I’m sure this has been asked before, but I can’t find an answer in the archives.
When King Edward VIII became King of England he was already ‘dating’ Wallace Simpson, a twice divorced American.
Since he was head of the Church or England he was forced to step down if he chose to marry a divorced woman, but why couldn’t he just change the Church rules or make an exception for himself.
After all he was the head of the Church and King of England, did he really not have the power to change the rules of his own church, or did he not really want to be King after all?
Since the Glorious Revolution, when the parliament ousted James II, and gave the throne to William and Mary, the parliament is the ultimate authority. And the parliament, at the time, did not want to change the rules. (It has not, even today. Prince Charles and Camilla were married in a civil ceremony, and Princess Anne and her second husband were married in a Scottish church.)
There is also a lot of gossip, indicating that Edward was bored out of his mind by his kingly duties, and not really that interested in keeping the throne.
I should add that Charles was only allowed to marry Camilla because he was a widower with two heirs, so there was little chance of it affecting the succession.
I think the bishops and archbishops actually set Church policy, but Parliament still sets the rules on how strictly the monarch has to obey Church rules.
The divorce issue was a problem, but not the only one and maybe not even the biggest one. He wasn’t exactly the most dutiful person, and Baldwin also saw the issue as a convenient way to get him out.
In 1927, well before his accession and before Mrs. Simpson was an issue, Baldwin agreed that the best thing for everyone might be for Edward to break his neck.
It’s hardly gossip; it’s well known Edward was a wildly terrible choice to be King, and his own family knew he would make an awful King. He was described as weird and childish, a man who acted like he was 14 his whole life. His own father predicted disaster and hoped that somehow Albert (George VI) and Elizabeth would ascend the throne. I believe it was his mother who said she wished Albert had been born first. The fact that he was obsessed with a Nazi-sympathizing first class bitch didn’t help. Everyone was sort of relieved at how it turned out.
My little one’s school has a display case up with various historical artifacts they’re rotating in and out as the school celebrates its 100th anniversary. A few weeks ago one of the artifacts was the official proclamation of Edward VIII’s abdication. I hadn’t actually read it before… and upon reading it I was amazed, absolutely floored, at how fucking stupid he sounded. (This was the impression almost anyone who met him had.) Even in a royal proclamation, the guy came off like an selfish airhead.
By all accounts, Guy Pearce’s portrayal of him in “The King’s Speech,” as a flightly, vain, skirt-chasing doofus, was perfectly accurate.
Having said that, let there be no mistake; as bad a King as he would have been, the absoluite #1 issue with his abdication was Wallis Simpson. That was a different time, and his role was not the same as a normal person. There was absolutely staunch opposition to the idea. It is a matter of plain fact that the government told him straight out they would resign and cause a Constitutional crisis if he married Wallis Simpson, and most of the imperial governments opposed it ferociously as well. He tried to negotiate a way to marry her that would prevent that reaction and they refused. It was the marriage that forced the abdication.
Can anyone recommend a good, readable book on this? I am fascinated by the whole affair. I could stomach a well-researched fictionalized account if there is something especially good available in that genre.