The Peoples King (32 page)

Through a speech in the House of Commons, which would be aired by the BBC, Baldwin may have hoped to keep control of the media spotlight; if so, he reckoned without the newsreels in the cinema. For while he was giving to the nation the Government's account of the crisis, the newsreels were offering close-ups of the handsome king, with visual reminders of his concern for the unemployed and his trip to South Wales. There were close-up photographs, too, of Wallis Simpson: beautiful and elegant like Gracie Fields, Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer, the most popular women film stars. None of the newsreels denied that there was a crisis going on, but they presented it in terms of a compelling love story - 'the soul-rending drama being fought out in the solitude of Fort Belvedere'. To be placed in the position of 'having to choose between love and a throne', observed British Movietone News, 'is one of life's most tragic dilemmas.'
³⁰
And many people drew a clear distinction between good (Edward and Wallis) and bad (the Church of England and the Government). Letters came to the King from abroad, as well as Britain, comparing the two camps. 'Last night in the Paris Daily Mail of Friday December 4,' said a letter from Trieste, 'a sweet face confronted me, dressed in Quaker simplicity - on the other side, the narrow-eyed, time-serving photo of the Bishop of Bradfield [sic].'
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'When the news reels here in New York show your picture,' wrote a woman from New York, 'there is much applause. When they show Stanley Baldwin there are hisses.'
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It is unlikely that Baldwin and his colleagues saw the newsreels, as they were so busy and preoccupied. In any case, many men and women of their class generally looked upon the cinema as vulgar and common. Even worse, it was seen to represent the baleful influence of America, as most of the feature films shown in Britain and the Empire were from the USA.
³³
'England has become Americanized', complained Lady Londonderry in her memoir,
Retrospect,
which was published in 1938. 'Now,' she said, 'the young English gentleman, or man about town, more frequently than not tries to appear in his dress and manners as an American tourist.' It would seem, she objected, 'as if there had been a process of levelling down everywhere. A modern young woman's aim, in these days, is to look as much like her pet film star as she can.'
³⁴

The reaction of cinema-goers in the first week of December 1936 offered a clear indication of the widespread support for Edward from ordinary people. It was then customary for the National Anthem to be played both at the start and at the end of the programme, and the audience was expected to stand in respect for their monarch. 'Dear "Neddy" don't let us down', wrote a woman from Liverpool. 'You should see the way the poor commoners stand to attention at the theatre or pictures when the National Anthem is sung. They all join in Jew, Christian, any denomination. It's an inspiration. Please don't desert us. We all love you so much.' She urged him to 'Stick to your guns like you did in the great War. Take a humble subject's advice. Choose who you like for a wife and be hanged to them but, don't run away. We will all love you better if you stay. I think she is true blue by her photos. You know who!!'
³⁵
A 'poor mother of ten children' living in York said she had 'watched your picture on the screen with tears in my eyes', adding that she and her family 'pray hard for your Love and Happiness with the sweet Lady Mrs Simpson. She I am sure will be your loving & faithful companion in your darkest hour.'
³⁶
'I have just returned from a cinema where the National Anthem was heartily clapped', wrote a woman from Knightsbridge in London. 'Your people trust you.'
^3,

Winston Churchill made a friendly reference to the King at a rearma­ment meeting in the Albert Hall on the evening of 3 December (this was the first great meeting of the 'Arms and the Covenant' movement, which had been set up by Churchill, Lady Violet Bonham Carter and some others to strengthen the League of Nations and British defence). Churchill's reference to Edward drew a storm of applause. He made his own feelings clear to the audience. In a few minutes, he told them, they were going to sing
God Save the King:

I shall sing it with more heartfelt fervour than I have ever sung it in my life. I hope and pray that no irrevocable decision will be taken in haste, but that time and public opinion will be allowed to play their part and that a cherished and unique personality may not be incontinently severed from the people he loves so well.'
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Baldwin gave his speech to the House of Commons in the late afternoon of 4 December, a cold and wintry day." 'The Royal Mar­riages Act of 1772', he said, 'has no application to the Sovereign himself. Its only effect is that marriage of any other member of the Royal Family is null and void unless the Sovereign's consent declared under The Great Seal is first obtained. This Act therefore has nothing to do with the present case.' Therefore, he explained, 'The King himself requires no consent from any other authority to make his marriage legal.' But whomsoever he married, he added, must become Queen. 'Suggestions have appeared in certain organs of the press yesterday and again today', he acknowledged, 'that if the King decided to marry, his wife need not become Queen.' But these ideas were without any constitutional foundation - 'There is no such thing as what is called morganatic marriage known to our law.' Consequently, the wife of the King must enjoy 'all status, rights and privileges which both by positive law and by custom attaches to that position, and her children would be in direct line of succession to the Throne.' The only possible way in which this result could be avoided, Baldwin argued, would be by legislation dealing with a particular case. However, 'His Majesty's Government are not prepared to introduce such legislation. Moreover the matters to be dealt with are of common concern to the Common­wealth as a whole and such a change could not be effected without the assent of all Dominions. I am satisfied from enquiries I have made that this assent would not be forthcoming.'
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" Implicit in this account by Baldwin was the possibility that the King might defy his Ministers - that he might insist on his right to marry and to remain as King. By so doing, he would compel the Government to resign. However, the King had not given anyone the impression that he might choose to act in this way.

The speech was heard on the wireless that evening. A 'lover of Church & State' in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, wrote to Mrs Baldwin after the broadcast to thank her and her husband for their stand on the royal crisis:

It is impossible to refrain from expressing profoundest gratitude for the news broadcast by the Premier this evening . .. Both of you understand well, the value & significance of a holy happy wedded life, & of its immense importance to the
spiritual and
human - social stability & destiny of the British Empire . .. Our beloved King George continually preached and practised this great truth. It would break his heart if he knew of the present state of affairs - Dearly beloved as our Sovereign is, we shall
welcome
the transfer of royalty to those who will carry on the traditions set by Queen Victoria & Queen Mary, should the change occur.
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But overall, Baldwin had misjudged the feelings of the British public - for there was widespread dissatisfaction with his account of events. That Friday evening, diners rose at restaurants and addressed the tables, proposing a loyal toast to the King which few people refused.
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'I am at a banquet of over 1050 people representative of business men of the country', wrote a woman to the King from Grosvenor House on Park Lane. 'The pointedly unusual fervour with which "The King" was toasted and the Anthem sung and the cheers after it,' she added, 'showed the temper of the people - undoubted sympathy for the King ... Of course Baldwin & Co have their knife into [the King] because he hates humbug and is
honest
and gets down to bed rock - and called in Malcolm Stewart [the Special Areas Commissioner who had just resigned in protest at the government's constraints on his job].'
⁴³
Popular sentiment was displayed wherever the ordinary members of the public collected together. The novelist Dennis Wheatley wrote to the King to say that, 'At a Fleet Street luncheon of a hundred men which I attended on Wednesday the unanimous view expressed was that if only you would rely upon the love, sympathy and understanding of the masses your "will would be done".' The 'decayed portion' of the country, he added, was arrogating to itself an authority it did not possess.
⁴⁴

Many of the general public could not understand Baldwin's hostility to Wallis. 'After 6 o'clock news when I heard Mr Baldwin's statement I sighed', wrote a woman in Essex to Edward, 'and said oh dear dear our poor poor King they are not going to allow him to marry.'
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'When your lady becomes our queen,' promised a letter from London, 'we will offer to her our love and devotion.'
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Admiration was expressed 'at the splendid way in which you are being true to the Lady of your choice.'
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'Keep your chin up Skipper Ted', urged a Londoner.
⁴⁸
Apart from gratitude for Edward's concern for the welfare of the poor, there was a view that a title and a noble background were worth nothing in comparison with love and happiness. A woman living in Llandeilo, South Wales, who supported the Conservative Party, wrote a letter to the King saying that she and her husband thought highly of Mrs Simpson. 'A Commoner has a Soul & is worthy in the sight of God,' she said, adding that

It is character that Counts here, Sc in the Great Beyond, not a Tytle [sic]. The greatest thing in life is love & sympathy, & Your Majesty should be allowed to choose your Queen and help mate in life. Mrs Simpson must be worthy, otherwise she would not appeal to Your Majesty. I fail to see what it has to do with the Cabinet or anyone.
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'The Lady of your choice having been in a humbler position one time', commented the wife of a man in the British Legion who had been out of work for six years, meant that she 'will know how to help you in doing what you have for the poor. Not like some who has never known what it is to want a meal, the same as I have . . . My wish is you will make the Lady of your Choice our Queen.'
⁵⁰
How different was this approach from that of Alice Keppel, who, said Lady Hamil­ton, was very amusing in a discussion of Mrs Simpson, 'saying it was her want of class that mattered so."
¹

However, Edward's support was by no means exclusively working class. One person wrote to say that among her acquaintances under fifty years of age, of all political views, there was scarcely one who did not resent the attitude of the Government. 'My friends', she added, 'are of the middle classes.'
⁵²
Some members of the upper classes supported Edward, sending him letters from their clubs in London or from their stately homes in the country. Their servants sent letters, too - the butler to Sir William and Lady Nora FitzHerbert in Derby­shire wrote to say that he was 'willing and ready to die if it will help Your Majesty or will assist in any way.'
⁵³
Concern for Edward was fuelled by a fear, based on recent events in the Soviet Union, that abdication might lead to revolution. The fact that the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II had been closely bound up with the 1917 Russian Revolution and the creation of a Communist state was seen as a grim warning. 'We want you, not the Duke of York,' wrote some British women from Trieste, Italy. 'The Czar resigned, and see what has happened.'
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What was becoming very clear was that, as a man in Glasgow pointed out in a letter to the King, 'Mr Baldwin announced that "the country" was against this, before taking any steps, before indeed any could have been taken, to find out the opinion of British electors. If a referendum were taken I think Your Majesty would win, and Mr Baldwin receive the kick in the pants he so richly deserves.'
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Friday 4 December had been 'another trying day', wrote Dawson, wearily. The 'Simpson Press had got going by this time, and there was a regular barrage of pleas for delay, for reference to the people, for anything that would keep a popular Sovereign (and, it was not obscurely hinted, get rid of a bad Prime Minister).'
⁵⁶
There was some outrage at the behaviour of
The Times.
'The prejudice of "The Times" against Mrs Simpson', in the opinion of a letter-writer from London, 'is as unjustified as it is unrepresentative of public opinion." In the pages of his paper, Dawson defended the Government's position. Referring to the 'acute constitutional crisis' between the King and his Ministers, he argued that the situation had been misunderstood and that Ministers had not interfered in the private affairs of the Sovereign. It was simply, he said, that they had been asked a question and they had given their answer.
⁵⁸
The same day, he encountered hostility to the Government among his social peers. 'It was the celebration of Founder's Day at Eton,' he noted, 'and I spent most of the day there.' His neighbours at dinner included John Maynard Keynes, the prominent economist who contested the Treasury view that unemploy­ment was incurable. In his
General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,
which was published in 1936, Keynes pioneered the idea of full employment. He 'seemed to suggest (as so many of the Liberal intelligentsia did)', said Dawson indignantly, 'that there was some deep laid plot on the part of the Government to get rid of the King.'
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