Duchess of Windsor.

Born on June 19, 1896, in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, Bessie Wallis Warfield came from a distinguished family. Her parents were Alice Montague and Teackle Wallis Warfield. She attended Oldfields School in Maryland, a prestigious girls’ boarding school. This education provided her with social graces that later proved crucial in high society.

In 1931, Wallis met Prince Edward at a party at Lady Furness’s house. By August 1934, the Prince and Wallis began an affair. After King George V died on January 20, 1936, Edward became king, but his infatuation with Wallis distracted him from state duties. On December 10, 1936, Edward abdicated the throne, famously stating he could not carry out his duties without the help and support of the woman I love. They married on June 3, 1937, and became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The couple lived in France and the Bahamas, and Wallis was named TIME’s Woman of the Year in 1937.

Wallis married three times. Her first marriage was to U.S. Navy pilot Earl Winfield Spencer Jr. in 1916; they divorced in 1927 due to his alcoholism and abuse. Six months later, she married Ernest Simpson, a British shipping executive, in 1928. She divorced Simpson in 1937 after her affair with Edward became public. On June 3, 1937, she married Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, and they remained devoted until his death in 1972. She was denied the style Royal Highness, causing lifelong tension with the royal family.

Wallis Simpson triggered a constitutional crisis that led to the only voluntary abdication of a British monarch. TIME named her its first Woman of the Year in 1937, calling her the most talked-about person in the world. She and Edward were shunned by the royal family but remained loyal to each other. Her autobiography The Heart Has Its Reasons was ghostwritten by Charles Murphy. She is remembered as a polarizing figure who reshaped the British monarchy’s public image.