Why Edward Went

WHY EDWAKS WEN Crown, Clique, and Church BY WARRE BRADLEY WELLS Formerly London Staff Correspondent, New York Herald Tribune Author of The Last King Don Alfonso XIII of Spain The Life of John Redmond, etc. ILLUSTRATED ROBERT ML McBRIDE AND COMPANY New Tork ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To Mr. G. Bernard Shaw for permission to quote from his interview on the abdication of Edward the Eighth. To Miss Elsa Maxwell for permission to quote from her article which originally appeared in The Cosmopolitan New York and the Sunday Express London. To J. B. Lippincott Company Philadelphia for permis sion to quote from their publications King Edward the Eighth by Hector Bolitho and Marriage by L6on Blum. To the Estate of the late John Drinkwater for permission to quote from his article in John Bull. CONTENTS PAGE Chapter I. THE TARBRUSH AND THE TRUTH i Chapter II. WHY EDWARD WENT 9 Chapter III. THE SLANDERING OF MRS. SIMP SON 21 Chapter IV. KING AND CLIQUE ABROAD 53 Chapter V. KING AND CLIQUE AT HOME 84 Chapter VI. KING AND CHURCH 118 Chapter VII. AND AFTER 170 ILLUSTRATIONS KING EDWARD AND HIS MOTHER, QUEEN MARY Frontispiece FACING PAGE KING EDWARD VISITS THE SLUMS OF GLASGOW 30 THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF WINDSOR ON THEIR WEDDING DAY 48 KING EDWARD IN THE DISTRESSED AREAS OF WALES 1OO MR. STANLEY BALDWIN 12O THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 148 KING EDWARDS FIRST STATE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT 174 Why Edward Went CHAPTER I THE TARBRUSH AND THE TRUTH book, written by an Englishman, is addressed pri-J marily to American readers because it cannot be ad dressed directly to English readers. I make no secret of my hope that what I have to say will seep back to England, just as the reports of King Edward VIIFs love-affair withMrs. Simpson, first published in the United States, seeped back to England. Meanwhile it is essential that the American public, at least, should know the truth about the present position of the British Monarchy after King Edwards abdication. It is a truism that Anglo-American understanding is the keystone of world-peace. Unless the American public is in formed about this situation, there is grave danger of mis understanding. Hitherto the British Monarchy has been regarded as an institution which kept the political life of Great Britain stable, and so exerted a stabilising influence in an unstable world. Official England would have us believe that, after the epi sode of King Edwards abdication, the British Monarchy is as good as ever it was, if not better. 2 Why Edward Went This is false. The truth is that the prestige of the British Crown has sunk to a dangerously low ebb. The truth is that, despite all attempts to whoop up en thusiasm for King George VI, the younger generation of England do not give him the unthinking, unquestioning loyalty which the British Monarchy has hitherto enjoyed. The truth is that the mainspring of the State, that un thinking, unquestioning loyalty to the Crown, is perilously near breaking-point. In a crisis, it may snap. Such is the legacy of the circumstances attending the ab dication of King Edward VIIL I happened to be at Kings Cross station in London a few days after King Edwards abdication, when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were setting off from that station to spend Christmas at Sandringham, the Royal estate in Nor folk. The next day, the newspapers reported that they were seen off by cheering crowds, amid scenes of great enthu siasm. This wassimply a specimen of the official dope which the British Press sees fit to hand out To put it bluntly, these newspaper reports about the send-off to the new King and Queen were a pack of lies. I witnessed this send-off. It was one of the most painful things I have ever seen. I was at the window of the refreshment-room, which looks out on the station-yard, when the Royal party drove up. Their reception was made more pointed by the fact that