride for the flag, and their ludicrous love of dogs and horses.” She also found the fascination with the Royal Family puzzling (“That a whole nation should preoccupy itself with a single family’s comings and goings — and not too exciting ones at that — seemed to me incomprehensible”), but was seduced by its social currency among all classes.

4 Social network backlash. Simpson was neighbours with Gertrude Stein and was the cousin of novelist Upton Sinclair. Both ended up pillorying her in their work: Stein in particular with a story depicting Simpson as being “famous for being famous.”

5 Back in my day. Though we’re used to 24/7 coverage of the Royal Family, the gossip around Simpson existed despite (and perhaps partly due to) a respectful compact between the king and New Brunswick-raised press baron Max Aitken. Feel free to pine for the days when the dignity of the Royal Family was protected by a Canadian named Lord Beaverbrook.