We simply remain thunderstruck. Most of this week we've been glued to the radio, listening to it all, and each day it got worse. I thought Edward's talk yesterday was one of the finest things I've ever heard; Frances burst into tears and I felt the whole thing to be almost intolerable."
Gunther was shocked to learn that Edward's speech was not sold in Britain on a gramophone record.54 This was odd because it was quite common at this time for important speeches to be recorded by His Master's Voice, or another gramophone company, and sold to the public. It was another story in America, where the speech was bootlegged. Within a few hours, Macy's, New York's largest department store, put a record of the speech on sale at one dollar.55
Walking along Whitehall the other day, wrote Virginia Woolf, 'I thought what a Kingdom! England! And to put it down the sink . . . Not a very rational feeling. Still it is what the Nation feels.'56 In her view, 'the Nation' was outraged by Edward's abdication - but it is unlikely that many of the Bloomsbury set had much idea of what ordinary people in Britain felt. Nor did Nancy Dugdale, who believed that Edward 'had fallen so precipitously in the esteem of the public, as a shooting star falls through the heavens to end in oblivion.' He will leave many sorrowing hearts, she added, 'for his popularity was of a very personal and touching nature, especially among the poorer classes, owing to his having moved so much in the ranks of his people. Everyone felt they had been personally let down, a demoralizing national feeling.'57 But Mrs Dugdale knew few, if any, of these 'poorer classes', and she certainly did not know 'everyone'. This tendency of members of the Establishment to equate their own feelings with those of 'the nation', 'the public' or 'the people of Britain' characterizes the whole of the abdication crisis. When Susie Buchan, the wife of the Governor-General of Canada, encountered continuing support for Edward on a visit to Britain, she simply explained it away as 'a good deal of sentimentality'.58
In reality, ordinary people thought very differently. 'We were with him on the Western Front and will always deem him our leader', read a telegram from London.59 The Mayor of Llanidloes in Wales sent his thanks 'for the special interest you have shown at all times in the welfare of the people of the Principality. As Welsh men and women we pray for your happiness - so richly deserved.'60 Hundreds of telegrams arrived offering the King gratitude, love and admiration. 'Remembering all your Majesty's kindness, Dockland begs to wish all happiness and God speed!' said one.61 'From one sportsman to a greater one. Good luck. God speed' said another.62
For John Buchan, the royal crisis was a question not so much of morals as of manners. 'A certain dignity', he wrote to Edith Londonderry, 'is demanded from the Throne, and I hope that has been now restored.'63 Lockhart's 'Mrs Town Councillors' and 'Mrs Rectors' generally agreed, and a farmer in Sussex observed in his diary that Edward was a 'frightful ass to get himself in the position he did'.64 But many did not agree. A teacher at a London County Council school told the King that he would tell his pupils, with pride, of the dignity with which Edward had conducted himself through the whole of the crisis.65 From the Savile Club in London came the message that 'We have just drunk the health of His Majesty and broke the glass. For he is England's Admiral till [the] setting of his sun.'66 Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder and leader of the Boy Scouts, sent a telegram recalling Edward's hard work for the scouting movement when he was Prince of Wales: 'Boy Scouts offer most grateful thanks for His Majesty's many kindnesses which they will ever remember and offer heartfelt good wishes.'6.
There was admiration for Edward's courage - but there was also bitter disappointment and a sense of lost hope, especially among minority groups. Marcus Garvey, the President of the General Universal Negro Improvement Association, sent a telegram in which he asked the King to
Please accept from the Negro race deepest sympathy . . . We were looking to you for much but we fully appreciate your noble Christian stand which will do so much to raise the Empire to the position it has lost by the world being able to say through your noble act that an Englishman's word is his bond. History will record you as the noblest character of the twentieth century. May God bless and keep you is the prayer of the Negro race.68
All the gypsies, said Queen Viola, the Queen of the Gypsies, joined her in congratulations 'to you, one of the best. To us gipsies you remain our King. The same applies to your future wife. We tender her all happiness in her great trial. God bless you both.'69
This was the greatest love story of the decade, and the world was watching. Telegrams poured in from every continent and region: Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and North and South America. Nearly all of them congratulated the King and offered their best wishes for his future happiness. From a civil servant in India came the judgement that 'The Empire has blundered',70 which contrasted sharply with the Viceroy's claim that the 'general reactions of press and public could not be more satisfactory'.71 In Ceylon, a resolution passed on 12 December by the Urban District Council of Kurunegala appreciated 'the high principles which led His Majesty to make that momentous decision', but at the same time expressed 'its deepest regret' at the abdication and sent 'best wishes for His Majesty's future'.'2 Similar sentiments were expressed by the Trinidad Citizens' League. They acknowledged
our deep gratitude for the great services rendered by him as Prince of Wales and as King Emperor... we shall always pray that long life and happiness may be in store for him and for the Lady of his choice and our love and affection for him has not been in any way lessened.73
Many citizens of the Irish Free State had followed the royal crisis. 'The heart of Ireland is with you now', said one letter. 'You are without a shadow of doubt the most loved one.' It described an instance when 'a poor bare-footed - ragged little girl - went to a small shop - where a wireless is installed and said - "Please my muthor [sic] wants to know the last news about the King?"!'74 Eamon de Valera, the President, was also sympathetic to the King. On 5 December, Baldwin had sent him a telegram announcing the likelihood of Edward's imminent abdication. This sudden news gave de Valera 'serious cause for anxiety' and he cabled back:
Legislation in our Parliament would be necessary in order to regularize the situation about to be created. Such legislation at the present moment would cause grave difficulties. Is there no alternative to immediate abdication? Surely delay at least is advisable even if no ultimate solution in sight.75
De Valera sent a telegram to the King, too, stressing that abdication could not take place without the authority of the Irish Free State - the matter of succession to the throne required the assent of all the Dominions, according to the Statute of Westminster.76 In other words, Edward would continue to be King in Ireland until his abdication was accepted.
It was a worrying situation for the British Government, which feared that de Valera would exploit Britain's dilemma to his own advantage. This is exactly what happened. The President summoned a special session of the Dail on 11 and 12 December, which proceeded to pass legislation that effectively excluded the new King from any position in which he might influence the internal affairs of the Irish Free State, retaining for him only certain functions in external affairs.7' This move had been planned for the future anyway, but it was now rushed into action - and since Britain was so preoccupied with its own crisis, it was not resisted.
Dawson and The Times - the 'Thunderer', as it was known - were widely regarded as instrumental in the drama that had led to the abdication. In a letter written on 12 December, Winston Churchill referred to 'the sledge-hammer blows The Times dealt the late King'.78 Many others expressed heartfelt thanks to Dawson for his role in the affair. The Duke of Buccleuch conveyed his 'Respect and gratitude to you and the "Times" in these days of National misery, and God speed your task of re-establishing the Monarchy.'79 Hardinge assured Dawson that the one thing that had kept him going was 'the kindness and encouragement of those whose opinions were worth having'. In the end, he said, 'the Empire has, I believe, really profited by this demonstration of unity and common ideals.' Although the
work of starting a second new reign was heavy, he added, 'it is like a haven of rest at B.P. [Buckingham Palace] after the bedlam of the last few months.'80 The courtier Tommy Lascelles told Dawson that, 'merely as a tax-payer, how profoundly grateful I have been to the Times every morning lately. In all this sad business, the only cause for real rejoicing is the utter defeat of the Powers of Evil.'81
Sybil Colefax took a larger view. 'For the people it's a great loss', she wrote to Berenson. 'He was truly democratic - and they knew it . . . Well it's over but matters more than you think.'82 Geoffrey Wells, who thought that Baldwin was 'the Dirty Dog of the whole business', was disgusted. He went to the cinema in Oxford on the afternoon of 11 December and wrote in his diary that 'Afterwards they put on such a flood of slosh about The New King & in particular his blasted wife that I got up & walked out. Applause for Baldwin, for Edward, for George VI, applause and hisses for Mrs S.' He came out of it all, he said, 'in a mood of deep disgust for the sheer hypocrisy of the British press & public, the sheer unqualified immorality, which makes a heroine of a woman like Queen Mary, who marries to order, and a bloody adulteress of Mrs Simpson, of whom it knows nothing. After Queen Mary, I could have done with a little Mrs S!' In the evening he listened to Edward's speech and found it 'the wholly dignified moving utterance of a self-possessed, confident man. Listening, one felt him to be the one real man in the affair. I'd like to know what Baldwin & the rest thought as they listened!'83
Once the reality of the abdication had sunk in - that King Edward VIII of England had really vacated the throne - there was time for some reflection. Churchill believed that the Government and The Times had behaved unfairly. In a letter to Lord Salisbury, he pointed out that
the pressure which the Government put upon the King and the Press campaign directed against him with so much brutality by the Times, together with the personal strain to which he was inevitably subject, might well have led to his abdication any day last week. In fact the Deeds were all drawn up and in my view the Government expected to announce the abdication on Monday [7 December].
He added, 'What has impressed me most during this crisis has been the King's virtues of courage, manliness and honour; and of his loyalty to his Ministers and respect for the Constitution.'84 Churchill felt immensely sympathetic towards the King. 'Poor little lamb,' he said to a friend, 'he was treated worse than any air mechanic, and he took it lying down.'85
Many were grateful to Churchill for his willingness to speak out on behalf of the King. 'As one of the dumb masses who have not been permitted to express their views on the momentous decision which has been taken & decided by the High Noises over our heads,' wrote a correspondent, 'perhaps you will permit myself & my family to express our gratitude to you that one man was found who was willing to speak a word on behalf of His Majesty King Edward VIII. We do so gratefully & sincerely.' When the 'so-called representatives of the working classes combine with their opponents to dethrone the People's King,' added the letter, 'one can better understand the sentiments of the man who said, "The more I see of dogs the less I care for men." Right or Wrong, he was our King.'86
'I have been horror-struck,' wrote Lord Hamilton of Dalzell to Churchill, 'as I am sure you have been - by the readiness with which the word "Abdication" has come to men's lips in the recent crisis. It is a word that can only be spoken, without treason, by one man.'87 Duff Cooper regretted the loss to the nation of King Edward. 'I was sad at his going', he recorded in his memoirs. 'I felt that we were losing a personality of value to the State ... He had many qualities that fitted him for his great position'.88 Prince George, the Duke of Kent, who was devoted to Edward, was devastated. Some of the younger generation in the royal household wondered at the depth of animosity towards the former King. The Earl of Harewood, Edward's nephew, commented that 'it was hard for the younger amongst us not to stand in amazement at the moral contradiction between the elevation of a code of duty on the one hand, and on the other the denial of central Christian virtues - forgiveness, understanding, family tenderness.'89
'All through Mrs Simpson', judged a Sussex farmer.90 But was it? Some people believed that Edward's love for Wallis was not the reason, but an excuse for the abdication - that she was a godsend to those who wanted to see him go. 'I am sorry that Edward VIII has been bounced into abdicating', wrote Alan Turing to his mother. 'I believe the government wanted to get rid of him', he wrote,
and found Mrs Simpson a good opportunity. Whether they were wise to try to get rid of him is another matter. I respect Edward for his courage ... I don't see how you can say that Edward was guilty of wasting his ministers' time and wits at a critical moment. It was Baldwin who opened the subject.91
Geoffrey Wells noted in his diary that a close friend, with whom he agreed, was 'quite sure that the Govt was anxious to get rid of the King because of his determination to be, as King, an individual. Mrs S the excuse.' Wells added that it was 'a kind of ultimate disillusion - the final proof of the utter rottenness of all present political parties.'92 In particular, argued some, it was Edward's visit to South Wales that had set the abdication wheels in motion. 'As an Englishman, a Manchester man, turned fifty years of age,' observed a letter to Edward,
I see in this no Constitutional Crisis - and I view the matter as a political red herring, drawn by the present hotch-potch-two-years-behind-the-times government, a herring intended to distract public attention from their inability or desire to implement the assurances you recently made to the South Wales Black Areas that 'Something must be done' to better the lot of their workless
'Baldwin and his satellites have no plans and apparently no interest for this problem,' he added, 'and their present move is to camouflage their gross and flagrant inactivity.'[3]" The Australian newspaper the Labor Daily, which was based in Sydney and represented a key strand of Labour opinion, had maintained right from the start that 'the present crisis has been very carefully arranged in an effort to secure a showdown prior to the Coronation.' This, it claimed, was because of Edward's democratic tendencies and his sympathy for the poor.94 Vera Brittain was equally cynical about the role of the Government:
The essence of the whole drama, as I saw it in common with many other British citizens sickened by sanctimonious hypocrisy, lay less in the King's attitude to his ministers, which was strictly correct, than in the attitude of the ministers to the problem. Mrs Simpson, we believed, had merely been made a convenient excuse for removing a monarch whose informality, dislike of ancient tradition, and determination to see things for himself had affronted the 'old gang' from the beginning.95
Lloyd George agreed with this view. Thoroughly disgusted by the news of the abdication, he had written from Jamaica to his son Gwilym, telling him how angry he was:
The Tories seem to have once more triumphed; they have got rid of a King who was making himself obnoxious by calling attention to conditions which it was to their interest to cover up. Baldwin has succeeded by methods which time and again take in the gullible British public. He has taken the high line in order to achieve the lowest of aims. I have never seen such a blend of hypocrisy and humbug. But once again it has triumphed, and a really democratic King has been driven from his Throne by the Tories with the help of the Labour Party.96
'And when the truth of these days is allowed to be known,' wrote the novelist Hugh Ross Williamson in Time and Tide on 19 December 1936, 'it will be found that Edward VIII's promise to the derelict areas and the forgotten men: "I will see that something is done" is the essential clue to the events of the last three weeks.' From that moment, he added, 'the King's doom [was] sealed.'9'
There was resentment among many ordinary people that they had never had a chance to say what they wanted. 'There is a vast body of the English Public inarticulate', wrote one correspondent to the King, 'who are utterly opposed to any talk of Your Majesty's abdication' - but who were unable to have any influence on the outcome of the crisis.98 'The People', said another, 'never had a chance' to prevent the abdication.99 'At eve
ry dinner & social occasion I go to I will always use and ask for a toast to our beloved Duke of Windsor', wrote an Edinburgh man to Churchill. 'I wish Sir you and all our ministers', he added, 'had been amongst the working class, during the Crisis & had heard what they had to say. 1 might say ... 99 per cent were & still are for the Ex King.'1"0 'The British people and the London Parliament', observed George Bernard Shaw, 'were not consulted, and are wholly blameless in the matter.'101
Tom Harrisson, a young man who had recently returned from an anthropological expedition to the New Hebrides and settled in the Lancashire cotton town of Bolton, was appalled by the way ordinary people had been sidelined and by how little information had been made available. As a direct response, the following month he and some colleagues set up an organization called Mass-Observation to collect and publish information about the public. Only in this way, maintained the new organization, could democracy mean what it says: to allow rule by the people, appraised of the facts. In other words, they aimed to bridge the gap between the rulers and the ruled.102 The first full-scale book produced by Mass-Observation was May the Twelfth, an account of the coronation of George VI in 1937, which revealed that numbers of people resented the new King and longed for Edward. In one village in Somerset, for example, most of the inhabitants thought Edward ought to be King and refused to have the cost of coronation celebrations put on the rates.103 In Nottingham, a hairdresser reported that she listened to the wireless from half past ten to half past four: 'And you should have seen my mother - she sat in front of it all day - and all through the service while he was being crowned and that, the tears were pouring down her face and she kept moaning, "Oh, it ought to be Edward - it - it - it ought to be Edward."104
There were suspicions in America that the British Government had been motivated by hostility to Edward's sympathy for the poor. 'I hear . . . that in [the] USA rumour has distorted the significance of the visit to South Wales', noted Baldwin's friend Thomas Jones, with some anxiety. 'It is being said that SB sacrificed the King to the demands of the Die-Hards who were enraged at the publicly expressed sympathies of our democratic King.105 John Gunther told Margot Asquith that Americans 'completely fail to understand one thing, why Baldwin has not come in for more criticism for what was certainly his extremely undemocratic behaviour, I.e. he decided that a morganatic marriage was impossible and got the whole thing fixed up, fait accompli, before letting the country know a word. Should there have been all that censorship?106 The Milwaukee journal accused Baldwin of sabotaging Edward's 'promise to see that something would be done about a decaying region in a rich empire'.107
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