Editing Abdication of Edward VIII (section)

==Abdication==
[[File:The year of the three Kings.jpg|thumb|"The Year of the Three Kings", postcard 1936]]
[[File:King Edward's Abdication (11196393654).jpg|thumb|Abdication statement of Edward VIII]]

At [[Fort Belvedere, Surrey|Fort Belvedere]], on 10 December, Edward signed his written abdication notices,{{efn|There were 15, including one for each Dominion, India, the British House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.<ref>The Duke of Windsor, p. 407.</ref>}} witnessed by his three younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York (who succeeded Edward as [[George VI]]); [[Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester]]; and [[Prince George, Duke of Kent]]. The following day, it was given effect by [[Act of Parliament]]: [[His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936]].<ref name=LG34350>{{London Gazette|issue=34350|page=8117|date=15 December 1936}}</ref>

Under changes introduced by the [[Statute of Westminster in 1931]], a single [[The Crown|Crown]] for the entire empire had been replaced by multiple crowns, one for each Dominion, worn by a single monarch in an organisation then-known as the [[British Commonwealth]].<ref name=Heard/> Though the British government, hoping for expediency and to avoid embarrassment, wished the Dominions to accept the actions of the "home" government, the Dominions held that Edward's abdication required the consent of each Commonwealth state.<ref>{{citation| author=[[Anne Twomey (academic)|Anne Twomey]]| title=Professor Anne Twomey&nbsp;– Succession to the Crown: foiled by Canada?| medium=Digital video| publisher=University College London| location=London| date=18 September 2014| url=http://vimeo.com/108335929|ref=none}}</ref> According to the Statute of Westminster, the act passed by the UK parliament could become law in other Dominions at their request. This was duly given by the Parliament of Australia, which was at the time in session, and by the governments of Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand, whose parliaments were in recess.<ref name=Heard/>

Before the crisis had become public, Sir [[Maurice Gwyer]], the British parliamentary counsel and one of the principal framers of the Statute of Westminster, expressed to Attorney-General [[Donald Somervell]] on 23 November 1936 the concern that the [[Irish Free State]] might refuse to either give its request and consent to British legislation or to pass its own. Legal experts discussed whether an abdication would have force in the Irish Free State, regardless, or if Edward VIII might remain king of that country while George VI reigned elsewhere. In the end, it was the possibility of the latter, and, consequently, Simpson becoming Queen of the Irish Free State, that was used to push the [[Oireachtas]] to legislate.<ref>{{citation| url=https://www.constitutionalstudies.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/22.1-Full-Issue.pdf| editor-last1=Lagassé| editor-first1=Philippe| editor-last2=MacDonald| editor-first2=Nicholas A.| title=The Crown in the 21st Century| last1=Twomey| first1=Anne| series=Royal Succession, Abdication, and Regency in the Realms| journal=Review of Constitutional Studies| volume=22| issue=1| year=2017| page=48| publisher=Centre for Constitutional Studies| location=Edmonton| accessdate=2 June 2023}}</ref> The government of the Irish Free State, taking the opportunity presented by the crisis and in a major step towards [[Irish head of state from 1922 to 1949|its eventual transition to a republic]],<ref name=Murphy29>{{citation| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OkYXAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22commonwealth+realm%22&pg=PA170| last=Murphy| first=Philip| title=Monarchy and the End of Empire| page=29| publisher=Oxford University Press| location=Oxford| year=2013| isbn=978-0-19-921423-5| accessdate=28 April 2023}}</ref> passed [[Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act 1936|an amendment to its constitution]] on 11 December to remove references to the Crown and abolish the office of [[Governor-General of the Irish Free State]];<ref>{{cite Irish legislation|year=1936|number=57|name=[[Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act 1936]] |access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> the King's abdication was recognised a day later in the [[External Relations Act]],<ref>{{cite Irish legislation|year=1936|number=58|name=[[Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936]] |access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> leading to a 24-hour period wherein Edward was king in the Irish Free State and his brother was king of the UK and other Dominions.<ref name=Torrance>{{citation| url=https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9372/CBP-9372.pdf| last=Torrance| first=David| title=The Death of a Monarch| page=35| date=8 September 2022| publisher=House of Commons Library| accessdate=1 March 2023}}</ref> In Canada, the [[Succession to the Throne Act 1937]] symbolically confirmed the abdication.<ref name=Heard /> South Africa passed [[His Majesty King Edward the Eighth's Abdication Act 1937]], which declared that the abdication took effect there on 10 December,<ref name=Heard /> meaning abdications took place on three separate dates across the Commonwealth.<ref name=Murphy29/><ref name=Torrance/>

Edward's supporters felt that he had "been hounded from the throne by that arch humbug Baldwin",<ref>David Lloyd George quoted in Williams, p. 241.</ref> but many members of the establishment were relieved by Edward's departure. [[Mackenzie King]] wrote in his diary on 8 December 1936 that Edward's "sense of right or wrong has been largely obliterated by the jazz of life he has led for years"<ref name=MK555 /> and, upon receiving news of Edward's final decision to abdicate, "if that is the kind of man he is it is better he should not be longer on the Throne."<ref>{{citation|publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|date=9 December 1936|url=http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/politics-government/prime-ministers/william-lyon-mackenzie-king/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=17486|title=The Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King|page=561}}</ref> Edward's own Assistant Private Secretary, [[Alan Lascelles]], had told Baldwin as early as 1927: "I can't help thinking that the best thing that could happen to him, and to the country, would be for him to break his neck."<ref>[[Duff Hart-Davis|Hart-Davis, Duff]], ed. (1989) ''In Royal Service: Letters & Journals of Sir Alan Lascelles from 1920 to 1936'', quoted in Vickers, Hugo. "The courtier's spiky tongue". ''The Times'', Thursday, 26 January 1989</ref> Lascelles resigned in 1929 "in despair".<ref name="ph&v">Pope-Hennessy & Vickers, pp. 17, 18.</ref>

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On 11 December 1936, Edward made a BBC radio broadcast from [[Windsor Castle]]; having abdicated, he was introduced by [[Sir John Reith]] as "His Royal Highness Prince Edward".<ref>The Duke of Windsor, p. 413; Ziegler, p. 331.</ref><ref>{{citation|editor=Stuart, Charles|title=The Reith Diaries|publisher=Collins|location=London|year=1975|isbn=0-00-211174-8|pages=192–193}}</ref> The official address had been polished by Churchill and was moderate in tone, speaking about Edward's inability to do his job "as {{em|I}} would have wished to do" without the support of "the woman I love".<ref>The Duke of Windsor, pp. 409–413.</ref> Edward's reign had lasted 327&nbsp;days, the [[List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign|shortest of any monarch in Britain]] since the disputed reign of [[Lady Jane Grey]] over 380&nbsp;years earlier. The day following the broadcast he left Britain for [[Federal State of Austria|Austria]].<ref>Ziegler, p. 336.</ref>