Edward VIII#Arms

File:Edward VIII Christening.jpg, 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.Windsor, p. 1 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.{{efn|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).{{London Gazette|issue=26533|page=4145|date=20 July 1894}}}} 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.Ziegler, p. 5 He was always known to his family and close friends by his last given name, David.Ziegler, p. 6

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.Windsor, p. 7; Ziegler, p. 9 The nanny was discharged after her mistreatment of the children was discovered, and she was replaced by Charlotte Bill.Wheeler-Bennett, pp. 16–17

Edward's father, though a harsh disciplinarian,Windsor, pp. 25–28 was demonstratively affectionate,Ziegler, pp. 30–31 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,Windsor, pp. 38–39 and encouraged them to confide in her.Ziegler, p. 79

File:Prince of Wales 9.2-inch gun HMS Hindustan Flickr 4454627308 cd3c9739e8 o.jpg

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.Parker, pp. 12–13

Edward was kept under the strict tutorship of Hansell until almost thirteen years old. Private tutors taught him German and French. 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.Parker, pp. 13–14 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.

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.{{London Gazette|issue=28387|page=4473|date=23 June 1910}} 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 {{HMS|Hindustan|1903|2}}, then immediately entered Magdalen College, Oxford, for which, in the opinion of his biographers, he was underprepared intellectually. A keen horseman, he learned how to play polo with the university club.{{citation |title=The Prince of Wales Starts Play |work=Polo Monthly |date=June 1914 |page=300 |url=http://www.hpa-polo.co.uk/download/1914-Mar-1914-Aug.pdf |access-date=30 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730235904/http://www.hpa-polo.co.uk/download/1914-Mar-1914-Aug.pdf |archive-date=30 July 2018 |url-status=dead }} He left Oxford after eight terms, without any academic qualifications.Parker, pp. 14–16

File:Edward (VIII) in Wales coronet.jpg

Edward was officially invested as Prince of Wales in a special ceremony at Caernarfon Castle on 13 July 1911.{{citation |last=Weir |first=Alison |author-link=Alison Weir (historian) |title=Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy Revised edition |year=1996 |publisher=Pimlico |location=London |page=327 |isbn=978-0-7126-7448-5}} 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.Windsor, p. 78 Lloyd George invented a rather fanciful ceremony in the style of a Welsh pageant, and coached Edward to speak a few words in Welsh.Ziegler, pp. 26–27

File:The Prince of Wales at the Front (Photo 24-283).jpg

When the First World War broke out in 1914, Edward had reached the minimum age for active service and was keen to participate.Windsor, pp. 106–107 and Ziegler, pp. 48–50 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.Roberts, p. 41 and Windsor, p. 109 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.Ziegler, p. 111 and Windsor, p. 140 He undertook his first military flight in 1918, and later gained a pilot's licence.{{citation |url=https://www.royal.uk/edward-viii-jan-dec-1936 |title=Edward VIII (Jan–Dec 1936) |newspaper=The Royal Family |publisher=Official website of the British monarchy |access-date=18 April 2016 |date=12 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507221901/https://www.royal.uk/edward-viii-jan-dec-1936 |archive-date=7 May 2016 |url-status=live |last1=Berry |first1=Ciara }}

Edward's youngest brother, Prince John, died at the age of 13 on 18 January 1919 after a severe epileptic seizure."Death of Youngest Son of King and Queen". Daily Mirror. 20 January 1919. p. 2. Edward, who was 11 years older than John and had hardly known him, saw his death as "little more than a regrettable nuisance".Ziegler, p. 80 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.Tizley, Paul (director) (2008), [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh7Nesw6r0I Prince John: The Windsors' Tragic Secret] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131108191748/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh7Nesw6r0I |date=8 November 2013 }} (Documentary), London: Channel 4, retrieved 26 April 2017 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."

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.{{citation |url=https://www.brent.gov.uk/media/387533/The%20British%20Empire%20Exhibition.pdf |title=The British Empire Exhibition, 1924/25 |last=Grant |first=Philip |date=January 2012 |publisher=Brent Council |access-date=18 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516231902/https://www.brent.gov.uk/media/387533/The%20British%20Empire%20Exhibition.pdf |archive-date=16 May 2017 |url-status=live }}

File:Prince_of_Wales_in_Ashburton,_Royal_Tour_1920.jpg, 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.{{citation |last=Broad |first=Lewis |year=1961 |title=The Abdication: Twenty-five Years After. A Re-appraisal |location=London |publisher=Frederick Muller Ltd |pages=4–5}} 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."{{citation|last=Flusser|first=Alan J.|title=Dressing the man: mastering the art of permanent fashion|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2002|isbn=0-06-019144-9|location=New York, NY|page=8|oclc=48475087}}

Edward visited poverty-stricken areas of Britain,Windsor, p. 215 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.{{Citation |last=Voisey |first=Paul |title=High River and the Times: an Alberta community and its weekly newspaper, 1905–1966 |year=2004 |publisher=University of Alberta |location=Edmonton, Alberta |isbn=978-0-88864-411-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/highrivertimesal00vois/page/129 129] |url=https://archive.org/details/highrivertimesal00vois/page/129 }} 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.{{Citation |title=HistoricPlaces.ca - HistoricPlaces.ca |url=https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=1171 |access-date=29 September 2024 |website=www.historicplaces.ca}} He escaped unharmed when the train he was riding in during a tour of Australia was derailed outside Perth in 1920.{{citation |last1=Staff writers |title=Remarkable photographs show how Edward VIII narrowly escaped death in train crash |url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/825574/Edward-VIII-train-crash-photographs-auction-escaped-death-royal-family |access-date=17 January 2021 |work=Daily Express |date=6 July 2017 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111224656/https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/825574/Edward-VIII-train-crash-photographs-auction-escaped-death-royal-family |url-status=live }}

File:Edward VIII with his staff in Japan 1922.jpg 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.Windsor, pp. 226–228 From January to April 1931, the Prince of Wales and his brother Prince George travelled {{convert|18000|mi|km}} on a tour of South America, steaming out on the ocean liner {{SS|Oropesa|1919|2}},{{citation |url=http://www.ecsodus.com/PSNC/fleet/O-1920.html |last=Erskine |first=Barry |title=Oropesa (II) |publisher=Pacific Steam Navigation Company |access-date=15 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030656/http://www.ecsodus.com/PSNC/fleet/O-1920.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=live }} and returning via Paris and an Imperial Airways flight from Paris–Le Bourget Airport that landed specially in Windsor Great Park.{{citation |url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19310430-1.2.53.aspx |title=Arrival at Windsor by Air |newspaper=The Straits Times |publisher=National Library, Singapore |date=30 April 1931 |access-date=18 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029012129/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19310430-1.2.53.aspx |archive-date=29 October 2014 |url-status=live }}{{citation |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45763837 |title=Princes Home |pages=19 |newspaper=The Advertiser and Register |publisher=National Library of Australia |date=1 May 1931 |access-date=18 December 2013 |archive-date=25 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125152619/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45763837 |url-status=live }}

File:Fuad_I_of_Egypt_&_Edward_VIII_of_England.jpg 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.Ziegler, p. 385 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."{{citation |editor-last=Godfrey |editor-first=Rupert |year=1998 |title=Letters From a Prince: Edward to Mrs. Freda Dudley Ward 1918–1921 |chapter=11 July 1920 |publisher=Little, Brown & Co |isbn=978-0-7515-2590-8}}

Before the First World War, a royal match with Edward's second cousin, Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, was suggested. 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.{{citation|title=The Kaiser's daughter|last=Viktoria Luise|first=HRH|publisher=W. H. Allen|year=1977|isbn=9780491018081|pages=[https://archive.org/details/kaisersdaughterm0000vikt/page/188 188]}}{{citation|title=Royals and the Reich: The Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany|last=Petropoulos|first=Jonathan|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|isbn=9780195161335|pages=[https://archive.org/details/royalsreichprinc0000petr/page/161 161–162]}}

File:Prince Edward (1920 portrait).jpg, 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.{{citation|first=Andrew |last=Rose|title=The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|year=2013}} reviewed in {{citation|url=http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/389389/A-new-book-brings-to-light-the-scandalous-story-of-Edward-VIII-s-first-great-love|title=A new book brings to light the scandalous story of Edward VIII's first great love|first=Cheryl|last=Stonehouse|date=5 April 2013|website=Express Newspapers|access-date=1 July 2020|archive-date=19 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919105142/https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/389389/A-new-book-brings-to-light-the-scandalous-story-of-Edward-VIII-s-first-great-love|url-status=live}}.
See also: Godfrey, pp. 138, 143, 299; Ziegler, pp. 89–90.

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.{{citation |last=Trethewey |first=Rachel |title=Before Wallis: Edward VIII's other women |date=2018 |isbn=978-0-7509-9019-6 |publisher=The History Press |edition=Kindle |at=807–877}}

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."{{citation |last1=Middlemas |first1=Keith |author-link=Keith Middlemas |last2=Barnes |first2=John |title=Baldwin: A Biography |year=1969 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-0-297-17859-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/baldwinbiography0000midd/page/976 976] |url=https://archive.org/details/baldwinbiography0000midd/page/976 }}

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."{{citation |last=Airlie |first=Mabell |author-link=Mabell Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie |title=Thatched with Gold |year=1962 |publisher=Hutchinson |location=London |page=197}} 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".{{citation |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,769224,00.html |title=Foreign News: P'incess Is Three |magazine=Time |date=29 April 1929 |access-date=1 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227071812/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,769224,00.html |archive-date=27 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

File:Thelma Furness and the Prince 1932.jpg, 1932]]

In 1930, the King gave Edward the lease of Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park.Windsor, p. 235 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.Ziegler, p. 233 Edward's relationship with Simpson, however, further weakened his poor relationship with his father. Although his parents met Simpson at Buckingham Palace in 1935,Windsor, p. 255 they later refused to receive her.Bradford, p. 142

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."{{citation |last1=Bowcott |first1=Owen |last2=Bates |first2=Stephen |title=Car dealer was Wallis Simpson's secret lover |periodical=The Guardian |date=30 January 2003 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jan/30/freedomofinformation.monarchy3 |access-date=1 May 2010 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228082314/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jan/30/freedomofinformation.monarchy3 |archive-date=28 December 2013 |url-status=live }} 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.Ziegler, pp. 231–234

File:King Edward VIII portrait.webp

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.Windsor, p. 265; Ziegler, p. 245 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.{{Cite ODNB|title=Edward VIII, later Prince Edward, duke of Windsor (1894–1972) |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31061 |date=17 September 2015 |orig-date=23 September 2004 |first=H. C. G. |last=Matthew |authorlink=Colin Matthew|mode=cs2}}

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" 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.Ziegler, pp. 273–274

File:EdwardVIIIcoin.jpg

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),Windsor, pp. 293–294 to show the parting in his hair.A. Michie, God Save The Queen Only a handful of test coins were struck before the abdication, and all are very rare.{{citation |date=September 2012 |title=The coins of Edward VIII |url=https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/collection/coins/the-coins-of-edward-viii/ |access-date=22 September 2022 |website=Royal Mint Museum}} 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.{{citation |url=https://www.royal.uk/coinage-and-bank-notes |title=Coinage and bank notes |newspaper=The Royal Family |publisher=Official website of the British monarchy |access-date=18 April 2016 |date=15 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507185311/https://www.royal.uk/coinage-and-bank-notes |archive-date=7 May 2016 |url-status=live |last1=Berry |first1=Ciara }}

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".{{Citation |url=https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2003/january2/attempt.htm |title=George Andrew McMahon: attempt on the life of H.M. King Edward VIII at Constitution Hill on 16 July 1936 |work=MEPO 3/1713 |year=2003 |publisher=The National Archives, Kew |access-date=28 May 2018 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20161207010103/https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2003/january2/attempt.htm |archive-date=7 December 2016 |url-status=dead }} It is now thought that McMahon had indeed been in contact with MI5, but the veracity of the remainder of his claims remains debatable.{{citation |last=Cook |first=Andrew |title=The plot thickens |periodical=The Guardian |date=3 January 2003 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jan/03/past.monarchy |access-date=1 May 2010 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203094935/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jan/03/past.monarchy |archive-date=3 February 2014 |url-status=live }}

In August and September, Edward and Simpson cruised the Eastern Mediterranean on the steam yacht {{ship||Nahlin|yacht|2}}. 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.Broad, pp. 56–57 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.Broad, pp. 44–47; Windsor, pp. 314–315, 351–353; Ziegler, pp. 294–296, 307–308

{{Main|Abdication of Edward VIII}}

File:King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson on holiday in Yugoslavia, 1936.jpg

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.Windsor, pp. 330–331 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.{{citation|first1=Robert|last1=Pearce|last2=Graham|first2=Goodlad|year=2013|title=British Prime Ministers From Balfour to Brown|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e5yLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80|page=80|isbn=978-0-415-66983-2|publisher=Routledge|access-date=3 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190104021555/https://books.google.ca/books?id=e5yLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA80|archive-date=4 January 2019|url-status=live}}

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. In any event, it was ultimately rejected by the British CabinetWindsor, p. 346 as well as other Dominion governments.Windsor, p. 354 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."{{citation |title=Statute of Westminster 1931 c.4 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/22-23/4/contents |publisher=UK Statute Law Database |access-date=1 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013012440/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/22-23/4/contents |archive-date=13 October 2010 |url-status=live }} 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;Ziegler, pp. 305–307 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.Bradford, p. 187 Faced with this opposition, Edward at first responded that there were "not many people in Australia" and their opinion did not matter.Bradford, p. 188

File:Edward VIII postbox, Shire Lane - Haddon Road - royal cipher - geograph.org.uk - 923336.jpg 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.Windsor, pp. 354–355 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.{{citation |last=Beaverbrook |first=Lord |author-link=Max Aitken, Baron Beaverbook |title=The Abdication of King Edward VIII |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |location=London |editor-last=Taylor |editor-first=A. J. P. |editor-link=A. J. P. Taylor |year=1966 |page=57}} He chose to abdicate.Windsor, p. 387

Edward duly signed the instruments of abdication{{efn|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.}} 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.Windsor, p. 407 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".{{citation|url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1937/1/15/the-abdication-of-edward-viii|website=Maclean's|date=15 January 1937|title=The Abdication of Edward VIII|access-date=3 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190104123943/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1937/1/15/the-abdication-of-edward-viii|archive-date=4 January 2019|url-status=live}} 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.{{citation |url=https://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/324/Independence.html |access-date=1 May 2010 |last=Heard |first=Andrew |title=Canadian Independence |year=1990 |publisher=Simon Fraser University, Canada |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221150147/http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/324/Independence.html |archive-date=21 February 2009 |url-status=live }}

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".{{citation |author=Edward VIII |title=Broadcast after his abdication, 11 December 1936 |publisher=Official website of the British monarchy |url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/pdf/edwardviii.pdf |access-date=1 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512065623/http://www.royal.gov.uk/pdf/edwardviii.pdf|archive-date=12 May 2012}} Edward departed Britain for Austria the following day; he was unable to join Simpson until her divorce became absolute, several months later.Ziegler, p. 336 The Duke of York succeeded to the throne as George VI. Accordingly, George VI's elder daughter, Princess Elizabeth, became heir presumptive.Pimlott, pp. 71–73

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.{{London Gazette|issue=34349|page=8111|date=12 December 1936}} 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.Clive Wigram's conversation with Sir Claud Schuster, Clerk to the Crown and Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor quoted in Bradford, p. 201

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:

{{blockquote|

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.Attorney General to Home Secretary (14 April 1937) National Archives file HO 144/22945 quoted in Velde, François (6 February 2006) [http://heraldica.org/topics/britain/drafting_lp1937.htm#documents_ The drafting of the letters patent of 1937] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060617062357/http://heraldica.org/topics/britain/drafting_lp1937.htm#documents_ |date=17 June 2006 }}. Heraldica, retrieved 7 April 2009}}

{{main|Wedding of Prince Edward and Wallis Simpson}}

File:ChateauCandé-B.jpg, 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,{{citation |last=Williams |first=Susan |title=The historical significance of the Abdication files |work=Public Records Office – New Document Releases – Abdication Papers, London |publisher=Public Records Office of the United Kingdom |year=2003 |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2003/january30/significance.htm |access-date=1 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009220409/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2003/january30/significance.htm |archive-date=9 October 2009 |url-status=live }} 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.Ziegler, pp. 354–355 The French virtuoso organist and composer Marcel Dupré played at the wedding.{{Citation|last1=Bryan III|first1=Joe|title=The Windsor Story|last2=Murphy|first2=Charles|publisher=Granada Publishing|year=1979|isbn=0-246-11323-5|location=London|pages=340}}

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.Ziegler, pp. 376–378 Edward received approximately £300,000 (equivalent to between £21 million and £140 million in 2021{{citation|url=https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/relativevalue.php?use%5B%5D=CPI&use%5B%5D=WAGE&year_early=1936£71=300000&shilling71=&pence71=&amount=300000&year_source=1936&year_result=2021|last1=Officer|first1=Lawrence H.|last2=Williamson|first2=Samuel H.|year=2021|title=Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1270 to Present|publisher=MeasuringWorth|access-date=5 October 2022}}) 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.Ziegler, p. 349

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. Edward became embittered against his mother, Queen Mary, writing to her in 1939: "[your last letter]{{efn|She had asked Alec Hardinge to write to Edward explaining that he could not be invited to his father's memorial.}} destroy[ed] the last vestige of feeling I had left for you ... [and has] made further normal correspondence between us impossible."Ziegler, p. 384

{{Multiple image

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|header = Duke and Duchess of Windsor in Germany, October 1937

|image1 = Bundesarchiv Bild 102-17964, Ordensburg Krössinsee, Herzog von Windsor.jpg

|caption1 = Edward reviewing SS guards with Robert Ley

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|caption2 = The Duke and Duchess meeting Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden

}}

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.Donaldson, pp. 331–332 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.{{citation |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35765793 |title=When the Duke of Windsor met Adolf Hitler |date=10 March 2016 |work=BBC News |access-date=21 July 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20161123072936/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35765793 |archive-date=23 November 2016 |url-status=live }}

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.Papers of Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein (1861–1945) in the State Archives, Vienna, quoted in {{citation |author-link=Kenneth Rose |last=Rose |first=Kenneth |year=1983 |title=King George V |location=London |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |page=391 |isbn=978-0-297-78245-2}} According to the Duke of Windsor, the experience of "the unending scenes of horror"Windsor, p. 122 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."{{citation |last=Speer |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Speer |title=Inside the Third Reich |year=1970 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |page=118}} The Duke and Duchess settled in Paris, leasing a mansion in {{ill|Boulevard Suchet|fr}} from late 1938.Ziegler, p. 317

In May 1939, Edward was commissioned by NBC to give a radio broadcast (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.David Reynolds, "Verdun – The Sacred Wound", episode 2. BBC Radio 4, first broadcast 24 February 2016.Terry Charman, "The Day We Went to War", 2009, p. 28. It was widely regarded as supporting appeasement,Bradford, p. 285 and the BBC refused to broadcast it.Bradford, p. 285; Ziegler, pp. 398–399 It was broadcast outside the United States on shortwave radioThe Times, 8 May 1939, p. 13 and was reported in full by British broadsheet newspapers.e.g. The Times, 9 May 1939, p. 13

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|F01|6}}, and Edward, although he held the rank of field marshal, was made a major-general attached to the British Military Mission in France. 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,[https://archive.org/stream/documentsongerma014726mbp#page/n871/mode/2up No. 621]: Minister Zech to State Secretary Weizsäcker, 19 February 1940, in Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918–1945 (1954), Series D, Volume VIII, p. 785, quoted in Bradford, p. 434 which the Duke later denied.{{citation |author=McCormick, Donald |year=1963 |title=The Mask of Merlin: A Critical Biography of David Lloyd George |page=290 |publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston |location=New York |lccn=64-20102 |url=https://archive.org/stream/maskofmerlinacri000286mbp#page/n307/mode/2up}} 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.Bloch, p. 91 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.Bloch, pp. 86, 102; Ziegler, pp. 430–432 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."Ziegler, p. 434 Churchill threatened Edward with a court-martial if he did not return to British soil.Bloch, p. 93

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.Bloch, pp. 93–94, 98–103, 119 They left Bermuda for Nassau on the Canadian National Steamship Company vessel Lady Somers on 15 August, arriving two days later.Bloch, p. 119; Ziegler, pp. 441–442 Edward did not enjoy being governor and privately referred to the islands as "a third-class British colony".Bloch, p. 364 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.Bloch, pp. 154–159, 230–233; {{citation |last=Luciak |first=Ilja |chapter=The Life of Axel Wenner-Gren–An Introduction |title=Reality and Myth: A Symposium on Axel Wenner-Gren |editor1-first=Ilja |editor1-last=Luciak |editor2-first=Bertil |editor2-last=Daneholt |location=Stockholm |publisher=Wenner-Gren Stiftelsirna |year=2012 |chapter-url=http://blog.wennergren.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/AW-G-Conference-Book-2012.pdf |pages=12–30 |access-date=6 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708154249/http://blog.wennergren.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/AW-G-Conference-Book-2012.pdf |archive-date=8 July 2016 |url-status=live }} 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".Bloch, p. 266 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".Ziegler, p. 448 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".Ziegler, pp. 471–472 He resigned from the post on 16 March 1945.

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.Ziegler, p. 392 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."Bloch, pp. 79–80 During the occupation of France, the Duke asked the German Wehrmacht forces to place guards at his Paris and Riviera homes; they did so.Roberts, p. 52 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.{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95ARBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT160 |title=17 Carnations: The Windsors, The Nazis and The Cover-Up |first=Andrew |last=Morton |publisher=Michael O'Mara Books |year=2015 |access-date=25 May 2015 |isbn=9781782434658 |archive-date=21 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621055825/https://books.google.com/books?id=95ARBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT160 |url-status=live }} 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.Bloch, p. 178

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.{{citation |last1=Evans |first1=Rob |last2=Hencke |first2=David |title=Wallis Simpson, the Nazi minister, the telltale monk and an FBI plot |periodical=The Guardian |date=29 June 2002 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jun/29/research.monarchy |access-date=2 May 2010 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826041707/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jun/29/research.monarchy |archive-date=26 August 2013 |url-status=live }}

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.Higham, Charles (1988), The Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Life, New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers, pp. 388–389 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.Bradford, p. 426 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.{{Citation|last=Fane Saunders|first=Tristram|title=The Duke, the Nazis, and a very British cover-up: the true story behind The Crown's Marburg Files|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/duke-nazis-british-cover-up-true-story-behind-crowns-marburg/|date=14 December 2017|newspaper=The Telegraph|url-access=subscription|access-date=14 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814200947/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/duke-nazis-british-cover-up-true-story-behind-crowns-marburg/|archive-date=14 August 2018|url-status=live}}{{citation|last=Miller|first=Julie|date=9 December 2017|title=The Crown: Edward's Alleged Nazi Sympathies Exposed|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/12/the-crown-edward-hitler-nazi|access-date=14 August 2018|publisher=Vanity Fair|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206111901/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/12/the-crown-edward-hitler-nazi|archive-date=6 February 2018|url-status=live}}

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."Windsor, p. 277 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".{{citation |url=http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/wallis-simpson-that-woman-after-the-abdication/ |title=Wallis Simpson, 'That Woman' After the Abdication |date=1 November 2011 |work=The New York Times |last=Sebba |first=Anne |access-date=7 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105172447/http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/wallis-simpson-that-woman-after-the-abdication/ |archive-date=5 November 2011 |url-status=live }} 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."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'."

File:The Duke of Windsor (1945).jpg

File:Churchill with Duke of Windsor in 1948.jpg (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.{{citation |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/6624594/Revealed-the-Duke-and-Duchess-of-Windsors-secret-plot-to-deny-the-Queen-the-throne.html |title=Revealed: the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's secret plot to deny the Queen the throne |last=Wilson |first=Christopher |date=22 November 2009 |work=The Telegraph |access-date=6 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808042427/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/6624594/Revealed-the-Duke-and-Duchess-of-Windsors-secret-plot-to-deny-the-Queen-the-throne.html |archive-date=8 August 2017 |url-status=live }} 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.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJr7a7275ag The Man Who Would Be King...Again? The 1946 Duke of Windsor Plot], video by Mark Felton on YouTube, 31 August 2023

Edward's allowance was supplemented by government favours and illegal currency trading.Bradford, p. 442 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.Ziegler, pp. 534–535 The French government also exempted him from paying income tax,Roberts, p. 53Bradford, p. 446 and the couple were able to buy goods duty-free through the British embassy and the military commissary. 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.{{citation|url=https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/moulin-13625/|title=Le Moulin – History|work=The Landmark Trust|access-date=30 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131145429/https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/moulin-13625/|archive-date=31 January 2019|url-status=live}} In 1951, Edward produced a memoir, A King's Story ghost-written by Charles Murphy, in which he expressed disagreement with liberal politics. The royalties from the book added to Edward and Wallis's income.

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.{{citation |last=Vidal |first=Gore |author-link=Gore Vidal |title=Palimpsest: a memoir |publisher=Random House |location=New York |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-679-44038-3 |page=206}} The couple doted on the pug dogs they kept.{{citation |last= Farquhar |first= Michael |title= A Treasury of Royal Scandals |publisher= Penguin Books |location= New York |year= 2001 |isbn= 978-0-7394-2025-6 |page= [https://archive.org/details/treasuryofroyals00farq/page/48 48] |url= https://archive.org/details/treasuryofroyals00farq/page/48 }}

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.Ziegler, pp. 539–540

File:Nixon and the Windsors.jpg, 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,{{citation |magazine= Time |url= http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824447,00.html |date= 8 October 1956 |title= Peep Show |access-date= 2 May 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140226204358/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824447,00.html |archive-date= 26 February 2014 |url-status=live }} 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.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}}.UPI. "Duke, Duchess Have Dinner With Nixons" The Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina) 6 April 1970; p. 13

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.Bradford, p. 198 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;{{citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOs6bNqrtJE |title=Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII) Interview in German | 1966 (eng. subtitles) |publisher=YouTube |date=22 December 2021 |accessdate=19 October 2022}} he answered questions about his abdication.{{citation|author=Georg Stefan Troller |url=https://www.welt.de/kultur/plus241181463/Georg-Stefan-Troller-trifft-den-Herzog-von-Windsor.html |title=Georg Stefan Troller trifft den Herzog von Windsor - WELT |newspaper=Die Welt |publisher=Welt.de |date=1 January 1970 |accessdate=19 October 2022}} 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.Ziegler, pp. 554–556 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.Ziegler, p. 555

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.{{citation |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/18/newsid_2512000/2512067.stm |date= 18 May 1972 |title= Duke too ill for tea with the Queen |publisher= BBC |access-date= 24 October 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170830154714/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/18/newsid_2512000/2512067.stm |archive-date= 30 August 2017 |url-status=live }}

{{Main article|Death and funeral of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor}}

File:Tomb of King Edward VIII.jpg, 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.Ziegler, pp. 556–557 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.{{citation |title= Windsors had a plot at Green Mount |last= Rasmussen |first= Frederick |journal= The Baltimore Sun |date= 29 April 1986}} Frail, and suffering increasingly from dementia, Wallis died in 1986 and was buried alongside her husband.{{citation |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/29/newsid_2500000/2500427.stm |publisher= BBC |title= Simple funeral rites for Duchess |date= 29 April 1986 |access-date= 2 May 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071230041309/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/29/newsid_2500000/2500427.stm |archive-date= 30 December 2007 |url-status=live }}

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.

{{citation |author= Williamson, Philip |year= 2007 |chapter= The monarchy and public values 1910–1953 |title= The monarchy and the British nation, 1780 to the present |editor= Olechnowicz, Andrzej |page= 225 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 978-0-521-84461-1

}}

File:Royal Standard of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor.svg

File:King Edward VIII, when Prince of Wales - Cope 1912.jpg by Arthur Stockdale Cope, 1912]]

• KG: Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, 23 June 1910{{citation|via=heraldica.org|title=List of the Knights of the Garter|url=https://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/garterlist.htm}}
• ISO: Companion of the Imperial Service Order, 23 June 1910{{London Gazette |issue=34917 |date=9 August 1940 |page=4875 }} The Prince of Wales is ex-officio a Companion of the Imperial Service Order.
• MC: Military Cross, 3 June 1916{{London Gazette |issue=29608 |date=2 June 1916 |page=5570 |supp=y}}
• GBE: Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 4 June 1917Kelly's Handbook, 98th ed. (1972), p. 41
• GCMG: Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, 24 October 1917{{London Gazette|city=e|issue=13170|page=2431|date=23 November 1917}}
• ADC: Personal aide-de-camp, 3 June 1919{{London Gazette|city=e|issue=13453|page=1823|date=5 June 1919}}
• PC: Privy Counsellor of the United Kingdom, 2 March 1920{{London Gazette|city=e|issue=13570|page=569|date=5 March 1920}}
• GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 13 March 1920{{London Gazette|issue=31837|page=3670|date=26 March 1920}}
• Recipient of the Royal Victorian Chain, 1921
• GCSI: Extra Knight Grand Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, 10 October 1921{{London Gazette|issue=32487|page=8091|date=14 October 1921}}
• GCIE: Extra Knight Grand Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, 10 October 1921
• KT: Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, 23 June 1922{{London Gazette|city=e|issue=13826|page=1089|date=27 June 1922}}
• Bailiff Grand Cross of the Venerable Order of St John, 12 June 1926{{London Gazette |issue=33284 |date=14 June 1927 |page=3836 }}
• Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of St John, 2 June 1917{{London Gazette |issue=30114 |date=5 June 1917 |page=5514 }}
• KP: Additional Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick, 3 June 1927{{London Gazette|issue=33282|page=3711|date=7 June 1927}}
• PC: Privy Councillor of Canada, 2 August 1927{{citation |url=http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/index.asp?lang=eng&page=information&sub=council-conseil&doc=members-membres/hist-alphabet-eng.htm#P |last=Privy Council Office |author-link=Privy Council Office (Canada) |title=Historical Alphabetical List since 1867 of Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada |date=1 February 2012 |access-date=29 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421033919/http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/index.asp?lang=eng&page=information&sub=council-conseil&doc=members-membres%2Fhist-alphabet-eng.htm#P |archive-date=21 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}
• GCB: Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, 1936
• FRS: Royal Fellow of the Royal Society

• {{flagicon|Mecklenburg-Strelitz}} Grand Cross of the House Order of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore, 1 May 1911{{Citation |title=Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Mecklenburg-Strelitz: 1912 |chapter=Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen |location=Neustrelitz |publisher=Druck und Debit der Buchdruckerei von G. F. Spalding und Sohn |date=1912 |page=[https://rosdok.uni-rostock.de/mcrviewer/recordIdentifier/rosdok_ppn1682376710/iview2/phys_0033.iview2 15]|language=German }}
• {{flagicon|Grand Duchy of Hesse}} Knight of the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of the Golden Lion, 23 June 1911{{citation|title=Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112089248618&view=1up&seq=5&skin=2021|chapter=Goldener Löwen-orden|page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112089248618&view=1up&seq=11&skin=2021 3]|language=German|location=Darmstadt|year=1914|publisher=Staatsverlag|via=hathitrust.org|access-date=17 September 2021|archive-date=6 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906134431/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112089248618&view=1up&seq=5&skin=2021|url-status=live}}
• {{flagicon|Spain|1785}} Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 22 June 1912{{citation|url=http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/issue.vm?id=0001067117&search=&lang=es|title=Caballeros de la insigne orden del toisón de oro|date=1930|journal=Guóa Oficial de España|access-date=4 March 2019|page=217|language=es|archive-date=20 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620102002/http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/issue.vm?id=0001067117&search=&lang=es|url-status=live}}
• {{flagicon|French Third Republic}} Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, August 1912{{citation |author = M. & B. Wattel |title = Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et étrangers |location= Paris |date = 2009 |publisher= Archives & Culture |page = 461 |isbn = 978-2-35077-135-9}}
• {{flagicon|Denmark}} Knight of the Order of the Elephant, 17 March 1914{{citation |year=1933 |orig-year=1st pub.:1801 |editor1-last=Bille-Hansen |editor1-first=A. C. |editor2-last=Holck |editor2-first=Harald |title=Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1933 |trans-title=State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1933 |url=https://dis-danmark.dk/bibliotek/918011.pdf#page=53 |format=PDF |series=Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender |language=da |location=Copenhagen |publisher=J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri |page=17 |access-date=16 September 2019 |via=:da:DIS Danmark |archive-date=24 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224024748/https://dis-danmark.dk/bibliotek/918011.pdf#page=53 |url-status=live }}
• {{flagicon|Norway}} Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav, with Collar, 6 April 1914{{citation|title=Norges Statskalender|language=Norwegian|year=1922|pages=1173–1174|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951001416649n&view=1up&seq=635&skin=2021|chapter=Den kongelige norske Sanct Olavs Orden|access-date=17 September 2021|via=hathitrust.org|archive-date=17 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917144334/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951001416649n&view=1up&seq=635&skin=2021|url-status=live}}
• {{flagicon|Kingdom of Italy}} Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, 21 June 1915{{citation|author=Italy. Ministero dell'interno|title=Calendario generale del regno d'Italia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KU1TIJPtKx0C&pg=PR3|year=1920|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KU1TIJPtKx0C&pg=PA58 58]|access-date=8 October 2020|archive-date=25 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125152605/https://books.google.com/books?id=KU1TIJPtKx0C&pg=PR3|url-status=live}}
• {{flagicon|French Third Republic}} Croix de Guerre, 1915
• {{flagicon|Russian Empire|1914}} Knight of the Order of St George, 3rd Class, 16 May 1916{{London Gazette |issue=29584 |date=16 May 1916 |page=4935 |supp=y}}
• {{flagicon|Thailand}} Knight of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 16 August 1917{{citation |journal=Royal Thai Government Gazette |date=19 August 1917 |url=http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2460/D/1465.PDF |script-title=th:พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์ มหาจักรีบรมราชวงศ์ |language=th |access-date=8 May 2019 |archive-date=4 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200904103322/http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2460/D/1465.PDF |url-status=dead }}
• {{flagicon|Kingdom of Romania}} Order of Michael the Brave, 1st Class, 1918{{citation |editor-link=Hugh Massingberd |editor-last=Montgomery-Massingberd |editor-first=Hugh |year=1977 |title=Burke's Royal Families of the World|edition=1st |location=London |publisher=Burke's Peerage |isbn=978-0-85011-023-4 |pages=311–312}}
• {{flagicon|Kingdom of Italy}} War Merit Cross, 1919
• {{flagicon|Kingdom of Egypt}} Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Muhammad Ali, 1922
• {{flagicon|Sweden}} Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim, 12 November 1923{{citation|title=Sveriges statskalender|year=1940|volume=II|page=7|url=https://runeberg.org/statskal/1940bih/0007.html|via=runeberg.org|access-date=6 January 2018|language=sv|archive-date=7 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107173554/http://runeberg.org/statskal/1940bih/0007.html|url-status=live}}
• {{flagicon|Kingdom of Romania}} Collar of the Order of Carol I, 1924
• {{flagicon|Chile}} Order of Merit, 1st Class, 1925
• {{flagicon|Bolivia}} Grand Cross of the Order of the Condor of the Andes, 1931
• {{flagicon|Peru|1825}} Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru, 1931
• {{flagicon|Portugal}} Grand Cross of the Sash of the Two Orders, 25 April 1931 – during his visit to Lisbon"[http://arquivo.presidencia.pt/details?id=39612 Banda da Grã-Cruz das Duas Ordens: Eduardo Alberto Cristiano Jorge André Patrício David, Príncipe de Gales] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726100239/http://arquivo.presidencia.pt/details?id=39612 |date=26 July 2020 }}" (in Portuguese), Arquivo Histórico da Presidência da República, retrieved 28 November 2019
• {{flagicon|Brazil|1889}} Grand Cross of the National Order of the Southern Cross, 1933
• {{flagicon|San Marino|1862}} Grand Cross of the Order of St Agatha, 1935

• 22 June 1911: Midshipman, Royal NavyCokayne, G.E.; Doubleday, H.A.; Howard de Walden, Lord (1940), The Complete Peerage, London: St. Catherine's Press, vol. XIII, pp. 116–117
• 17 March 1913: Lieutenant, Royal Navy{{London Gazette|issue=28701|pages=2063–2064|date=18 March 1913}}
• 8 August 1914: Second Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, British Army{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=28864|page=6204|date=7 August 1914}}
• 15 November 1914: Temporary Lieutenant, Grenadier Guards,{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=29001|supp=y|page=10554|date=9 December 1914}} later antedated to 11 November 1914{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=29084|page=1983|date=26 February 1915}}
• 19 November 1914: Lieutenant, Grenadier Guards{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=29064|supp=y|page=1408|date=10 February 1915}}
• 10 March 1916: Supernumerary Captain, Grenadier Guards{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=29534|page=3557|date=4 April 1916}}
• 25 February 1918: Temporary Major, British Army{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=30686|supp=3|page=5842|date=17 May 1918}}
• 15 April 1919: Colonel, British Army{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=31292|supp=4|page=4857|date=14 April 1919}}
• 8 July 1919: Captain, Royal Navy{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=31458|page=8997|date=15 July 1919}}
• 5 December 1922: Group Captain, Royal Air Force{{London Gazette|issue=32774|date=5 December 1922|page=8615}}
• 1 September 1930: Vice-Admiral, Royal Navy; Lieutenant-General, British Army;{{London Gazette|issue=33640|date=2 September 1930|page=5424}} Air Marshal, Royal Air Force{{London Gazette|issue=33640|date=2 September 1930|page=5428}}
• 1 January 1935: Admiral, Royal Navy; General, British Army; Air Chief Marshal, Royal Air Force{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=34119|date=1 January 1935|page=15|supp=y}}
• 21 January 1936: Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy; Field Marshal, British Army; Marshal of the Royal Air Force{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=34251|page=665|date=31 January 1936}}
• 3 September 1939: Major-General, British Military Mission in FranceThe Times, 19 September 1939, p. 6, col. F

• 1918–1936: Chancellor of the University of Cape Town{{citation|url=https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2010-03-29-university-community-called-to-nominate-candidates-for-chancellor|title=University community called to nominate candidates for chancellor|work=University of Cape Town|date=29 March 2010|access-date=22 November 2024}}
• 1920: Doctor of Laws, University of Sydney{{citation|url=https://www.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/corporate/documents/university-archives/honorary-awards/w/prince-of-wales.pdf|title=His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales|work=University or Sydney|access-date=22 November 2024}}
• 1921: Doctor of Law, University of Cambridge{{citation|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/100121/|title=Prince of Wales receives honorary degree, 1921|work=British Pathé|access-date=22 November 2024}}
• 1921: Honorary degree, University of London{{citation|url=https://www.london.ac.uk/news-events/blogs/history-foundation-day-university-london|title=A history of Foundation Day at the University of London|work=University of London|first=Maria|last=Castrillo|date=7 December 2022|access-date=22 November 2024}}
• 1922: Doctor of Laws, University of Hong Kong{{citation|url=https://www4.hku.hk/hongrads/graduates/honorary-degree-of-doctor-of-laws-edward-prince-of-wales-his-royal-highness-edward-prince-of-wales|title=His Royal Highness Edward Prince of Wales|work=University of Hong Kong|access-date=22 November 2024}}
• 1928–1936: Master, Honourable Company of Master Mariners{{citation|url=https://www.hcmm.org.uk/about-us/our-company/history/past-masters|title=Past Masters|work=The Honourable Company of Master Mariners|access-date=21 April 2025}}

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.{{Citation |last=Prothero |first=David |title=Flags of the Royal Family, United Kingdom |date=24 September 2002 |url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-rooth.html |access-date=2 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100331022540/http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-rooth.html |archive-date=31 March 2010}}

File:Coat of Arms of Edward, Prince of Wales (1910-1936).svg|Coat of arms as Prince of Wales (granted 1911){{LondonGazette|issue=28473 |date=7 March 1911 |page=1939 }}

File:Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (1837-1952).svg|Coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom

File:Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom in Scotland (1837-1952).svg|Scottish coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom

File:Coat of Arms of Edward, Duke of Windsor.svg|Coat of arms as Duke of Windsor

{{See also|Descendants of Christian IX of Denmark}}

{{ahnentafel

| collapsed=yes |align=center

|ref={{citation |title=Burke's Guide to the Royal Family |publisher=Burke's Peerage |location=London |editor-last=Montgomery-Massingberd |editor-first=Hugh |editor-link=Hugh Massingberd |year=1973 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/burkesguidetoroy00lond/page/252 252, 293, 307] |chapter=The Royal Lineage |isbn=0-220-66222-3 |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/burkesguidetoroy00lond |url=https://archive.org/details/burkesguidetoroy00lond/page/252 }}

| boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;

| boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;

| boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;

| boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;

| 1= 1. Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

| 2= 2. George V of the United Kingdom

| 3= 3. Princess Victoria Mary of Teck

| 4= 4. Edward VII of the United Kingdom

| 5= 5. Princess Alexandra of Denmark

| 6= 6. Francis, Duke of Teck

| 7= 7. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge

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

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

| 10= 10. Christian IX of Denmark

| 11= 11. Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel

| 12= 12. Duke Alexander of Württemberg

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

| 14= 14. Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge

| 15= 15. Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel

}}

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

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• 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}}.

{{Sister project links| wikt=no | commons=Edward VIII of the United Kingdom | b=no | n=no | q=Edward VIII of the United Kingdom | s=Author:Edward VIII of the United Kingdom | v=no | voy=no | species=no | d=Q590227}}

• {{UK National Archives ID}}
• {{NPG name|name=Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor}}
• {{PM20|FID=pe/018680}}
• [https://www.royal.uk/edward-viii Edward VIII] at the official website of the British monarchy
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/edward_viii_king.shtml Edward VIII] at BBC History

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{{s-ttl|title=Governor of the Bahamas | years=1940–1945}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Edward 08 of the United Kingdom}}

Category:1894 births

Category:1972 deaths

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Category:20th-century Bahamian people

Category:20th-century British monarchs

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Category:Abdication of Edward VIII

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Category:Antisemitism in England

Category:Bailiffs Grand Cross of the Order of St John

Category:British anti-communists

Category:British Army personnel of World War I

Category:British emigrants to France

Category:British field marshals

Category:British governors of the Bahamas

Category:British people of German descent

Category:British royal memoirists

Category:British white supremacists

Category:Burials at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore

Category:Children of George V

Category:Deaths from throat cancer in France

Category:Dukes created by George VI

Category:Dukes of Cornwall

Category:Dukes of Rothesay

Category:Emperors of India

Category:Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England

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Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Sun of Peru

Category:Grenadier Guards officers

Category:Heads of state of Australia

Category:Heads of state of Canada

Category:Heads of state of New Zealand

Category:Heirs to the British throne

Category:Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Category:House of Windsor

Category:Kings of the Irish Free State

Category:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire

Category:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India

Category:Knights of St Patrick

Category:Knights of the Garter

Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain

Category:Princes and great stewards of Scotland

Category:Marshals of the Royal Air Force

Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada

Category:Military personnel from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

Category:Monarchs in South Africa

Category:Monarchs of the Isle of Man

Category:Monarchs of the United Kingdom

Category:Monarchs who abdicated

Category:People educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne

Category:People from Richmond, London

Category:People of the Victorian era

Category:Princes of Wales

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Category:Residents of White Lodge, Richmond Park

Category:Royal Navy admirals of the fleet

Category:Sons of emperors

Category:Sons of kings

Category:Tobacco-related deaths