The Peoples King (43 page)

You have had personal experience of war, have mixed intimately with the fighting men on the field of battle. You have rubbed shoulders with all sorts of men on the race course, in the slums, in factories, and in the 'distressed areas'. You know by personal observation everything there is to be known about your subjects first hand that is more than half the rulers of the country do know. They cannot hoodwink and humbug you, you want things
done
not talked about. . ,
⁹⁶

'Go to the people,' urged another letter, 'address them over the air, a vote taken and they will show their loyalty to you.' A woman signing herself 'a loyal rose' counselled delay. 'Do not be hurried into signing anything you may later regret', she begged him. 'Wait until after your coronation. Please do not abdicate. Your people want you. A year soon passes. Then do as your heart tells you.'
⁹⁷
The Church, said another, 'has discredited itself in the part it has taken. In spite of all its power and preachings, it cannot draw men into it, because it stands for hypocrisy. But if ever you came back to us and lifted a finger, you draw all
men
unto you.'
⁹⁸

Many of the ordinary people, as well as Bevan and Lloyd George, blamed Baldwin and the Government for the abdication. George Bernard Shaw took a different view: 'The royal family settled the affair among themselves.'
⁹⁹
Now Edward had gone, believed the courtier Tommy Lascelles, the future of the monarchy was secure. Not only would the more reliable Duke and Duchess of York replace Edward, but 'We now have two young Princesses, who will take his place as the Pets of the world, and on one of whom, certainly, great issues will hang."
⁰⁰

Edward had been suspected by the court of being hostile to the idea of the monarchy. It was certainly true that at times his open mind led him to offer opinions that would have been judged as dangerous by the royal household. In 1920, while on a tour to New Zealand, he complained to Freda Dudley Ward that

The more I think of it, all the more certain I am that really (though not on the surface yet awhile with Britishers) the day for Kings & Princes is past, monarchies are out-of-date though I know it's a rotten thing for me to say & sounds Bolshevik!!

'But this railway strike,' he explained, 'which might become a general strike which completely upsets a so-called 'Royal tour' (how I loathe that — expression) makes me do a lot of hard thinking angel & I really do feel rather helpless & bolshie tonight!!
¹⁰¹
The tour of New Zealand was exhausting, as were his other overseas tours. What upset him was not the monarchy as an institution, but the more wretched aspects of his job as 'Empire salesman'.

 It was said, Edward wrote in his memoirs, 'that I never wanted to be King at all.' It was always possible, he admitted, that if it had been his choice to make, he might not have selected the throne as his career. 'But not to wish to be King was something else.' For once his father had died, he
was
the King. 'And what was more,' he added, 'I wanted to be a successful King, though a King in a modern way.
¹⁰²
He had no wish to go down in history as 'Edward the Reformer', preferring to see himself as 'Edward the Innovator'. Lloyd George regarded Edward's approach as a breath of fresh air in the arid and sterile atmosphere of the court, and he much admired his 'plucky defiance of protocol-worshipping court officials'.
¹⁰³
Especially because of his time in the trenches, he believed, Edward was 'capable of bringing a new democratic touch to the throne, as one emancipated from the stifling grip of the Court.
¹⁰⁴

'I had no notion,' insisted Edward, 'of tinkering with the fundamen­tal rules of Monarchy.'
¹⁰⁵
His solemn respect for its traditions was apparent. For example, at the opening of Parliament on 3 November 1936, his equerry Charles Lambe admired the dignified bearing of the King as he and his entourage entered the House of Lords: 'The candelabra were dull pin-points & the stained glass glowed with colour despite the full outside day. As the King entered, all the lights rose to full brilliance & once again I nearly swooned - such good theatre! He took ample time and did all with great dignity and auth­ority. My only regret', added Lambe, loyally, was that 'more people could not have been there to be impressed as I was.'
¹⁰⁶

Edward may not have seen himself as any kind of threat to the institution of the monarchy. It is easy, however, to understand why he was seen in this way by other members of the Royal Family and by senior courtiers - and the court was able to be ruthless when it felt that its interests were under threat. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the family of the Tsar Nicholas II, King George V's first cousin, had sought refuge in Britain. But although the Government agreed to provide asylum, King George V refused to have them in the country. His Private Secretary, Lord Stamfordham, wrote to the Foreign Sec­retary to say that the King was aware of public hostility to the idea of the Tsar and Tsarina coming to Britain, and that this would 'undoubtedly compromise the position of the King and Queen'. The Government concurred, and the Tsar did not come to Britain. He was shot with his entire family by the Red Guards.
¹⁰⁷

On 11 December, Parliament passed the Act of Abdication, and Prince Albert, Duke of York, acceded to the throne (although he was not proclaimed King until
12
December). He took the title George VI, rather than Albert I, in order to highlight his similarity to his father. The Tories now have 'just the sort of King which suits them', said Lloyd George contemptuously. 'He will not pry into any inconvenient questions: he will always sign on the dotted line without asking any questions; and he will always do exactly what he is told.'
¹⁰⁸
From New York came a letter to the former King, claiming that 'The Duke of York has no personality and I doubt if he could be anything but a puppet.'
¹
"
⁹
Even Tom Dugdale had been 'depressed by the dullness of the Duke of York' when he met him at Fort Belvedere, but Baldwin had told him that he was 'very like King George V when a young man. George V was most uninspired and dull, only by perseverance, reliability, example to his people, and a sense of duty did he gain for himself the much loved position he held when he died."
¹⁰

Albert was not a naturally likeable man, thought Sir Stanley Hewett, the physician who had attended King George V in his dying days. He told the courtier John Aird that he thought 'the Duke of York was the worst of the four sons & had a mean character.' Aird, however, replied that 'I should have put him just as being steady & reliable, even if dull."
¹¹
There was concern, though, that it would be difficult for him to fill Edward's shoes. Thomas Barnes, the Treasury Solicitor, had wondered whether it would not be a better idea for Queen Mary to become Queen Regent, at least for a while. This would avoid an immediate succession of the Duke of York - 'for a substantial part of the country might still favour the present King and regard his brother as a sort of interloper . . .'
¹¹²

Some of the British public were delighted with their new King, George VI. if he errs,' noted a man working at the Peter Robinson department store in London, 'it is only the right side of quietness & reserve.' The 'only possible snag', he added, 'is his wife who (now Queen Elizabeth) has shown an unfortunate tendency in the past to play to the gallery on similar lines to Edward.'"
³
But for many others, as the Treasury Solicitor had feared, it was 'a dark day', I shall always regard King Edward as my King', said one."
⁴
A young man of nine­teen in Kent wrote in a letter to Edward that he would 'always think of you when Royalty is spoken about or the National Anthem is sung.'"
⁵
'I shall always look upon your photo which I have over my bed, each night, [and pray] that God will take care of you and future wife', wrote 'a most heartbroken citizen'. She added, 'You will notice I still call you His Majesty that I shall always do as long as you are living.' As an 'ordinary, humble married man,' wrote a Londoner, 'let me say that . . . your bravery will be most richly rewarded. You, Sir, will always be, to us, the King.'"
⁶
An ex-Coldstream Guard felt certain that 'many hundreds and perhaps millions will never acknowledge your Brother the Duke of York as King and it will cause disruption in this beloved land of ours and perhaps I hope and pray not Revolution.'
¹¹⁷

'Your brother The Duke of York is no king for England', wrote a girl who signed herself 'Miss Wales', 'for he is a snob for the aristocrats. You are for the poor & needy. Please reconsider your answer.'"
⁸
One correspondent did not accept the idea of Albert's children becoming the future heirs to the throne. 'While you live I will never acknowledge another as King, - for any other would be (to me) a Usurper & not really King, - & if you have children . . . they will be the true Princes &/or Princesses & legal & true heirs to the Throne, in the mind of thousands.'"
⁹
An old Lancer in Norfolk, who had progressed through every rank up to a commission, said he would go through hell to serve the King. 'Daily whilst I live,' he promised, 'I will be saluting your photo in Welsh Guards uniform which stands in my modest home, and my toast will always be, "My King across the Sea!" And I will also add the words, "scatter his enemies, and make them fall."'
¹²⁰
Letters were sent to Winston Churchill, too, expressing regret at the loss of Edward and at the accession of Albert. 'I have tried time and again to pay homage to our new King George VI,' wrote one man from Staffordshire, 'but believe me, I break down, perhaps you will think I am silly shedding tears at 30 years of age. But I cannot forget, Our Edward King & friend."
²¹

Walter Monckton went to see the Duke of York in his house on

Piccadilly to tell him that Edward would do everything he could to help and to make things easy for him.
¹
" Even so, the challenge for King George VI, of taking over the throne from someone who was adored by so many of the people of Britain and the Empire, must have seemed formidable indeed

On the morning of Friday 11 December, Britain woke up to fog, followed by an icy drizzle of rain. 'All the world is waiting for King Edward to broadcast at 10 p.m. tonight, when as a private citizen he will give his farewell message to the country', noted the Kent schoolteacher in Kent in his diary.
¹
Finally, Edward would have his chance to speak to the people of Britain. A week before he had requested permission to tell his subjects about his love for Wallis and to ask them to support his marriage. Now, he wanted simply to say farewell. Some members of the Government looked coldly on the idea of a broadcast, and Queen Mary tried to dissuade Edward. But he was determined to speak. 'I did not propose', he wrote in his memoirs, 'to leave my country like a fugitive in the night.'
²

Edward had made hurried plans to leave Britain that night for Austria. At midday he was joined for lunch at Fort Belvedere by Churchill, who wanted to see him for one last time and help him to complete his speech. When Churchill left, he was overcome by grief. 'Winston got into my car with tears flowing,' said his chauffeur, 'and silently we drove home to Chartwell.'
³
Edward recalled later that,

As I saw Mr Churchill off, there were tears in his eyes. 1 can still see him standing at the door; hat in one hand, stick in the other. Something must have stirred in his mind; tapping out the solemn measure with his walking-stick, he began to recite, as if to himself:

He nothing common did or mean Upon that memorable scene.

His resonant voice, thought Edward, 'seemed to give an especial poignancy to those lines from the ode by Andrew Marvell, on the beheading of Charles I.'
⁴

While Edward had been sharing a last meal with Churchill, the dining room of the Ritz, one of London's most luxurious hotels, was packed. 'All London' was lunching there, including Alice Keppel, according to the American journalist, Janet Flanner.
^s
How different was this world from a workmen's cafe in Teddington, Middlesex. 'I have a small cafe', wrote its proprietor to the King, '. . . and would like you to know that all the men who come in daily are all definitely loyal to you. All they seem to care about is your happiness.'
⁶
At the Ritz, Mrs Keppel apparently made the remark, 'Things were done better in my day!'
⁷
But this was an opinion with which many people disagreed. 'Where your ancestors would be satisfied with their "favourites" (to put it politely),' wrote one woman approvingly to the King, 'you will not be satisfied without a
wife."
In a letter to her friend Bernard Berenson, the art critic, Sybil Colefax reported a conversation she had overheard between two Labour MPs and a trade union secretary, in which one man said that it was 'the disgoosting [sic] hypocrisy of England' that did not approve of the marriage plan, since Edward would have had no difficulty 'had he been content to keep her round the corner' (and the other men added, 'He's been a great Prince & King to us. We must honour his memory in pushing on the job he was at').' The Catholic newspaper the
Tablet
regretted that Edward's beloved was divorced. But it had nothing but praise for his resolute commitment to the path of marriage:

No one suggests that had King Edward been content, as so many kings have been, to live out of wedlock, he would have been asked to give up the Throne. It is because he was not willing to follow those common dishonourable precedents that the crisis has arisen, and it is an irony that he is in effect abdicating because of his high sense of propriety, at once too high and not high enough.
¹⁰