Edward VIII’s Murderous Mistress

Senior members of the Royal Family enjoying clandestine encounters with ladies of the night? It wouldn’t happen these days, that’s for sure! But on the basis of this film, the man who would later become Edward VIII sounds like a prototype Loaded lad, complaining about Italian women (‘I’ve hardly seen a fuckable one yet’) and repeatedly knocking boots with a high-class courtesan in Paris.

The pair exchanged letters and, when Maggie Meller (or Princess Fahmy Bey, as she was known by then) later found herself on trial for murder, it became apparent that she’d sensibly hung on to hers. Cue a dubious acquittal stinking of an establishment cover-up. A cracking story is reasonably well told, although we do still wince at the shonky reconstructions. Perhaps, if the national mood ever becomes slightly less acquiescent towards the Royal Family, there’s a film in it.