Oh, I don’t know. It seems so much less stressful to be faced with the prospect of a popular but probably deranged buffoon like Edward VIII holding on to a largely ceremonial and inconsequential office rather than … oh, well …
a bit of an aside.
queen elizabeth after her daughter took the throne came up with queen mother because of their names, to cut down on which eliz. was which. sometimes people will miss hearing introductions or announcements and then have to be filled in by someone saying queen eliz. was just anounced.
if they were paying attention the difference between: her majesty, the queen; and her majesty, queen eliz. is rather apparent. although easily missed by those who are not in the know about titles. whispering an answer of the queen mum or the queen made it much easier.
the queen gets nifty roman numerals after her name, along with regina, her mum as a non-ruling queen did not.
i am amused of the thought of a reigning queen being named regina.
back on the wallis track, it is interesting that all being equal, eliz. would have gotten the throne, as wallis and edward did not have children. goodness only knows how a child of the windsor’s would have fared title wise, or family wise.
wallis first husband was from the states, her second husband was british. it was through her second husband’s connections that she met edward.
If I’m not mistaken, Edward was rendered sterile by a childhood bout of the measles.
Also, I have read of other Queen Dowagers referred to as “Queen Mother”, but only informally. Queen Victoria’s mother WANTED that as her title, but as she had never been queen, it was impossible.
Nevertheless, there is still someone out there trying to claim to be the daughter of Edward and Wallis.
I’ve also heard that Wallis was unable to bear children.
Well, they would have been excluded from the succession by His Majesty’s Declaration of Abdication Act. Section 1, para. 2 of the Act provided that any issue born to Edward after abdication would not be in the line of succession.
Other than that, their last name would have been Windsor, just like the other descendants of George V. A son would have inherited the title of “Duke of Windsor.” A daughter would have the traditional courtesy title of “Lady [Name]”, just like the daughters of other dukes.
Because he couldn’t 'ave the pudding!
Ah, Benny Hill, you old codger.