Sheila

- Blurb -

Sheila wedded earls and barons, befriended literary figures and movie stars, bedded a future king, was feted by London and New York society for 40 years, and when she died was a Russian princess. Vivacious, confident and striking, Sheila Chisholm met her first husband, Francis Edward Scudamore St Clair-Erskine, a first lieutenant and son of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn, when she went to Egypt during World War I to nurse her brother. Arriving in London as a young married woman, the world was at her feet - and she enjoyed it immensely. Edward, Prince of Wales, called her 'a divine woman', and, his brother, Bertie, the future George VI of England (Queen Elizabeth's father) was especially close to her. She subsequently became Lady Milbanke and ultimately ended her days as the Princess Dimitri of Russia. Sheila had torrid affairs with Rudolph Valentino and Prince Obolensky of Russia; and among her friends were Evelyn Waugh, Lord Beaverbrook and Wallis Simpson. A woman and a life unknown to most Australians, Sheila is a spellbinding story of a time and a place and an utterly fascinating, extraordinary woman.