Abdication Crisis of Edward VIII

Like King Henry VIII of England, whose wish to marry Anne Boleyn in the 1530s rocked his kingdom, King Edward VIII created a crisis for the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth in the 1930s when he wished to marry Wallis Simpson: many have argued that the problem for Edward was that as king he was also Supreme Governor of the Church of England, which did not allow divorced persons to remarry in church while a former spouse was still living, and Mrs. Simpson's first two husbands were still alive. (One of the great ironies of the situation is that Henry VIII separated English Catholicism from Roman control, thus creating the Church of England, so he could divorce {{fn|1}} Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn while Catherine was still alive.) However, others point out that it was more of a problem with the Commonwealth governments being unwilling to accept the king's choice of consort.

Edward's speech: The broadcast version and the version that was banned

Following his abdication, Edward (his title reverting for a few hours to "His Royal Highness The Prince Edward" before his brother created him "Duke of Windsor" the following morning) broadcast a message to the people from Windsor Castle. The official address broadcast was moderate in tone, speaking about his inability to do his job "as I would have wished" without the support of "the woman I love".

Related Topics:
Duke of Windsor - Windsor Castle

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However, an earlier draft, which Edward proposed to deliver as king before deciding whether to abdicate, was much more radical in tone, until blocked by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, who said it would entail a 'grave breach of constitutional principles' and would 'shock many people'. In one censored section, Edward {{fn|3}} proposed to say:

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:With her I shall have a home and all the companionship and mutual sympathy and understanding which married life can bring. Neither Mrs. Simpson nor I have ever sought to insist that she should be queen. All we desired was that our married happiness should carry with it a proper title and dignity for her, befitting my wife.

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:Now that I have at last been able to take you so fully into my confidence, I feel it is best to go away for a while, so that you may reflect calmly and quietly, but without undue delay, on what I have said.

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In the speech, Edward clearly was indicating his desire to remain on the throne or to be recalled to it if forced to abdicate, while marrying Mrs. Simpson. In seeking the people's support against the government, he was opting to ignore the binding advice of the Government, a fundamental breach of British constitutional principles dating back at least to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, perhaps earlier. Indeed he was seeking to ignore the advice of the governments of all the Commonwealth states (except Ireland, where de Valera had supported the right of the king to marry a divorcée). Given the content of the speech, and what it reveals about his attitude towards the British constitution, it is small surprise that most historians judge Edward VIII's abdication a "lucky break" for both Britain and the House of Windsor. It is not surprising that his own Private Secretary, Alan Lascelles, commented:

Related Topics:
Glorious Revolution - House of Windsor

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:The best thing that could happen to him would be for him to break his neck. {{fn|4}}

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The Duke of Windsor went on to serve during the war as Governor of the Bahamas, where, in a revealing comment to an acquaintance, he commented:

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:After the war is over and Hitler will crush the Americans . . . we'll take over. . . They (the British) don't want me as their king, but I'll soon be back as their leader. {{fn|5}}

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He told another acquaintance that "it would be a tragic thing for the world if Hitler was overthrown". Such comments reinforced the belief that the Duke and Duchess held Nazi sympathies and that the Abdication Crisis of 1936's effect was to force off the throne a man whose political views could have been a threat to his country, and replace him with a king (George VI) who showed no such sympathies.

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The feelings of his former subjects about King Edward's abdication were much like those of Americans when President Richard Nixon resigned that office in 1974 to resolve the Watergate scandal: relief that the crisis paralyzing the national government was over, pride that the legal mechanisms designed to resolve such crises had worked properly, sorrow about the situation that had created the crisis, and lingering doubts about whether the crisis could have been resolved in a better way.

Related Topics:
Richard Nixon - 1974 - Watergate scandal

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