Windsor Revisited

by Edward VIII Windsor

216 pages, hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Determination of Edward VIII, king of Great Britain and Ireland, in 1936 precipitated a constitutional crisis; he abdicated, married Wallis Warfield Simpson, an divorced American, in 1937, and, later known as Duke of Windsor, spent much of the rest of his life in France. Stanley Baldwin as British prime minister facilitated the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936.

Edward, the eldest son of George V and Queen Mary. Nine weeks after his father succeeded, people created him Prince of Wales on his sixteenth birthday in 1910. As a young man, he served in the armed forces during World War I and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father.

George, father of Edward, died in early 1936. From 20 January 1936, Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David ruled the united Dominions of the empire and India until 11 December 1936. He showed impatience with court protocol, and his apparent disregard for established conventions caused concern among politicians. Only months into his reign, he proposed despite a first husband and a second. The prime ministers and the Dominions opposed, arguing that the persons never accept a woman with two ex-husbands as queen consort. Additionally, status of Edward as the titular head of the Church of England conflicted and at at the time opposed still former spouses. If Edward went ahead, then Stanley Baldwin, prime minister, led the government, which promised to resigned and thus to force a general election and so to ruin his status as a politically neutral monarch. Edward chose not to end his relationship. Albert, younger brother, succeeded and chose the regnal name George VI. Edward reigned for a short 326 days of the monarchs in history.

People afterward created him. After second finality, he took consort on 3 June 1937. In that year, the couple toured Germany. During World War II, people at first stationed him with the military mission. After private accusations that he held Nazi sympathies, they assigned him to the Bahamas as the governor of the islands. After the war, people never gave him another official appointment for the remainder in retirement.

Reviews

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good thing this guy abdicated the throne! Judging from this memoir of his time as King Edward VIII, all he really cared about was hunting, men's fashions, and Wallis Simpson. I expected a book about political events during his brief reign, but there was little of that. An interesting look at the man who was, I think, better off off the throne!

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting point-of-view, lots of good information on 19 & 20th century men's fashion. Not quite sure why the Duke of Windsor/former King of England felt the need to go into such depth on this subject in one of his memoirs when he obviously has a wealth of information on much more important topics, but c'est la vie.