“An abdication for love” <3

King Edward VIII

Index

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Abstract……………………………………………………
. 3
Introduction……………………………………………….
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Bibliography review……………………………………..
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Findings/results………………………………………….
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Conclusion…………………………………………………
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Bibliography……………………………………………….
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Abstract
The following research work is presented to the "English Culture" curricular space
dictated by the teacher Mareco, Maria Alejandra, carried out by the student Tatiana
Sapaguin.
The abdication of King Edward VIII of England marked the history of that country, as
well as the world, forever. It is important to emphasize that a chain of events led the
king to take such a difficult decision, but the most important reason was love. It is of
utmost importance to highlight all the political, religious, ethical, and moral reasons
that existed at that time and what led the king to choose happiness or love over the
crown.
I chose this topic. It seemed important to me the abdication, because it completely
changes the history and monarchy. Perhaps if Edward VIII had not taken such a
decision the history of the kingdom would be completely different from the one we
know today.
It should be noted that king Edward VIII was the only monarch in British history to
abdicate the crown.

Introduction
In 1936 a series of events took place in England, such as the defeat of the English
fascists in October and the fire that destroyed the Crystal Palace in November. But one
of the most controversial events of that year was the abdication of King Edward VIII,
crowned in January of that year.
On 10 December 1936, in London, the King of England, Edward VIII, whose full name
was Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, abdicated the Crown of the United
Kingdom and announced his intention to marry a divorced American "commoner",
Wallis Simpson. He had reigned for only 326 days and his abdication created a serious
institutional crisis in Britain.
After his abdication, Edward VIII retained the title of Duke of Windsor and was
succeeded by his brother, George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth II who is the current
sovereign. Edward married Wallis Simpson and made a tour of Nazi Germany in 1937.
After World War II, the couple lived between Paris, Monaco and New York. He always
maintained a cool and distant relationship with the royal family.

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 Edward VIII died in Paris in 1972, at the age of 77. Wallis Simpson, his wife, also died
in Paris, in 1984, at the age of 89.

Edward VIII

According to the website Internet "Wikipedia" based on research, these were some of the
reasons that led to this situation.

The governments of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth dominion expressed
their opposition to the marriage. Religious, legal, political and moral objections were
raised. Opposition to the King and his marriage came from several directions. Edward's
desire to modernise the monarchy and make it more accessible, while appreciated by
much of the public, was distrusted by the British establishment. Edward upset the
aristocracy by treating their traditions and ceremonies with disdain, and many were
offended by his abandonment of accepted social norms and customs.

 Social and moral: Government ministers and the royal family found Wallis
Simpson's background and behaviour unacceptable for a prospective queen.
Rumours and insinuations about her circulated in society.
Wallis was perceived to be pursuing Edward for his money; her squire wrote
that she would eventually leave him, "having secured the cash". Future Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain wrote in his diary that she was "a thoroughly
unscrupulous woman who is not in love with the King, but is exploiting him for
her own ends. Relations between the United Kingdom and the United States
were strained during the inter-war years, and most Britons were reluctant to
accept an American as queen consort. At the time, some members of the
British upper class despised Americans and considered them socially inferior. In
contrast, the American public was clearly in favour of the marriage, as was
most of the American press.
 Religious and legal: During Edward's lifetime, the Church of England
disapproved of divorced people remarrying in church while a former spouse
was still alive. The monarch was required to be in communion with the Church
of England, and was its nominal head or Supreme Governor. In 1935, the
Church of England reaffirmed that, "under no circumstances may Christian men
or women remarry during the lifetime of a wife or husband". The Archbishop of
Canterbury, Cosmo Gordon Lang, argued that the King, as head of the Church
of England, could not marry a divorcee. If Edward were to marry Wallis

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 Simpson, a divorcee who would soon have two living ex-husbands, in a civil
ceremony, he would be in direct conflict with the teachings of the Church and
his role as ex officio leader of the Church. Wallis's first divorce was not
recognised by the Church of England and, if contested in the English courts,
might not have been recognised by English law. At the time, the Church and
English law considered adultery to be the sole ground for divorce.
Consequently, under this argument, her second marriage, as well as her
marriage to Edward, would be considered bigamous and invalid.
 Political: Members of the British government were further dismayed by the
proposed marriage after they were told that Wallis Simpson was an agent of
Nazi Germany. The Foreign Office obtained leaked dispatches from the German
Reich's ambassador to the UK, Joachim von Ribbentrop, which revealed his
strong view that opposition to the marriage was motivated by a desire to
"defeat the Germanophile forces which had been working through Mrs
Simpson". Simpson was rumoured to have access to confidential government
documents sent to Edward, which he left unguarded at his Fort Belvedere
residence. As Edward abdicated, personal protection officers guarding Simpson
in exile in France sent reports to Downing Street suggesting that he might "fly
to Germany".

As a result of these rumours and arguments, the conviction was strengthened

within the British establishment that Wallis should not become a royal consort.

The book "History of Britain and Ireland" stated the following regarding about the
abdication of the king.
The government considered the King’s choice of consort unacceptable. The issue was
resolved when Edward abdicated, choosing love and exile over duty and the throne.
At his accession Edward VIII was a popular King. He brought a fresh breath of
modernity, glamour, and relative youth to the stuffy image of the British monarchy.
However, the Conservative Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and other key
Establishment figures, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Lang, disapproved
of him. On November 16, Edward informed Baldwin that he was determined to marry
Mrs. Wallis Simpson, who was already in her second marriage. So the crisis was at first
played out entirely behind closed doors. Simpson had been granted a decree nisi at a
divorce court in Ipswich on October 27, so there was no legal obstacle to her
eventually marrying Edward. Baldwin won backing from his own government and
party, as well as from the opposition and heads of Britain’s Dominions, for an absolute
rejection of the King’s planned marriage. Edward was told to choose between marriage
to Simpson and the throne.
On December 10 Edward abdicated. The abdication was confirmed by Act of
Parliament the following day.

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According to the book "A brief history of Great Britain" by William E. Burns the
abdication of King Edward VIII occurred as follows:
The reorganized British Empire faced a crisis at the very top of its leadership in 1936.
Edward VIII was initially very popular, but he eventually provoked one of the greatest
crises in the history of the British monarchy.
The unmarried Edward had fallen in love with a twice-divorced American woman,
Wallis Warfield Simpson. Edward’s position was complicated by his role as supreme
governor of the Church of England, which at the time did not allow divorced persons
with living ex-spouses such as Simpson, to remarry. In addition, Edward was not only
king of the United Kingdom but of the British Commonwealth. The Commonwealth
prime ministers, representing societies more rural and socially conservative than
England, were particularly resistant to the idea of Simpson becoming their queen.
Various solutions were proposed, from Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin’s suggestion
that Edward keep Simpson as a mistress to Edward’s idea of marrying Simpson
morganatically—that is, without her becoming queen.
The issue split British politics. Older members of the establishment led by Baldwin;
Edward’s mother, Queen Mary; and Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Gordon Lang
took an uncompromising position, putting all the pressure they could on Edward to
abdicate.
The eventual, but controversial, solution was for Edward to abdicate in favour of his
brother George, duke of York, who became George VI. George was a solid, dull family
man, a great contrast with his flamboyant brother. Edward departed Britain to marry
Simpson, not to return for several decades. The couple received the title of Duke and
Duchess of Windsor, although the royal family, with a touch of spite, denied the
duchess the title of Royal Highness that she coveted.

Findings/ Results
Proclaimed the new King of the United Kingdom, on the death of his father, George V,
his reign was one of the shortest in the history of England (327 days). Without being
crowned, he abdicated on December 10. His love for American divorcee Wallis
Simpson was well worth a throne.
According to all the bibliographies we have read, the abdication of King Edward VIII on
December 10, 1936, brought deep crisis and changes of thought among the British
population of that time.
There are many reasons why the best solution was his abdication and later the
coronation of King George VI, whose life was the complete opposite of his brother's.
These reasons ranged from religious to moral, political, and social. In addition, not only
were the reasons but also, that he had against his family, the parliament and the
members of the Commonwealth. Who expressed that they would never accept Wallis

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Simpson as queen consort. Edward VIII chose love before the throne and that led to his
resignation. After that, they married and emigrated from the country together. It
should be noted that the couple never had children.
This topic is very important for Britain´s history, as King Edward VIII was the first king
to renounce the crown in almost 300 years.

Conclusion
With all the exposed in the present work, the following conclusion can be reached.
To conclude, we can say that the abdication of King Edward VIII was a very
important event. His importance derives from the fact that as a result of his
resignation, the history of his country changed. As we well know, kings must pass the
crown on to their first-born descendants. With his resignation and without an heir to
the throne, the crown passed into the hands of his brother George VI and later to the
current monarch Queen Elizabeth II, completely changing the monarchy. We must
think that without his abdication, perhaps the history of England would be completely
different from what we know today. The reason for his abdication was very relevant
since it was because of the love and affection that he felt for Wallis Simpson.

Bibliography
 www.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII
 “A brief history of Great Britain” by William E. Burns.
 “History of Britain and Ireland” by R. G Grant