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You are here: UK History > Royal History > House of Windsor > Edward VIII | The shortest reigning monarch
Edward VIII was born during the reign of his great grandmother, Queen Victoria as the oldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who would later become King George V and Queen Mary. He was the first official royal of the House of Windsor after his father changed the family name to combat unrest during WWI and remains the shortest reigning monarch of the UK, as unlike Edward V, he was actually crowned and ruled independently.
Born: 23rd June 1894, White Lodge, Richmond Park
Died: 28th May 1972 (aged 77), Champ d’Entrainement, Paris
Reign: 20th January – 11th December 1936
Parents: George V and Mary of Teck
Predecessor: George V (father)
Successor: George VI (brother)
Spouse: Wallis Simpson
Children: none
Royal House: Windsor
Edward as born on 23rd June 1894 at White Lodge in Richmond Park on the outskirts of London. At the time, his great grandmother was on the throne and after the death of his uncle, became the third in line to the throne behind his father and grandfather. Despite being christened Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, with the names coming from family members and the patron saints of the United Kingdom, he was known by family and friends as David.
As was common, David and his younger siblings were brought up with nannies rather than directly by their parents, with at least one of his nanny’s being caught abusing him. His father was seen as being a harsh disciplinarian and the pair had a difficult relationship, particularly in the later part of his father’s reign.
Initially, David was tutored at home and briefly lived with his grandfather, the King Edward VII when his parents were touring the Empire. Upon his father’s return, David was placed under the care of two men who cared for him and his siblings for the remainder of their nursery years.
Unlike his father who was a poor scholar, David could speak French and German and at 13, took the exams to enter the Royal Naval College at Osborne, where he began in 1907. He was said to have disliked his time there and would later move to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth where he stayed for 2 years and then entered the Royal Navy.
When his father became King George V after the death of his grandfather, Edward VII, David was made Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothersay and then, on his 16th birthday, was officially named the Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester and preparations for his future as king began in earnest. He was withdrawn from his naval course a few weeks before graduation and served as a midshipman aboard a battleship before transferring to Madgalen College in Oxford, which he left with no qualifications.
His tenure as Prince of Wales began in July 1911 in a ceremony that was created in the style of a Welsh pageant and overseen by David Lloyd George, who would later become Prime Minister. In preparation, David was taught to speak some Welsh.
Throughout the 1920s, David under his title of the Prince of Wales, represented his father at home and abroad on several occasions. Being well travelled, along with his rank, good looks and unmarried status earned him a lot of public attention and at the height of his popularity, he was the most photographed celebrity of his time. He would also regularly visit poverty stricken areas of Britain and undertook 16 tours of various parts of the British Empire, including a trip to South America with his brother, Bertie, later George VI. Though widely travelled, unlike other members of the royal family, David was known to hold racial prejudice and believed that whites were the superior race.
The First World War broke out in 1914, which was at the same time as David had reached the minimum age for active service. He was keen to be involved in the war effort and joined the Grenadier Guards that summer, however, Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War refused to allow him to serve on the front line, no matter how willing he was. Despite this, David did get a chance to witness trench warfare firsthand as he visited the front lines several times during the course of the war. He received the Military Cross in 1916 and gained a pilot’s licence, allowing him to undertake his first military flight in the final year of the war.
Immediately after the war, his youngest brother died at the age of just 13. David was eleven years older and barely knew his brother, leading to several insensitive comments about the incident, something that caused further strife between him and his parents. Later that year, he agreed to be the president of the organising committee for a proposed British Empire Exhibition which was to take part at Wembley Park. The plans included a great national sports ground – leading to the creation of Wembley Stadium.
David was well known for his womanising and reckless behaviour, something the consistently worried both his father and various prime ministers. His father, George V, would often complain of his disappointment in David, particularly with his affairs with married women and his failure to settle down.
In 1917, David spent time partying in Paris while on leave from his regiment, he met a Parisian courtesan and the pair embarked on a year long affair. Later, in the 1930s, she was acquitted for shooting her husband at the Savoy Hotel and the royal family worked hard to keep David’s name away from the trial.
In 1930, George V gave David the lease of Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park, which gave him much more freedom to continue his relationships with married women, including Wallis Simpson, an American socialite. Simpson had divorced her first husband in 1927 and was still married to her second when the pair met. Their relationship further weakened his poor relationship with his father and though his parents welcomed Simpson to Buckingham Palace in 1935, they refused to receive her at other events. The affair led to such grave concern that the pair were followed by members of the Met Police’s special branch.
King George V died on 20th January 1936 and David ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. The next day, accompanied by Simpson, he broke with custom by watching the proclamation of his own ascension from the windows of St James’ Palace. He also became the first monarch of the British Empire to fly an aircraft to his own ascension, flying his own plane from Sandringham to London for a meeting of the Ascension Council.
He caused unease in government circles with what they saw as interfering with political matters. Several ministers expressed concern with sending confidential documents and state papers to his home, because they were worried that he not only didn’t pay attention to them but would leave them in full view of Simpson and other house guests, of which there were many.
On 16th November 1936, David invited the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and expressed his desire to marry Simpson when her second divorce came through. Baldwin informed him that this would not be possible as remarriage after divorce was opposed by the Church of England, of which, David was head. He also raised concerns that the British people would not accept Simpson as queen.
David proposed an alternative solution, in which he would remain king but Simpson would have no titles and their children would be excluded from the line of succession, but this was rejected by governments across the Dominion. David threatened to abdicate, leaving Baldwin no choice but to issue an ultimatum: give up the idea of marriage, or marry against the will of parliament and renounce the crown. It was clear to everyone that David was not prepared to give up Simpson and he chose to abdicate, signing the Instruments of Abdication on 10th December 1936 in the presence of his younger brothers, Albert the Duke of York, Henry the Duke of Gloucester and George, the Duke of Kent. The next day, as the last act of his reign, he granted royal assent to his abdication.
The following day, he took part in a worldwide radio broadcast under the title of Prince Edward to explain his decision. His brother, Albert the Duke of York, succeeded him to the throne as George VI and his eldest daughter became heir presumptive.
On 12th December 1936, at a meeting of the Privy Council, George VI announced his intention to make his brother the Duke of Windsor with the style of Royal Highness. George VI wanted this to be the first act of his reign, though formal documents were not signed until the following year, during the interim, David was known as Edward, the Duke of Windsor.
George VI’s decision to create his brother as a royal duke meant that he could neither stand for election to the British House of Commons or speak on political subjects in the House of Lords.
Once the abdication was official, David married Simpson, who changed her name by deed poll to Wallis Warfield in a private ceremony in France. The church of England refused to sanction the union, but eventually two clergymen did offer to perform the ceremony, though other members of the royal family did not attend. This along with denying Simpson the title of Royal Highness and the issue of their finances, led to further conflict between David and his family. The government declined to include the pair in the Civil List and George VI personally paid their allowance instead. However, David hid his personal wealth from his brother, allowing him to pay for both Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle, which were personal properties rather than owned by the crown. In the early days of his Dukedom, it was reported that he telephoned the palace daily asking for money and further titles until George VI stopped taking his calls.
Relations between the brothers remained strained for decades. David had believed that he would settle in Britain after a year or two of exile. His brother however threatened to cut off his allowances if he returned without invitation.
In October 1937, David and Simpson visited Nazi Germany against the advice of the British Government and met with Adolph Hitler at his personal retreat in Bravaria, during the visit, David was photographed giving full Nazi salutes.
In May 1939, David was commissioned by NBC to give a radio broadcast where he appealed for peace, it was widely seen as supporting the policy of appeasement promoted by prime minister Neville Chamberlain. The BBC refused to broadcast it.
On the outbreak of WWII, David and Simpson, who had been living in France, were brought back to Britain by Louis Mountbatten and David took the role of Major General attached to the British Military Mission in France. When Nazi Germany invaded France, the pair fled south and then went to Spain and then Portugal. Winston Churchill, who by this time was Prime Minister, threatened to court marshal David if he did not return to Britain. In 1940, as an effort to keep an eye on him but also away from the political and social events that came out of the war, David was appointed the Governor of the Bahamas and was relocated to Bermuda. During his tenure, he was praised for his efforts to tackle poverty, but continued to be contemptuous of the general population, most likely because of his known racism. Modern historians have said that they believe moving David to the Bahamas was because of his support of fascism. It is widely believed that the Nazi’s Operation Sea Lion, which included plans for invasion of Britain, wanted to reinstate David as king, in the hope of establishing a smooth transition into Nazi power. It is worth noting however, that in his autobiography, David denied being pro-nazi.
At the end of the war, David and Simpson returned to France and spent the rest of their lives in retirement. Neither held another official role and their allowances were supplemented by government favours and currency trading. The city of Paris provided the pair with a house for nominal rent and the government there exempted him from paying income tax. The pair would purchase goods duty free through the British embassy, which also helped them financially.
From the end of the war onwards, they were effectively celebrities and were regarded as part of the Café Society in the 50s and 60s and regularly hosted parties.
Instead of attending the coronation of his niece Queen Elizabeth II, they watched it on television in Paris, though he did return to Britain for his brother’s funeral. They visited with Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family in the 1960s but last attended a royal event in 1968 and declined an invitation from Elizabeth II to attend the investiture of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales.
On 18th May 1972, Queen Elizabeth II visited him while on a state visit to France, they spoke for around 15 minutes, but he was too ill to appear with the royal party for photographs. Ten days after this visit, he died, less than a month before his 78th birthday. His body was returned to Britain and lay in state before a funeral was held in the presence of the Queen and royal family. Wallis Simpson also attended and was invited to stay at Buckingham Palace. He was later buried at Frogmore and Simpson was buried with him after her death in 1986.
With a reign of just 326 days, David is the shortest reigning monarch of the UK.
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