cover image The Windsor Style

The Windsor Style

Suzy Menkes. Salem House Publishers, $34.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-88162-321-5

British fashion editor and historian Menkes, author of The Royal Jewels, has created an album of great appeal with considerable new information about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. With nearly 200 photographs (over half in color), this showcase evokes the magnificence of the exiled couple's homes in France and the United States and the opulence of the duchess's wardrobe and jewels. Quotes from friends and critics of the former king and his wife add poignancy to this portrait of famous lovers who led empty lives. In the otherwise elegant bedroom of the duke, Menkes found toys from his nursery days, including one made by his mother, Queen Mary. Her account of the often mean-spirited if always exquisite Wallis makes a sad commentary on living like Midas as the best revenge. First serial to European Travel & Life. (April)