Editing Abdication of Edward VIII (section)

===Religious and legal===
In Edward's lifetime, the [[Church of England]] forbade the remarriage of divorced people in church while a former spouse was still living. The monarch was required by law to be in communion with the Church of England, and was its nominal head or [[Supreme Governor]]. In 1935 the Church of England reaffirmed that, "in no circumstances can Christian men or women re-marry during the lifetime of a wife or a husband".<ref>{{citation|author=Ann Sumner Holmes|title=The Church of England and Divorce in the Twentieth Century: Legalism and Grace|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CglDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44|year=2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=44|isbn=9781315408491|ref=none}}</ref> The [[archbishop of Canterbury]], [[Cosmo Gordon Lang]], held that the king, as the head of the Church of England, could not marry a divorcée.<ref>G. I. T. Machin, "Marriage and the Churches in the 1930s: Royal abdication and divorce reform, 1936–7." ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'' 42.1 (1991): 68–81</ref> If Edward married Wallis Simpson, a divorcée who would soon have two living ex-husbands, in a civil ceremony, it would directly conflict with Church teaching and his role as the Church's ''ex officio'' head.<ref name=time>{{citation|title=A Historic Barrier Drops|magazine=Time|date=20 July 1981|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954854,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213220519/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954854,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 December 2007|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref>{{efn|Although [[Henry VIII]] remarried within the lifetimes of two of his ex-wives, [[Catherine of Aragon]] and [[Anne of Cleves]], those marriages were annulled—that is, declared invalid under [[canon law]]—rather than ended by divorce as such.<ref>{{citation|last=Laliberte|first=Marissa|date=19 March 2020|title=How Queen Elizabeth II Will Step Down—Without Giving Up Her Title|work=Reader's Digest|url=https://www.rd.com/article/how-queen-elizabeth-step-down-without-abdicating/|access-date=1 July 2020}}</ref> Divorce—the dissolution of a valid marriage—became a regular legal process with the [[Matrimonial Causes Act 1857]], but remained unrecognized by the Church. A person with an annulment has not been legally married, whereas a person with a divorce has been married already.<ref>{{citation|title=Divorced, Beheaded, Died|last=Phillips|first=Roderick|work=History Today|date=July 1993|volume=43|issue=7|pages=9–12}}</ref>}}

Wallis's first divorce (in the United States on the grounds of "emotional incompatibility") was not recognised by the Church of England and, if challenged in the English courts, might not have been recognised under [[English law]]. At that time, the Church and English law considered [[adultery]] to be the only grounds for divorce. Consequently, under this argument, her second marriage, as well as her marriage to Edward, would be considered [[bigamous]] and invalid.<ref>Bradford, p. 241.</ref> The [[Matrimonial Causes Act 1937]], which was passed shortly after Edward and Wallis's marriage, would allow for numerous other grounds for divorce.<ref>{{citation|doi=10.1093/ojls/13.2.183 |title=Matrimonial Causes Act 1937: A Lesson in the Art of Compromise |journal=Oxford Journal of Legal Studies |date=1993 |first=Sharon|last=Redmayne| volume=13|issue=2|pages=183–200}}</ref>