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Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David Windsor), later The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), was the second British monarch of the House of Windsor. He reigned as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and as Emperor of India for slightly less than a year, from the death of his father, George V, on 20 January 1936 until his abdication on 11 December 1936.

Prior to his accession to the throne he held the titles of Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, and Prince of Wales with the style Royal Highness. After his abdication he reverted to the style of a son of the sovereign and was created Duke of Windsor. During World War II he was the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bahamas after spending a great deal of time in Bermuda.

Edward is the only British monarch to have voluntarily relinquished the throne. He signed the instrument of abdication on 10 December 1936. The British Parliament passed His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 the next day and, on receiving the Royal Assent from Edward, he legally ceased to be King in all but one of his realms. His abdication as King of Ireland occurred one day later.

Early life

Edward was born on 23 June 1894 at White Lodge, Richmond, Surrey.

He was the eldest son of The Duke of York (later King George V), who was the second son of The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and The Princess of Wales (formerly Princess Alexandra of Denmark). Edward's mother, The Duchess of York (formerly Princess Victoria Mary of Teck), was the eldest daughter of The Duke of Teck and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge. As a great grandson of Queen Victoria in the male line, Edward was styled His Highness Prince Edward of York at his birth. He was baptised in the Green Drawing Room of White Lodge on July 16, 1894 by Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury and his twelve godparents were Queen Victoria, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the King and Queen of Denmark, the King of W¸rttemberg, the Queen of Greece, the Tsarevitch of Russia, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the Duke and Duchess of Teck and the Duke of Cambridge.

He was named after his deceased uncle Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who had always been known as Eddy. His last four names - George, Andrew, Patrick and David - came from the Patron Saints of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The Prince was nevertheless, for the rest of his life, known to his family and close friends, by his last name, David.

His paternal grandfather, future King Edward VII, was still the Prince of Wales at the time of his birth. His grandfather's eldest son, The Duke of Clarence and Avondale, had been second in line for the throne but he died, reportedly of pneumonia, on 14 January 1892, before Edward's birth. His father, future King George V, was second in line for the throne and he was therefore third in line for the throne at birth.

Edward's parents, The Duke and Duchess of York, were often removed from their children's upbringing. Edward and his younger brother Albert received considerable abuse at the hands of the royal nanny. The nanny would pinch and scratch Edward before he was due to be presented to his parents. His subsequent crying and wailing would lead the Duke and Duchess to send Edward and the nanny away.

Four younger siblings of Edward and Albert were born between 1897 and 1905: Mary, Henry, George and John.

Prince of Wales

He automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland when his father ascended the throne on 6 May 1910. The new king created him Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 2 June 1910 and officially invested him as such in a special ceremony at Caernarfon Castle in 1911. For the first time since the Middle Ages this investiture took place in Wales; it occurred at the instigation of the Welsh politician David Lloyd George, who at that time held the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal government.

Army service

When the First World War broke out Edward had reached the minimum age for active service and expressed keenness to participate. He was allowed to join the army, serving with the Grenadier Guards, and although Edward expressed a willingness to serve on the front lines, the British government refused to allow it, citing the immense harm that the capture of the heir to the throne would cause. Despite this Edward witnessed at first hand the horror of trench warfare, and attempted to visit the front line as often as he could, leading to his award of the Military Cross in 1916. His role in the war, although limited, led to his great popularity among veterans of the conflict.

Royal duties

Throughout the 1920s the Prince of Wales represented his father, King George V, at home and abroad on many occasions. He took a particular interest in visiting the poverty stricken areas of the country. After the Great Depression he visited many deprived areas of the UK and signed up 200,000 people to his back-to-work scheme. Abroad the Prince of Wales toured the Empire, undertaking 13 tours between 1919 and 1935.

Love life

In 1928, King George V gave Edward a home, Fort Belvedere, near Sunningdale in Berkshire. There Edward conducted relationships with a series of married women including Anglo-American textile heiress Freda Dudley Ward and Lady Furness (born Thelma Morgan) an American beauty of part-Chilean ancestry, introduced the Prince to fellow American Wallis Simpson. Simpson had divorced her first husband in 1927 and subsequently married Ernest Simpson, an Anglo-American businessman. Mrs. Simpson and the Prince of Wales became lovers while his mistress Lady Furness travelled abroad.

Edward's relationship with Wallis Simpson further weakened his poor relationship with his father, King George V. The King and Queen refused to receive Mrs Simpson at court, and his brother, Prince Albert, urged Edward to seek a more suitable wife. Edward, however, had now fallen in love with Wallis and the couple grew ever closer.

Edward's affair with the American divorcÈe lead to such grave concern that the couple was followed by members of MI5, to examine in secret the nature of their relationship. A MI5 report detailed a visit by the couple to an antique shop, where the proprietor later noted that: "the lady seemed to have POW [Prince of Wales] completely under her thumb." The

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