Royal author: Wallis was just as good as Meghan

AUTHOR Anna Pasternak did her best to win sympathy for ‘The Cad’ James Hewitt when she wrote a book with the former Cavalry officer’s help about his five- year affair with Princess Diana.

Now, the great-niece of Doctor Zhivago novelist Boris Pasternak hopes to salvage the reputation of Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee who caused the 1936 abdication crisis.

Anna has written a biography, Untitled: The Real Wallis, Duchess Of Windsor, which will be published next spring.

‘It’s the first time any writer has attempted to get to the truth of who she really was: a warm, witty, kind and loyal woman, written off by powerful and cunning establishment men who did not want Edward VIII on the throne. Far from being the villain of the abdication crisis, I present her as the victim,’ she tells me.

With Prince Harry now married to an American divorcee, Anna thinks the time is ripe for Mrs Simpson’s rehabilitation.

‘It’s appalling that Wallis was denied the coveted HRH title by the Royal Family, which legally she was entitled to (hence my book title). When I see Meghan’s HRH and her name in the Court Circular, I get a kick of injustice on Wallis’s behalf.’