Edward VIII

King of the United Kingdom in 1936

Edward VIII

Duke of Windsor

Formal Portrait, 1936

* King of the United Kingdom
and the British Dominions
* Emperor of India

Reign| 20 January – 11 December 1936[a]
Predecessor| George V
Successor| George VI

Born| Prince Edward of York
(1894-06-23)23 June 1894
White Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey, England
Died| 28 May 1972(1972-05-28) (aged 77)
4 route du Champ d'Entraînement, Paris, France
Burial| 5 June 1972

Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, Windsor, Berkshire

Spouse|

Wallis Simpson

(m. 1937)​

| Names

Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David
House|

* Windsor (from 1917)
* Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (until 1917)

Father| George V
Mother| Mary of Teck
Signature|
Education|

* Royal Naval College, Osborne
* Britannia Royal Naval College
* Magdalen College, Oxford

Other offices

Governor of the Bahamas
In office
18 August 1940 – 30 April 1945
Monarch| George VI
Preceded by| Charles Dundas
Succeeded by| William Lindsay Murphy

Military career
Allegiance| United Kingdom
Branch|

* Royal Navy
* British Army
* Royal Air Force

Rank| (see § Military ranks)
Awards| Military Cross

Edward VIII's voice

Edward's abdication speech
Recorded 11 December 1936

Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 20 January 1936 until his abdication in December of the same year.[a]

Edward was born during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary. He was created Prince of Wales on his 16th birthday, seven weeks after his father succeeded as king. As a young man, Edward served in the British Army during the First World War and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father. The Prince of Wales gained popularity due to his charm and charisma, and his fashion sense became a hallmark of the era. After the war, his conduct began to give cause for concern; he engaged in a series of sexual affairs that worried both his father and the British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin.

Upon his father's death in 1936, Edward became the second monarch of the House of Windsor. The new king showed impatience with court protocol, and caused consternation among politicians by his apparent disregard for established constitutional conventions. Only months into his reign, Edward caused a constitutional crisis through his proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second. The prime ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage, arguing a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands was politically and socially unacceptable as a prospective queen consort. Additionally, such a marriage would have conflicted with Edward's status as titular head of the Church of England, which, at the time, disapproved of remarriage after divorce if a former spouse was still alive. Edward knew the Baldwin government would resign if the marriage went ahead, which could have forced a general election and would have ruined his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. When it became apparent he could not marry Simpson and remain on the throne, he abdicated. He was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI. With a reign of 326 days, Edward was one of the shortest-reigning British monarchs to date.

After his abdication, Edward was created Duke of Windsor. He married Simpson in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Nazi Germany, which fed rumours that he was a Nazi sympathiser. During the Second World War, Edward was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France. After the fall of France, he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. After the war, Edward spent the rest of his life in France. He and Wallis remained married until his death in 1972; they had no children.

## Early life

[edit]

Edward with his father George, grandfather Edward, and great-grandmother Victoria

Edward was born on 23 June 1894 at White Lodge, Richmond Park, on the outskirts of London during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria.[2] He was the eldest son of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary). His father was the son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). His mother was the eldest daughter of Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge and Francis, Duke of Teck. At the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind his grandfather and father.

Edward was baptised Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David in the Green Drawing Room of White Lodge on 16 July 1894 by Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury.[b] The name "Edward" was chosen in honour of Edward's late uncle Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who was known within the family as "Eddy" (Edward being among his given names); "Albert" was included at the behest of Queen Victoria for her late husband Albert, Prince Consort; "Christian" was in honour of his great-grandfather King Christian IX of Denmark; and the last four names – George, Andrew, Patrick and David – came from, respectively, the patron saints of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.[4] He was always known to his family and close friends by his last given name, David.[5]

As was common practice with upper-class children of the time, Edward and his younger siblings were brought up by nannies rather than directly by their parents. One of Edward's early nannies often abused him by pinching him before he was due to be presented to his parents. His subsequent crying and wailing would lead the Duke and Duchess to send him and the nanny away.[6] The nanny was discharged after her mistreatment of the children was discovered, and she was replaced by Charlotte Bill.[7]

Edward's father, though a harsh disciplinarian,[8] was demonstratively affectionate,[9] and his mother displayed a frolicsome side with her children that belied her austere public image. She was amused by the children making tadpoles on toast for their French master as a prank,[10] and encouraged them to confide in her.[11]

## Education

[edit]

As a midshipman on board HMS Hindustan, 1911

Initially, Edward was tutored at home by Hélène Bricka. When his parents travelled the British Empire for almost nine months following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, young Edward and his siblings stayed in Britain with their grandparents, Queen Alexandra and King Edward VII, who showered their grandchildren with affection. Upon his parents' return, Edward was placed under the care of two men, Frederick Finch and Henry Hansell, who virtually brought up Edward and his siblings for their remaining nursery years.[12]

Edward was kept under the strict tutorship of Hansell until almost thirteen years old. Private tutors taught him German and French.[13] He took the examination to enter the Royal Naval College, Osborne, and began there in 1907. Hansell had wanted Edward to enter school earlier, but the prince's father had disagreed.[14] Following two years at Osborne College, which he did not enjoy, Edward moved on to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. A course of two years, followed by entry into the Royal Navy, was planned.[15]

Edward automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay on 6 May 1910 when his father ascended the throne as George V on the death of Edward VII. He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester a month later on 23 June 1910, his 16th birthday.[16] Preparations for his future as king began in earnest. He was withdrawn from his naval course before his formal graduation, served as midshipman for three months aboard the battleship Hindustan, then immediately entered Magdalen College, Oxford, for which, in the opinion of his biographers, he was underprepared intellectually.[15] A keen horseman, he learned how to play polo with the university club.[17] He left Oxford after eight terms, without any academic qualifications.[15]

## Prince of Wales

[edit]

As Prince of Wales, 1911

Edward was officially invested as Prince of Wales in a special ceremony at Caernarfon Castle on 13 July 1911.[18] The investiture took place in Wales, at the instigation of the Welsh politician David Lloyd George, Constable of the Castle and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal government.[19] Lloyd George invented a rather fanciful ceremony in the style of a Welsh pageant, and coached Edward to speak a few words in Welsh.[20]

In August 1915, during the First World War

When the First World War broke out in 1914, Edward had reached the minimum age for active service and was keen to participate.[21] He had joined the Grenadier Guards in June 1914, and although Edward was willing to serve on the front lines, Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener refused to allow it, citing the immense harm that would occur if the heir apparent to the throne were captured by the enemy.[22] Edward visited frontline trenches several times, for which he was given the Military Cross in 1916. His role in the war, although limited, made him popular among veterans of the conflict.[23] He undertook his first military flight in 1918, and later gained a pilot's licence.[24]

Edward's youngest brother, Prince John, died at the age of 13 on 18 January 1919 after a severe epileptic seizure.[25] Edward, who was 11 years older than John and had hardly known him, saw his death as "little more than a regrettable nuisance".[26] He wrote to his mistress of the time that "[he had] told [her] all about that little brother, and how he was an epileptic. [John]'s been practically shut up for the last two years anyhow, so no one has ever seen him except the family, and then only once or twice a year. This poor boy had become more of an animal than anything else." He also wrote an insensitive letter to his mother which has since been lost.[27] She did not reply, but he felt compelled to write her an apology, in which he stated: "I feel such a cold hearted and unsympathetic swine for writing all that I did ... No one can realize more than you how little poor Johnnie meant to me who hardly knew him ... I feel so much for you, darling Mama, who was his mother."[26]

In 1919, Edward agreed to be president of the organising committee for the proposed British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park, Middlesex. He wished the Exhibition to include "a great national sports ground", and so played a part in the creation of Wembley Stadium.[28]

In Ashburton, New Zealand, with returned servicemen, 1920

Throughout the 1920s, Edward, as Prince of Wales, represented his father at home and abroad on many occasions. His rank, travels, good looks, and unmarried status gained him much public attention. At the height of his popularity, he was the most photographed celebrity of his time and he set men's fashion.[29] During his 1924 visit to the United States, Men's Wear magazine observed, "The average young man in America is more interested in the clothes of the Prince of Wales than in any other individual on earth."[30]

Edward visited poverty-stricken areas of Britain,[31] and undertook 16 tours to various parts of the Empire between 1919 and 1935. On a tour of Canada in 1919, he acquired the Bedingfield ranch, near Pekisko, Alberta, which he owned until 1962.[32] Named the E. P. Ranch (for Edward, Prince), Edward attempted unsuccessfully to develop the ranch for the breeding of animals, including Shorthorn cattle, Dartmoor ponies, and Clydesdale horses.[33] He escaped unharmed when the train he was riding in during a tour of Australia was derailed outside Perth in 1920.[34]

Edward and his staff wearing formal samurai kimono in Japan, 1922

Edward's November 1921 visit to India came during the non-cooperation movement protests for Indian self-rule, and was marked by riots in Bombay. In 1929 Sir Alexander Leith, a leading Conservative in the north of England, persuaded him to make a three-day visit to the County Durham and Northumberland coalfields, where there was much unemployment.[35] From January to April 1931, the Prince of Wales and his brother Prince George travelled 18,000 miles (29,000 km) on a tour of South America, steaming out on the ocean liner Oropesa,[36] and returning via Paris and an Imperial Airways flight from Paris–Le Bourget Airport that landed specially in Windsor Great Park.[37][38]

With King Fuad I of Egypt in Abdeen Palace garden, 1932

Though widely travelled, Edward shared a widely held racial prejudice against foreigners and many of the Empire's subjects, believing that whites were inherently superior.[39] In 1920, on his visit to Australia, he wrote of Indigenous Australians: "they are the most revolting form of living creatures I've ever seen!! They are the lowest known form of human beings & are the nearest thing to monkeys."[40]

## Romances

[edit]

Before the First World War, a royal match with Edward's second cousin, Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, was suggested.[41] Nothing came of it, and Victoria Louise married Edward's first cousin once removed, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick, instead. In 1934, Adolf Hitler, in his ambition to link the British and German royal houses, asked Victoria Louise to arrange a marriage between the 40-year-old Edward and her 17-year-old daughter, Frederica of Hanover, who was at boarding school in England. Her parents refused, due to the age gap, and Frederica instead married Paul of Greece.[41][42]

Portrait by Reginald Eves, c. 1920

By 1917, Edward liked to spend time partying in Paris while he was on leave from his regiment on the Western Front. He was introduced to Parisian courtesan Marguerite Alibert, with whom he became infatuated. He wrote her candid letters, which she kept. After about a year, Edward broke off the affair. In 1923, Alibert was acquitted in a spectacular murder trial after she shot her husband in the Savoy Hotel. Desperate efforts were made by the Royal Household to ensure that Edward's name was not mentioned in connection with the trial or Alibert.[43]

Also in 1917, Edward began a relationship with Rosemary Leveson-Gower, the youngest daughter of the 4th Duke of Sutherland. According to Leveson-Gower's friends, Edward proposed to her but the relationship ended when the King and Queen expressed their disapproval of relatives of hers, namely Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, a maternal aunt, and James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn, a maternal uncle.[44]

Edward's womanising and reckless behaviour during the 1920s and 1930s worried Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, King George V, and those close to the prince. The King was disappointed by his son's failure to settle down in life, disgusted by his affairs with married women, and reluctant to see him inherit the Crown. "After I am dead," George said, "the boy will ruin himself in twelve months."[45]

George V favoured his second son Albert ("Bertie") and Albert's daughter Elizabeth ("Lilibet"), later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II respectively. He told a courtier, "I pray to God that my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne."[46] In 1929, Time magazine reported that Edward teased Albert's wife, also named Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), by calling her "Queen Elizabeth". The magazine asked if "she did not sometimes wonder how much truth there is in the story that he once said he would renounce his rights upon the death of George V – which would make her nickname come true".[47]

With Thelma Furness, 1932

In 1930, the King gave Edward the lease of Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park.[48] There, he continued his relationships with a series of married women, including Freda Dudley Ward and Lady Furness, the American wife of a British peer, who introduced Edward to her friend and fellow American Wallis Simpson. Simpson had divorced her first husband, U.S. Navy officer Win Spencer, in 1927. Her second husband, Ernest Simpson, was a British-American businessman. Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales, it is generally accepted, became lovers, while Lady Furness travelled abroad, although Edward adamantly insisted to his father that he was not having an affair with her and that it was not appropriate to describe her as his mistress.[49] Edward's relationship with Simpson, however, further weakened his poor relationship with his father. Although his parents met Simpson at Buckingham Palace in 1935,[50] they later refused to receive her.[51]

Edward's affair with an American divorcée led to such grave concern that the couple were followed by members of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, who examined in secret the nature of their relationship. An undated 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."[52] The prospect of having an American divorcée with a questionable past having such sway over the heir apparent led to anxiety among government and establishment figures.[53]

## Reign

[edit]

Portrait as king, 1936

George V died on 20 January 1936, and Edward ascended the throne as Edward VIII. The next day, accompanied by Simpson, he broke with custom by watching the proclamation of his own accession from a window of St James's Palace.[54] He became the first monarch of the British Empire to fly in an aircraft when he flew from Sandringham to London for his Accession Council.[13]

Edward caused unease in government circles with actions that were interpreted as interference in political matters. His comment during a tour of depressed villages in South Wales that "something must be done"[13] for the unemployed coal miners was seen as an attempt to guide government policy, though he had not proposed any remedy or change in policy. Government ministers were reluctant to send confidential documents and state papers to Fort Belvedere because it was clear that Edward was paying little attention to them, and it was feared that Simpson and other house guests might read them, improperly or inadvertently revealing government secrets.[55]

Left-facing coinage portrait of Edward VIII

Edward's unorthodox approach to his role also extended to the coinage that bore his image. He broke with the tradition that the profile portrait of each successive monarch faced in the direction opposite to that of his or her predecessor. Edward insisted that he face left (as his father had done),[56] to show the parting in his hair.[57] Only a handful of test coins were struck before the abdication, and all are very rare.[58] When George VI succeeded to the throne he also faced left to maintain the tradition by suggesting that, had any further coins been minted featuring Edward's portrait, they would have shown him facing right.[59]

On 16 July 1936, George Andrew McMahon produced a loaded revolver as Edward rode on horseback at Constitution Hill, near Buckingham Palace. Police spotted the gun and pounced on him; he was quickly arrested. McMahon alleged at his trial that "a foreign power" had approached him to kill Edward, that he had informed MI5 of the plan, and that he was merely seeing the plan through to help MI5 catch the real culprits. The court rejected the claims and sent him to jail for a year for "intent to alarm".[60] It is now thought that McMahon had indeed been in contact with MI5, but the veracity of the remainder of his claims remains debatable.[61]

In August and September, Edward and Simpson cruised the Eastern Mediterranean on the steam yacht Nahlin. By October it was becoming clear that the new king planned to marry Simpson, especially when divorce proceedings between the Simpsons were brought at Ipswich Assizes.[62] Although gossip about his affair was widespread in the United States, the British media kept silent voluntarily, and the general public knew nothing until early December.[63]

## Abdication

[edit]

Main article: Abdication of Edward VIII

With Wallis Simpson on their Mediterranean holiday, 1936

On 16 November 1936, Edward invited Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and expressed his desire to marry Simpson when she became free to remarry. Baldwin informed him that his subjects would deem the marriage morally unacceptable, largely because remarriage after divorce was opposed by the Church of England, and the people would not tolerate Simpson as queen.[64] As king, Edward was the titular head of the Church, and the clergy expected him to support the Church's teachings. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Gordon Lang, was vocal in insisting that Edward must go.[65]

Edward proposed an alternative solution of a morganatic marriage, in which he would remain king but Simpson would not become queen consort. She would enjoy some lesser title instead, and any children they might have would not inherit the throne. This was supported by senior politician Winston Churchill in principle, and some historians suggest that he conceived the plan.[65] In any event, it was ultimately rejected by the British Cabinet[66] as well as other Dominion governments.[67] The other governments' views were sought pursuant to the Statute of Westminster 1931, which provided in part that "any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom."[68] The Prime Ministers of Australia (Joseph Lyons), Canada (Mackenzie King) and South Africa (J. B. M. Hertzog) made clear their opposition to the King marrying a divorcée;[69] their Irish counterpart (Éamon de Valera) expressed indifference and detachment, while the Prime Minister of New Zealand (Michael Joseph Savage), having never heard of Simpson before, vacillated in disbelief.[70] Faced with this opposition, Edward at first responded that there were "not many people in Australia" and their opinion did not matter.[71]

Cypher on a postbox erected during his short reign

Edward informed Baldwin that he would abdicate if he could not marry Simpson. Baldwin then presented Edward with three options: give up the idea of marriage; marry against his ministers' wishes; or abdicate.[72] It was clear that Edward was not prepared to give up Simpson, and he knew that if he married against the advice of his ministers, he would cause the government to resign, prompting a constitutional crisis.[73] He chose to abdicate.[74]

Edward duly signed the instruments of abdication[c] at Fort Belvedere on 10 December 1936 in the presence of his younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York, next in line for the throne; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and Prince George, Duke of Kent.[75] The document included these words: "declare my irrevocable determination to renounce the throne for myself and for my descendants and my desire that effect should be given to this instrument of abdication immediately".[76] The next day, the last act of his reign was the royal assent to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936. As required by the Statute of Westminster, all the Dominions had already consented to the abdication.[1]

On the night of 11 December 1936, Edward, now reverted to the title and style of a prince, explained his decision to abdicate in a worldwide BBC radio broadcast. He said, "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." He added that the "decision was mine and mine alone ... The other person most nearly concerned has tried up to the last to persuade me to take a different course".[77] Edward departed Britain for Austria the following day; he was unable to join Simpson until her divorce became absolute, several months later.[78] The Duke of York succeeded to the throne as George VI. Accordingly, George VI's elder daughter, Princess Elizabeth, became heir presumptive.[79]

## Duke of Windsor

[edit]

On 12 December 1936, at the accession meeting of the British Privy Council, George VI announced his intention to make his brother the "Duke of Windsor" with the style of Royal Highness.[80] He wanted this to be the first act of his reign, although the formal documents were not signed until 8 March the following year. During the interim, Edward was known as the Duke of Windsor. George's decision to create Edward a royal duke ensured that he could neither stand for election to the British House of Commons nor speak on political subjects in the House of Lords.[81]

Letters Patent dated 27 May 1937 re-conferred the "title, style, or attribute of Royal Highness" upon the Duke, but specifically stated that "his wife and descendants, if any, shall not hold said title or attribute". Some British ministers advised that the reconfirmation was unnecessary since Edward had retained the style automatically, and further that Simpson would automatically obtain the rank of wife of a prince with the style Her Royal Highness; others maintained that he had lost all royal rank and should no longer carry any royal title or style as an abdicated king, and be referred to simply as "Mr Edward Windsor". On 14 April 1937, Attorney General Sir Donald Somervell submitted to Home Secretary Sir John Simon a memorandum summarising the views of Lord Advocate T. M. Cooper, Parliamentary Counsel Sir Granville Ram, and himself:

>   1. We incline to the view that on his abdication the Duke of Windsor could not have claimed the right to be described as a Royal Highness. In other words, no reasonable objection could have been taken if the King had decided that his exclusion from the lineal succession excluded him from the right to this title as conferred by the existing Letters Patent.
>   2. The question however has to be considered on the basis of the fact that, for reasons which are readily understandable, he with the express approval of His Majesty enjoys this title and has been referred to as a Royal Highness on a formal occasion and in formal documents. In the light of precedent it seems clear that the wife of a Royal Highness enjoys the same title unless some appropriate express step can be and is taken to deprive her of it.
>   3. We came to the conclusion that the wife could not claim this right on any legal basis. The right to use this style or title, in our view, is within the prerogative of His Majesty and he has the power to regulate it by Letters Patent generally or in particular circumstances.[82]

### Wedding

[edit]

Main article: Wedding of Prince Edward and Wallis Simpson

The Château de Candé, the Windsors' wedding venue, south of Tours in France

The Duke married Simpson, who had changed her name by deed poll to Wallis Warfield (her birth surname), in a private ceremony on 3 June 1937, at Château de Candé, near Tours, France. When the Church of England refused to sanction the union, a County Durham clergyman, Robert Anderson Jardine (Vicar of St Paul's, Darlington), offered to perform the ceremony, and Edward accepted. George VI forbade members of the royal family to attend,[83] to the lasting resentment of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Edward had particularly wanted his brothers the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent and his second cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten to attend the ceremony.[84] The French virtuoso organist and composer Marcel Dupré played at the wedding.[85]

The denial of the style Royal Highness to the Duchess of Windsor caused further conflict, as did the financial settlement. The Government declined to include the Duke or Duchess on the Civil List, and the Duke's allowance was paid personally by George VI. Edward compromised his position with his brother by concealing the extent of his financial worth when they informally agreed on the amount of the allowance. Edward's wealth had accumulated from the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall paid to him as Prince of Wales and ordinarily at the disposal of an incoming king. George also paid Edward for Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle, which were Edward's personal property, inherited from his father and thus did not automatically pass to George VI on his accession.[86] Edward received approximately £300,000 (equivalent to between £21 million and £140 million in 2021[87]) for both residences which was paid to him in yearly instalments. In the early days of George VI's reign Edward telephoned daily, importuning for money and urging that Wallis be granted the style of Royal Highness, until the harassed king ordered that the calls not be put through.[88]

Relations between the Duke of Windsor and the rest of the royal family were strained for decades. Edward had assumed that he would settle in Britain after a year or two of exile in France. King George VI (with the support of Queen Mary and his wife Queen Elizabeth) threatened to cut off Edward's allowance if he returned to Britain without an invitation.[86] Edward became embittered against his mother, Queen Mary, writing to her in 1939: "[your last letter][d] destroy[ed] the last vestige of feeling I had left for you ... [and has] made further normal correspondence between us impossible."[89]

Duke and Duchess of Windsor in Germany, October 1937

Edward reviewing SS guards with Robert Ley

The Duke and Duchess meeting Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden

### 1937 tour of Germany

[edit]

In October 1937, the Duke and Duchess visited Nazi Germany, against the advice of the British government, and met Adolf Hitler at his Berghof retreat in Bavaria. The visit was much publicised by the German media. During the visit, Edward gave full Nazi salutes.[90] In Germany, "they were treated like royalty ... members of the aristocracy would bow and curtsy towards her, and she was treated with all the dignity and status that the duke always wanted", according to royal biographer Andrew Morton in a 2016 BBC interview.[91]

The former Austrian ambassador Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein, who was also a second cousin once removed and friend of George V, believed that Edward favoured German fascism as a bulwark against communism, and even that he initially favoured an alliance with Germany.[92] According to the Duke of Windsor, the experience of "the unending scenes of horror"[93] during the First World War led him to support appeasement. Hitler considered Edward to be friendly towards Germany and thought that Anglo-German relations could have been improved through Edward if it were not for the abdication. Albert Speer quoted Hitler directly: "I am certain through him permanent friendly relations could have been achieved. If he had stayed, everything would have been different. His abdication was a severe loss for us."[94] The Duke and Duchess settled in Paris, leasing a mansion in Boulevard Suchet [fr] from late 1938.[95]

### Second World War

[edit]

In May 1939, Edward was commissioned by NBC to give a radio broadcast[96] (his first since abdicating) during a visit to the First World War battlefields of Verdun. In it he appealed for peace, saying "I am deeply conscious of the presence of the great company of the dead, and I am convinced that could they make their voices heard they would be with me in what I am about to say. I speak simply as a soldier of the Last War whose most earnest prayer it is that such cruel and destructive madness shall never again overtake mankind. There is no land whose people want war." The broadcast was heard across the world by millions.[97][98] It was widely regarded as supporting appeasement,[99] and the BBC refused to broadcast it.[96] It was broadcast outside the United States on shortwave radio[100] and was reported in full by British broadsheet newspapers.[101]

On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Duke and Duchess were brought back to Britain by Louis Mountbatten on board HMS Kelly, and Edward, although he held the rank of field marshal, was made a major-general attached to the British Military Mission in France.[13] In February 1940, the German ambassador in The Hague, Count Julius von Zech-Burkersroda, claimed that Edward had leaked the Allied war plans for the defence of Belgium,[102] which the Duke later denied.[103] When Germany invaded the north of France in May 1940, the Windsors fled south, first to Biarritz, then in June to Francoist Spain. In July they moved to Portugal, where they lived at first in the home of Ricardo Espírito Santo, a Portuguese banker with both British and German contacts.[104] Under the code name Operation Willi, Nazi agents, principally Walter Schellenberg, plotted unsuccessfully to persuade the Duke to leave Portugal and return to Spain, kidnapping him if necessary.[105] Lord Caldecote wrote a warning to Winston Churchill, who by this point was prime minister, that "[the Duke] is well-known to be pro-Nazi and he may become a centre of intrigue."[106] Churchill threatened Edward with a court-martial if he did not return to British soil.[107]

In July 1940, Edward was appointed governor of the Bahamas. The Duke and Duchess left Lisbon on 1 August aboard the American Export Lines steamship Excalibur, which was specially diverted from its usual direct course to New York City so that they could be dropped off at Bermuda on the 9th.[108] They left Bermuda for Nassau on the Canadian National Steamship Company vessel Lady Somers on 15 August, arriving two days later.[109] Edward did not enjoy being governor and privately referred to the islands as "a third-class British colony".[110] The British Foreign Office strenuously objected when Edward and Wallis planned to cruise aboard a yacht belonging to Swedish magnate Axel Wenner-Gren, whom British and American intelligence wrongly believed to be a close friend of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring.[111] Edward was praised for his efforts to combat poverty on the islands. He was "considerably more enlightened in his attitudes than the majority of Bahamian whites, or either of his predecessors", and had an "excellent relationship" with Black individuals such as jazz musician Bert Cambridge (who was eventually elected to the Bahamian House of Assembly, to Edward's delight) and valet Sydney Johnson, who Edward retained for 30 years and was said to have "loved as a son".[112] Edward maintained a long-standing dispute with Étienne Dupuch, the editor of the Nassau Daily Tribune, writing privately at one point that Dupuch was "more than half Negro, and due to the peculiar mentality of this Race, they seem unable to rise to prominence without losing their equilibrium".[113] But even Dupuch praised Edward for his resolution of civil unrest over low wages in Nassau in 1942, though Edward blamed the trouble on "mischief makers – communists" and "men of Central European Jewish descent, who had secured jobs as a pretext for obtaining a deferment of draft".[114] He resigned from the post on 16 March 1945.[13]

Many historians have suggested that Hitler was prepared to reinstate Edward as king in the hope of establishing a fascist puppet government in Britain after Operation Sea Lion.[115] It is widely believed that the Duke and Duchess sympathised with fascism before and during the Second World War, and were moved to the Bahamas to minimise their opportunities to act on those feelings. In 1940 he said: "In the past 10 years Germany has totally reorganised the order of its society ... Countries which were unwilling to accept such a reorganisation of society and its concomitant sacrifices should direct their policies accordingly."[116] During the occupation of France, the Duke asked the German Wehrmacht forces to place guards at his Paris and Riviera homes; they did so.[117] In December 1940, Edward gave Fulton Oursler of Liberty magazine an interview at Government House in Nassau. Oursler conveyed its content to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a private meeting at the White House on 23 December 1940.[118] The interview was published on 22 March 1941 and in it Edward was reported to have said that "Hitler was the right and logical leader of the German people" and that the time was coming for President Roosevelt to mediate a peace settlement. Edward protested that he had been misquoted and misinterpreted.[119]

The Allies became sufficiently disturbed by German plots revolving around Edward that President Roosevelt ordered covert surveillance of the Duke and Duchess when they visited Palm Beach, Florida, in April 1941. Duke Carl Alexander of Württemberg (then a monk in an American monastery) had told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Wallis had slept with the German ambassador in London, Joachim von Ribbentrop, in 1936; had remained in constant contact with him; and had continued to leak secrets.[120]

Author Charles Higham claimed that Anthony Blunt, an MI5 agent and Soviet spy, acting on orders from the British royal family, made a successful secret trip to Schloss Friedrichshof in Allied-occupied Germany towards the end of the war to retrieve sensitive letters between the Duke of Windsor and Hitler and other leading Nazis.[121] What is certain is that George VI sent the Royal Librarian, Owen Morshead, accompanied by Blunt, then working part-time in the Royal Library as well as for British intelligence, to Friedrichshof in March 1945 to secure papers relating to Victoria, German Empress, the eldest child of Queen Victoria. Looters had stolen part of the castle's archive, including surviving letters between daughter and mother, as well as other valuables, some of which were recovered in Chicago after the war. The papers rescued by Morshead and Blunt, and those returned by the American authorities from Chicago, were deposited in the Royal Archives.[122] In the late 1950s, documents recovered by US troops in Marburg, Germany, in May 1945, since titled the Marburg Files, were published following more than a decade of suppression, enhancing theories of Edward's sympathies for Nazi ideologies.[123][124]

After the war, Edward admitted in his memoirs that he admired the Germans, but he denied being pro-Nazi. Of Hitler he wrote: "[the] Führer struck me as a somewhat ridiculous figure, with his theatrical posturings and his bombastic pretensions."[125] In the 1950s, journalist Frank Giles heard the Duke blame British foreign secretary Anthony Eden for helping to "precipitate the war through his treatment of Mussolini ... that's what [Eden] did, he helped to bring on the war ... and of course Roosevelt and the Jews".[126] During the 1960s, in private, Edward reportedly said to a friend, Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross, "I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap."[127]

## Later life

[edit]

Edward in 1945 With Clementine (far left) and Winston Churchill on the French Riviera, 1948

At the end of the war, the couple returned to France and spent the remainder of their lives essentially in retirement as Edward never held another official role. Letters written by Kenneth de Courcy to the Duke, dated between 1946 and 1949, extracts of which were published in 2009, suggest a scheme where Edward would return to England and place himself in a position for a possible regency. The health of George VI was failing and de Courcy was concerned about the influence of the Mountbatten family over the young Princess Elizabeth. De Courcy suggested that Edward should buy a working agricultural estate within an easy drive of London in order to gain favour with the British public and make himself available should the King become incapacitated. The Duke, however, hesitated and the King recovered from his surgery.[128] De Courcy also mentioned the possibility of the British occupation zone in Germany becoming a kingdom with Edward becoming king. Nothing came of the suggestion.[129]

Edward's allowance was supplemented by government favours and illegal currency trading.[13][130][131] The City of Paris provided the Duke with a house at 4 route du Champ d'Entraînement, on the Neuilly-sur-Seine side of the Bois de Boulogne, for a nominal rent.[132] The French government also exempted him from paying income tax,[130][133] and the couple were able to buy goods duty-free through the British embassy and the military commissary.[133] In 1952, they bought and renovated a weekend country retreat, Le Moulin de la Tuilerie at Gif-sur-Yvette, the only property the couple ever owned themselves.[134] In 1951, Edward produced a memoir, A King's Story ghost-written by Charles Murphy, in which he expressed disagreement with liberal politics.[19] The royalties from the book added to Edward and Wallis's income.[130]

Edward and Wallis effectively took on the role of celebrities and were regarded as part of café society in the 1950s and 1960s. They hosted parties and shuttled between Paris and New York; Gore Vidal, who met the Windsors socially, reported on the vacuity of the Duke's conversation.[135] The couple doted on the pug dogs they kept.[136]

In June 1953, instead of attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, his niece, in London, Edward and Wallis watched the ceremony on television in Paris. Edward said that it was contrary to precedent for a sovereign or former sovereign to attend any coronation of another. He was paid to write articles on the ceremony for the Sunday Express and Woman's Home Companion, as well as a short book, The Crown and the People, 1902–1953.[137]

With Wallis and U.S. president Richard Nixon, 1970

In 1955, the couple visited President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the White House. The couple appeared on Edward R. Murrow's television-interview show Person to Person in 1956,[138] and in a 50-minute BBC television interview in 1970. On 4 April of that year President Richard Nixon invited them as guests of honour to a dinner at the White House with Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, Charles Lindbergh, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Arnold Palmer, George H. W. Bush, and Frank Borman.[139][140]

The royal family never fully accepted the Duchess. Queen Mary refused to receive her formally. However, Edward sometimes met his mother and his brother, George VI; he attended George's funeral in 1952. Mary remained angry with Edward and indignant over his marriage to Wallis: "To give up all this for that", she said.[141] In 1965, the Duke and Duchess returned to London. They were visited by his niece Elizabeth II, his sister-in-law Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, and his sister Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood. A week later, the Princess Royal died, and they attended her memorial service. In 1966 Edward gave the journalist Georg Stefan Troller a TV interview in German;[142] he answered questions about his abdication.[143] In 1967, the Duke and Duchess joined the royal family for the centenary of Queen Mary's birth. The last royal ceremony Edward attended was the funeral of Princess Marina in 1968.[144] He declined an invitation from Elizabeth II to attend the investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1969, replying that Charles would not want his "aged great-uncle" there.[145]

In the 1960s, Edward's health deteriorated. Michael E. DeBakey operated on him in Houston for an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta in December 1964, and Sir Stewart Duke-Elder treated a detached retina in his left eye in February 1965. In late 1971, Edward, who was a smoker from an early age, was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent cobalt therapy. On 18 May 1972, Queen Elizabeth II visited the Duke and Duchess of Windsor while on a state visit to France; she spoke with Edward for 15 minutes, but only Wallis appeared with the royal party for a photocall as Edward was too ill.[146]

### Death and legacy

[edit]

Main article: Death and funeral of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor

Edward's grave at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, in Home Park, Windsor

On 28 May 1972, ten days after Elizabeth's visit, Edward died at his home in Paris. His body was returned to Britain, lying in state at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. The funeral service took place in the chapel on 5 June in the presence of the Queen, the royal family, and the Duchess of Windsor, who stayed at Buckingham Palace during her visit. He was buried in the Royal Burial Ground behind the Royal Mausoleum of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Frogmore.[147] Until a 1965 agreement with the Queen, the Duke and Duchess had planned for a burial in a cemetery plot they had purchased at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, where Wallis's father was interred.[148] Frail, and suffering increasingly from dementia, Wallis died in 1986 and was buried alongside her husband.[149]

In the view of historians such as Philip Williamson writing in 2007, the popular perception in the 21st century that the abdication was driven by politics rather than religious morality is false and arises because divorce has become much more common and socially acceptable. To modern sensibilities, the religious restrictions that prevented Edward from continuing as king while planning to marry Wallis Simpson "seem, wrongly, to provide insufficient explanation" for his abdication.[150]

## Honours and arms

[edit]

Royal Standard of the Duke of Windsor

### British Commonwealth and Empire honours

[edit]

Portrait of Edward in the robes of the Order of the Garter by Arthur Stockdale Cope, 1912

* KG: Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, 23 June 1910[151]
* ISO: Companion of the Imperial Service Order, 23 June 1910[152]
* MC: Military Cross, 3 June 1916[153]
* GBE: Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 4 June 1917[154]
* GCMG: Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, 24 October 1917[155]
* ADC: Personal aide-de-camp, 3 June 1919[156]
* PC: Privy Counsellor of the United Kingdom, 2 March 1920[157]
* GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 13 March 1920[158]
* Recipient of the Royal Victorian Chain, 1921[154]
* GCSI: Extra Knight Grand Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, 10 October 1921[159]
* GCIE: Extra Knight Grand Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, 10 October 1921[159]
* KT: Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, 23 June 1922[160]
* Bailiff Grand Cross of the Venerable Order of St John, 12 June 1926[161]
* Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of St John, 2 June 1917[162]
* KP: Additional Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick, 3 June 1927[163]
* PC: Privy Councillor of Canada, 2 August 1927[164]
* GCB: Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, 1936[154]
* FRS: Royal Fellow of the Royal Society[154]

### Foreign honours

[edit]

* Grand Cross of the House Order of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore, 1 May 1911[165]
* Knight of the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of the Golden Lion, 23 June 1911[166]
* Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 22 June 1912[167]
* Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, August 1912[168]
* Knight of the Order of the Elephant, 17 March 1914[169]
* Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav, with Collar, 6 April 1914[170]
* Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, 21 June 1915[171]
* Croix de Guerre, 1915
* Knight of the Order of St George, 3rd Class, 16 May 1916[172]
* Knight of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 16 August 1917[173]
* Order of Michael the Brave, 1st Class, 1918[174]
* War Merit Cross, 1919
* Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Muhammad Ali, 1922[174]
* Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim, 12 November 1923[175]
* Collar of the Order of Carol I, 1924[174]
* Order of Merit, 1st Class, 1925[174]
* Grand Cross of the Order of the Condor of the Andes, 1931[174]
* Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru, 1931[174]
* Grand Cross of the Sash of the Two Orders, 25 April 1931 – during his visit to Lisbon[176]
* Grand Cross of the National Order of the Southern Cross, 1933[174]
* Grand Cross of the Order of St Agatha, 1935[174]

### Military ranks

[edit]

* 22 June 1911: Midshipman, Royal Navy[177]
* 17 March 1913: Lieutenant, Royal Navy[178]
* 8 August 1914: Second Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, British Army[179]
* 15 November 1914: Temporary Lieutenant, Grenadier Guards,[180] later antedated to 11 November 1914[181]
* 19 November 1914: Lieutenant, Grenadier Guards[182]
* 10 March 1916: Supernumerary Captain, Grenadier Guards[183]
* 25 February 1918: Temporary Major, British Army[184]
* 15 April 1919: Colonel, British Army[185]
* 8 July 1919: Captain, Royal Navy[186]
* 5 December 1922: Group Captain, Royal Air Force[177][187]
* 1 September 1930: Vice-Admiral, Royal Navy; Lieutenant-General, British Army;[188] Air Marshal, Royal Air Force[189]
* 1 January 1935: Admiral, Royal Navy; General, British Army; Air Chief Marshal, Royal Air Force[190]
* 21 January 1936: Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy; Field Marshal, British Army; Marshal of the Royal Air Force[191]
* 3 September 1939: Major-General, British Military Mission in France[192]

### Honorary degrees and offices

[edit]

* 1918–1936: Chancellor of the University of Cape Town[193]
* 1920: Doctor of Laws, University of Sydney[194]
* 1921: Doctor of Law, University of Cambridge[195]
* 1921: Honorary degree, University of London[196]
* 1922: Doctor of Laws, University of Hong Kong[197]
* 1928–1936: Master, Honourable Company of Master Mariners[198]

### Arms

[edit]

Edward's coat of arms as the Prince of Wales was the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, differenced with a label of three points argent, with an inescutcheon representing Wales surmounted by a coronet. As Sovereign, he bore the royal arms undifferenced. After his abdication, he used the arms again differenced by a label of three points argent, but this time with the centre point bearing an imperial crown.[199]

* Coat of arms as Prince of Wales (granted 1911)[200]

* Coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom

* Scottish coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom

* Coat of arms as Duke of Windsor

## Ancestry

[edit]

See also: Descendants of Christian IX of Denmark

Ancestors of Edward VIII[201]

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 8\. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

| 4\. Edward VII of the United Kingdom|

|  |  |
| 9\. Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom

| 2\. George V of the United Kingdom|

|  |  |  |  |
| 10\. Christian IX of Denmark

| 5\. Princess Alexandra of Denmark|

|  |  |
| 11\. Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel

| 1\. Edward VIII of the United Kingdom|
|  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 12\. Duke Alexander of Württemberg

| 6\. Francis, Duke of Teck|

|  |  |
| 13\. Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde

| 3\. Princess Victoria Mary of Teck|

|  |  |  |  |
| 14\. Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge

| 7\. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge|

|  |  |
| 15\. Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

## See also

[edit]

* Cultural depictions of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson
* Abandoned coronation of Edward VIII
* List of prime ministers of Edward VIII

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b The instrument of abdication was signed on 10 December, and given legislative form by His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 the following day. The parliament of the Union of South Africa retroactively approved the abdication with effect from 10 December, and the Irish Free State recognised the abdication on 12 December.[1]
2. ^ His twelve godparents were: the Queen of the United Kingdom (his paternal great-grandmother); the King and Queen of Denmark (his paternal great-grandparents, for whom his maternal uncle Prince Adolphus of Teck and his paternal aunt the Duchess of Fife stood proxy); the King of Württemberg (his mother's distant cousin, for whom his granduncle the Duke of Connaught stood proxy); the Queen of Greece (his grandaunt, for whom his paternal aunt Princess Victoria of Wales stood proxy); the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his grand uncle, for whom Prince Louis of Battenberg stood proxy); the Prince and Princess of Wales (his paternal grandparents); the Tsarevich (his father's cousin); the Duke of Cambridge (his maternal granduncle and Queen Victoria's cousin); and the Duke and Duchess of Teck (his maternal grandparents).[3]
3. ^ There were fifteen separate copies – one for each Dominion, the Irish Free State, India, the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Prime Minister, among others.[75]
4. ^ She had asked Alec Hardinge to write to Edward explaining that he could not be invited to his father's memorial.[89]

## References

[edit]

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8. ^ Windsor, pp. 25–28
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11. ^ Ziegler, p. 79
12. ^ Parker, pp. 12–13
13. ^ a b c d e f Matthew, H. C. G. (17 September 2015) [23 September 2004], "Edward VIII, later Prince Edward, duke of Windsor (1894–1972)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31061 (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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67. ^ Windsor, p. 354
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94. ^ Speer, Albert (1970), Inside the Third Reich, New York: Macmillan, p. 118
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98. ^ Terry Charman, "The Day We Went to War", 2009, p. 28.
99. ^ Bradford, p. 285
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101. ^ e.g. The Times, 9 May 1939, p. 13
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120. ^ Evans, Rob; Hencke, David (29 June 2002), "Wallis Simpson, the Nazi minister, the telltale monk and an FBI plot", The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 26 August 2013, retrieved 2 May 2010
121. ^ Higham, Charles (1988), The Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Life, New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers, pp. 388–389
122. ^ Bradford, p. 426
123. ^ Fane Saunders, Tristram (14 December 2017), "The Duke, the Nazis, and a very British cover-up: the true story behind The Crown's Marburg Files", The Telegraph, archived from the original on 14 August 2018, retrieved 14 August 2018
124. ^ Miller, Julie (9 December 2017), The Crown: Edward's Alleged Nazi Sympathies Exposed, Vanity Fair, archived from the original on 6 February 2018, retrieved 14 August 2018
125. ^ Windsor, p. 277
126. ^ Sebba, Anne (1 November 2011), "Wallis Simpson, 'That Woman' After the Abdication", The New York Times, archived from the original on 5 November 2011, retrieved 7 November 2011
127. ^ Lord Kinross, Love conquers all in Books and Bookmen, vol. 20 (1974), p. 50: "He indeed remarked to me, some twenty-five years later, 'I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap'."
128. ^ Wilson, Christopher (22 November 2009), "Revealed: the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's secret plot to deny the Queen the throne", The Telegraph, archived from the original on 8 August 2017, retrieved 6 August 2017
129. ^ The Man Who Would Be King...Again? The 1946 Duke of Windsor Plot, video by Mark Felton on YouTube, 31 August 2023
130. ^ a b c Roberts, p. 53
131. ^ Bradford, p. 442
132. ^ Ziegler, pp. 534–535
133. ^ a b Bradford, p. 446
134. ^ "Le Moulin – History", The Landmark Trust, archived from the original on 31 January 2019, retrieved 30 January 2019
135. ^ Vidal, Gore (1995), Palimpsest: a memoir, New York: Random House, p. 206, ISBN 978-0-679-44038-3
136. ^ Farquhar, Michael (2001), A Treasury of Royal Scandals, New York: Penguin Books, p. 48, ISBN 978-0-7394-2025-6
137. ^ Ziegler, pp. 539–540
138. ^ "Peep Show", Time, 8 October 1956, archived from the original on 26 February 2014, retrieved 2 May 2010
139. ^ Robenalt, James D. (2015). January 1973: Watergate, Roe v. Wade, Vietnam, and the Month that Changed America Forever. Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-61374-967-8. OCLC 906705247.
140. ^ UPI. "Duke, Duchess Have Dinner With Nixons" The Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina) 6 April 1970; p. 13
141. ^ Bradford, p. 198
142. ^ Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII) Interview in German | 1966 (eng. subtitles), YouTube, 22 December 2021, retrieved 19 October 2022
143. ^ Georg Stefan Troller (1 January 1970), "Georg Stefan Troller trifft den Herzog von Windsor - WELT", Die Welt, Welt.de, retrieved 19 October 2022
144. ^ Ziegler, pp. 554–556
145. ^ Ziegler, p. 555
146. ^ Duke too ill for tea with the Queen, BBC, 18 May 1972, archived from the original on 30 August 2017, retrieved 24 October 2017
147. ^ Ziegler, pp. 556–557
148. ^ Rasmussen, Frederick (29 April 1986), "Windsors had a plot at Green Mount", The Baltimore Sun
149. ^ Simple funeral rites for Duchess, BBC, 29 April 1986, archived from the original on 30 December 2007, retrieved 2 May 2010
150. ^ Williamson, Philip (2007), "The monarchy and public values 1910–1953", in Olechnowicz, Andrzej (ed.), The monarchy and the British nation, 1780 to the present, Cambridge University Press, p. 225, ISBN 978-0-521-84461-1
151. ^ List of the Knights of the Garter – via heraldica.org
152. ^ "No. 34917". The London Gazette. 9 August 1940. p. 4875. The Prince of Wales is ex-officio a Companion of the Imperial Service Order.
153. ^ "No. 29608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1916. p. 5570.
154. ^ a b c d Kelly's Handbook, 98th ed. (1972), p. 41
155. ^ "No. 13170". The Edinburgh Gazette. 23 November 1917. p. 2431.
156. ^ "No. 13453". The Edinburgh Gazette. 5 June 1919. p. 1823.
157. ^ "No. 13570". The Edinburgh Gazette. 5 March 1920. p. 569.
158. ^ "No. 31837". The London Gazette. 26 March 1920. p. 3670.
159. ^ a b "No. 32487". The London Gazette. 14 October 1921. p. 8091.
160. ^ "No. 13826". The Edinburgh Gazette. 27 June 1922. p. 1089.
161. ^ "No. 33284". The London Gazette. 14 June 1927. p. 3836.
162. ^ "No. 30114". The London Gazette. 5 June 1917. p. 5514.
163. ^ "No. 33282". The London Gazette. 7 June 1927. p. 3711.
164. ^ Privy Council Office (1 February 2012), Historical Alphabetical List since 1867 of Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, archived from the original on 21 April 2012, retrieved 29 March 2012
165. ^ "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen", Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Mecklenburg-Strelitz: 1912 (in German), Neustrelitz: Druck und Debit der Buchdruckerei von G. F. Spalding und Sohn, 1912, p. 15
166. ^ "Goldener Löwen-orden", Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste (in German), Darmstadt: Staatsverlag, 1914, p. 3, archived from the original on 6 September 2021, retrieved 17 September 2021 – via hathitrust.org
167. ^ "Caballeros de la insigne orden del toisón de oro", Guóa Oficial de España (in Spanish): 217, 1930, archived from the original on 20 June 2018, retrieved 4 March 2019
168. ^ M. & B. Wattel (2009), Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et étrangers, Paris: Archives & Culture, p. 461, ISBN 978-2-35077-135-9
169. ^ Bille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1933) [1st pub.:1801], Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1933 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1933] (PDF), Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish), Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri, p. 17, archived (PDF) from the original on 24 December 2019, retrieved 16 September 2019 – via da:DIS Danmark
170. ^ "Den kongelige norske Sanct Olavs Orden", Norges Statskalender (in Norwegian), 1922, pp. 1173–1174, archived from the original on 17 September 2021, retrieved 17 September 2021 – via hathitrust.org
171. ^ Italy. Ministero dell'interno (1920), Calendario generale del regno d'Italia, p. 58, archived from the original on 25 November 2021, retrieved 8 October 2020
172. ^ "No. 29584". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 May 1916. p. 4935.
173. ^ พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์ มหาจักรีบรมราชวงศ์ (PDF), Royal Thai Government Gazette (in Thai), 19 August 1917, archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2020, retrieved 8 May 2019
174. ^ a b c d e f g h Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (1977), Burke's Royal Families of the World (1st ed.), London: Burke's Peerage, pp. 311–312, ISBN 978-0-85011-023-4
175. ^ Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), vol. II, 1940, p. 7, archived from the original on 7 January 2018, retrieved 6 January 2018 – via runeberg.org
176. ^ "Banda da Grã-Cruz das Duas Ordens: Eduardo Alberto Cristiano Jorge André Patrício David, Príncipe de Gales Archived 26 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine" (in Portuguese), Arquivo Histórico da Presidência da República, retrieved 28 November 2019
177. ^ a b Cokayne, G.E.; Doubleday, H.A.; Howard de Walden, Lord (1940), The Complete Peerage, London: St. Catherine's Press, vol. XIII, pp. 116–117
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179. ^ "No. 28864". The London Gazette. 7 August 1914. p. 6204.
180. ^ "No. 29001". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 December 1914. p. 10554.
181. ^ "No. 29084". The London Gazette. 26 February 1915. p. 1983.
182. ^ "No. 29064". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 February 1915. p. 1408.
183. ^ "No. 29534". The London Gazette. 4 April 1916. p. 3557.
184. ^ "No. 30686". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 17 May 1918. p. 5842.
185. ^ "No. 31292". The London Gazette (4th supplement). 14 April 1919. p. 4857.
186. ^ "No. 31458". The London Gazette. 15 July 1919. p. 8997.
187. ^ "No. 32774". The London Gazette. 5 December 1922. p. 8615.
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190. ^ "No. 34119". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1935. p. 15.
191. ^ "No. 34251". The London Gazette. 31 January 1936. p. 665.
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## Bibliography

[edit]

* Bloch, Michael (1982). The Duke of Windsor's War. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-77947-8.
* Bradford, Sarah (1989). King George VI. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-79667-4.
* Donaldson, Frances (1974). Edward VIII. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-76787-9.
* Godfrey, Rupert (editor) (1998). Letters From a Prince: Edward to Mrs Freda Dudley Ward 1918–1921. Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-7515-2590-1.
* Parker, John (1988). King of Fools. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-02598-X.
* Pimlott, Ben (2001). The Queen: Elizabeth II and the Monarchy. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-255494-1.
* Pope-Hennessy, James (2018). The Quest for Queen Mary. Edited and with text by Hugo Vickers. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1529330625.
* Roberts, Andrew; edited by Antonia Fraser (2000). The House of Windsor. London: Cassell and Co. ISBN 0-304-35406-6.
* Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John (1958). King George VI. London: Macmillan.
* Williams, Susan (2003). The People's King: The True Story of the Abdication. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9573-2.
* Windsor, The Duke of (1951). A King's Story. London: Cassell and Co.
* Ziegler, Philip (1991). King Edward VIII: The official biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-57730-2.

## External links

[edit]

Edward VIII at Wikipedia's sister projects

* Media from Commons
* Quotations from Wikiquote
* Texts from Wikisource
* Data from Wikidata

* "Archival material relating to Edward VIII". UK National Archives.
* Portraits of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor at the National Portrait Gallery, London
* Newspaper clippings about Edward VIII in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
* Edward VIII at the official website of the British monarchy
* Edward VIII at BBC History

Edward VIII

House of Windsor

Cadet branch of the House of Wettin

Born: 23 June 1894 Died: 28 May 1972

Regnal titles
Preceded by

George V

|  King of the United Kingdom and the
British Dominions; Emperor of India
20 January – 11 December 1936  | Succeeded by

George VI

British royalty
Preceded by

George (V)

|  Prince of Wales
Duke of Cornwall; Duke of Rothesay
1910–1936  | Vacant

Title next held by

Charles (III)
Government offices
Preceded by

Sir Charles Dundas

|  Governor of the Bahamas
1940–1945  | Succeeded by

Sir William Lindsay Murphy

Honorary titles
Vacant

Title last held by

The Prince of Wales |  Grand Master of the Order of St Michael and St George
1917–1936  | Succeeded by

The Earl of Athlone

New title |  Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire
1917–1936  | Succeeded by

Queen Mary

Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Auxiliary Air Force
1932–1936  | Succeeded by

King George VI

Academic offices
New office |  Chancellor of the University of Cape Town
1918–1936  | Succeeded by

Jan Smuts

Articles and topics related to Edward VIII

* v
* t
* e

Edward VIII

King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India (1936)

People|

| Family|

* Wallis Simpson (wife)
* George V (father)
* Mary of Teck (mother)
* George VI (brother)
* Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (sister)
* Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (brother)
* Prince George, Duke of Kent (brother)
* Prince John (brother)

|

Romances|

* Lady Rosemary Leveson-Gower
* Marguerite Alibert
* Pinna Nesbit
* Freda Dudley Ward
* Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness

Reign|

* Prime ministers
* Abdication
* Instrument of Abdication
* Abandoned coronation
* Special addresses
* Depictions
* Coins
* Postage stamps
* Appointments
* 1936 Birthday Honours
* Privy Counsellors

Events|

* Investiture
* Official overseas trips
* Prince of Wales riots
* Wedding
* 1937 Tour of Germany
* Death and funeral

Cultural depictions|

* "I've danced with a man, who's danced with a girl, who's danced with the Prince of Wales" (1927 song)
* A King's Story (1965 documentary film)
* Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978 T.V. series)
* The Woman He Loved (1988 film)
* Bertie and Elizabeth (2002 film)
* Wallis & Edward (2005 film)
* The King's Speech (2010 film)
* W.E. (2012 film)
* Downton Abbey
* Christmas special: "The London Season"
* The Crown
* S1 E3: "Windsor"
* S2 E6: "Vergangenheit"
* S3 E8: "Dangling Man"
* S5 E3: "Mou Mou"

Related|

* "Duke of Windsor" (title)
* Operation Willi
* Marburg Files
* The Duke and Duchess of Windsor in conversation with Kenneth Harris
* York House (London residence)
* Fort Belvedere (Surrey residence)
* Villa Windsor (Paris residence)

| Namesakes|

* Windsor knot
* Edward VIII Plateau
* Edward VIII Bay
* Edward VIII Ice Shelf
* King Edward VIII Falls
* HMS Prince of Wales
* Prince Edward Road
* Prince of Wales tea blend
* Prince of Wales Trophy
* Prince of Wales Country Club
* Princes Pier

|

* ← George V
* George VI →

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English, Scottish and British monarchs

| Monarchs of England until 1603| Monarchs of Scotland until 1603

|

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* Monarchs of England and Scotland after the Union of the Crowns from 1603

* James I & VI
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Emperors of India

* Victoria
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Monarchy in Canada

The Crown|

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Monarchs|

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Related|

* Canadian Secretary to the King
* History of monarchy in Canada
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* Monarchism
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* v
* t
* e

British princes

The generations indicate descent from George I, who formalised the use of the titles prince and princess for members of the British royal family.

1st generation|

* King George II

2nd generation|

* Frederick, Prince of Wales
* Prince George William
* Prince William, Duke of Cumberland

3rd generation|

* King George III
* Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany
* Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh
* Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn
* Prince Frederick

4th generation|

* King George IV
* Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
* King William IV
* Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
* King Ernest Augustus of Hanover
* Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex
* Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
* Prince Octavius
* Prince Alfred
* Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh

5th generation|

* Prince Albert1
* King George V of Hanover
* Prince George, Duke of Cambridge

6th generation|

* King Edward VII
* Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
* Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
* Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
* Prince Ernest Augustus

7th generation|

* Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale
* King George V
* Prince Alexander John of Wales
* Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
* Prince Arthur of Connaught
* Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
* Prince George William of Hanover
* Prince Christian of Hanover
* Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick

8th generation|

* King Edward VIII
* King George VI
* Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
* Prince George, Duke of Kent
* Prince John
* Alastair, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
* Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
* Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
* Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover
* Prince George William of Hanover

9th generation|

* Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh2
* Prince William of Gloucester
* Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
* Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
* Prince Michael of Kent

10th generation|

* King Charles III
* Prince Andrew, Duke of York
* Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh

11th generation|

* William, Prince of Wales
* Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
* James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex

12th generation|

* Prince George of Wales
* Prince Louis of Wales
* Prince Archie of Sussex

1 Not a British prince by birth, but created Prince Consort. 2 Not a British prince by birth, but created a Prince of the United Kingdom.
Princes whose titles were removed and eligible people who do not use the title are shown in italics.

* v
* t
* e

House of Windsor

Generations are numbered by their descent from George V and Mary of Teck

1st generation|

* Edward VIII
* George VI
* Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
* Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
* Prince George, Duke of Kent
* Prince John

2nd generation|

* Elizabeth II
* Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
* Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
* Princess Alexandra
* Prince William of Gloucester
* Prince Michael of Kent
* Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester

3rd generation|

* Charles III*
* Anne, Princess Royal*
* Prince Andrew, Duke of York*
* George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews
* Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh*
* Lady Helen Taylor
* Lord Nicholas Windsor
* Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster
* Lady Davina Windsor
* Lord Frederick Windsor
* Lady Gabriella Kingston

4th generation|

* William, Prince of Wales*
* Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex*
* Princess Beatrice*
* Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick
* Princess Eugenie*
* Lady Marina Windsor
* Lady Amelia Windsor
* Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor*
* James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex*

5th generation|

* Prince George of Wales*
* Princess Charlotte of Wales*
* Prince Louis of Wales*
* Prince Archie of Sussex*
* Princess Lilibet of Sussex*

*Descendant of Elizabeth II and therefore use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, but officially considered members of the House of Windsor

* v
* t
* e

Princes of Wales

* Edward of Caernarfon (1301–1307)
* Edward the Black Prince (1343–1376)
* Richard of Bordeaux (1376–1377)
* Henry of Monmouth (1399–1413)
* Edward of Westminster (1454–1471)
* Edward (1471–1483)
* Edward of Middleham (1483–1484)
* Arthur (1489–1502)
* Henry (1504–1509)
* Edward (1537–1547)
* Henry Frederick (1610–1612)
* Charles (1616–1625)
* Charles (1641–1649)
* James (1688)
* George (1714–1727)
* Frederick (1728–1751)
* George (1751–1760)
* George (1762–1820)
* Albert Edward (1841–1901)
* George (1901–1910)
* Edward (1910–1936)
* Charles (1958–2022)
* William (2022–present)

See also: Principality of Wales

* v
* t
* e

Dukes of Cornwall

* Edward (1337–1376)
* Richard (1376–1377)
* Henry (1399–1413)
* Henry (1421–1422)
* Edward (1453–1471)
* Richard (1460; disputed)
* Edward (1470–1483)
* Edward (1483–1484)
* Arthur (1486–1502)
* Henry (1502–1509)
* Henry (1511)
* Edward (1537–1547)
* Henry Frederick (1603–1612)
* Charles (1612–1625)
* Charles (1630–1649)
* James (1688–1701/2)
* George (1714–1727)
* Frederick (1727–1751)
* George (1762–1820)
* Albert Edward (1841–1901)
* George (1901–1910)
* Edward (1910–1936)
* Charles (1952–2022)
* William (2022–present)

Cornwall Portal

* v
* t
* e

Dukes of Rothesay

* David (1398–1402)
* James (1402–1406)
* Alexander (1430)
* James (1430–1437)
* James (1452–1460)
* James (1473–1488)
* James (1507–1508)
* Arthur (1509–1510)
* James (1512–1513)
* James (1540–1541)
* James (1566–1567)
* Henry Frederick (1594–1612)
* Charles (1612–1625)
* Charles James (1629)
* Charles (1630–1649)
* James (1688–1689)
* George (1714–1727)
* Frederick (1727–1751)
* George (1762–1820)
* Albert Edward (1841–1901)
* George (1901–1910)
* Edward (1910–1936)
* Charles (1952–2022)
* William (2022–present)

* v
* t
* e

Princes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Forefather|

Duke Francis I*

1st generation|

* Duke Ernest I*
* Prince Ferdinand*
* King Leopold I of the Belgians*

2nd generation|

| Ducal|

* Duke Ernest II*
* Albert, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom*

|

Koháry|

* King Ferdinand II of Portugal and the Algarves*
* Prince August*
* Prince Leopold*

Belgium|

* Crown Prince Louis Philippe
* King Leopold II
* Prince Philippe

3rd generation|

| United Kingdom|

* King Edward VII
* Duke Alfred I
* Prince Arthur
* Prince Leopold

|

Portugal|

* King Pedro V
* King Luís I
* Infante João
* Infante Fernando
* Infante Augusto

Koháry|

* Prince Philipp
* Prince Ludwig August
* Tsar Ferdinand I of the Bulgarians

Belgium|

* Prince Leopold
* Prince Baudouin
* King Albert I

4th generation|

| United Kingdom|

* Prince Albert Victor
* King George V
* Hereditary Prince Alfred
* Prince Arthur
* Duke Charles Edward I

|

Portugal|

* King Carlos I
* Infante Afonso

Koháry|

* Prince Leopold Clement
* Prince Peter August
* Prince August Leopold
* Prince Joseph Ferdinand
* Prince Ludwig Gaston

Bulgaria|

* Tsar Boris III
* Prince Kiril

Belgium|

* King Leopold III
* Prince Charles

5th generation|

| United Kingdom|

* King Edward VIII
* King George VI
* Prince Henry
* Prince George
* Prince John
* Prince Alastair

|

Ducal|

* Hereditary Prince Johann Leopold
* Prince Hubertus
* Prince Friedrich Josias

Portugal|

* Prince Luís Filipe
* King Manuel II

Koháry|

* Prince Rainer
* Prince Philipp

Bulgaria|

* Tsar Simeon II

Belgium|

* King Baudouin I
* King Albert II
* Prince Alexandre

6th generation|

| Ducal|

* Prince Ernst Leopold
* Prince Andreas

|

Bulgaria|

* Prince Kardam
* Prince Kyril

Belgium|

* King Philippe I
* Prince Laurent

7th generation|

| Ducal|

* Prince Hubertus (born 1961)
* Prince Hubertus (born 1975}

|

Bulgaria|

* Prince Boris

Belgium|

* Prince Gabriel
* Prince Emmanuel

*Titled as Princes of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld before 11 February 1826

* v
* t
* e

Grand masters of the Order of St Michael and St George

* Sir Thomas Maitland
* The Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
* Prince George, Duke of Cambridge
* The Prince George, Prince of Wales
* Vacant
* The Prince Edward, Prince of Wales
* Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone
* Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
* Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis
* Prince Edward, Duke of Kent

* v
* t
* e

Heads of state of South Africa

Monarch (1910–1961)|

* George V
* Edward VIII
* George VI
* Elizabeth II

State President (1961–1994)
(under Apartheid)|

* Charles Robberts Swart
* Eben Dönges†
* Tom Naudé*
* Jim Fouché
* Jan de Klerk*
* Nico Diederichs†
* Marais Viljoen*
* John Vorster
* Marais Viljoen
* P. W. Botha
* Chris Heunis*
* F. W. de Klerk

President (from 1994)
(post-Apartheid)|

* Nelson Mandela (1994–1999)
* Thabo Mbeki (1999–2008)
* Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri*
* Kgalema Motlanthe (2008–2009)
* Jacob Zuma (2009–2018)
* Cyril Ramaphosa (2018–present)

†Died in office *Acting president

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Japan
* Italy
* Australia
* Czech Republic
* Spain
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Latvia
* Sweden
* Poland
* Vatican
* Israel
* Finland
* Catalonia

Artists|

* ULAN
* MusicBrainz
* Discography of American Historical Recordings
* 2

People|

* Trove
* Deutsche Biographie
* DDB

Other|

* IdRef
* NARA
* SNAC
* Te Papa (New Zealand)
* Yale LUX

*[m.]: married
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