Research into The wallis simpson and edward viii relationship

1. Research into The wallissimpson and edward viii relationship Casey Watts Year 1- Digital Media Journalism

2. Life in the late 1930’s Britain • Life in Britain was afflicted with mass unemployment. • The great age of cinema with the majority of people going once or twice a week. • With the second world, many of the children was evacuated to the countryside. • Sales of ice cream boomed in the 1930s and many new kinds of sweets were introduced. These included, Milky Way (1923 in the USA 1935 in Britain), Crunchie (1929), Snickers and Freddo (1930), Mars Bar (1932), Whole Nut (1933), Aero and Kit Kat (1935), Maltesers and Blue Riband (1936) and Smarties, Rolo and Milky Bar (1937).

3. Fashion in the 1930’s The war had much effect on fashion as clothes were in short supply and rationed. The government encouraged people to 'Make do and mend'. Older clothes were transformed into modern styles. Many women wore short skirts and sensible 'flat heeled' shoes. It was very unusual to see women wearing trousers.

4. Who are they?? It was a scandal that could have brought down the monarchy. The British king gave up his throne for an American divorcee. What was it that Mrs Simpson had?

5. How did they meet? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0JW2FBdaUM&feature=player_embedded

6. Wallis Simpson Born Wallis Warfield, to a distinguished American family. In 1916 she married Lieutenant Earl Winfield Spencer. He was to develop a drinking problem and the marriage soon became abusive. Wallis eventually left him and the couple divorced in 1927. Six months after her divorce, Wallis married Ernest Simpson and they moved to London. Wallis met Prince Edward at a fashionable party and there was an instant attraction. While many blame Wallis for seducing the Prince, it seems likely that she was herself seduced by the glamour and power of being close to the heir of Britain's throne. On 20 January 1936, King George V, Edward's father, died, and Edward became King Edward VIII. His infatuation with Wallis distracted him from his state duties. Some claimed Wallis was a German spy. Edward abdicated the throne to marry Simpson and was later succeeded by his brother Albert.

7. King Edward VIII Name: King Edward VIIIFull Name: Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick DavidBorn: June 23, 1894 at White Lodge, Richmond, SurreyParents: George V and Mary of TeckRelation to Elizabeth II: uncleHouse of: WindsorAscended to the throne: Jan 20, 1936 aged 41 yearsCrowned: UncrownedMarried: Ms Wallis SimpsonChildren: NoneDied: May 28, 1972 at Paris, aged 77 years, 11 months, and 3 daysBuried at: FrogmoreReigned for: 10 months, and 21 days, Abdicated: December 11, 1936Succeeded by: his brother George VI

8. King Edward VIII- 1936 Edward VIII-In a reign of only nine months- sparked the most serious crisis to overtake the British throne in the 20th Century. (The Times, A history of the British Kings and Queens, 2002) King Edward VIII Born: June 23, 1894 Died: May 28, 1972 Accended: January 20 1936; abdicated December 11 1936.

9. Edward VIII- abdication In 1931, Edward met Wallis. Elegant and sophisticated she epitomised the world fast life the prince craved. She had been married twice before, but that didn't rule her out as a consort for a man who would one day be the King of the United Kingdom. Edwards accession in January 1936 was greeted with enthusiasm for the public, yet from the start he dismayed his courtiers. With his enthusiasm for Hitler and his poor attention to business of state, pleasure took first place. The kings determination to marry Mrs Simpson was decisive and after informing the prime minister, he later abdicated the throne just four weeks later.

10. Edward VIII- written abdication speech (part 1) A few hours ago I discharged my last duty as King and Emperor, and now that I have been succeeded by my brother, the Duke of York, my first words must be to declare my allegiance to him. This I do with all my heart.You all know the reasons which have impelled me to renounce the throne. But I want you to understand that in making up my mind I did not forget the country or the empire, which, as Prince of Wales and lately as King, I have for twenty-five years tried to serve.But you must believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love.And I want you to know that the decision I have made has been mine and mine alone. This was a thing I had to judge entirely for myself. The other person most nearly concerned has tried up to the last to persuade me to take a different course.I have made this, the most serious decision of my life, only upon the single thought of what would, in the end, be best for all.This decision has been made less difficult to me by the sure knowledge that my brother, with his long training in the public affairs of this country and with his fine qualities, will be able to take my place forthwith without interruption or injury to the life and progress of the empire. And he has one matchless blessing, enjoyed by so many of you, and not bestowed on me - a happy home with his wife and children.

11. Written abdication speech (part 2) During these hard days I have been comforted by her majesty my mother and by my family. The ministers of the crown, and in particular, Mr. Baldwin, the Prime Minister, have always treated me with full consideration. There has never been any constitutional difference between me and them, and between me and Parliament. Bred in the constitutional tradition by my father, I should never have allowed any such issue to arise.Ever since I was Prince of Wales, and later on when I occupied the throne, I have been treated with the greatest kindness by all classes of the people wherever I have lived or journeyed throughout the empire. For that I am very grateful.I now quit altogether public affairs and I lay down my burden. It may be some time before I return to my native land, but I shall always follow the fortunes of the British race and empire with profound interest, and if at any time in the future I can be found of service to his majesty in a private station, I shall not fail.And now, we all have a new King. I wish him and you, his people, happiness and prosperity with all my heart. God bless you all! God save the King !

12. Abdication http://www.awesomestories.com/assets/edward-viii-abdication

13. Abdication “I, Edward the eighth, of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Dominions beyond the seas, King, Emperor of India, do herby declare my irrevocable determination to renounce the throne for myself and for my descendents, and my desire that effect should be given to this instrument of abdication immediately. In token thereof I have hereunto set my hand this tenth day of December, nineteen hundred and thirty six, in the presence of the witnesses whose signatures are subscribed.

14. Life after abdication After Edwards abdication, his brother Albert succeeded to the throne as George VI. He lived the rest of his life in exile with Wallis Simpson. He was created the Duke of Windsor by His brother King George. He died of cancer at age 78 on January 28, 1972, at Bois de Boulogne, Paris; he was buried at the Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore, Windsor.

15. Print screens of online Biography's

16. Wallis Simpson the style icon

17. Style icon http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/celebrity-photos/2011/09/08/wallis-simpson---style-file

18. Style icon • Her clothes were as challenging as her approach to royal etiquette. When Coco Chanel's boyish Breton tops and trimmed box jackets were de riguer, Simpson was trumping the nipped-in waists and corsetry of American couture designer Main Rousseau Bocher. • Her sharp wit led to a collaboration with SalvadoreDalí, who designed a lobster-print for the Elsa Schiaparelli gown that Simpson wore in Vogue in 1937. Photographer Cecil Beaton may have captured a demure Simpson sitting in the grass for the issue - but she can't have been blind to the connotations; Dalí was well known for using lobsters as an expression of frank and ardent sexuality. • However, Simpson was a realist as well as an exhibitionist and said, with a touch of vulnerability: "I'm not a beautiful woman. I'm nothing to look at, so the only thing I can do is dress better than anyone else." And so the Duchess wore fashion like a kind of armour - with her sense of style becoming more sophisticated the more notorious she became. • She is said to have worn a PacoRabanne  spacesuit to one party and at the funeral of the Duke in 1972 - an event when she would have known all the eyes of the world would be on her as she walked next to the Queen Mother - she had Hubert  Givenchy stay up all night to perfect the length of her chiffon veil.

19. King Edward VIII The first monarch to be a qualified pilot, Edward created The King's Flight in 1936 to provide air transport for the Royal family's official duties. Met and fallen in love with the then married Mrs Wallis Simpson. When Mrs Simpson obtained a divorce in 1936 and it was clear that Edward was determined to marry her. On 10 December 1936, Edward VIII abdicated the throne. In 1937, Edward was created Duke of Windsor and married Wallis Simpson in a ceremony in France. He lived abroad until the end of his life, dying in 1972 in Paris (he is buried at Windsor).

20. Timeline for King Edward VIII • Edward VIII succeeds his father, George V, as King on 20 January, 1936.  •  Outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.  •  Germany, under Adolf Hitler, reoccupies the demilitarized left bank of the Rhine.  •  Britain begins to rearm as political tension increases in Europe and the prospect of military conflict in the region becomes more evident.  •  Fire destroys Crystal Palace, once the home of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park but now located in Sydenham, south London.  •  J.M. Keynes publishes his book General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money an internationally influential study of modern economics.  •  Maiden voyage of luxury ocean liner the Queen Mary takes place.  •  Jarrow crusade of unemployed marches to London  •  The BBC inaugurates the world’s first television service at Alexandra Palace in London.  •  On 10 December Edward signs the Instrument of Abdication over his wish to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson. Witnessed by all his brothers, it is a simple declaration of his intent to renounce the throne for himself and all his descendants. He is subsequently created Duke of Windsor. 

21. Quotes • ‘I wanted to be an up-to-date king. But I didn't have much time.’ - Edward VIII‘I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help of the woman I love.’ - Edward VIII (abdication speech)

22. W.E Film Plot W.E. tells the story of two fragile but determined women – Wally Winthrop and Wallis Simpson – separated for more than six decades. In 1998, lonely New Yorker Winthrop is obsessed with what she perceives as the ultimate love story: King Edward VIIIs abdication of the British throne for the woman he loved, American divorcee Wallis Simpson. But Winthrop's research, reveals that the couple's life together was not as perfect as she thought. Weaving back and forth in time, the film intertwines Wally's journey of discovery in New York with the story of Wallis and Edward, from the glamorous early days of their romance to the slow unravelling of their lives in the decades that followed

23. W.E trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KguM_BGlf8c