The Abdication of King Edward VIII & How Daily Express Reported it 78 Years Ago

Started by cinrit, September 17, 2014, 01:23:53 PM

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cinrit

QuoteKing Edward VIII had been king for less than a year when he dropped his bombshell: he was giving up the throne for love.

The woman he had fallen for, the American socialite Mrs Wallis Simpson, had been married not once but twice and was still in the process of divorcing her second husband when Edward was crowned king.

Warned by the prime minister Stanley Baldwin that his role as nominal head of the Church of England was incompatible with marrying a divorcee Edward reluctantly decided to abdicate.

He informed his stunned subjects of his decision in a 537-word speech broadcast over the radio from Windsor Castle.

In a particularly poignant touch, the ex-king was introduced to listeners by the BBC director-general Sir John Reith as "Prince Edward" even though it was not an official title and he was later made His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor.

More: The abdication of King Edward VIII and how the Daily Express reported it 78 years ago | History | News | Daily Express

Cindy
Always be yourself.  Unless you can be a unicorn.  Then always be a unicorn.

lilibet80

There should be a great big thank you note from all of Britain to this man and woman.  They saved Britain from possible occupation by the Nazis.

cate1949

^ you said it - close call and thankfully Wallis made it possible to send him away

I do not get those who have all this sympathy for these two -

Curryong

Quote from: cate1949 on September 18, 2014, 10:15:28 PM
^ you said it - close call and thankfully Wallis made it possible to send him away

I do not get those who have all this sympathy for these two -

Yes, more has come out about Edward's behaviour since his death, including his and his wife's self centred behaviour during the war, both in France and when they were in the Bahamas. Thank heavens for Wallis, I say!

LouisFerdinand

Did Winston Churchill help King Edward VIII to write his abdication speech?


Curryong

Walter Monckton was supposed to have assisted Edward with most of the speech. Monckton, who was chief legal advisor to the Duchy of Cornwall from 1932, was an enormous help to both Wallis and Edward during the latter half of 1936.

However, Churchill, who supported Edward during the Abdication crisis, went to see him shortly before the broadcast the ex King made to the British people. He apparently added touches like the sentence in which Edward talks about the 'matchless blessing' his brother possesses in having a wife and children in contrast to himself.

Of course no-one stopped Edward from marrying and having a family life of his own. It was his choice to devote himself almost solely to married women from 1917 onwards.

amabel

No, no one stopped Edward from marrying.. but if he hadn't found  a girl he wanted to marry, a discreet relationship with a married woman was the usual way that a prince could have companionship..Freda Dudley Ward was separated from her husband... but he was in the background to provide respectability and a father for any possible children...And Ed was never going ot marry a sutiable girl he was fond of, and hope for it to grow into a happy marriage... He obviously had complicated emotional needs and didn't want to settle for what he probably saw as a half loaf...

Curryong

Freda was divorced from William Ward in 1931. However by then she was in love with the man she later married. Observers noted how much in love Edward was with her as late as 1927, but I think by then his very needy nature was getting on her nerves though she remained very fond of him.

Edward was head over heels with Freda for a good decade. He was obviously too afraid though, of feeling the effects of his father's wrath, to do what he was later to do with Wallis, ie persuade her into a discreet divorce and then marry her a year or two later. That could have been accomplished as easily in 1926 as in 1936.

Ward was as compliant a husband as Ernest Simpson was, and the usual arrangements for the divorce itself could have been made.

It wouldn't have been 'half a loaf' with Freda, though there would still have been a massive scandal. As I'm convinced that, as early as World War I that Edward didn't want to be King his 'Get Out Of Jail' card could have been triggered ten years or more  earlier that it was, if he'd had the courage.

amabel

I meant that a marriage with a suitable "gel" whom he wasn't crazy bout, would have been a half loaf for David.  he would not have said "Its my duty to get married and provide an heir."
I think he was in love with Freda.. certainly and demanding, in his way.. but Im not sure she had whatever that X factor was that pushed him into wanting Wallis so badly. So I don't think that he would have pressed Freda to get a divorce.. True, he was afraid of his father.. but I think there was something extra in the relationsip with Wallis that drove him to want her no matter what was the cost.

Curryong

Remember though that King George was very ill from November 1935 onwards, and died in Jan 1936. Wallis began divorce proceedings from Ernest inbout  September or October of that year.

I do think that Edward did want to marry her whatever the cost. However, he was King by that stage and didn't have his father's reaction to worry about any more. He also wasn't particularly fond of the job of being a monarch, so he had that gnawing at his vitals as well.

It was said that he was in a state of shock, near hysteria some said, at his father's death. I do sometimes wonder what Edward would have done had his father died in January 1939, for example. The preparations for his marriage to a double divorcee would have been carried out after war had been declared. Perhaps the divorce would have been postponed under the circumstances! 

amabel

I wonder if he would have gone ot the point of wanting to marry her and her getting a divorce.. if George V had lived a few more years. the King wuod have refused permission for him to marry her..and I wonder what David would have done?  Insisted on going ahead even if it mean resigning his palce in the succession?

sandy

Because of WW I the options for Edward to marry a princess from another country were extremely limited. There was talk of his marrying one of the Russian Grand Duchesses for instance. He might have been betrothed one of the royals from outside the UK had the War not happened. Edward was totally besotted with Wallis.

Curryong

Yes, it's an interesting question, isn't it. There is a theory that was put forward in one of the bios I read that Edward was working up to challenging his father, telling him his plans, and if necessary walking away if he was refused. His father's death stymied that however, as he wasn't quite ready.

However, I just can't seeing him doing that somehow. All four surviving sons were absolutely terrified of George, even as adults. I think it was Henry who said later in life that they all practiced little deceits on him in case his wrath should be turned on them.

But, as far as Edward was concerned I think his father had him summed up with the remark about 'the boy' ruining himself within six months 'after I am gone' and openly hoping that Bertie and then Lilibet would get the throne. He didn't trust him to do the right thing at all.

amabel

Quote from: Curryong on November 09, 2019, 12:17:19 PM
Yes, it's an interesting question, isn't it. There is a theory that was put forward in one of the bios I read that Edward was working up to challenging his father, telling him his plans, and if necessary walking away if he was refused. His father's death stymied that however, as he wasn't quite ready.

However, I just can't seeing him doing that somehow. All four surviving sons were absolutely terrified of George, even as adults. I think it was Henry who said later in life that they all practiced little deceits on him in case his wrath should be turned on them.

But, as far as Edward was concerned I think his father had him summed up with the remark about 'the boy' ruining himself within six months 'after I am gone' and openly hoping that Bertie and then Lilibet would get the throne. He didn't trust him to do the right thing at all.
Hard to say. Its possible that if George V had lived a few more years, with ill hleath but still a scary father.. David would have just continued to keep Wallis as his mistress...and in any case Bertie was the heir and Eliz after him.   If David had gone on as a bachelor they would have inherited. I think that losing his father gave D courage and he was determined ot have Wallis.. now that the old man was out of the way.. and if it meant the loss of the throne he did not mind all that much...