DAILY MAIL: WALLIS SIMPSON'S ONE TRUE LOVE... AND IT WASN'T EDWARD VIII: HOW THE DUCHESS OF WINDSOR HAD HER EYE ON RICH YALE GRADUATE FOR YEARS BEFORE TRYING TO SABOTAGE HIS WEDDING TO HER LOVE RIVAL

Wallis Simpson was the American divorcée who triggered a constitutional crisis

But just two days before marrying Edward VIII she tried to seduce another man

'There had only ever been one true love in her life' fascinating biography reveals

She was the American divorcée who triggered a constitutional crisis and the abdication of Edward VIII.

In Saturday’s extract from a fascinating new biography of Wallis Simpson, Andrew Morton revealed how she tried to seduce another man two days before she married Edward.

In today’s extract, he describes her catfight with a love rival . . .

In Saturday’s extract from a fascinating new biography of Wallis Simpson (pictured with Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII), Andrew Morton revealed how she tried to seduce another man two days before she married Edward

Marriage to the Duke of Windsor changed nothing.

There had only ever been one true love in Wallis Simpson’s life, even if she hadn’t yet managed to get him into bed.

A rich Yale University graduate, Herman Rogers was by all accounts an unusually attractive man, with brown wavy hair and the bearing of an athlete.

For all the years that Wallis had known him, however, he’d been happily married.

True, he’d always been devoted to Wallis. It was Herman, with his wife Katherine, who’d sheltered her when she fled to France during the abdication crisis.

And it was Herman who helped organise her wedding and remained the most constant of friends and advisers.

But Wallis had always wanted more — and her chance finally came when Katherine died of throat cancer in May 1949.

There was just one problem: almost before the poor woman had been buried, the Duchess of Windsor had a rival for Herman’s affections.

Lucy Wann, a socially ambitious widow who had befriended both the Duke and Duchess, wasted no time in closing in on the grieving widower.

Instinctively, she knew Wallis would be her main competition.

‘There is no question that these women were rivals in love,’ recalls Lucy’s daughter-in-law, Kitty Blair, who spent many hours alone with her discussing Herman and Wallis.

‘Both wanted Herman. Wallis would have grabbed him and told the Duke to go. Lucy knew that.’

Such was Lucy’s fear of losing out that, within months of Katherine’s death, she was putting pressure on Herman to marry her.

During this critical time, she had one clear advantage: the Duchess had left her home on the French Riviera for a visit to the States.

By June 1950, Lucy Wann had triumphed — and when Herman wrote to the Duchess to tell her he had asked Lucy to marry him, the news came as a profound shock.

In a telegram to Herman she pleaded: ‘DON’T DO ANYTHING UNTIL I GET THERE. YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL.’

Said a family friend: ‘Wallis had come to look on Herman as a form of reserve capital, which Katherine’s death now promised to make available for the first time.

‘For the prize to fall so swiftly and easily to a comparative stranger wounded Wallis deeply, and the wound was plain to see.

'Her boredom in her own marriage had become acute, and she was no longer as discreet as before when it came to hiding her feelings.’

As the wedding day approached, the two women made no effort to hide their mutual animosity.

‘They despised one another,’ recalled Kitty Blair. ‘They were cut from the same cloth — socially ambitious vipers who would do anything, walk over anyone, to get what they wanted.’

With calculated cruelty, Wallis gave Lucy a little straw bag as a wedding gift. It was the kind of present the Windsors would give to a maid, said the bride contemptuously.

As for Herman, they gave him an antique silver salver, bearing the Windsors’ monogram and an inscription that made Lucy’s blood boil.

Not only was the date of their wedding wrong, but — to add insult to injury — the dedication was to Herman alone.

As her wedding day dawned, Lucy vowed that she wasn’t going to allow ‘that woman’ to spoil things.

But her temperature rose the moment Wallis arrived at Herman’s villa near Cannes.

In an obvious attempt to upstage the bride, she’d chosen to wear a beautiful white dress.

To compound matters, just before the bridal party set off for the town hall, Wallis started adjusting Lucy’s wedding dress, saying that it didn’t fit properly.

She tugged at the satin collar, pulling it this way and that, until it was quite out of shape.

‘There,’ she said. ‘That’s better.’ Lucy simmered, but bit her tongue.

After the wedding, the guests separated to rest before the main reception, which was being held from 6pm to 8pm.

By 8pm, though, the Duke and Duchess had yet to arrive, and many people were drifting away.

When Wallis and Edward turned up 8.45pm, all but two guests had gone. Wallis apologised, saying that they’d had an urgent appointment with their architect which could not be delayed.

‘But Wallis,’ said Lucy sweetly, ‘he was at our reception.’

Later, when they were alone together, Wallis grabbed Lucy’s hands and told her: ‘I’ll hold you responsible if anything ever happens to Herman. He’s the only man I’ve ever loved.’

Lucy let those final seven words linger long enough for the enormity of what Wallis had said to sink in.

Then, looking hard into the Duchess’s eyes, she replied: ‘How nice for the Duke.’

Wallis blushed and said quickly: ‘There was never anything between Herman and me.’………………

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5351349/Wallis-Simpson-tried-seduce-man-marrying.html#ixzz56KJfHLxk

Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook