Before Meghan Markle ever stepped foot into royal life, another American divorcee had already rocked the British monarchy.
Decades earlier, Wallis Simpson’s presence sparked an even bigger crisis—one that led to a king’s abdication, exile, and a lifetime of royal cold-shouldering.
Now, Dame Joan Collins is stepping into those legendary shoes, portraying Wallis in a new biopic titled The Bitter End.
And if the early glimpses are any indication, this might be the most emotionally intense take on the Duchess of Windsor’s story yet.
Wallis Before Meghan: The Original Royal Controversy
Wallis Simpson’s story almost reads like a historical blueprint for the backlash Meghan Markle has faced.
Accused of seducing a prince, blamed for “ruining” the monarchy, denied full royal recognition, and hounded by the media—her experience mirrors the Sussex saga in many ways.
But while Meghan is still actively shaping her own narrative, Wallis’s has long been set in stone—or at least in caricature.
She’s often portrayed as a social-climbing seductress, responsible for dragging Edward VIII away from his throne and into disgrace.
But a new film is now daring to look beyond the scandal headlines.
Enter Joan Collins: A Royal Portrayal with Real Bite
At 92, Dame Joan Collins is coming out of acting retirement to give Wallis Simpson her due.
She’s taking on the complex role in The Bitter End, directed by Mike Newell, and starring alongside another screen icon, Isabella Rossellini, who will play Suzanne Blum—the French lawyer who took sinister control over Wallis’s life after Edward’s death.
Collins has a personal connection to the material.
She’s experienced media scrutiny herself, and says she’s long felt that Wallis was treated unfairly by both the press and the public.
This film, she hopes, is a chance to set the record straight.
A Life Unraveling: Wallis Under Control
The film focuses on a period rarely explored—Wallis’s final, tragic years.
After Edward died in 1972, she was isolated and ill, her mind already slipping into dementia.
Left vulnerable in her Paris mansion, Wallis became the puppet of Suzanne Blum, who steadily cut her off from her social circle while gaining control of her finances.
Blum even managed to reroute Wallis’s estate to French institutions, rather than to any of her few remaining allies or family.
The emotional toll of this betrayal is what The Bitter End seems determined to uncover.
Early Stills Hint at Glamour and Gloom
A newly released still from the film paints a picture that’s part high fashion, part haunting drama.
Joan Collins, dressed in silks and furs, strikes a solemn pose in the garden of the Villa Windsor—Wallis’s former home.
She clutches a yellow rose while Rossellini’s Blum looms in the background, a figure of quiet menace in a heavy wool coat.
The styling is dramatic, perhaps even theatrical.
While Wallis was undoubtedly a fashion icon, the exaggerated glamour hints that the film may flirt with sensationalism, rather than strict historical accuracy.
Will History Repeat Itself On Screen?
That’s the big question. Wallis has long suffered from shallow, often distorted portrayals in pop culture.
Whether it’s Eve Best’s sultry socialite in The King’s Speech or the glamorous cameo in Upstairs, Downstairs, Hollywood loves painting her as a provocative outsider—more fiction than fact.
Even The Crown, often praised for its nuance, leaned into myth rather than complexity when it came to Wallis.
Scenes depicted her coldly guiding Edward toward abdication, ignoring the real-life fact that she had already fled to France by that time.
The Real Wallis: More Reserved Than Rebellious
Contrary to her public image, Wallis wasn’t the rebellious troublemaker people imagined.
Those who knew her, like her longtime secretary Johanna Schutz, insist she was stylish, yes—but also disciplined and deeply misunderstood.
Schutz, in fact, dismissed any comparison to Meghan Markle, saying Meghan “doesn’t come close” to Wallis in either sophistication or grace.
Author Anna Pasternak, who interviewed Schutz and wrote The American Duchess: The Real Wallis Simpson, agrees.
Her research revealed that Wallis had desperately wanted Edward to remain within the royal family.
Unlike Meghan, she wasn’t seeking to pull her prince away from the institution—just to be accepted within it.
Memoirs and Misconceptions
Wallis herself tried to tell her story. In 1956, she published her memoir A Heart Has Its Reasons, hoping to soften the public’s perception.
She felt unjustly treated, famously saying, “It’s as though I committed some horrible murder.”
But the book did little to change minds.
Today, her efforts mirror those of Meghan’s—think Oprah interview, Netflix docuseries, Harry’s Spare.
Both women tried to reclaim their narratives, but were met with deeply entrenched opinions shaped by media sensationalism and royal tradition.
A Sad and Silent Ending
Wallis died at 89, virtually imprisoned in her home and her body.
She could no longer speak, eat, or engage with visitors.
Far removed from the glamour of her early days, she became a living symbol of royal exile, confined to a pastel-blue bedroom and the memories of a very public love story that cost her everything.
This decline—both physical and emotional—is where The Bitter End starts.
And perhaps that choice alone speaks volumes about the filmmakers’ desire to focus on the woman behind the myth.
Will the Film Do Her Justice?
There’s hope the film might finally show the depth of Wallis Simpson’s life—the charm, the mistakes, the loneliness, and the misunderstood motivations.
But there’s also fear that it could simply serve up another round of dramatic clichés.
In trying to depict the woman broken down by betrayal and illness, the movie might still fall into the old trap: turning Wallis into a symbol of her own downfall, rather than offering the nuanced, balanced portrait she deserves.
Still Shaped by the Story, Not the Truth
As the film nears completion, one thing is clear: Wallis Simpson’s image, like Meghan Markle’s, remains shaped more by the stories told about her than the truths she tried to express.
Whether The Bitter End will rewrite the narrative or reinforce the myths is still uncertain.
But if there’s one thing this renewed attention can do, it’s spark fresh conversations about the pressures, misrepresentations, and human cost of being a royal outsider—especially one who dares to be American, divorced, and unwilling to play by palace rules.