The Peoples King (35 page)

that H. M. will go. You know as well or better than I do what a 'problem' he has been and is . . . This King has done the popularity side of his job supremely well - he has the memory for persons, a quick if shallow intelligence, and a sense of drama. But he dislikes work and escapes from it and delays and postpones its performance . . ,
⁴⁵

Lord Wigram, who had been a key figure in the court of King George V, thought that the King should abdicate because he was mentally ill. Geoffrey Dawson heard from one source that Wigram had confirmed

what I had heard from another trustworthy source - that H. M. is mentally ill, and that his obsession is due not to mere obstinacy but to a deranged mind. More than once in the past he's shown symptoms of persecution-mania. This, even apart from the present matter, would lead almost inevitably to recurring quarrels with his ministers if he remained on the throne.

Edward was likened to yet another of the previous monarchs of Britain - 'It's an odd and tragic throw-back to George III.'
⁴⁶
Lord Wigram was so concerned that he called on the Lord Chancellor and told him, 'I did not think the King was normal, and this view was shared by my colleagues at Buckingham Palace. He might any day develop into a George III.' It was 'imperative', added Wigram, 'to pass the Regency Bill as soon as possible, so that if necessary he could be certified.'
⁴⁷
Clearly, King Edward could not count on much in the way of support from the members of his royal household who identified with the court of George V, and who now seemed ready to pack him off to a mental asylum.

In fact, Edward showed every sign of being a well-balanced and sensible man. He had not flinched when, the previous July, a man had thrown an object which looked like a bomb in front of his horse while he was riding down Constitution Hill in London. He simply reined in his horse, before proceeding slowly and unflustered on his way.
⁴⁸
It later emerged that the object was a loaded revolver, wielded by one George McMahon, who was unbalanced mentally and suspected of being a Nazi sympathizer. Edward was under severe nervous strain in late November and early December, but even then he appears to have coped with the rush of events remarkably well (although he smoked a great deal). Baldwin said so himself on 6 December, when he discussed with his Cabinet the letter from Churchill, pressing for delay on the grounds of Edward's impaired health. He said he had 'never known the King more cool, clear-minded, understanding every point and arguing the different issues better. No man could have done this better.'
⁴⁹

It is odd that Edward did
not
show any 'symptoms of persecution- mania'. Certainly he knew that some key figures wanted him to give up the crown. Baldwin had even said so, to his face, during the discussion with Edward in which he told the King he would not be allowed to broadcast to the nation. In this exchange, which was reported to the Cabinet on 4 December,

His Majesty then said, 'You want me to go, don't you?' The Prime Minister agreed. He recalled that the King had told him that he wanted to go with dignity, in the best possible manner for Mrs Simpson and himself and his successor, without dividing the country .. ,
^so

It seemed to many that a division of the country, between the Cavaliers and Roundheads, might in fact be imminent. 'Clearly if the Gov. were to put pressure on HM they must be sure of everyone,' wrote Hilda Runciman in her diary. 'If the Gov. resign because HM wont [sic] take their advice cd. any one else form a Gov.?'
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Obviously some members of the general public thought Edward could. 'Marry whom you please, call on Winston Churchill, form government,' came a telegram from the chairwoman of the Barnet Urban District Council.
⁵²
'Dismiss the Cabinet,' urged one letter-writer. 'They are not worth a pennyworth of You. Ask Mr Churchill to form a Govt and all will be well.'
⁵³

There was a broad spectrum of support for the King: from Conservatives who feared that he was being pressed unreasonably, to left- wingers such as Harry Pollitt, Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who admired his principles. 'The spectacle of the National Government laying down a code of morals and behaviour for the King', said Pollitt, 'is indeed a sight. . . there is no crisis in all this business for the working class. Let the King marry whom he likes. That is his personal business.'
⁵⁴
The Communist politician Walter Newbold wrote a letter of support to Churchill on 6 December - 'Count me all in once more with yourself in the line you are taking in respect of the King.' The sooner 'the old gang' were debunked, he added, the better.
⁵⁵

One problematic source of support for the King was Sir Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). At a large meeting on Friday 4 December held in London's East End, Mosley asserted the King's right to marry whom he wished. The next day, the BUF published a special four-page newspaper entitled
Crisis:
the two inside pages covered Sir Oswald's speech and the meeting, while the front page showed the King against a background of the derelict pits of South Wales.
⁵⁶
Mosley believed that the line of division between those who supported the King and those who did not was 'broadly the line dividing the younger from the older generation'. However, the organizer of the BUF's northern campaign, who received reports on scores of meetings, came to a different conclusion. It was his view that the middle class, particularly the lower middle class, abhorred the marriage, while the working class was solidly for the King." Anthony Heap was a Londoner who admired Fascism and belonged to the BUF. He wrote in his diary that he did not share Mosley's enthusiasm for the King. 'The Cabinet
rightly
opposes the scandalous match,' he opined,

for it would not only make the King appear cheap and contemptuous in the eyes of the whole country but depress our trade and lower the country's prestige enormously as far as the rest of the world is concerned. In fact he's made a complete utter fool of himself.

If Edward had a grain of sense, he added, he would have kept Mrs Simpson as his mistress 'without all this fuss (in which case no one would have known anything about it and not cared two hoots if they did).'
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An organization called Social Credit Reformers, which regarded itself as a worldwide movement, with a base at the London Social Credit Club in Westminster, and believed that the Establishment was controlled by the banks and international financiers, was adamantly behind the King. They hoped he would assume the role of popular champion against vested interests.
⁵⁹
They launched an Empire-wide campaign in which similarly worded telegrams-'Present humble duty and standing for your Majesty's freedom of choice fervently desire you retain crown"'
⁰
- were sent to the King from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, as well as different parts of Britain.
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On one such telegram from Sydney, someone at the Palace pencilled the following comment: 'The Social Creditors all over the Empire have evidently been given the word to support HM.'
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A mass meeting of support was held in London's Hyde Park.

Lady Houston, the eccentric right-wing editor of the
Saturday Review,
believed that Baldwin was acting on instructions from Mos­cow. Her journal, with its covers of red, white and blue, emblazoned with the Union Jack, pressed her support for the King. 'The dislike of certain persons for divorce', it said, 'is fully recognized and respected and understood.' But did this mean, it asked, that the entire Empire should give up 'a splendid and hard-working King? For the King is being asked to pay the price of abdication for his desire to lead a happy married life. We have to ask, "What would be the price,
for his people,
of the King's abdication?'"
⁶³
The
Catholic Times,
to many people's surprise, declared that the whole business was a ramp against the King and that financiers were using a moral issue to force an artificial crisis. 'We are for the King', declared the paper. 'We are against the financial and political powers which are forcing King Edward from the throne.' The
Tablet,
another Catholic newspaper, said that if the King were to renounce Mrs Simpson, 'he is entitled to expect in return more recognition than is now extended to his right to an initiative in the government of the country'. Referring to this suggestion, the Anglican
Church Times
commented that 'Here is one more striking example of the growing Roman Catholic opposition to democracy'.
⁶⁴

But these were scattered demonstrations of loyalty. All they had in common was a desire to back the King - not a wish to cooperate to form any kind of King's Party. There was no centre, apart from the small group of men who stayed with the King in the stronghold of Fort Belvedere. 'It so happens', wrote Major Ulick Alexander, Edward's Keeper of the Privy Purse, three decades later, 'that I am the only survivor of the small staff of three that resided at Fort Belvedere during the last 10 days of the crisis.' Major Alexander was a man of high ability, great courage in the war (during which his health had been impaired by the heavy fighting of 1914) and complete loyalty to King Edward. The other two, explained Alexander, were Monckton and George Allen, the King's solicitor:

Moreover, Churchill never had any intention of leading a popular movement of any sort. 'There was no party of King's friends', claimed the journalists Owen and Thompson. 'There was only a party of King's enemies. They held the superior power in the press, the parliament and the pulpit, a mighty "3-P. Alliance".'
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Rumours of a King's Party were fed by the emotions of the moment, which often had little to do with the King himself. Since Lord Londonderry was bitterly angry at Baldwin for removing him from the position of Secretary of State for Air, it was feared that he might throw his weight behind Churchill. A friend of the Londonderrys expressed the hope that 'Charley would not do anything foolish.' He need not have worried, wrote the bio­grapher of the Londonderry family, since Londonderry 'felt as every­body else did .. ,'
⁶⁷

But if Edward
himself
had wanted a King's Party, could he have organized one? Many people felt that Baldwin had treated him unfairly. A Sheffield churchwoman who was married to a surgeon objected to the 'bullying dictatorial hectoring by Baldwin and his friends' and said that most people would welcome Mrs Simpson as their queen. 'At a big dinner-party and at a luncheon party during the last few days we all stood and drank to the King and Mrs Simpson.'
⁶⁸
There was widespread sympathy for Edward's love of Wallis. 'Here is a fellow of my own age, evidently going to give up a throne. The Kingship of the greatest Empire the world has ever known', observed the draper in Belfast who had been shocked by Bishop Blunt's comment on Edward's religious behaviour. As a homosexual who risked im­prisonment simply because of his sexual choice, the draper felt keenly and bitterly aware of the need to experience love in an open way. 'Supposing', he wrote in his diary,

I met a boy I loved, and of whose love I was assured, I would give up all - even the promise of Eternal Life wouldn't tempt me so I suppose that the King is in that position - so I cannot blame him if he gives up this throne - I only hope the woman will appreciate what it all means.
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But more than anything, Edward was admired and appreciated for his concern for ordinary people. This was seen to make everything else irrelevant - especially the status of his beloved, marital or otherwise. A man in the poverty-stricken region of Sunderland, who said he had been in and out of prison all his life and had just been released, urged him to marry Mrs Simpson: 'She is worth fighting for. I am only one of millions of working trod downed class [sic] who wish you every happiness with this Lady.'
⁷⁰
From 'A Loyal Cottage. England' came the message I am only of the "poor" class, but working with that class I can say with honest truth that the people are with you to the ends of the earth if needs be. Please fight the Cabinet for your rights. - Parliament, I am certain, will stand by you.'
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At this very moment, while Edward was suffering the agony of his dilemma, the problem of the unemployed was receiving attention in the House of Commons. The Liberal MP Megan Lloyd George, who was the younger daughter of David Lloyd George and a fierce fighter for the underdog, challenged the Government: if they really weren't going to do anything for the distressed areas, they should say so - 'because I think that to raise the hopes of these people once again, or to trifle with them in any way, would be quite unpardonable.' She pleaded with the Government

not to delay any policy which they may have in mind, but to bring it forward. 1 would like to see it brought forward before Christmas, and I feel that most Members of the House would gladly sit for the longer time that might be needed, because postponement to the New Year really means that these people will have to go through another winter without any relief at all.
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