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Note: from 20 January 1936 until his abdication on 11 December 1936.
Before his accession to the throne, Edward held successively the titles of Prince Edward of York, Prince Edward of Cornwall and York, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay, and Prince of Wales. As a young man, he served in World War I, undertook several foreign tours on behalf of his father, George V, and was associated with a succession of older, married women.
Only months into his reign, Edward caused a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to the American divorc�e Wallis Simpson. The prime ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage, arguing that the people would never accept her as queen. Edward knew that the government led by British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead, which could have dragged the King into a general election and ruined irreparably his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. Rather than give up Mrs. Simpson, Edward chose to abdicate. He was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI. With a reign of 325 days, Edward is one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British and Commonwealth history, and was never crowned.
After his abdication, he reverted to the style of a son of the Sovereign, The Prince Edward, and was created Duke of Windsor on 8 March 1937. During World War II, he was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France, but after private accusations that he held pro-Nazi sympathies, was moved to The Bahamas as Governor and Commander-in-Chief. After the war, he was never given another official appointment, and spent the remainder of his life in retirement. Early life
Edward VIII was born on 23 June 1894, at White Lodge in Richmond, England.[1] He was the eldest son of The Duke of York (later King George V), and The Duchess of York (formerly Princess Victoria Mary of Teck). His father was the second son of The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and The Princess of Wales (formerly Princess Alexandra of Denmark). His mother was the eldest daughter of The Duke of Teck and The Duchess of Teck (formerly Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge). As a great-grandson of Queen Victoria in the male line, Edward was styled His Highness Prince Edward of York at his birth.
Edward with his parents, then Duke and Duchess of YorkHe was baptised Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David in the Green Drawing Room of White Lodge on 16 July 1894, by Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury.[2] The names were chosen in honour of Edward's late uncle, who was known to his family as "Eddy" or Edward, and his great-grandfather King Christian IX of Denmark. The name Albert was included at the behest of Queen Victoria, and his last four names�George, Andrew, Patrick and David�came from the Patron Saints of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The Prince was nevertheless, for the rest of his life, known to his family and close friends by his last given name, David.
Edward's parents, The Duke and Duchess of York, were often removed from their children's upbringing, like other upper-class English parents of the day. Edward and his younger siblings were brought up by nannies. One of his early nannies abused Edward by pinching him before he was due to be presented to his parents. His subsequent crying and wailing would lead the Duke and Duchess to send Edward and the nanny away.[3] The nanny was subsequently discharged. His father, though a harsh disciplinarian,[4] was demonstrably affectionate[5] and his mother displayed a frolicksome side with her children that belies her austere public image. She was amused by the children making tadpoles on toast for their French master,[6] and encouraged them to confide in her.[7] Education
At first, Edward was tutored at home by Helen Bricka. Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, his parents travelled the British Empire for almost nine months. Young Edward and his siblings stayed in Britain with their grandparents, Queen Alexandra and Edward VII, who showered their grandchildren with affection. On the return of his parents, Edward was placed under the care of two men, Frederick Finch and Henry Hansell, who virtually brought up Edward and his siblings for their remaining nursery years.[8]
Edward was kept under the strict tutorship of Hansell until nearly the age of 13; Hansell had wanted Edward to enter school earlier, but his father disagreed. Edward took the examination to enter Osborne Naval College, and began there in 1907.[9] Following two years at Osborne College, which he did not enjoy, Edward moved on to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. A course of two years followed by entry into the Royal Navy was planned. However, Edward automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay when his father, George V, ascended the throne on 6 May 1910 following the death of Edward VII. Edward was created Prince of Wales a month later on his 16th birthday, on 23 June 1910, and the preparations began in earnest for his future duties as King. He was withdrawn from his naval course before his formal graduation, served as midshipman for three months aboard the battleship Hindustan, then immediately entered Magdalen College, Oxford, for which in the opinion of his biographers, he was underprepared intellectually. He left Oxford after eight terms without any academic credentials.[10]
Prince of Wales
Edward was officially invested as Prince of Wales in a special ceremony at Caernarfon Castle on 13 July 1911.[11] For the first time since 1616�and the evidence for that ceremony is thin�the investiture took place in Wales, at the instigation of the Welsh politician David Lloyd George, Constable of the Castle and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal government.[12] Lloyd George invented a rather fanciful ceremony in the style of a Welsh pageant, and coached Edward to speak a few words in Welsh.
Military career
When the First World War (1914�18) broke out, Edward had reached the minimum age for active service and was keen to participate.[13] He had joined the Grenadier Guards in June 1914, and although Edward was willing to serve on the front lines, Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener refused to allow it, citing the immense harm that would occur if the heir to the throne were captured.[14]
Despite this, Edward witnessed trench warfare firsthand and attempted to visit the front line as often as he could, for which he was awarded the Military Cross in 1916. His role in the war, although limited, led to his great popularity among veterans of the conflict.[15] Edward undertook his first military flight in 1918 and later gained his pilot's licence.[16]
Royal duties
Throughout the 1920s Edward, as Prince of Wales, represented his father, King George V, at home and abroad on many occasions. He took a particular interest in visiting the poverty stricken areas of the country,[17] and undertook 16 tours to various parts of the Empire between 1919 and 1935, in the process acquiring the Bedingfield ranch, near Pekisko, Canada. In 1924, he donated the Prince of Wales Trophy to the National Hockey League.[18]
His attitudes towards many of the Empire's subjects and various foreign peoples, both during his time as Prince of Wales and later as Duke of Windsor, were little commented upon in their time but have soured his reputation subsequently.[19] He said of Indigenous Australians: "they are the most revolting form of living creatures I've ever seen!! They are the lowest known form of human beings & are the nearest thing to monkeys."[20]
His rank, travels, good looks, and unmarried status gained him much attention; he soon became the 1920s version of a latter-day movie star. At the height of his popularity, he became the most photographed celebrity of his time and he set men's fashion.[21]
Romances
British Royalty
House of Windsor
George V
Edward VIII George VI Mary, Princess Royal Henry, Duke of Gloucester George, Duke of Kent Prince John Edward VIII
Edward's compulsive womanizing and other instances of reckless behaviour during the 1920s and 1930s worried Prime Minister Baldwin, King George V, and those close to the prince. Edward's private secretary for eight years during this period, Alan Lascelles, believed that "for some hereditary or physiological reason his normal mental development stopped dead when he reached adolescence".[22] George V was disappointed by Edward's failure to settle down in life and disgusted by his many affairs with married women. The King was reluctant to see Edward inherit the Crown, and was quoted as saying of Edward: "After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in 12 months."[23]
After his younger brother, Albert, married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Edward "constantly and teasingly" referred to his new sister-in-law as "Queen Elizabeth". In 1929, Time Magazine asked if "she did not sometimes wonder how much truth there is in the story that he once said he would renounce his rights upon the death of George V�which would make her nickname come true".[24] Edward grew older and remained unmarried, but his brother and sister-in-law had two children, including Princess Elizabeth. King George V said of his son Albert ("Bertie"), and granddaughter Elizabeth ("Lilibet"): "I pray to God that my eldest son [Edward] will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne."[25]
In 1930, the King gave Edward a home, Fort Belvedere, near Sunningdale, England.[26] There, Edward had relationships with a series of married women including half-British, half-American textile heiress Freda Dudley Ward, and Lady Furness (born Thelma Morgan), an American of part-Chilean ancestry, who introduced the Prince to fellow American Wallis Simpson (previously Wallis Spencer; born Bessie Wallis Warfield). Mrs. Simpson had divorced her first husband in 1927 and had subsequently married Ernest Simpson, a half-British, half-American businessman. Mrs. Simpson and the Prince of Wales, it is generally accepted, became lovers while Lady Furness travelled abroad, though Edward adamantly insisted to his father, the King, that he was not intimate with her and that it was not appropriate to describe her as his mistress.[27] Edward's relationship with Mrs. Simpson further weakened his poor relationship with his father. Although the King and Queen met Mrs Simpson at Buckingham Palace in 1935,[28] they later refused to receive her.[29] But Edward had now fallen in love with Wallis and the couple grew ever closer.
Edward's affair with the American divorc�e led to such grave concern that the couple were followed by members of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, who examined in secret the nature of their relationship. An undated report detailed a visit by the couple to an antique shop, where the proprietor later noted: "that the lady seemed to have POW [Prince of Wales] completely under her thumb."[30] The prospect of having an American divorc�e with a questionable past having such sway over the heir apparent led to anxiety amongst government and establishment figures.
Reign
King George V died on 20 January 1936, and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. The next day, he broke royal protocol by watching the proclamation of his own accession to the throne from a window of St. James's Palace in the company of the then still-married Mrs. Simpson.[31] Edward VIII became the first monarch of the Commonwealth realms to fly in an aeroplane, when he flew from Sandringham to London for his Accession Council.[32]
Edward caused unease in government circles with actions that were interpreted as interference in political matters. On visiting the depressed coal mining villages in South Wales the King's observation that "something must be done"[32] for the unemployed coal miners was seen as directly critical of the Government, though it has never been clear whether Edward had anything in particular in mind. Government ministers were reluctant to send confidential documents and state papers to Fort Belvedere because it was clear that Edward was paying little attention to them and because of the perceived danger that Mrs. Simpson and other house guests might see them.[33]
Edward's unorthodox approach to his role also extended to the currency which bore his image. He broke with the tradition that on coinage each successive monarch faced in the opposite direction to his or her predecessor. Edward insisted his left side was superior to his right, and that he face left (as his father had done).[34] Only a handful of coins were actually struck before the abdication, and when George VI succeeded he also faced left, to maintain the tradition by suggesting that had any coins been minted featuring Edward's portrait, they would have shown him facing right.[35] On 16 July 1936 an attempt was made on Edward's life. An Irish malcontent, Jerome Brannigan (otherwise known as George Andrew McMahon), produced a loaded revolver as the King rode on horseback at Constitution Hill, near Buckingham Palace. Police spotted the gun and pounced on him; he was quickly arrested. At Brannigan's trial, he alleged that "a foreign power" had approached him to kill Edward, that he had informed MI5 of the plan, and that he was merely seeing the plan through to help MI5 catch the real culprits. The court rejected the claims and sent him to jail for a year. It is now thought that Brannigan had indeed been in contact with MI5 but the veracity of the remainder of his claims remains open.[36] In August and September, Edward and Mrs. Simpson cruised the Eastern Mediterranean on the steam yacht Nahlin. By October it was becoming clear that the new King planned to marry Mrs. Simpson, especially when divorce proceedings between Mr. and Mrs. Simpson were brought at Ipswich Crown Court.[37] Preparations for all contingencies were made, including the prospect of the coronation of King Edward and Queen Wallis. Because of the religious implications of any marriage, plans were made to hold a secular coronation ceremony not in the traditional religious location, Westminster Abbey, but in the Banqueting House in Whitehall.[38]
Abdication
Main article: Edward VIII abdication crisis
On 16 November 1936, Edward invited Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and expressed his desire to marry Wallis Simpson when she became free to re-marry. Baldwin informed the King that his subjects would deem the marriage morally unacceptable, largely because remarriage after divorce was opposed by the Church of England, and the people would not tolerate Wallis as Queen.[39]
As King, Edward held the role of Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and the clergy expected him to support the Church's teachings.
Edward proposed an alternative solution of a morganatic marriage, in which Edward would remain King but Wallis would not become Queen. She would enjoy some lesser title instead, and any children they might have would not inherit the throne. This too was rejected by the British Cabinet[40] as well as other Dominion governments,[41] whose views were sought pursuant to the Statute of Westminster 1931, which provided in part that "any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom."[42] The Prime Ministers of Australia, Canada and South Africa made clear their opposition to the King marrying a divorc�e;[43] the Irish premier expressed indifference and detachment, while the Prime Minister of New Zealand, having never even heard of Mrs. Simpson before, vacillated in disbelief.[44] Faced with this opposition, Edward at first responded that there were "not many people in Australia" and their opinion didn't matter.[45]
The King informed Baldwin that he would abdicate if he could not marry Mrs. Simpson. Baldwin then presented Edward with three choices: give up the idea of marriage; marry against his ministers' wishes; or abdicate.[46] It was clear that Edward was not prepared to give up Mrs. Simpson, and he knew that if he married against the advice of his ministers, he would cause the government to resign, prompting a constitutional crisis.[47] He chose to abdicate.[48]
Edward duly signed the instruments[49] of abdication at Fort Belvedere on 10 December 1936, in the presence of his three surviving brothers, The Duke of York, The Duke of Gloucester and The Duke of Kent (the youngest brother, Prince John, had died in 1919).[50] The next day, the last act of his reign was the royal assent to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936. As required by the Statute of Westminster, all the Dominions consented to the King's abdication,[51] though the Irish Free State did not pass the External Relations Act, which included the abdication in its schedule, until 12 December.
On the night of 11 December 1936, Edward, now reverted to the title of Prince Edward, made a broadcast to the nation and the Empire, explaining his decision to abdicate. He famously said, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love."[52]
After the broadcast, Edward departed the United Kingdom for Austria, though he was unable to join Mrs. Simpson until her divorce became absolute, several months later.[53] His brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York, succeeded to the throne as George VI, whose elder daughter, The Princess Elizabeth, became first in the line of succession, as the heiress presumptive.
Duke of Windsor
On 12 December 1936, at his Accession Privy Council, George VI announced he was to make his brother Duke of Windsor, and also re-admit him to the highest degrees of the various British Orders of Knighthood. He wanted this to be the first act of his reign, although the formal documents were not signed until 8 March of the following year. During the interim, Edward was universally known as the Duke of Windsor. The King's decision to create Edward a royal duke ensured that he could neither stand for election to the House of Commons nor speak on political subjects in the House of Lords.[54]
However, letters patent dated 27 May 1937, which re-conferred upon the Duke of Windsor the "title, style, or attribute of Royal Highness", specifically stated that "his wife and descendants, if any, shall not hold said title or attribute". Some British ministers advised that Edward had no need of it being conferred because he had not lost it, and further that Mrs. Simpson would automatically obtain the rank of wife of a prince with the style "Her Royal Highness"; others maintained that he had lost all royal rank and should no longer carry any royal title or style as an abdicated King. On 14 April 1937, Attorney General Sir Donald Somervell submitted to Home Secretary Sir John Simon a memorandum summarising the views of Lord Advocate T. M. Cooper, Parliamentary Counsel Sir Granville Ram and himself, to the effect that: We incline to the view that on his abdication the Duke of Windsor could not have claimed the right to be described as a Royal Highness. In other words, no reasonable objection could have been taken if the King had decided that his exclusion from the lineal succession excluded him from the right to this title as conferred by the existing Letters Patent. The question however has to be considered on the basis of the fact that, for reasons which are readily understandable, he with the express approval of His Majesty enjoys this title and has been referred to as a Royal Highness on a formal occasion and in formal documents. In the light of precedent it seems clear that the wife of a Royal Highness enjoys the same title unless some appropriate express step can be and is taken to deprive her of it. We came to the conclusion that the wife could not claim this right on any legal basis. The right to use this style or title, in our view, is within the prerogative of His Majesty and he has the power to regulate it by Letters Patent generally or in particular circumstances.[55]
The Duke of Windsor married Mrs. Simpson, who had changed her name by deed poll to Wallis Warfield, in a private ceremony on 3 June 1937, at Ch�teau de Cand�, near Tours, France. When the Church of England refused to sanction the union, a County Durham clergyman, the Reverend Robert Anderson Jardine (Vicar of St Paul's, Darlington), offered to perform the ceremony, and the Duke accepted. The new king, George VI, forbade members of the Royal Family to attend[56]�Edward had particularly wanted his brothers the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent and his second cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten (Earl Mountbatten of Burma after 1947) to be there�and this continued for many years to rankle with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.[57]
The denial of the style "Her Royal Highness" to the Duchess of Windsor caused conflict, as did the financial settlement�the Government declined to include the Duke or the Duchess on the Civil List, and the Duke's allowance was paid personally by the King. But the Duke had compromised his position with the King by concealing the extent of his financial worth when they informally agreed on the amount of the sinecure the King would pay. Edward's wealth had accumulated from the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall paid to him as Prince of Wales and ordinarily at the disposal of an incoming king. The new King and Queen were also forced to pay Edward for Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle. These properties were Edward's personal property, inherited from his father, King George V, and thus did not automatically pass to George VI on his accession.[58] Relations between the Duke of Windsor and the rest of the Royal Family were strained for decades. Edward became embittered against his mother, writing to her in 1939: "[your last letter][59] destroy[ed] the last vestige of feeling I had left for you ... [and has] made further normal correspondence between us impossible."[60] In the early days of George VI's reign the Duke telephoned daily, importuning for money and urging that the Duchess be granted the style of HRH, until the harassed King ordered that the calls not be put through.[61] The Duke had assumed that he would settle in Britain after a year or two of exile in France. However, King George VI (with the support of their mother Queen Mary and his wife Queen Elizabeth) threatened to cut off Edward's allowance if he returned to Britain without an invitation.
Note: Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; later The Duke of Windsor; 23 June 1894 � 28 May 1972) was King of the United Kingdom and the British dominions, and Emperor of India
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