For the coronation of Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953, all the members of the Royal Family were present, with one notable exception: her uncle, the former Edward VIII, now the Duke of Windsor. Although Edward had attempted to build civil relations with his niece after her accession to the throne the previous year, it was widely – and correctly – believed that his toadying to her was largely connected to his wishing to extract money from her, and besides his publication of a scandalous and revelatory memoir, A King’s Story, in 1951 had seen him cast out into outer...