Wallis Simpson (cont.)
The newly crowned King’s unwavering desire to marry Wallis (some would argue he was irretrievably besotted) would set off a constitutional crisis that would shake the United Kingdom and the monarchy itself to its very core.
As the crisis worsened, then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin threatened to resign, forcing Edward to make a decision. He would choose love over the crown and end his reign as King by abdicating just 326 days after his ascension.
However, recent re-evaluations of events would suggest something other than a love story that cost a King his crown. In July 1940, Edward, now Duke of Windsor, was appointed Governor of the Bahamas and many historians now believe this appointment was to put distance between him, Wallis and the man Edward considered “the right and logical leader of the German people,” Adolf Hitler.
