The King Who Gave Up the Throne

In 1936 Britain had a new king: charming, modern, adored, and unmarried. Within a year he was gone, and his shy younger brother was on the throne.

This is the full story of Edward the Eighth, from a lonely royal childhood and his years as the world's most photographed celebrity, to Wallis Simpson, the abdication crisis, his troubling flirtation with Nazi Germany and a long exile in Paris.

Along the way we explain, for listeners outside Britain, why a king could not simply marry the woman he loved: the Church of England, the rules of a constitutional monarchy, and the parliaments of an empire.

Chapters

1. 0:08The broadcast
2. 1:27A royal childhood
3. 3:15The First World War
4. 3:58The most famous man in the world
5. 5:50Wallis
6. 7:39King
7. 9:28Why it was a crisis
8. 10:48The choice
9. 12:12Abdication
10. 13:24The Duke of Windsor
11. 14:31Germany and the war
12. 15:58Exile in Paris
13. 16:51Last days
14. 17:47Who was he?

Sources

This episode was written from the public record. These are the sources behind the script; quotations and dates were checked against them.

• legislation.gov.ukHis Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 · the Act of Parliament, 11 December 1936
• The GazetteThis month in history: Edward VIII abdication crisis · the official public record
• Encyclopaedia BritannicaEdward VIII · reference biography
• WikipediaEdward VIII · life, reign, exile; quotations and dates
• WikipediaEdward VIII abdication crisis · press silence, Dominions, the broadcast
• WikipediaWallis Simpson · her early life and statement from Cannes
• WikipediaHMS Fury (H76) · the ship that took him into exile

Further reading

• Philip Ziegler, King Edward VIII: The Official Biography (1990)
• Michael Bloch, The Duke of Windsor's War (1982)
• Edward, Duke of Windsor, A King's Story (1951)
• Philip Williamson, 'The monarchy and public values 1900-1953' (2007)

Quoted words are read by SI voices from the published record; they are not archival recordings. Spotted an error? Email support@realtimecomms.co.uk and we'll correct the episode.