Edward VIII abdicated because he wanted to marry a divorcee

[303squadron]

Now, UpChuck III, a well known fornicator, will be the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

To terribly misquote the Beatles, "Now we know how many holes it takes to fill the House of Lords."

[vlyons]

1. I really don't care

nt

[no_hypocrisy]

2. It was more than Wallis Spencer Simpson was a divorcee.

She kept questionable company (Germans) and was known to have loose lips. She couldn't be trusted with being so close to the monarchy.

Not to mention that it was reported that she was sterile and couldn't produce an heir.

[PCIntern]

7. Also reports that

she may be, shall we say, not exactly who she said she was if you get my drift …

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Exactly.

It's pretty clear that if Edward (a/k/a David) got on the throne, he'd be ruling by Wallis' decree, not by the advice of his prime minister and cabinet and government.

She'd have surrendered to Germany.

[PCIntern]

18. Yes and "other weird stuff " as well...

[brooklynite]

3. And by "supreme Governor" you mean "the guy who does whatever the PM tells him to"?

[303squadron]

4. From his abdication speech

"But you must believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love."

[nycbos]

5. They were Nazi sympathizers.

[raccoon]

6. I heard a rumor that he was too friendly to the Nazis. NT

[Celerity]

17. more than a rumour

[snowybirdie]

8. Move on

Nothing to see here.

[Freddie]

9. William and Harry are fine with Camilla, and the Queen came around eventually

Give it a rest.

[Happy Hoosier]

10. The prudishness of the royalty is a decidedly modern feature.

Need I point out that the C of E was founded by Henry VIII?

History is rarely neat.

The pearl-clutching here is remarkable.

[BlackSkimmer]

15. Well said.

Thank you.

[treestar]

19. Yes, it seems to get stricter for them as it gets more permissive in society in general

Charles is a piker compared to Henry VIII. Edward IV did get to marry a woman he loved, still later had mistresses (a major womanizer). Henry I had many illegitimate children, but only two by his wife, and when his son died unexpectedly early, had a succession crisis created - he needed to spend more of his nights with his wife to have a male spare. George IV didn't like his wife, so had one daughter with her and then went back to his mistress. A daughter was enough by then. Amazing Edward VIII didn't just keep Wallis as a mistress.

But now we have Charles expected to either abdicate or not marry someone based on not quite being in love with her, when there was still pressure then about who he'd marry.

[Tommy Carcetti]

11. I don't care.

This is all silly.

[JI7]

13. who cares

[BlackSkimmer]

14. "Fornicator"?

[Happy Hoosier]

20. I know... I have only ever heard that term from street preqachers!

I mean.... weird man, weird!

[kskiska]

16. Just finished a book - "Traitor King - The Scandalous Exile

of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor" by Andrew Lownie. Edward was of the opinion that the U.K. should ally themselves to Germany to avoid the war. He spoke fluent German and was quite close to Ribbentrop and other Nazis who would have removed his brother, George VI, and re-installed Edward on the throne. All that ended when Pearl Harbor was attacked and the U.S. entered the war. Loads of documents were recovered in Germany after the war that proves what the plans were. At any rate, he was totally unfit to be king.

[Retrograde]

21. IMHO, they make up these "rules" as they go along

as treestar points out, other British monarchs had not problems with keeping mistresses and being Supreme Governor of the CofE - Edward VIII's grandfather Edward VII, for example, in the early 1900s.

By the 1930s, the power held by the British monarch had greatly declined and the Prime Minister called the shots. The Prime Minister and his party had a lot of problems with Edward VIII aside from his girlfriend, and per a recent bio of George V, Edward didn't much want to be king in the first place. So "can't marry a divorcee" became a convenient excuse.

(Actually, looking back on the English and British monarchs, "well-known fornicator" seems to have been a job requirement for the males)