After only 325 days on the throne, the King of England abdicates to marry his great love, the American Wallis Simpson. Edward VIII is content to be the Duke of Windsor and passes through the vicarage in an intimate ceremony without the assistance of members of the royal family
Wallis Simpson y Eduard VIII en Nassau, Bahamas, en 1942
The British royal house has been distinguished by its intransigence towards those of its members who have departed from the strict and traditional protocol of behavior that is imposed like a stone. Outside doors, not the slightest slip is allowed (Diana is the paradigmatic case). But this intolerance was even suffered by a sitting king, Edward VIII (1894-1972) , George V's eldest son, whose frivolity had set off alarms before he ascended to the throne.on January 20, 1936. His dilettantism and, in particular, his affair with the commoner and divorced American Wallis Simpson, made the royal family and everyone around them uncomfortable, both in Buckingham and Downing Street. His reign imploded when he announced his firm decision to marry "Mrs. Simpson." God save the queen ... Elizabeth.
Edward VIII
You all know the reasons that led me to renounce the throne, but I want you to know that by renouncing my rights I never forget my country and the Empire, that as Prince of Wales and as King I have always served faithfully.
But you must believe me when I tell you that it was impossible for me, without the help and support of the woman I love, to bear the heavy burden of responsibilities and fulfill my duties as king. '
With these words, Edward VIII, King of the United Kingdom, the dominions of the British Commonwealth and Emperor of India announced to his people his decision to abdicate in order to marry the American citizen Wallis Simpson. The determination is still as amazing today as the day he announced it with this speech.
Eduardo was a handsome man, whose rank, jovial demeanor and singleness had made him a very popular character. His irresistible appeal to the opposite sex made him a compulsive womanizer. His love affairs and reckless behavior had preoccupied his father, King George V, and Prime Minister Baldwin in the 1920s-1930s. It was this last year that the king gave Edward a home, Fort Belvedere. This became the scene of his conquests. In December 1933 one of his lovers, Lady Furness, an American of Chilean descent, introduced him to Wallis. Divorced in 1927 from her first husband, she was now married to Ernest Simpson,an Anglo-American businessman. The crush was imminent. A short time later they became lovers. Defined by the famous photographer Cecil Beaton as an “attractively ugly” woman, the power that her strong personality wielded on the prince is undeniable.
Eduardo was the great-grandson of Queen Victoria. From his birth he was known as His Highness Prince Edward of York, until in 1910 his father granted him the title of Prince of Wales when he was 16 years old.
Poorly educated, he had withdrawn from a naval career before graduating and left Oxford after eight terms without receiving any academic credentials. His biographers point out his low intellectual preparation, and his contemporaries already called his conversation innocuous. But his natural rebellion, and independence were undeniable.
After the death of his father George V on January 20, 1936, a day after Edward VIII ascends the throne, he is 42 years old. Deeply in love with Wallis, he breaks royal protocol by seeing her proclamation from a window in St. James's Palace in her company while she is still married.
Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor (1894 - 1972) and Wallis Simpson (1896 - 1986) pose on their wedding day at Chateau de Conde, France.
This is the beginning of the end of his reign. On November 16 of that same year, he announced to the Prime Minister his desire to marry Wallis once she had been divorced. Baldwin, scandalized, informs him that his subjects would not accept the link, given the civil situation of his fiancée: the people would never tolerate Wallis as queen. Keep in mind that Edward as king is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and it condemns his marriage. Also rejected the possibility of the morganatic marriage, the conflict between Baldwin and Eduardo intensifies. We will never know if the minister took advantage of this situation to get rid of the immature monarch. Finally the spirit of the Victorian society wins, and despite the support of great personalities such as Winston Churchillabdication becomes effective . Eduardo thus goes on to star in one of the shortest reigns in contemporary history, only 325 days on the throne with no time even to celebrate his coronation.
Following his abdication, Edward becomes the Duke of Windsor. On June 3, 1937, he married Mrs. Simpson in a private ceremony. The new King George VI prohibits the royal family from attending it. Relations between them were always tense. The marriage is exiled to France and the new king threatens to cut the economic support to the couple if they return to Britain without prior invitation. The Duchess of is denied the treatment of Royal Highness.
The behavior of the dukes has always been questioned, the seemingly idyllic love story repeatedly censored over time.
They were branded as philonazis following an interview with Hitler in October 1937. As a veteran of World War I, the duke supported the policy of appeasement. After the war the Duke would admit in his memoirs: "The Führer seemed to me a somewhat ridiculous figure with his theatrical postures and his bombastic pretensions". In 1995, a documentary on Channel 4 television, together with the left-wing English press, condemned him without remission, accusing him that his contacts with Hitler stemmed from his desire to regain the throne.
In 1940 Eduardo and Wallis fled France , visiting Spain, (Barcelona) and Portugal. Destined to the Bahamas by Churchill, the Duke of Windsor served as governor there until March 1945. He allegedly conducted illegal currency trafficking deals, with which he amassed a considerable fortune.
After a hectic social life and without being able to reconcile with the royal family, cancer would end his life on May 27, 1972, he was 77 years old. Wallis, his great love, would outlive him 14 years. There is no record that Eduardo ever regretted his decision and, without a doubt, his surprising love story earns him a unique position in the history of twentieth-century royalty.
