December 11, 1936: Edward VIII abdicates the throne.
After the death of King George V in January of 1936, the throne passed to his forty-one-year-old son Edward, who became King Edward VIII upon his accession. He and his relationship with the twice-married American socialite Wallis Simpson were controversial and widely reported by the foreign media. Simpson filed for divorce in October of 1936, and the King made known his intention to marry her. However, due to Simpson’s status as a divorcee whose previous husbands were still living, the issue of their marriage was complicated. The British Conservative leader, Stanley Baldwin, along with leaders of the opposing parties and heads of Dominion governments, agreed that the King could not be allowed to remain King while marrying Simpson, and their marriage was met with opposition from religious leaders as well. The King was supported by working-class citizens, Winston Churchill, and David Lloyd George.
Ultimately, the King’s proposal to marry Simpson morganatically was also rejected. On December 10, he issued his Instrument of Abdication, which went into effect the very next day. His reign lasted 327 days, one of the shortest reigns of any British monarch. Reaction was varied; the King’s supporters believed that he had been “been hounded from the throne”, while his opponents collectively let out a sigh of relief that someone whose ”sense of right or wrong [had] been largely obliterated by the jazz of life he [had] led for years” had been taken off the throne. Edward was succeeded by an unlikely successor, his younger brother Prince Albert, who became George VI upon his accession.