Anne Sebba, Author and Historian of The Duchess of Style - Time to Reassess Wallis Simpson
Some saw her as rash, others held her up as a fashion icon. This illustrated lecture on Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor is based on the research and discovery by Anne Sebbaof dramatic new documents and letters. Why was this Baltimore woman, born in 1896 into relative obscurity, so demonised by the British establishment and wider commonwealth. Anne will tell the story of how this woman was unacceptable as Queen of England and what was the power she had over King Edward VIII that caused him to abdicate his role as King of England. Seventy five years since the Abdication in 1936, it is now time to reassess that woman. Based on Anne's latest biography That Woman The life of Wallis Simpson.
Anne Sebba is a biographer, lecturer, journalist and former Reuters foreign correspondent. Her first job was at the BBC World Services in the Arabic Department. She has written eight critically acclaimed books, mostly about iconic women who enjoyed using
power and influence in different ways such as Mother Teresa, Laura Ashley and Jennie Churchill. She has also written several short stories and introductions to reprinted novels. Her latest biography That Woman The life of Wallis Simpson was published in England in August 2011 and became an immediate bestseller.
She has presented BBC Radio documentaries about women, Harriet Cohen and Joyce Hatto the pianists, is a member of the Society of Authors Executive Committee and regularly lectures to corporations, clubs and institutions including The English Speaking Union, Royal Oak Foundation, National Trust and Women’s Institute seller in the UK and Australia. It is published in the US in March 2012 by St Martin’s Press and will be translated into a number of other languages later this year.
