Office holders and key participants in the Abdication
Office holders and key participants in the Abdication
EDWARD, Prince of Wales/ H.M. King EDWARD VIII /HRH The DUKE OF WINDSOR (known to his family as David) (1894-1972)
King from 20 January 1936 to 11 December 1936. Married Wallis Warfield (formerly Wallis Simpson) 3 June 1937
Wallis WARFIELD (SIMPSON) /The DUCHESS OF WINDSOR (1896-1986)
Royal Family
King GEORGE V (1865-1936)
Married Mary of Teck in 1893. Succeeded his father Edward VII as King in 1910
Queen MARY (1867-1953)
First engaged to Prince Albert Victor (Edward VII's eldest son, known as Prince Eddy). He died soon after their engagement and she married his brother George. Queen Mary was the mother of both King Edward VIII and King George VI
Prince ALBERT, Duke of York/ King GEORGE VI (known to his family as Bertie) (1895-1952)
Married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923
Duchess of York/ Queen ELIZABETH (from 1952) Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1900-2002)
She and George VI had two children: Princess Elizabeth (from 1952, H.M. Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret
Royal Household and Advisers
George ALLEN
King Edward VIII's solicitor
Alexander HARDINGE
Assistant Private Secretary to King George V, Private Secretary to King Edward VIII
Alan LASCELLES
Assistant Private Secretary to King Edward VIII
Walter MONCKTON
Adviser to King Edward VIII
Godfrey THOMAS
Assistant Private Secretary to King Edward VIII
Clive WIGRAM
Private Secretary to King George V and briefly to King Edward VIII
Baldwin's National Cabinet November 1936 to January 1937
Stanley BALDWIN, Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury
Prime Minister (and Conservative Party Leader), June 1935 to May 1937
Ernest BROWN
Minister of Labour
Neville CHAMBERLAIN
Chancellor of the Exchequer 1931-37
A Duff COOPER
Secretary of State for War
Anthony EDEN
Foreign Secretary
Walter ELLIOT
Secretary of State for Scotland
William ORMSBY-GORE
Secretary of State for the Colonies
Viscount HAILSHAM
Lord Chancellor
Viscount HALIFAX
Lord of the Privy Seal
Sir Samuel HOARE
First Lord of the Admiralty
Leslie HORE-BELISHA
Minister of Transport
Sir Thomas INSKIP
Minister for Co-ordination of Defence
Malcolm MACDONALD
Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
Ramsay MACDONALD
Lord President of the Council
W S MORRISON
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
Walter RUNCIMAN
President of the Board of Trade
Sir John SIMON
Home Secretary
Oliver STANLEY
President of the Board of Education
Earl STANHOPE
First Commissioner of Works
Viscount SWINTON
Secretary of State for Air
Sir Kingsley WOOD
Minister of Health
The Marquess of ZETLAND
Secretary of State for India
The Dominions - leaders and officials
Sir HARRY BATTERBEE
Assistant Under Secretary of State, Dominions Office
Australia
Joseph A LYONS
Prime Minister of Australia
Stanley BRUCE
High Commissioner for Australia in London
Canada
William Lyon MACKENZIE KING
Prime Minister of Canada
Sir Francis FLOUD
British High Commissioner in Ottawa
John BUCHAN
Governor-General of Canada
Irish Free State
Eamon DE VALERA
President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State
John Whelan DULANTY
Irish Ambassador to London
New Zealand
Michael Joseph SAVAGE
Prime Minister of New Zealand
South Africa
General James B M HERTZOG
Prime Minister (and Leader of the Afrikaner Nationalist Party)
William H CLARK
British High Commissioner in Cape Town
Key political figures, Government officials and others December 1936 to January 1937
Clement ATTLEE
Leader of the Labour Party
Thomas BARNES
The King's Proctor
Lord "Max" BEAVERBROOK
Owner of the Evening Standard and the Express Group
Peregrine (Perry), Lord BROWNLOW
King Edward's Lord-in-Waiting
Winston CHURCHILL
Conservative MP and friend of King Edward
Geoffrey DAWSON
Editor of The Times
Thomas DUGDALE
Parliamentary Private Secretary to Stanley Baldwin
Sir Philip GAME
Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police
Sir Maurice HANKEY
Cabinet Secretary
Esmond HARMSWORTH
Chairman of the Newspaper Proprietors Association and son of Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail
Justice HAWKE
Presided over divorce case of Simpson v Simpson
Adolf HITLER
Chancellor of Germany
Dr Cosmo Gordon LANG
Archbishop of Canterbury
Sir Edward Robert PEACOCK
Receiver-General of the Duchy of Cornwall
Mary Kirk RAFFRAY
Wallis Simpson's old friend and Ernest Simpson's lover
John REITH
Director-General of the BBC
Joachim von RIBBENTROP
German Ambassador to London
Ernest SIMPSON
Husband of Wallis Simpson
Sir Archibald SINCLAIR
Leader of the Liberal Party
Sir Horace WILSON
Chief Industrial Adviser to H.M. Government
