Joan Collins, 92, will portray Wallis Simpson in the upcoming film *My Duchess*, which dramatizes the final, bleak years of the former Duchess of Windsor. The movie also introduces Isabella Rossellini as Suzanne Blum, Simpson’s domineering lawyer who, according to newly released documents, acted as a CIA informant from the 1940s until Simpson’s death in 1986.

Blum’s 1942 OSS Recruitment by Ambassador William Bullitt

Recent Daily Mail files show that in the summer of 1942, a stranded Suzanne Blum approached the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the CIA’s predecessor, seeking work after France fell. She was recommended by William Bullitt, the U.S. ambassador to France who was rumored to have been both a close friend of Blum and an intimate of the Duchess. The OSS hired her for the modern‑day equivalent of £50,000, marking the start of a covert relationship that would span four decades.

Four Decades of Espionage: Reporting to Allen Dulles from 1945 Onward

According to the uncovered files, Blum sent secret telephone calls and letters to Allen Dulles, then head of the CIA, detailing the Windsors’ movements, social engagements, and personal affairs from 1945 until Wallis Simpson’s death. The surveillance continued after the Duke’s 1972 death, when Blum assumed total control over the Duchess’s finances, correpsondence, and daily routine.

Blum’s Grip on the Duchess: From Legal Counsel to “Jailer”

After World War II, Blum returned to Paris, where her husband served as the Duke and Duchess’s lawyer. She leveraged that position to dominate Simpson’s life, restricting access, managing her estate in the Bois de Boulogne, and even threatening journalists. writer Caroline Blackwood recalled Blum’s “murderous look” and a chilling warning: “If you do not write a favorable article about the Duchess, I will kill you!”

Why U.S.. Intelligence Monitored the Windsors

The Windsors were more famous in America than the British royal family during the 1950s and 1960s, and their pre‑war perceived sympathy for Adolf Hitler alarmed U.S. officials. As a result, American agencies kept a close watch on the couple, believing their influence could affect post‑war geopolitics. The newly released CIA file, though heavily redacted, directly implicates Blum as the primary informant feeding this intelligence.

Unanswered Questions: The Extent of Redacted CIA Files

Despite the Daily Mail’s revelations, many CIA documents on the Windsors remain heavily redacted, leaving unclear how much the agency knew about the couple’s private affairs and whether other operatives were involved. Additionally,the film *My Duchess* does not depict Blum’s covert communications, raising questions about how fully the story will be told on screen.