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.

The abdication

Having in effect been told that he could not keep the throne and marry Mrs. Simpson, and having had his request to broadcast to the British nation to explain "his side of the story" blocked on constitutional grounds by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin (see below), Edward chose the third option, becoming the first monarch in modern British history to abdicate voluntarily. As he had not been crowned yet, the coronation that had been planned for Edward VIII became that of his brother George VI instead.

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Edward VIII's written abdication notice was witnessed by his three younger brothers at Fort Belvedere: Albert, the Duke of York, who became King George VI by it, Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and George, Duke of Kent. It was then given legislative form by a special Act of Parliament (His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936). It was Royal Assent to this Act, rather than the abdication notice, which gave legal effect to the abdication in the United Kingdom and the British Empire.

Related Topics:
King George VI - Henry, Duke of Gloucester - George, Duke of Kent - Act of Parliament - His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 - Royal Assent

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Under changes introduced in the relationship between the monarch and his commonwealth crowns under the Royal Titles Act in the 1920s (by which a singular all Commonwealth crown was replaced by multiple crowns worn by a singular monarch) Edward's abdication required legal acknowledgment in each Commonwealth state. In the Irish Free State, however, that acknowledgment, in the External Relations Act, occurred a day later than elsewhere, leaving Edward technically as "King of Ireland" for a day, while George VI was king of all other Commonwealth Realms.

Related Topics:
1920s - Irish Free State - External Relations Act - Commonwealth Realm

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The new King George created his elder brother Duke of Windsor with the style His Royal Highness. When the Duke later married Mrs Simpson, she became the Duchess of Windsor but much to Edward's disgust was not styled Her Royal Highness.

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