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Unable to reconcile his desire to marry Wallis Simpson with the royal crown, Edward VIII abdicated the British throne in 1936, a decision that shocked the country.
Item information
- Author: Myles Burke
- Role, BBC Culture
4 hours ago
“I can finally say a few words myself.”
So King Edward 8th of the United Kingdom (18941972), as he was known until the previous day, began a BBC radio broadcast on December 11, 1936. His speech shocked the listening audience and more than that, it reshaped the future of the British monarchy.
Until the week before the speech, most of the British public did not know what was happening.
Edward was already a controversial figure before his abdication. His relationship with Simpson was openly reported in continental Europe and the United States, but the effective information restriction in the United Kingdom, established between the government, the private press and the BBC, meant that British people were slow to become aware of the matter at the time . Time.
The radio address was the final act of a constitutional crisis in the country.
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Edward VIII's abdication speech: “the hardest decision of my life”
Edward fell in love with Wallis Simpson, the wife of American businessman Ernest Simpson, in the early 1930s.
This was not Edward's first relationship with a married woman. But in January 1936, the turbulent romance took on new meaning when King George V (18651936) died and Edward ascended to the British throne.
Things got even more complicated in October of that year, when Simpson received a temporary sentence for her divorce. Then it became clear that the new king intended to marry her.
The pair faced strong opposition from several British institutions. The Church of England (of which Edward was head as king), the British government, and Edward's own advisers made it clear that the idea was unacceptable.
Documents released in 2013 revealed that thenHome Secretary John Simon (18731954) was so keen to keep abreast of the escalating situation that he tapped the king's telephone.
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin (18671947) warned Edward that, in his opinion, the British public simply would not accept the possibility of a twicedivorced American woman being their queen. However, no one could dissuade Edward, who claimed that he was prepared to abdicate if the government continued to oppose the marriage.
As pressure mounted on the king to abandon the relationship, Edward tried to defend the possibility of a morganatic marriage between people of different social status with Wallis Simpson. This way he could remain king, while Simpson would not be queen, but only her consort. The idea was summarily rejected by the cabinet.
The king then told the prime minister that he wanted to make an appeal to the nation. In 1922, Edward became the first member of the royal family to give a speech broadcast on radio. He knew the power of radio to shape opinions.
On December 3rd he wrote a speech explaining his reasons. The king believed he could influence public opinion by being able to marry and keep the throne.
But Prime Minister Baldwin simply told him that the radio address was constitutionally impossible and would divide the nation if the decision was left to the public.
So six days later the king made good on his threat. Edward informed the government that after less than a year of reign, he would choose the love of Wallis Simpson and renounce the responsibilities of the Crown.
Radio explosion
Even after he decided to abdicate the throne, Edward wanted to explain the decision to his subjects. So he spoke the day after the signing of the abdication document at Windsor Castle in a radio broadcast organized by the BBC's director general, John Reith (18891971), himself the first to hold this position in the corporation.
On December 11, 1936, at 10:01 p.m. London time, the BBC interrupted a repeat of its popular comic opera program for a live broadcast. Reith introduced “His Royal Highness Prince Edward” to the audience. The former monarch had already renounced the title of king.
John Reith then stepped aside to allow Edward to take the position in front of the microphone.
As Edward sat down, his leg accidentally hit the table. The noise was picked up by the microphone and transmitted into the air.
This incident led some newspapers to interpret that the BBC's director general had left the room and slammed the door in disapproval, but this did not happen.
The former king then began his farewell speech. “I never wanted to hide anything, but until now constitutionally I have not been able to speak.”
Edward then declared allegiance to his brother, King George VI, who succeeded him on the throne. And he explained that despite his abdication, he had not forgotten his country or the British Empire.
The speech was rewritten based on the text written by the king a few days earlier to defend his position to the public.
The future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (18741965) was a Conservative MP at the time who supported the king's vision. He was brought in to review the speech, and many of the sentences from the original were retained in the new version, including the reasons that led to Edward's decision.
“I have come to the conclusion that without the help and support of the woman I love, it is impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and carry out the actual tasks as I would like to do,” he said .
Edward explained that the decision was his alone and that “the other person who was most interested tried until the last minute to convince me to take a different path.”
After the broadcast, John Reith wrote in his diary that the prince smiled sadly at him as he said goodbye. “What this young man had thrown away the greatest opportunity any king or man has ever had. I felt sorry for him,” Reith wrote.
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BBC interview of Edward VIII in 1970: “I regret nothing”
After the abdication
The broadcast of the speech was remarkable at the time and also shocked the Director General of the BBC.
John Reith wrote that when he returned home he could not talk about what had happened to his wife or daughter. His wish was “to just sit in the chair and think, and it took me some time to fall asleep.”
Despite instructions to the contrary, BBC engineers recorded Edward's abdication speech, leading archivists to deny the recording's existence for many years.
Many years later, in 1970, he gave an interview to BBC journalist Kenneth Harris (19192005) at the couple's home in Paris, France. He stated that he did not regret his decision to abdicate.
Edward stated that he did not consider himself part of the “establishment”, which is perhaps contradictory given his background and role as a former king.
For him, the abdication helped the “establishment” and even if he had “remained single,” he would have been on a collision course with the country’s institutions.