Sheila The Australian Beauty Who Bewitched British Society

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 ended her days as Princess Dimitri of Russia. Sheila had torrid love affairs with Rudolph Valentino and Prince Obolensky of Russia, and among her friends were Evelyn Waugh, Lord Beaverbrook, and Wallis Simpson. An extraordinary woman, Sheila is a spellbinding story of a unique time and a place and an utterly fascinating life.

Robert Wainwright has been a journalist for 25 years, and is a senior writer with the Sydney Morning Herald. He is the author of The Lost Boy, The Killing of Caroline Byrne, and Rose.