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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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abdication crisis
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The events of the summer and autumn of 1936 leading up to the abdication of *Edward VIII. Rumours about the king's relationship with Wallis Simpson, a married American, came to a head in the summer when the couple went for a cruise together in the Adriatic. In October Mrs Simpson was granted a divorce and the king told the prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, that he intended to marry her. Baldwin, and probably the majority of public opinion, felt that marriage with a divorced woman was incompatible with the role of the monarch.
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On December 10 Edward signed an instrument of abdication (the only British monarch to have done so), and the following evening made his historic speech on the radio, frequently broadcast in extract ever since, explaining his decision to the nation: 'I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love.'
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