The Peoples King

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Authors: Susan Williams

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PENGUIN BOOKS

THE PEOPLE'S KING

Susan Williams is a writer with a special interest in history and
literature. Her most recent books include
The Children of London
(2001) and
Ladies of Influence: Women of the Elite in Interwar
Britain
(2000) and she has also edited several anthologies, of which
The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women
won the World
Science Fiction and Fantasy Award for Best Anthology in 1996.
She grew up in Zambia and has worked as a writer and lecturer in
Britain, Zimbabwe and Montreal. She now lives in London and is
a historian at the University of London.

Susan Williams served as Historical Advisor to the Public Record
Office for the release in 2003 of the government documents relating
to the abdication.

SUSAN WILLIAMS

The People's King

The True Story of the
Abdication

PENGUIN BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS

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Published by Allen Lane
2003
Published in Penguin Books
2004
2

Copyright
©
Susan Williams,
2003
All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject
to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's
prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

 

 

For Tendayi and Monica

 

 

'He nothing common did or mean
Upon that memorable scene'

 

Words spoken by Winston Churchill
after saying farewell to King Edward VIII,
11 December 1936

 

from 'An Horatian Ode' by Andrew Marvell, 1650,
on the beheading of King Charles I

 

Contents

List of illustrations

Photographic acknowledgements are given in parentheses. Every
effort has been made to trace all copyright holders. The publishers
will be happy to make good in future editions any errors or omissions
brought to their attention.

 

1.
   
Edward VIII walking to the Glebe Sports Ground at Abertillery,
South Wales, November 1936 (Hulton Archive)

2.
  
Edward with international troops on the Italian Front, 1917 (from
F. G. H. Salusbury,
George Vand Edward
VIII:
A Royal Souvenir,
London, 1936)

3.
   
Edward visiting Ontario Agricultural College, Canada, 1919
(Ibid.)

4.
   
Edward visiting a miner's home in County Durham, 1929
(Popperfoto)

5.
   
Edward presenting medals to players in a football cup final for
unemployed men, early 1930s (Camera Press)

6.
  
Edward receiving debutantes at Buckingham Palace, July 1936
(Topham Picturepoint)

7.
   
Edward with his parents, Queen Mary and King George V, in
19x7 (courtesy A1 Fayed Archives)

8.
  
The Duke and Duchess of York with their daughter Princess
Elizabeth at the Richmond Horse Show, 1935 (Hulton Archive)

9.
     
Wallis Simpson on holiday in Europe in 1929 with her aunt,
'Bessie' Merryman (Urban Archives, Temple University, Philadel­phia, Pennsylvania)Wallis at the International Country Club, Wien Lainz, Austria,
September 1936 (Victoria & Albert Museum Picture Library)

10.
   
Wallis and Edward in Italy in 1936 (Pictorial Parade)

11.
    
Wallis and Edward on holiday in Yugoslavia, 1936 (Hulton
Archive)

12.
   
Winston Churchill in conversation with Prince Edward, 1919
(Hulton Archive)

13.
    
Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1929 (Hulton
Archive)

14.
   
Illustration of Stanley Baldwin speaking to the House of Com­mons, 4 December 1936 (Camera Press)

15.
    
Crowd with anti-Baldwin banners outside Buckingham Palace,
December 1936 (Popperfoto)

16.
   
Telegram to Winston Churchill from the son of Sir Reginald
Banks, December 1936 (Churchill College Archives, University of
Cambridge (CHAR 2/599))

17.
    
Letter to Edward from an anonymous correspondent, December
1936 (The Royal Archives, copyright © 2003 Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II)

18.
   
Letter to Edward from Harold
H.
Eastlake, December 1936 (The
Royal Archives, copyright © 2003 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth

II)

19.
   
Letter to Edward from an anonymous correspondent, December
1936 (The Royal Archives, copyright © 2003 Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II)

20.
  
Wallis at Lou Viei, France, after the abdication (Victoria & Albert
Museum Picture Library)

21.
    
Edward and Wallis on their wedding day, Chateau de Cande,
France, photographed by Cecil Beaton, 2 June 1937 (copyright ©
Cecil Beaton Photograph/courtesy Victoria & Albert Museum
Picture Library)

22.
   
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, photographed by Cecil
Beaton, 1937 (copyright © Cecil Beaton Photograph/courtesy
Camera Press)

 

 

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