Editing Abdication of Edward VIII (section)

==Legal manoeuvres==
Following Simpson's divorce hearing on 27 October 1936, her solicitor, [[John Theodore Goddard]], became concerned that there would be a "patriotic" citizen's intervention (a legal device to block the divorce), and that such an intervention would be successful.<ref name="Cretney">{{citation|url=https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-108114613/edward-mrs-simpson-and-the-divorce-law-stephen-cretney|first=Stephen|last=Cretney|title=Edward, Mrs Simpson and the Divorce Law: Stephen Cretney Investigates Whether the Government Colluded in the Suppression of Evidence That Might Have Prevented Wallis Simpson's Divorce and Royal Marriage|journal=[[History Today]]|volume=53|date=September 2003|pages=26 ff|access-date=2 May 2010|archive-date=21 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421000043/https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-108114613/edward-mrs-simpson-and-the-divorce-law-stephen-cretney|url-status=dead}} (subscription required)</ref> The courts could not grant a [[collaborative divorce]] (a dissolution of marriage consented to by both parties), and so the case was being handled as if it were an undefended [[at-fault divorce]] brought against Ernest Simpson, with Wallis Simpson as the innocent, injured party. The divorce action would fail if the citizen's intervention showed that the Simpsons had [[Collusive lawsuit|colluded]] by, for example, [[Connivance|conniving in]] or [[No-fault divorce#Bypassing the showing-of-fault requirements for divorce|staging the appearance]] of his adultery so that she could marry someone else. On Monday 7 December 1936, the King heard that Goddard planned to fly to the south of France to see Wallis Simpson. The King summoned him and expressly forbade him to make the journey, fearing that the visit might put doubts in Simpson's mind. Goddard went straight to [[10 Downing Street|Downing Street]] to see Baldwin, as a result of which he was provided with an aeroplane to take him directly to [[Cannes]].<ref name="Cretney" />

Upon his arrival, Goddard warned his client that a citizen's intervention, should it arise, was likely to succeed. It was, according to Goddard, his duty to advise her to withdraw her divorce petition.<ref name="Cretney" /> Simpson refused, but they both telephoned the King to inform him that she was willing to give him up so that he could remain king. It was, however, too late; the King had already made up his mind to go, even if he could not marry Simpson. Indeed, as the belief that the abdication was inevitable gathered strength, Goddard stated that: "[his] client was ready to do anything to ease the situation but the other end of the wicket [Edward VIII] was determined".<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/mar/02/monarchy.richardnortontaylor|last=Norton-Taylor|first=Richard|author2=Evans, Rob|title=Edward and Mrs Simpson cast in new light|journal=The Guardian|date=2 March 2000|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref>

Goddard had a weak heart and had never flown before, so he asked his doctor, William Kirkwood, to accompany him on the trip. As Kirkwood was a resident at a maternity hospital, his presence led to false speculation that Simpson was pregnant,<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757202-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107035427/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757202-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 November 2011|title=Duchess of Windsor|magazine=Time|date=21 December 1936|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> and even that she was having an abortion. The press excitedly reported that the solicitor had flown to Simpson accompanied by a gynaecologist and an anaesthetist (who was actually the lawyer's clerk).<ref>Beaverbrook, p. 81; Williams, p. 217.</ref>