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101-693: In a 1935 speech, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII ) had called for a closer understanding of Germany in order to safeguard peace in Europe, and in response Sir Thomas Moore , a Conservative Member of Parliament , suggested setting up a study group of pro-German MPs. The AGF, which has been in gestation for about a year, was established in September 1935 with Lord Mount Temple as chairman, and political secretary and historian Philip Conwell-Evans and businessman Ernest Tennant as honorary secretaries. Tennant

202-563: A morganatic marriage , in which he would remain king but Simpson would not become queen consort . She would enjoy some lesser title instead, and any children they might have would not inherit the throne. This was supported by senior politician Winston Churchill in principle, and some historians suggest that he conceived the plan. In any event, it was ultimately rejected by the British Cabinet as well as other Dominion governments. The other governments' views were sought pursuant to

303-666: A brief interval in the Board of Trade , he rose to assistant inspector of taxes at Hereford in 1903, an inspector of taxes in London in 1909, and assistant secretary in 1916. Meanwhile, Stamp was studying economics as an external student. He was awarded a first class degree (1911) by the University of London and a doctorate (1916) by the London School of Economics . The thesis, published as British Incomes and Property , became

404-566: A close friend of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring . Edward was praised for his efforts to combat poverty on the islands. He was "considerably more enlightened in his attitudes than the majority of Bahamian whites, or either of his predecessors", and had an "excellent relationship" with Black individuals such as jazz musician Bert Cambridge (who was eventually elected to the Bahamian House of Assembly , to Edward's delight) and valet Sydney Johnson , who Edward retained for thirty years and

505-521: A cold hearted and unsympathetic swine for writing all that I did ... No one can realize more than you how little poor Johnnie meant to me who hardly knew him ... I feel so much for you, darling Mama, who was his mother." In 1919, Edward agreed to be president of the organising committee for the proposed British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park , Middlesex . He wished the Exhibition to include "a great national sports ground", and so played

606-690: A leading Conservative in the north of England , persuaded him to make a three-day visit to the County Durham and Northumberland coalfields , where there was much unemployment . From January to April 1931, the Prince of Wales and his brother Prince George travelled 18,000 miles (29,000 km) on a tour of South America, steaming out on the ocean liner Oropesa , and returning via Paris and an Imperial Airways flight from Paris–Le Bourget Airport that landed specially in Windsor Great Park . Though widely travelled, Edward shared

707-540: A memorandum summarising the views of Lord Advocate T. M. Cooper , Parliamentary Counsel Sir Granville Ram , and himself: The Duke married Simpson, who had changed her name by deed poll to Wallis Warfield (her birth surname ), in a private ceremony on 3 June 1937, at Château de Candé , near Tours , France. When the Church of England refused to sanction the union, a County Durham clergyman, Robert Anderson Jardine (Vicar of St Paul's, Darlington ), offered to perform

808-729: A monk in an American monastery) had told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Wallis had slept with the German ambassador in London, Joachim von Ribbentrop , in 1936; had remained in constant contact with him; and had continued to leak secrets. Author Charles Higham claimed that Anthony Blunt , an MI5 agent and Soviet spy, acting on orders from the British royal family , made a successful secret trip to Schloss Friedrichshof in Allied-occupied Germany towards

909-585: A part in the creation of Wembley Stadium . Throughout the 1920s, Edward, as Prince of Wales, represented his father at home and abroad on many occasions. His rank, travels, good looks, and unmarried status gained him much public attention. At the height of his popularity, he was the most photographed celebrity of his time and he set men's fashion. During his 1924 visit to the United States, Men's Wear magazine observed, "The average young man in America

1010-502: A royal match with Edward's second cousin, Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia , was suggested. Nothing came of it, and Victoria Louise married Edward's first cousin once removed, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick , instead. In 1934, Adolf Hitler , in his ambition to link the British and German royal houses, asked Victoria Louise to arrange a marriage between the 40-year-old Edward and her 17-year-old daughter, Frederica of Hanover , who

1111-448: A standard work on the subject and established his academic reputation. In 1919 he changed career, leaving the civil service for business, to join as secretary and director of Nobel Industries Ltd , from which Imperial Chemical Industries developed. In 1926 he became Chairman of the LMS and was instrumental in getting William Stanier appointed in 1932 as Chief Mechanical Engineer to resolve

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1212-484: A statement: The Council deeply regrets the events which have set back the development of better understanding between the two nations. The Council will, however, steadily prosecute its efforts to maintain contact with Germany as being the best means of supporting the Prime Minister in his policy of appeasement, and as being the most useful way of encouraging those friendly relations upon which peace depends... At

1313-638: A tour of depressed villages in South Wales that "something must be done" for the unemployed coal miners was seen as an attempt to guide government policy, though he had not proposed any remedy or change in policy. Government ministers were reluctant to send confidential documents and state papers to Fort Belvedere because it was clear that Edward was paying little attention to them, and it was feared that Simpson and other house guests might read them, improperly or inadvertently revealing government secrets. Edward's unorthodox approach to his role also extended to

1414-517: A widely held racial prejudice against foreigners and many of the Empire's subjects, believing that whites were inherently superior . In 1920, on his visit to Australia, he wrote of Indigenous Australians : "they are the most revolting form of living creatures I've ever seen!! They are the lowest known form of human beings & are the nearest thing to monkeys." Before the First World War,

1515-513: A year or two of exile in France. King George VI (with the support of Queen Mary and his wife Queen Elizabeth) threatened to cut off Edward's allowance if he returned to Britain without an invitation. Edward became embittered against his mother, Queen Mary, writing to her in 1939: "[your last letter] destroy[ed] the last vestige of feeling I had left for you ... [and has] made further normal correspondence between us impossible." In October 1937,

1616-616: A young man, Edward served in the British Army during the First World War and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father. The Prince of Wales gained popularity due to his charm and charisma, and his fashion sense became a hallmark of the era. After the war, his conduct began to give cause for concern; he engaged in a series of sexual affairs that worried both his father and the British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin . Upon his father's death in 1936, Edward became

1717-491: Is more interested in the clothes of the Prince of Wales than in any other individual on earth." Edward visited poverty-stricken areas of Britain , and undertook 16 tours to various parts of the Empire between 1919 and 1935. On a tour of Canada in 1919, he acquired the Bedingfield ranch, near Pekisko, Alberta , which he owned until 1962. Named the E. P. (Edward, Prince) Ranch, Edward attempted unsuccessfully to develop

1818-581: Is well-known to be pro-Nazi and he may become a centre of intrigue." Churchill threatened Edward with a court-martial if he did not return to British soil. In July 1940, Edward was appointed governor of the Bahamas . The Duke and Duchess left Lisbon on 1 August aboard the American Export Lines steamship Excalibur , which was specially diverted from its usual direct course to New York City so that they could be dropped off at Bermuda on

1919-576: Is widely believed that the Duke and Duchess sympathised with fascism before and during the Second World War, and were moved to the Bahamas to minimise their opportunities to act on those feelings. In 1940 he said: "In the past 10 years Germany has totally reorganised the order of its society ... Countries which were unwilling to accept such a reorganisation of society and its concomitant sacrifices should direct their policies accordingly." During

2020-534: The BBC refused to broadcast it. It was broadcast outside the United States on shortwave radio and was reported in full by British broadsheet newspapers. On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Duke and Duchess were brought back to Britain by Louis Mountbatten on board HMS  Kelly , and Edward, although he held the rank of field marshal , was made a major-general attached to

2121-519: The British House of Commons nor speak on political subjects in the House of Lords . Letters Patent dated 27 May 1937 re-conferred the "title, style, or attribute of Royal Highness" upon the Duke, but specifically stated that "his wife and descendants, if any, shall not hold said title or attribute". Some British ministers advised that the reconfirmation was unnecessary since Edward had retained

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2222-764: The Duke of Windsor , was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire , and Emperor of India , from 20 January 1936 until his abdication in December of the same year. Edward was born during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary . He was created Prince of Wales on his 16th birthday, seven weeks after his father succeeded as king. As

2323-637: The House of Lords to hold membership included Lord Brocket , Lord Galloway , the Earl of Glasgow , Lord Mount Temple , Lord Londonderry , Lord Nuffield , Lord Redesdale , Lord Rennell , the Duke of Wellington , and Josiah, Baron Stamp . By 1937, the group seems to have had 347 members. The AGF's sister organization in Berlin was the Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft . Neither group had an avowed mission to Nazify Britain. Instead,

2424-736: The London, Midland and Scottish Railway . Stamp was born in Hampstead , London , the third of seven children; his youngest brother L. Dudley Stamp was known as a geographer. At the time of his birth his father owned and managed a provision and general shop in London. Stamp was educated at Bethany School, Goudhurst in Kent. He left at 16 and joined the Civil Service as a boy clerk in the Inland Revenue Department. With

2525-524: The Marburg Files , were published following more than a decade of suppression, enhancing theories of Edward's sympathies for Nazi ideologies . Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp Josiah Charles Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp , (21 June 1880 – 16 April 1941) was an English industrialist, economist, civil servant, statistician, writer, and banker. He was a director of the Bank of England and chairman of

2626-648: The Queen Mother ), by calling her "Queen Elizabeth". The magazine asked if "she did not sometimes wonder how much truth there is in the story that he once said he would renounce his rights upon the death of George V – which would make her nickname come true". In 1930, the King gave Edward the lease of Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park. There, he continued his relationships with a series of married women, including Freda Dudley Ward and Lady Furness ,

2727-841: The Statute of Westminster 1931 , which provided in part that "any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom ." The Prime Ministers of Australia ( Joseph Lyons ), Canada ( Mackenzie King ) and South Africa ( J. B. M. Hertzog ) made clear their opposition to

2828-435: The coinage that bore his image . He broke with the tradition that the profile portrait of each successive monarch faced in the direction opposite to that of his or her predecessor. Edward insisted that he face left (as his father had done), to show the parting in his hair. Only a handful of test coins were struck before the abdication, and all are very rare. When George VI succeeded to the throne he also faced left to maintain

2929-624: The occupation of France , the Duke asked the German Wehrmacht forces to place guards at his Paris and Riviera homes; they did so. In December 1940, Edward gave Fulton Oursler of Liberty magazine an interview at Government House in Nassau. Oursler conveyed its content to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a private meeting at the White House on 23 December 1940. The interview was published on 22 March 1941 and in it Edward

3030-566: The 9th. They left Bermuda for Nassau on the Canadian National Steamship Company vessel Lady Somers on 15 August, arriving two days later. Edward did not enjoy being governor and privately referred to the islands as "a third-class British colony ". The British Foreign Office strenuously objected when Edward and Wallis planned to cruise aboard a yacht belonging to Swedish magnate Axel Wenner-Gren , whom British and American intelligence wrongly believed to be

3131-722: The AGF in the knowledge that it was widely perceived as allied to the far right. Lord Mount Temple resigned in November 1938 as chairman of the AGF because of the treatment of the German Jews by the Nazis. Following his resignation he told the press: Although I have resigned from the chair of the Anglo-German Fellowship, I still remain a member of the fellowship. I wrote my letter of resignation yesterday, to be read at

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3232-554: The American wife of a British peer, who introduced Edward to her friend and fellow American Wallis Simpson . Simpson had divorced her first husband, U.S. Navy officer Win Spencer , in 1927. Her second husband, Ernest Simpson , was a British-American businessman. Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales, it is generally accepted, became lovers, while Lady Furness travelled abroad, although Edward adamantly insisted to his father that he

3333-517: The Baldwin government would resign if the marriage went ahead, which could have forced a general election and would have ruined his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch . When it became apparent he could not marry Simpson and remain on the throne, he abdicated . He was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI . With a reign of 326 days, Edward was one of the shortest-reigning British monarchs to date. After his abdication, Edward

3434-788: The British Military Mission in France. In February 1940, the German ambassador in The Hague , Count Julius von Zech-Burkersroda , claimed that Edward had leaked the Allied war plans for the defence of Belgium, which the Duke later denied. When Germany invaded the north of France in May 1940, the Windsors fled south, first to Biarritz , then in June to Francoist Spain . In July they moved to Portugal , where they lived at first in

3535-693: The Castle and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal government. Lloyd George invented a rather fanciful ceremony in the style of a Welsh pageant, and coached Edward to speak a few words in Welsh . When the First World War broke out in 1914, Edward had reached the minimum age for active service and was keen to participate. He had joined the Grenadier Guards in June 1914, and although Edward

3636-563: The Crown. "After I am dead," George said, "the boy will ruin himself in twelve months." George V favoured his second son Albert ("Bertie") and Albert's daughter Elizabeth ("Lilibet"), later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II respectively. He told a courtier, "I pray to God that my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne." In 1929, Time magazine reported that Edward teased Albert's wife, also named Elizabeth (later

3737-479: The Duke and Duchess visited Nazi Germany , against the advice of the British government, and met Adolf Hitler at his Berghof retreat in Bavaria . The visit was much publicised by the German media. During the visit, Edward gave full Nazi salutes . In Germany, "they were treated like royalty ... members of the aristocracy would bow and curtsy towards her, and she was treated with all the dignity and status that

3838-496: The Duke of Windsor, the experience of "the unending scenes of horror" during the First World War led him to support appeasement . Hitler considered Edward to be friendly towards Germany and thought that Anglo-German relations could have been improved through Edward if it were not for the abdication. Albert Speer quoted Hitler directly: "I am certain through him permanent friendly relations could have been achieved. If he had stayed, everything would have been different. His abdication

3939-569: The Geographical Association; his brother L Dudley Stamp, also became President of the Association, in 1950. Stamp met his future wife, Olive Jessie Marsh, a soprano and student teacher, when he was seventeen. Pursuing their work and studies separately for several years until their marriage in 1903, they engaged in a correspondence (Jones 1964). Between 1904 and 1917 they had four sons, Wilfred , Trevor, Maxwell and Colin. It

4040-576: The German bombing of The Blitz . He, aged sixty, and his wife, aged sixty-three, were killed by a bomb's direct hit on the air-raid shelter at their home on 16 April 1941. They were buried at Beckenham Cemetery . Stamp was regarded to be the second wealthiest man in Britain at the time of his death. Stamp was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1918, Knight in

4141-487: The Green Drawing Room of White Lodge on 16 July 1894 by Edward White Benson , Archbishop of Canterbury . The name "Edward" was chosen in honour of Edward's late uncle Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale , who was known within the family as "Eddy" (Edward being among his given names); "Albert" was included at the behest of Queen Victoria for her late husband Albert, Prince Consort ; "Christian"

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4242-642: The King marrying a divorcée; their Irish counterpart ( Éamon de Valera ) expressed indifference and detachment, while the Prime Minister of New Zealand ( Michael Joseph Savage ), having never heard of Simpson before, vacillated in disbelief. Faced with this opposition, Edward at first responded that there were "not many people in Australia" and their opinion did not matter. Edward informed Baldwin that he would abdicate if he could not marry Simpson. Baldwin then presented Edward with three options: give up

4343-602: The Metropolitan Police Special Branch , who examined in secret the nature of their relationship. An undated report detailed a visit by the couple to an antique shop, where the proprietor later noted "that the lady seemed to have POW [Prince of Wales] completely under her thumb." The prospect of having an American divorcée with a questionable past having such sway over the heir apparent led to anxiety among government and establishment figures. George V died on 20 January 1936, and Edward ascended

4444-744: The Order (KBE) in 1920, and Knight Grand Cross (GBE) in 1924 and Knight Grand Cross of the Bath (GCB) in 1936. He was a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem . He also held the Grand Cross of the Austrian Order of Merit (awarded 1936) and the Afghan Order of Astaur. He was raised to the peerage on 28 June 1938 as Baron Stamp , of Shortlands in the County of Kent . Stamp

4545-399: The Statute of Westminster, all the Dominions had already consented to the abdication. On the night of 11 December 1936, Edward, now reverted to the title and style of a prince, explained his decision to abdicate in a worldwide BBC radio broadcast. He said, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without

4646-414: The United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage, arguing a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands was politically and socially unacceptable as a prospective queen consort . Additionally, such a marriage would have conflicted with Edward's status as titular head of the Church of England , which, at the time, disapproved of remarriage after divorce if a former spouse was still alive. Edward knew

4747-571: The Young Committee in 1929 and the Economic Advisory Council, 1930–39. In 1935, he was a founding member of the Anglo-German Fellowship and had made low key visits to Nuremberg in 1936 (when he met Adolf Hitler – whom Stamp noted was a "statesman and demagogue combined" – and Franz von Papen ), and 1937, to view the Nazi Party Congress with the unspoken support of the then Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax . Stamp expressed sympathy for Nazi Germany, saying he supported "reasonable counteraction of Jewish domination." From 1927 until his death, Stamp

4848-465: The accession meeting of the British Privy Council , George VI announced his intention to make his brother the "Duke of Windsor" with the style of Royal Highness . He wanted this to be the first act of his reign, although the formal documents were not signed until 8 March the following year. During the interim, Edward was known as the Duke of Windsor . George VI's decision to create Edward a royal duke ensured that he could neither stand for election to

4949-456: The affair. In 1923, Alibert was acquitted in a spectacular murder trial after she shot her husband in the Savoy Hotel . Desperate efforts were made by the Royal Household to ensure that Edward's name was not mentioned in connection with the trial or Alibert. Also in 1917, Edward began a relationship with Rosemary Leveson-Gower , the youngest daughter of the 4th Duke of Sutherland . According to Leveson-Gower's friends, Edward proposed to her but

5050-408: The castle's archive, including surviving letters between daughter and mother, as well as other valuables, some of which were recovered in Chicago after the war. The papers rescued by Morshead and Blunt, and those returned by the American authorities from Chicago, were deposited in the Royal Archives . In the late 1950s, documents recovered by U.S. troops in Marburg , Germany, in May 1945, since titled

5151-400: The ceremony, and Edward accepted. George VI forbade members of the royal family to attend, to the lasting resentment of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Edward had particularly wanted his brothers the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent and his second cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten to attend the ceremony. The French virtuoso organist and composer Marcel Dupré played at the wedding. The denial of

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5252-594: The claim with the intermediary between the Fellowship and the Foreign Office, Conwell Evans, who reported that he had met with Lord Halifax on the matter. In the House of Commons on 7 September 1939 Vyvyan Adams MP asked the Home Secretary what the Government is doing to "deal with" organisations such as the Fellowship. To this, Sir John Anderson reported to the house that "the Anglo-German Fellowship has entirely suspended its activities". Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as

5353-454: The conflict. He undertook his first military flight in 1918, and later gained a pilot's licence. Edward's youngest brother, Prince John , died at the age of 13 on 18 January 1919 after a severe epileptic seizure . Edward, who was 11 years older than John and had hardly known him, saw his death as "little more than a regrettable nuisance". He wrote to his mistress of the time that "[he had] told [her] all about that little brother, and how he

5454-439: The council meeting this morning. In the letter I stated that I was resigning from the chairmanship because of the treatment of the Jews in Germany and the attitude of the Germans towards the Catholic and Lutheran communities. One hopes that times may become better in the future and that the good work of building up friendship between the two nations may be resumed. The Council of the Anglo-German Fellowship met in London and released

5555-421: The dead, and I am convinced that could they make their voices heard they would be with me in what I am about to say. I speak simply as a soldier of the Last War whose most earnest prayer it is that such cruel and destructive madness shall never again overtake mankind. There is no land whose people want war." The broadcast was heard across the world by millions. It was widely regarded as supporting appeasement, and

5656-404: The duke always wanted", according to royal biographer Andrew Morton in a 2016 BBC interview. The former Austrian ambassador Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein , who was also a second cousin once removed and friend of George V, believed that Edward favoured German fascism as a bulwark against communism , and even that he initially favoured an alliance with Germany. According to

5757-454: The end of the war to retrieve sensitive letters between the Duke of Windsor and Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis. What is certain is that George VI sent the Royal Librarian , Owen Morshead , accompanied by Blunt, then working part-time in the Royal Library as well as for British intelligence, to Friedrichshof in March 1945 to secure papers relating to Victoria, German Empress , the eldest child of Queen Victoria. Looters had stolen part of

5858-531: The help and support of the woman I love." He added that the "decision was mine and mine alone ... The other person most nearly concerned has tried up to the last to persuade me to take a different course". Edward departed Britain for Austria the following day; he was unable to join Simpson until her divorce became absolute, several months later. The Duke of York succeeded to the throne as George VI . Accordingly, George VI's elder daughter, Princess Elizabeth , became heir presumptive . On 12 December 1936, at

5959-407: The home of Ricardo Espírito Santo , a Portuguese banker with both British and German contacts. Under the code name Operation Willi , Nazi agents, principally Walter Schellenberg , plotted unsuccessfully to persuade the Duke to leave Portugal and return to Spain, kidnapping him if necessary. Lord Caldecote wrote a warning to Winston Churchill, who by this point was prime minister, that "[the Duke]

6060-481: The idea of marriage; marry against his ministers' wishes; or abdicate. It was clear that Edward was not prepared to give up Simpson, and he knew that if he married against the advice of his ministers, he would cause the government to resign, prompting a constitutional crisis. He chose to abdicate. Edward duly signed the instruments of abdication at Fort Belvedere on 10 December 1936 in the presence of his younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York , next in line for

6161-436: The locomotive problems of the company. In 1928 he was appointed a director of the Bank of England. Stamp was often called to serve on public commissions, committees and boards: he was a member of the Royal Commission on Income Tax, 1919, the Northern Ireland Finance Arbitration Committee, 1923–24, the Committee on Taxation and National Debt , 1924, the Dawes Reparation Commission's Committee on German Currency and Finance, 1924,

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6262-426: The marriage morally unacceptable, largely because remarriage after divorce was opposed by the Church of England, and the people would not tolerate Simpson as queen. As king, Edward was the titular head of the Church, and the clergy expected him to support the Church's teachings. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Gordon Lang , was vocal in insisting that Edward must go. Edward proposed an alternative solution of

6363-420: The name of The Anglo-German Fellowship". The objectives of the proposed association were given as: To promote good fellowship between Great Britain and Germany and their respective peoples. To study and consider the problems affecting the relations existing between Great Britain and Germany, with a view to the enhancing and promoting friendship between such countries and their respective peoples. The organisation

6464-400: The plan, and that he was merely seeing the plan through to help MI5 catch the real culprits. The court rejected the claims and sent him to jail for a year for "intent to alarm". It is now thought that McMahon had indeed been in contact with MI5, but the veracity of the remainder of his claims remains debatable. In August and September, Edward and Simpson cruised the Eastern Mediterranean on

6565-405: The prince's father had disagreed. Following two years at Osborne College, which he did not enjoy, Edward moved on to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth . A course of two years, followed by entry into the Royal Navy , was planned. Edward automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay on 6 May 1910 when his father ascended the throne as George V on the death of Edward VII . He

6666-415: The ranch for the breeding of animals, including Shorthorn cattle , Dartmoor ponies , and Clydesdale horses . He escaped unharmed when the train he was riding in during a tour of Australia was derailed outside Perth in 1920. Edward's November 1921 visit to India came during the non-cooperation movement protests for Indian self-rule, and was marked by riots in Bombay . In 1929 Sir Alexander Leith ,

6767-538: The relationship ended when the King and Queen expressed their disapproval of relatives of hers, namely Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick , a maternal aunt, and James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn , a maternal uncle. Edward's womanising and reckless behaviour during the 1920s and 1930s worried Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin , King George V, and those close to the prince. The King was disappointed by his son's failure to settle down in life, disgusted by his affairs with married women, and reluctant to see him inherit

6868-463: The revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall paid to him as Prince of Wales and ordinarily at the disposal of an incoming king. George also paid Edward for Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle , which were Edward's personal property, inherited from his father and thus did not automatically pass to George VI on his accession. Edward received approximately £300,000 (equivalent to between £21 million and £140 million in 2021 ) for both residences which

6969-431: The second monarch of the House of Windsor . The new king showed impatience with court protocol, and caused consternation among politicians by his apparent disregard for established constitutional conventions. Only months into his reign, a constitutional crisis was caused by his proposal to marry Wallis Simpson , an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second. The prime ministers of

7070-590: The steam yacht Nahlin . By October it was becoming clear that the new king planned to marry Simpson, especially when divorce proceedings between the Simpsons were brought at Ipswich Assizes . Although gossip about his affair was widespread in the United States, the British media kept silent voluntarily, and the general public knew nothing until early December. On 16 November 1936, Edward invited Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and expressed his desire to marry Simpson when she became free to remarry. Baldwin informed him that his subjects would deem

7171-437: The style Royal Highness to the Duchess of Windsor caused further conflict, as did the financial settlement. The Government declined to include the Duke or Duchess on the Civil List , and the Duke's allowance was paid personally by George VI. Edward compromised his position with his brother by concealing the extent of his financial worth when they informally agreed on the amount of the allowance. Edward's wealth had accumulated from

7272-422: The style automatically, and further that Simpson would automatically obtain the rank of wife of a prince with the style Her Royal Highness ; others maintained that he had lost all royal rank and should no longer carry any royal title or style as an abdicated king, and be referred to simply as "Mr Edward Windsor". On 14 April 1937, Attorney General Sir Donald Somervell submitted to Home Secretary Sir John Simon

7373-455: The throne as Edward VIII. The next day, accompanied by Simpson, he broke with custom by watching the proclamation of his own accession from a window of St James's Palace . He became the first monarch of the British Empire to fly in an aircraft when he flew from Sandringham to London for his Accession Council . Edward caused unease in government circles with actions that were interpreted as interference in political matters. His comment during

7474-436: The throne; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester ; and Prince George, Duke of Kent . The document included these words: "declare my irrevocable determination to renounce the throne for myself and for my descendants and my desire that effect should be given to this instrument of abdication immediately". The next day, the last act of his reign was the royal assent to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 . As required by

7575-537: The time of the Munich Crisis in 1938 Ernest Tennant recorded that the feeling in the organisation was that they should close. However, they approached the UK Foreign Office for advice. Tennant reported that Lord Vansittart recommended their staying active, which they did until the outbreak of the Second World War . However, this claim was later refuted by Vansittart. He responded that he queried

7676-470: The tradition by suggesting that, had any further coins been minted featuring Edward's portrait, they would have shown him facing right. On 16 July 1936, George Andrew McMahon produced a loaded revolver as Edward rode on horseback at Constitution Hill , near Buckingham Palace . Police spotted the gun and pounced on him; he was quickly arrested. McMahon alleged at his trial that "a foreign power" had approached him to kill Edward, that he had informed MI5 of

7777-404: The trouble on "mischief makers – communists" and "men of Central European Jewish descent, who had secured jobs as a pretext for obtaining a deferment of draft ". He resigned from the post on 16 March 1945. Many historians have suggested that Adolf Hitler was prepared to reinstate Edward as king in the hope of establishing a fascist puppet government in Britain after Operation Sea Lion . It

7878-516: The two groups would unite, to host grand dinners at which leading German figures noted for their Anglophilia or their familial links to the United Kingdom, such as Rudolf Hess , von Ribbentrop, General Werner von Blomberg , the Duke of Brunswick and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , would be guests of honour. However, the organisation did have a pro-Nazi leaning, as well as a number of fascist members. The spies Guy Burgess and Kim Philby , seeking to disguise their Communist affiliations, joined

7979-399: The war, Edward spent the rest of his life in France. He and Wallis remained married until his death in 1972; they had no children. Edward was born on 23 June 1894 at White Lodge, Richmond Park , on the outskirts of London during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria . He was the eldest son of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary ). His father

8080-781: Was Colonel commanding the Royal Engineers Railway and Transport Corps , and became Honorary Colonel of Transportation Units in the Royal Engineers Supplementary Reserve in 1938. Stamp was widely regarded as the leading British expert on taxation, and took an active part in the work of the Royal Statistical Society , serving as president from 1930 to 1932. Stamp refused to be moved out of his house, 'Tantallon', in Park Hill Road, Shortlands , during

8181-426: Was a friend of Joachim von Ribbentrop , German Ambassador to Britain. The group's stated aims were to foster political, professional, commercial and sporting links with Germany, but Mount Temple stated publicly that membership of the society did not assume support for Nazism or anti-Semitism. An application was made to the Board of Trade on 26 July 1935 for "a licence directing an association about to be formed under

8282-530: Was a severe loss for us." The Duke and Duchess settled in Paris, leasing a mansion in Boulevard Suchet  [ fr ] from late 1938. In May 1939, Edward was commissioned by NBC to give a radio broadcast (his first since abdicating) during a visit to the First World War battlefields of Verdun . In it he appealed for peace, saying "I am deeply conscious of the presence of the great company of

8383-526: Was aimed at the influential in society, and the membership was initially led by businessmen keen to promote commercial links. Members included Bank of England director Frank Cyril Tiarks , Admiral Sir Barry Domvile , Prince von Bismarck , Governor of the Bank of England Montagu Norman , Geoffrey Dawson editor of The Times . "Corporate membership" was also available for leading companies who wished to show their support for co-operation with Germany and this

8484-502: Was amused by the children making tadpoles on toast for their French master as a prank, and encouraged them to confide in her. Initially, Edward was tutored at home by Hélène Bricka. When his parents travelled the British Empire for almost nine months following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, young Edward and his siblings stayed in Britain with their grandparents, Queen Alexandra and King Edward VII, who showered their grandchildren with affection. Upon his parents' return, Edward

8585-406: Was an epileptic. [John]'s been practically shut up for the last two years anyhow, so no one has ever seen him except the family, and then only once or twice a year. This poor boy had become more of an animal than anything else." He also wrote an insensitive letter to his mother which has since been lost. She did not reply, but he felt compelled to write her an apology, in which he stated: "I feel such

8686-491: Was as a result of this marriage that Stamp, son of a Baptist father and Church of England mother, converted to the Wesleyan Methodist Church . A few of his writings (see below), such as Christianity and Economics (1939), discuss the relevance of Christian values to contemporary economics systems. Stamp's son Wilfred was killed at the same time and in the same place as his father, but English law has

8787-537: Was at boarding school in England. Her parents refused, due to the age gap, and Frederica instead married Paul of Greece . By 1917, Edward liked to spend time partying in Paris while he was on leave from his regiment on the Western Front. He was introduced to Parisian courtesan Marguerite Alibert , with whom he became infatuated. He wrote her candid letters, which she kept. After about a year, Edward broke off

8888-479: Was created Duke of Windsor . He married Simpson in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Nazi Germany , which fed rumours that he was a Nazi sympathiser . During the Second World War , Edward was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France . After the fall of France , he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas . After

8989-402: Was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester a month later on 23 June 1910, his 16th birthday. Preparations for his future as king began in earnest. He was withdrawn from his naval course before his formal graduation, served as midshipman for three months aboard the battleship Hindustan , then immediately entered Magdalen College, Oxford , for which, in the opinion of his biographers, he

9090-452: Was due to be presented to his parents. His subsequent crying and wailing would lead the Duke and Duchess to send him and the nanny away. The nanny was discharged after her mistreatment of the children was discovered, and she was replaced by Charlotte Bill . Edward's father, though a harsh disciplinarian , was demonstratively affectionate, and his mother displayed a frolicsome side with her children that belied her austere public image. She

9191-611: Was elected an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1933 and an International Member of the American Philosophical Society . He was first Mayor of the Borough of Beckenham , Kent, within which he had settled at Shortlands , in 1935. He was made an honorary Freeman of the same borough in 1936 and of Blackpool in 1937. In 1936, he served as President of

9292-546: Was in honour of his great-grandfather King Christian IX of Denmark ; and the last four names – George , Andrew , Patrick and David – came from, respectively, the patron saints of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He was always known to his family and close friends by his last given name, David. As was common practice with upper-class children of the time, Edward and his younger siblings were brought up by nannies rather than directly by their parents. One of Edward's early nannies often abused him by pinching him before he

9393-414: Was not having an affair with her and that it was not appropriate to describe her as his mistress. Edward's relationship with Simpson, however, further weakened his poor relationship with his father. Although his parents met Simpson at Buckingham Palace in 1935, they later refused to receive her. Edward's affair with an American divorcée led to such grave concern that the couple were followed by members of

9494-412: Was paid to him in yearly instalments. In the early days of George VI's reign Edward telephoned daily, importuning for money and urging that Wallis be granted the style of Royal Highness, until the harassed king ordered that the calls not be put through. Relations between the Duke of Windsor and the rest of the royal family were strained for decades. Edward had assumed that he would settle in Britain after

9595-511: Was placed under the care of two men, Frederick Finch and Henry Hansell, who virtually brought up Edward and his siblings for their remaining nursery years. Edward was kept under the strict tutorship of Hansell until almost thirteen years old. Private tutors taught him German and French. He took the examination to enter the Royal Naval College, Osborne , and began there in 1907. Hansell had wanted Edward to enter school earlier, but

9696-555: Was reported to have said that "Hitler was the right and logical leader of the German people" and that the time was coming for President Roosevelt to mediate a peace settlement. Edward protested that he had been misquoted and misinterpreted. The Allies became sufficiently disturbed by German plots revolving around Edward that President Roosevelt ordered covert surveillance of the Duke and Duchess when they visited Palm Beach, Florida , in April 1941. Duke Carl Alexander of Württemberg (then

9797-529: Was said to have "loved as a son". Edward maintained a long-standing dispute with Étienne Dupuch , the editor of the Nassau Daily Tribune , writing privately at one point that Dupuch was "more than half Negro , and due to the peculiar mentality of this Race, they seem unable to rise to prominence without losing their equilibrium". But even Dupuch praised Edward for his resolution of civil unrest over low wages in Nassau in 1942, though Edward blamed

9898-853: Was taken out by such leading organisations as Price Waterhouse , Unilever , Dunlop Rubber , Thomas Cook & Son , the Midland Bank and Lazard Brothers amongst others. Several Members of Parliament, mostly from the Conservative Party, joined the group: they included Sir Peter Agnew , Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland , Ernest Bennett , Sir Robert Bird , Robert Tatton Bower , Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Marquess of Clydesdale , Robert Vaughan Gower , Thomas "Loel" Guinness , Norman Hulbert , Archibald James , Alfred Knox , John Macnamara , Sir Thomas Moore , Assheton Pownall , Frank Sanderson , Duncan Sandys , Admiral Murray Sueter , Charles Taylor and Ronald Tree . Members of

9999-453: Was the son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra ). His mother was the eldest daughter of Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge and Francis, Duke of Teck . At the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession to the throne , behind his grandfather and father. Edward was baptised Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David in

10100-518: Was underprepared intellectually. A keen horseman, he learned how to play polo with the university club . He left Oxford after eight terms, without any academic qualifications. Edward was officially invested as Prince of Wales in a special ceremony at Caernarfon Castle on 13 July 1911. The investiture took place in Wales, at the instigation of the Welsh politician David Lloyd George , Constable of

10201-512: Was willing to serve on the front lines, Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener refused to allow it, citing the immense harm that would occur if the heir apparent to the throne were captured by the enemy. Despite this, Edward witnessed trench warfare first-hand and visited the front line as often as he could, for which he was awarded the Military Cross in 1916. His role in the war, although limited, made him popular among veterans of

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