George VI, King of the United Kingdom, the Dominions of the Commonwealth, and Emperor of India
Queen Elizabeth, his wife
Princess Elizabeth, their elder daughter; queen 1952-2022
Princess Margaret, their younger daughter
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband to Princess Elizabeth
Prince Charles, son to Philip and Elizabeth
Princess Anne, daughter to Philip and Elizabeth
Edward, Duke of Windsor, former king, now international playboy; known as ‘David’ to his family and familiars
Wallis Windsor, his wife
Queen Mary, the royal mother
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, her third son
Mary, Princess Royal, Countess of Harewood, her daughter
Lord Mountbatten, Edward’s cousin and Philip’s uncle
Lord Brabourne, his son-in-law
Patricia Mountbatten, Philip’s cousin
Bessie Merryman, Wallis’s aunt
May Elphinstone, Queen Elizabeth’s sister
David Bowes-Lyon, Queen Elizabeth’s brother, ‘a vicious little fellow’
Sir Alan ‘Tommy’ Lascelles, private secretary to George VI 1945-52; private secretary to Elizabeth II 1952-53
Sir Edward Ford, assistant private secretary to George VI 1946-52
Martin Charteris, private secretary to Princess Elizabeth 1950-52; assistant private secretary to Elizabeth II 1952-53
Marion ‘Crawfie’ Crawford, former governess to the princesses
Major George Buthlay, her husband
Peter Townsend, equerry to George VI
Dermot Morrah, journalist and royal speechwriter
Owen Morshead, royal librarian and archivist
John Gibson, footman to Prince Charles
Lady Anne Glenconner, lady-in-waiting
[Albert] George ‘A. G.’ Allen, solicitor to the Duke of Windsor
Sir Walter Monckton, lawyer and counsellor to George VI and the Duke of Windsor
Kenneth de Courcy, confidant to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
Godfrey Thomas, former royal courtier
Charles Murphy, ghostwriter for the Duke of Windsor
F. J. Dadd, secretary to the Duke of Windsor
Mike Parker, equerry to Prince Philip
Lord Beaverbrook, newspaper magnate and friend to the Duke of Windsor
Viscount Ednam, Earl of Dudley, and Laura, Countess of Dudley, friends of the Duke of Windsor
Joan Martin, Wallis’s maid
Anne Seagrim, secretary to the Duke of Windsor
Clement Attlee, prime minister 1945-51; Leader of the Opposition 1951-55
Herbert Morrison, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party 1945-56
Hugh Dalton, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1945-47
Ernest Bevin, Foreign Secretary 1945-51
James Chuter-Ede, Home Secretary 1945-51
Arthur Creech Jones, Secretary of State to the Colonies 1946-50
Harold Laski, Labour politician
Tom Driberg, Labour politician
William Jowitt, Lord Chancellor
Winston Churchill, Leader of the Opposition 1945-51; prime minister 1951-55
Anthony Eden, de facto deputy prime minister 1951-55
Robert ‘Bob’ Boothby, Conservative politician
Henry ‘Chips’ Channon, Conservative politician and diarist
Harold Nicolson, Conservative politician and diarist
Leo Amery, Conservative politician
Rab Butler, Conservative politician
Jock Colville, private secretary to Princess Elizabeth 1947-49; private secretary to Churchill 1951-55
Lord Halifax, British ambassador to the United States 1940-46
Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel, British ambassador to the United States 1946-48
Duff Cooper, British ambassador to France 1944-48
Ramsay MacDonald, former prime minister
Alexander Cadogan, Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs 1938-46
John Martin, private secretary to Churchill 1941-45
Sir Pierson Dixon, private secretary to Bevin 1945-48
Edward Holman, assistant ambassador to France
Sir Edward Baring, high commissioner to South Africa
Sir William Murphy, ambassador to the Bahamas
John Wheeler-Bennett, British representative in Germany
Clement Davies, leader of the Liberal Party 1945-56
Harry S. Truman, American president 1945-53
James F. Byrnes, US Secretary of State 1945-47
George Marshall, US Secretary of State 1947-49
Admiral William Leahy, Truman’s chief of staff
Robert Coe, US diplomat to the United Kingdom
Jan Smuts, president of South Africa 1939-48
Norman Robertson, Canadian high commissioner
Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union 1924-53
Clementine Churchill, wife to Winston
Diana Cooper, wife to Duff
Susan Mary Alsop, socialite
Osla Benning, Canadian debutante
Cecil Beaton, society photographer and diarist
John Reith, director general of the BBC 1927-38
Herman and Katherine Rogers, friends of Wallis
Osbert Sitwell, writer and wit
Noël Coward, playwright and actor
Peter Coats, companion to Chips Channon
Kathleen Kennedy, daughter of American ambassador Jack Kennedy
Cecil Roberts, friend to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
Henry Luce, publisher and founder of Life magazine
Dan Longwell, editor of Life magazine
John Gordon, Sunday Express editor
Norman Hartnell, royal couturier
Cyril Garbett, Archbishop of York
Commander Sir Morton Stuart, Manipulative Surgeon to the King
Sir Thomas Dunhill, Serjeant Surgeon to the King
Professor James Learmonth, Regius Professor in Clinical Surgery
Clement Price Thomas, a leading chest surgeon
Lord Moran, physician to Churchill
Lady Astor, friend to Queen Elizabeth
D’Arcy Osborne, diplomat and friend to Queen Elizabeth
James ‘Jimmy’ Donahue Jr, socialite, playboy and friend to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
Ella Maxwell, American gossip columnist and hostess
Earl of Athlone, friend to the Duke of Windsor
Rowland Baring, 2nd Earl of Cromer, friend to the Duke of Windsor
Oscar Nemon, sculptor to the great and good
Edmund Hillary, mountaineer
Michael Ramsey, Bishop of Durham
John Capstick, chief inspector at Scotland Yard
Leslie Holmes, convicted thief
John Dean, butler to Lord Mountbatten
James Cameron, Daily Express journalist
Marietta Fitzgerald, American journalist
Bruce and Beatrice Blackmar Gould, co-editors of Ladies’ Home Journal
Dorothy Black, ghostwriter for Crawfie
Vera M. Brunt, outraged by Crawfie
Colm Brogan, Daily Express journalist
Kenneth H. Smith, president of the Book Publishers’ Representatives Association
R. M. MacColl, Daily Express journalist