The Queen's House: A Social History of Buckingham Palace by Edna Healey

Author:Edna Healey [Healey, Edna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: History, Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9780786707164
Publisher: Pegasus
Published: 1998-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

King Edward VIII

‘Into the realm of Peter Pan’s Never-Never Land.’1

ERNEST SIMPSON TO MRS SIMPSON

Abdication

The reign of King Edward VIII was brief, but crucial in the history of the Palace. It was only eleven months from his accession to the throne on 20 January 1936 to his abdication on 11 December 1936. During that time he kept offices in the Palace but spent little time there and did not take up residence until 1 October. He left the Palace late at night on 3 December and never returned as King. His Coronation, planned for 12 May 1937, never took place. King Edward VIII contributed little to the history of Buckingham Palace itself, but had he not abdicated, the British monarchy, and therefore the Palace, would have been fundamentally changed.

At the beginning of his reign, he set up an office in Buckingham Palace but found it dark and depressing. It was, he wrote, ‘on the ground [floor in] a small waiting-room, decorated and furnished in Oriental style. It looked out upon the Great Courtyard through two windows; on all but the brightest days I keep a light burning on my desk.’2 Now an office in the Lord Chamberlain’s department, it is still dark, but only the Chinese decoration of the fireplace remains of the ‘Oriental style’.

Queen Mary did not leave the Palace until October. After King George V’s death she found comfort in ‘filling her mind with trivial things, with the packing of objets d’art and the redecoration of Marlborough House, to shut out her loneliness and anxiety’.3 The ‘anxiety’ was for the future of the monarchy, now the responsibility of her eldest son.

King George V’ papers had to be dealt with, and there were hundreds of letters to be answered. Her own possessions had to be distinguished from those belonging to the Crown. ‘It was’, King Edward VIII wrote, ‘a melancholy task of no mean magnitude, for in the course of her active life she had assembled an immense collection of objets d’art (Tart and historical souvenirs of the Royal family.’4 It was with great regret that she locked away the magnificent royal jewels, shuddering at the thought of Mrs Simpson arrayed in them. ‘He gives Mrs Simpson the most beautiful jewels,’5 she sighed. She even suspected that the new King was giving Mrs Simpson jewellery that rightly belonged to the Crown.

For months she worked methodically, and at the same time supervised the redecoration of Marlborough House. Meanwhile she watched her son taking his father’s place. On 23 June she drove from the Palace through cheering crowds to the Horse Guards Parade for Trooping the Colour. ‘David held the parade,’ she wrote, ‘which was a lovely sight as usual, but tears were often in my eyes thinking of the past and of him we sorely miss.’6

From her window in Buckingham Palace, Queen Mary watched while her son received the guests to garden parties on 21 and 22 July, as she and King George V had done so many times before. However, King Edward VIII did things differently.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.