Wallis Simpson makes me think that there may well be a God, and that He is on “our” side. I cannot imagine what the world would look like had King Edward VIII remained on the throne. And it’s thanks to Mrs. Simpson that he didn’t.
He came to the throne in 1936 when the build up to WWII was already taking place. Hitler had firm control of Germany and was looking to expand that control further in Europe. Neville Chamberlain, British PM at the time, believed the best way to handle Hitler’s Germany was through “appeasement” – let him have what he wants and he’ll leave us alone. Edward VIII, it seems, went even further than appeasement. He and Wallis were pretty close to Nazi-sympathizers. They enjoyed socializing with high-ranking Nazi officials.
Now, maybe that was Wallis’ choice more than his. It seems that she did the thinking in that family. But I believe that if it hadn’t been her, it would have been someone else leading him around by the nose. The one thing that seems very clear from reading history from that time is that Edward was a fun-loving man who really didn’t want to be bothered with heavy matters of state. So he may have fallen in love with another woman who was marriage material, but based on assessments of his personality she probably wouldn’t have been any more competent as a war-time Queen than he would be a war-time King.
As unsuitable as Edward was to inherit his father’s crown, so too seemed Albert, his younger brother the Duke of York. As second in line, he’d never really had to worry about being king. An introspective man, he wanted to pursue his own interests. As Duke of York, that was just fine. He married a strong woman, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. She, a perfect home-grown match for a royal marriage, had been long courted by him and had refused his proposals. She didn’t want a life anywhere in the Royal Family. At that time, life as the central Royal didn’t seem a likelihood!
King to Duke of Windsor
Poor Bertie stuttered badly, but it didn’t really matter – he wasn’t going to be in a position where public speaking was a major part of the job. Then the unthinkable happened. After George V’s death, David became Edward VIII and he refused to give up the American twice-divorced Wallis Simpson.
Parliament refused to waive the rules about divorced persons joining the Royal Family and so there was the abdication crisis. Edward VIII did step down, and married Mrs. Simpson. His brother, the new King George VI, gave them the titles of Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
Abdication was a crisis for the former king and for the country. Succession to the throne had to be a familial crisis for Bertie and Elizabeth and the two Princesses. “We Four,” as the Duke of York called his family, had a good and comfortable life mapped out near the limelight and with benefits, but not in the limelight.
But step up he did, and became George VI. Elizabeth became a stalwart Queen consort. Britain, still under Chamberlain as PM, engaged in war with Germany and won. George VI truly lived up to the oath taken by England’s monarchs in that being King probably cost him his life. His daughter Elizabeth has gone on to be one of the two longest-reigning British monarchs ever. And she has seen the Royal Family through some spectacularly rocky times during those decades. She’s done it with grace and wisdom, just like her father and mother.
I haven’t yet seen the movie The King’s Speech, but I hope Colin Firth wins the Oscar for Best Actor – for his sake and Queen Elizabeth’s.
