Description
The People's King follows the six intense weeks leading up to the abdication of Edward VIII, considered by many to be among the most compelling love stories of the last century. Just six months before their wedding, the only people who had heard of Wallis Simpson were those people who belonged to the tiny social circle surrounding the royal family. Press coverage and newsreels were strictly censored. Through contemporary letters and diaries, many never before published, Susan Williams demonstrates the huge popularity of the King and the events that led to his downfall.
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The People's King tells the story of what really happened, drawing on government documents kept secret for nearly seventy years and on other new evidence, including thousands of letters sent to Edward by his subjects. It recounts the last weeks of his reign in 1936, beginning with his decisive tour of the Welsh Valleys, when he declared that 'something must be done' for the poor and unemployed. His love for Wallis was a closely guarded secret. But within a week it would dominate the headlines of newspapers around the world, throwing Britain and its Empire into a crisis that shook their very foundations.Susan Williams reveals there was huge popular support for King Edward and that many ordinary people were happy for him to marry Wallis - even though Prime Minister Baldwin claimed that public opinion would never allow it. She shows how the king was rushed into abdicating, against the good advice of his loyal champion, Winston Churchill. We find out who fomented the crisis and why neither parliament nor the people were consulted. We discover, too, the continuing repercussions within the Royal Family of an event so momentous that it changed the face of the British monarchy.
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