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In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire arose when King-Emperor Edward VIII proposed to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who was divorced from her first husband and was pursuing a divorce of her second. The marriage was opposed by the governments of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth. Religious, legal, political and moral objections were raised. As British monarch, Edward was the nominal head of the Church of England, which did not then allow divorced people to remarry if their ex-spouses were still alive, so it was widely believed that Edward could not marry Simpson and remain on the throne. Simpson was perceived to be politically and socially unsuitable as a consort because of her two failed marriages. It was widely assumed by the Establishment that she was driven by love of money or position rather than love for the King. Despite the opposition, Edward declared that he loved Simpson and intended to marry her whether his governments approved or not. The widespread unwillingness to accept Simpson as the King's consort, and Edward's refusal to give her up, led to his abdication in December 1936. He remains the only British monarch to have voluntarily renounced the throne since the Anglo-Saxon period. He was succeeded by his brother Albert, who took the regnal name of George VI. Edward was given the title ''His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor'' following his abdication, and he married Simpson the following year. They remained married until his death 35 years later. ==Prelude== Edward's promiscuity and reckless behaviour during the 1920s and 1930s, when he was Prince of Wales, worried his father King George V, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, and those close to the prince. Alan Lascelles, Edward's private secretary for eight years during this period, believed that "for some hereditary or physiological reason his normal mental development stopped dead when he reached adolescence". "After I am dead," the King said, "the boy will ruin himself in 12 months." George favoured his second son Albert ("Bertie") and granddaughter Elizabeth ("Lilibet") and told a courtier "I pray to God that my eldest son () will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne." Edward had relationships with a series of married women, including Lady Furness, the American wife of a British peer who in 1931 introduced the prince to Wallis Simpson, the American wife of British shipping executive Ernest Aldrich Simpson. Ernest Simpson was Wallis's second husband; her first marriage, to U.S. Navy pilot Win Spencer, had ended in divorce in 1927. Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales, it is generally accepted, became lovers in 1934 while Lady Furness was visiting relatives in America, though Edward adamantly insisted to his father that they were not physically intimate and that it was inappropriate to describe her as his mistress.〔Ziegler, p. 233〕 Edward's relationship with Simpson further weakened his poor relationship with his parents. Although King George V and Queen Mary met Simpson at Buckingham Palace in 1935,〔Windsor, p. 255〕 they later refused to receive her.〔Bradford, p. 142〕 Edward and Simpson were followed by members of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, who examined in secret the nature of the relationship. An undated report detailed a visit by the couple to an antique shop, where the proprietor later noted "that the lady seemed to have POW (of Wales ) completely under her thumb." The prospect of having an American divorcee with a questionable past having such sway over the heir apparent led to anxiety among government and establishment figures.〔Ziegler, pp. 231–234〕 Edward VIII succeeded his father on 20 January 1936, after which Simpson attended more official functions as the King's guest. Despite her name appearing regularly in the Court Circular, the name of her husband was conspicuously absent.〔Broad, p. 37.〕 In the summer of that year, the King eschewed the traditional prolonged stay at Balmoral in favour of a holiday with Simpson in the eastern Mediterranean that was widely covered in the American and continental European press, but not by the British press, which maintained a self-imposed silence. Nevertheless, Canadians and expatriate Britons, who had access to the foreign reports, were largely scandalised by the coverage.〔Broad, p. 47.〕 By October, it was rumoured in high society and abroad that Edward intended to marry Simpson as soon as she was free to do so.〔Beaverbrook, pp. 28–33; Windsor, p. 314; Ziegler, pp. 292–295.〕 At the end of that month, the crisis came to a head when she filed for divorce and the American press announced that marriage between her and the King was imminent.〔Broad, p. 56; Williams, p. 85.〕 The King's private secretary, Alec Hardinge, wrote to him on 13 November, warning: "The silence in the British Press on the subject of Your Majesty's friendship with Mrs Simpson is not going to be maintained ... Judging by the letters from British subjects living in foreign countries where the Press has been outspoken, the effect will be calamitous."〔Broad, p. 71.〕 Senior British ministers knew that Hardinge had written to the King and may have helped him draft the letter.〔Williams, pp. 93–94.〕 The King invited Prime Minister Baldwin to Buckingham Palace the following Monday (16 November) and informed him that he intended to marry Simpson. Baldwin replied that such a marriage would not be acceptable to the people, stating: "... the Queen becomes the Queen of the country. Therefore in the choice of a Queen the voice of the people must be heard."〔Broad, p. 75.〕 Baldwin's view was shared by the Australian High Commissioner in London, Stanley Bruce, who was a former Australian prime minister. On the same day that Hardinge wrote to the King, Bruce met Hardinge and then wrote to Baldwin, expressing horror at the idea of a marriage between the King and Simpson.〔Williams, p. 101.〕 Nevertheless, the British press remained quiet on the subject until Alfred Blunt, Bishop of Bradford, gave a speech to his diocesan conference on 1 December, which alluded to the King's need of divine grace: "We hope that he is aware of his need. Some of us wish that he gave more positive signs of his awareness."〔Williams, p. 134.〕 The press took this for the first public comment by a notable person on the crisis and it became front page news the following day. When asked about it later, however, the bishop claimed he had not heard of Simpson at the time he wrote the speech.〔Williams, p. 146.〕 Acting on the advice of Edward's staff, Simpson left Britain for the south of France two days later in an attempt to escape intense press attention. Both she and the King were devastated by the separation. At a tearful departure, the King told her, "I shall never give you up."〔Williams, pp. 149–151.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edward VIII abdication crisis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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