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00:00Over 100 years ago, the British monarchy began a fight for survival, and King George V would
00:10rebrand the royal family using his children to win over the public. This was the first time that
00:16the young royals were deployed to sustain the whole edifice of monarchy. First, there was Prince
00:22Edward, the charismatic heir. Then, Prince Bertie, the shy retiring spare. Prince Henry was
00:30the dutiful military man. Then came Prince George, the family darling. And the only girl
00:36in this Windsor pack was loyal Princess Mary. Now, letters and diaries belonging to these
00:43young royals, Queen Elizabeth II's father, aunt, and uncles, reveal astonishing stories
00:49of abdication, war, and deep family divisions. Mary writes, the action of my brother has
00:55distressed me more than I can say. We never get windows like this into the royal family.
01:03In the 1920s, the royals had survived a surge of populism. Now, in the depression of the
01:091930s, criticism of the monarchy was being publicly voiced. Image would be everything. It was time
01:16for the three unmarried brothers to settle down and find suitable wives. Henry is about
01:21town with one of the most wildest women of her time. She was everything that Queen Mary
01:26would actually be fearful of. Have you heard of Mrs. Simpson? I expect not, but you will.
01:33Seeing all his siblings conform made Edward more determined to rebel. And as their father's solid
01:41reign drew to a close, the part each of them played in the family drama of succession would
01:47shape the monarchy we know today. This has absolutely destroyed them. It has sent a tidal wave
01:54through this family. The combined contingents from all over England march to London's field of free
02:08speech, Hyde Park. Everyone must sympathise with this orderly demonstration which has such a deserving
02:13object. So the roaring 20s came crashing to a halt in 1929 with the Wall Street crash.
02:21It triggered a global crisis, an immense hardship. The hungry 30s were not a myth. Some 150 people
02:33died every day from the consequences of malnutrition in Britain. We're all very, very badly hit by a
02:41global depression. And so what you got was a real catastrophe.
02:56Feelings were running high in deprived areas, special areas they were called in the euphemism of the time.
03:03And when Bertie and his wife visited the East End, there were actually remarkably shouts of,
03:12um, we don't want no royal parasites. Give us food. We don't want no royal parasites.
03:17Which was an extraordinary thing because generally speaking, the populace was,
03:21uh, as they put it in a famous slogan, lousy but loyal. Here, they were thoroughly disloyal.
03:30And that, I think, reflects the seriousness of the social crisis of the time.
03:38In the decade that had followed World War I, the royal family had managed to ride a wave of
03:43Bolshevism and discontent among the working-class masses, using the younger generation to help
03:48maintain public support. George V is media savvy. He has produced an idea of the king
03:55as a constitutional monarch above and outside politics, but also the king and queen as being a
04:05family unit at the center of domestic life and family life. These are relatively new ideas in a mass
04:15democracy. Now in the 1930s, Britain faced economic depression, increasing the stark disparity between
04:22the upper and lower classes. With criticism of the royal family now being publicly voiced,
04:29the family image would become ever more important. The king and queen would need to project their
04:35family as the most solid and stable in the land. Princess Mary had done her domestic duty and cheered
04:42the country up after the war, marrying Viscount Lassels in front of millions.
04:47This is claimed as the people's wedding, not Mary's wedding.
04:52Mary was now the mother of two young sons and would soon move to her husband's estate in Yorkshire.
05:01Shy Bertie was also in the family good books.
05:05Bertie and Elizabeth soon settled down. Princess Elizabeth was born in 1926 and he just adored her.
05:13There's that real sort of domestic family feeling that comes through very strongly.
05:19It was Windsor family tradition for the brothers to congregate for Christmas at Sandringham,
05:24and the newest addition would spend the holidays with Uncle Edward, who the family called David.
05:31Darling Mary, thank you ever so much for your nice Christmas card. We are spending a very quiet Christmas,
05:36so quiet that it's a bit too dull. The only young and gay member of this somewhat aged and long-toothed party
05:44is baby Elizabeth, who I must say is too attractive for words, and needless to add has us all at her feet.
05:50Tons of love, darling Mary, from David.
05:52But behind the king and queen's perfect family facade, three of their sons were living the lives of royal robes.
06:04Edward, heir to the throne, was now 35 and had spent the past decade as father's reluctant poster boy for empire.
06:11He had started to voice political views in public, and in private was living it up as the playboy of the western world.
06:21Prince Henry, now 29, had carved out an impeccable image of a dutiful military man,
06:27but on a fateful trip to Kenya had deviated into the arms of an unsuitable woman.
06:32And Prince George, the family darling, was now 27 and had been freed from the navy,
06:38only to dive head first into the hedonistic world of the bright young things, alongside big brother Edward.
06:47Prince George was utterly bored by his father's career choice for him,
06:51and he raced to join his oldest brother at the heart of London's racy high society set.
06:57George absolutely became the right wingman for his older brother, to the extent that they even moved in together.
07:06They were so pleased to be free from the censorious eye of the king.
07:13George had pushed the boundaries when it came to exploring his sexuality,
07:17and his experimental streak would take a worrying turn.
07:21Drugs were nothing new, and they were part of the lifestyle of the bright young things,
07:27so it's not entirely surprising that they became part of Prince George's lifestyle.
07:33George, as with his sexual life, George was taking terrific risks given the climate at the time.
07:39There were cases of society drug addicts who did end up in police courts,
07:43and, you know, the news of the world was full of it from one month to the next.
07:48George had gone over the top into a world of drugs which was demoralizing him,
07:53and also threatening the stability of the monarchy, because George was made much more indiscreet by his druggy activity.
08:05Edward assisted in the process of rehabilitating his youngest brother George from drug addiction,
08:13and he did this very largely, I think, by sticking close to him and watching him.
08:18It was a very tricky operation, as he himself said, having to act as doctor, jailer and detective.
08:26But Edward, self-centered, hedonistic, egocentric,
08:33for once thought of somebody else, and this was the brother that he loved.
08:40George V, he was very grateful to his eldest son for helping in the rehabilitation of George.
08:49And he wrote to him, saying,
08:51looking after him all those months must have been a great strain on you,
08:56and I think it is wonderful all you did for him.
09:01So there was a rare moment of rapport between the king and his eldest son over this piece of family do-goody.
09:12News about the young royals sold millions of newspapers, but their private exploits were strictly off-limits,
09:19thanks to gentlemen's agreements with the press.
09:22It was a relationship of convenience.
09:25The excesses of the princes would not go down well in times when their public were living in stark austerity.
09:33The deepening plight of the nation's poor had caught the attention of Edward, heir to the throne,
09:38who had begun to voice controversial, potentially unconstitutional views in public,
09:44and was equally outspoken to his little sister Mary.
09:48Darling Mary, look at it from the viewpoint of the masses.
09:52They don't care a damn for politics or who gets in,
09:54so long as something is done to improve the conditions of their ghastly lives.
09:58For they are ghastly. One can't get away from that.
10:02The economic crisis in Britain was playing out across Europe,
10:06where a new fascist ideology was fast gaining ground.
10:10Soon after Hitler came to power, Edward could be heard saying,
10:14dictators are very popular these days and we may have to go the dictator way ourselves.
10:20He wanted to intrude himself into politics in a way that his father had not been seen to do.
10:29Edward's willingness to voice his political opinions had unsettled members of the establishment,
10:37particularly then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.
10:40Edward Prince of Wales didn't like the idea of simply being a figurehead.
10:45He didn't realize that the point of being a constitutional monarch was that you were neutral,
10:51that you did not arbitrate, you didn't have any power. And if you started to exercise power,
10:56you were bound to rub one or other of the parties up the wrong way.
11:00And Baldwin felt that Edward's inclinations weren't dangerously radical.
11:07Edward's unconventional approach would put him on a collision course with the establishment
11:12and his own family.
11:19At a time of acute economic depression in Britain, Edward would head out on another tour,
11:25this time to South America to bolster trade links.
11:29What an amazing constitution the Prince of Wales must have.
11:32One day alone, he carried out no fewer than six ceremonies with a change of dress for each occasion.
11:39The now largely rehabilitated Prince George would go with him and was firmly back in the Windsor Circle of Trust.
11:49But the Prince of Wales was in a rebellious mood and showing it.
11:53It started extremely well. Edward went through the motions and he did exactly what was expected of him to start with.
12:02But he probably had enough of touring by this time. He was bored and soon he began to show it.
12:10And this was the problem that he didn't turn up to agreed meetings. When he did appear, he looked sullen and sulky.
12:18The consequence was that he got a bad press. This was unique to him. The press had generally been supportive.
12:26But he really palpably let the side down on this tour. And as a result,
12:33just the beginnings of cracks were seen in the public image, which upset, worried, concerned George V.
12:45But Edward wasn't the only son causing cracks in the family facade.
12:50Little brother Henry had been courting a scandal of his own.
12:54To say that Henry at this point is behaving out of character is an enormous understatement.
12:59This is new territory for him. Previous to this, quiet, dull, interested in his army career.
13:06Now he is about town with one of the most wildest women of her time.
13:13Prince Henry, a captain in the army, had gone on tour with his brother Edward to Kenya
13:18and begun an affair with married adventurer Beryl Markham.
13:23She was the worst kind of courtesan for Prince Henry to have. She'd been married twice.
13:28She's just had a son. She's a commoner. She had worked for a living.
13:33So she was everything that Queen Mary would actually be fearful of.
13:36A few months after their affair began, Beryl had arrived in London and had been installed
13:43at the Grosvenor Hotel on the very doorstep of the palace, minus her husband.
13:49She and Prince Henry had picked up where they left off and set society tongues wagging.
13:54The fact that he was the royal prince who might have fathered an illegitimate child
13:58was fantastic news to those people who wanted a really good story about the royal family.
14:04But those that knew the situation well worked out that it was not possible that Prince Henry
14:11could be the father. The dates just didn't match. But why let the facts get in the way of a good story?
14:18You know, the gossip simply continued.
14:22It was crucial for the royal family to avoid a scandal at this time. It's the depression,
14:29country's unhappy, the royal family is trying to reinvent itself yet again to justify itself.
14:36So if the scandal had gone public, it would have been an absolute disaster for them.
14:43Henry and Beryl's affair comes to a head when Beryl's husband,
14:48who's in London because, let's not forget, she's just had a baby with him.
14:52He finds letters, love letters, that Prince Henry has written to Beryl.
14:57From this point on, things change dramatically. The Markham family decide that he should go for
15:03a divorce and that they should name Prince Henry in divorce proceedings.
15:09I don't think he'd have been able to get out of it himself, but his extremely forceful
15:13mother took up his cause and and resolved it for him. An arrangement was made whereby Beryl got a
15:23sort of pension from Henry, which lasted her the rest of her life. So the payoff was made and
15:29nothing appeared in the newspapers. Beryl was sent packing back to Kenya and would later divorce, citing
15:37intolerable indignities as the cause. This case illustrated the vital importance of getting
15:46their sons settled down with a suitable wife, just as Bertie had been settled down with Elizabeth
15:53Bose Lyon. But Edward, their son and heir, was about to take the meaning of family scandal to a whole new
16:00level. He had met an American who would change everything, one Mrs. Wallace Simpson.
16:06She was brash. She was new. She was refreshing. Wallace seemed to represent everything that he was
16:14looking for. Actually, I think he really fell in love. Wallace was something else. Wallace was
16:21divorced. She was American, which was a kind of stigma in itself. And she was, as Queen Mary said,
16:29an adventuress. The King and Queen felt that she was anathema, that she was entirely unsuitable for
16:38the Prince of Wales. And this fateful match would change the course of British history.
16:48The announcement made by His Majesty the King of the engagement of his youngest son to Princess Marina
16:53has given great pleasure to the entire nation. After some wild times experimenting with his sexuality
16:59and drugs, it seemed Prince George was finally ready to settle down with the exiled Princess Marina of
17:05Greece and Denmark. My darling George, Mama has told me about your exciting news, and I must write
17:12and congratulate you on your engagement to Marina. With love to you both, darling George, ever your devoted
17:18sister, Mary. We have received so many congratulations. We want to thank everyone for all their kindness.
17:25I am so very happy and looking forward to come to England.
17:32The great thing about the George and Marina story is that it wasn't an arranged marriage. It was a love
17:41match. My darling Mary, thank you so much for your sweet letter of congratulation. I'm very lucky to have
17:48found anyone as sweet and pretty as Marina. I know you will love her.
17:54And George borrows one of his brother Edward's planes and flies himself off to Yugoslavia.
18:02His sole intention, of course, being to propose to Princess Marina. It's the stuff of romance, isn't it?
18:11But the very fact that she was a thoroughbred princess ticked all the right boxes.
18:19One of the first to give the Windsor seal of approval was big sister Mary, who is now in her
18:25mid-30s and mother of two growing sons. Mary writes to her mother and she says,
18:32she seems very sweet and George is certainly lucky, as I think we all are, to have her as a near relation.
18:38You can see that Mary in herself is very appreciative and happy that George is finding a woman like that,
18:45making sure he is playing the part in the same way Mary is playing her part,
18:50to secure the future and the public face of what the British monarchy needs to be.
18:58Prince George had always been close to his big brother Edward, but family bonds would be tested
19:04at his pre-wedding party. It was here he would try to present the controversial Wallace to his family.
19:11She was an increasingly serious prospect.
19:13She was unfit to be queen. She was divorced. It went against all the tradition of a constitutional
19:21monarchy, where the monarch was the defender of the faith, where Christianity didn't allow
19:27for a divorced woman to become queen. Edward was determined to introduce Wallace to his parents,
19:35and he thought this would be the moment. Well, his parents did not want this woman,
19:40Wallace Simpson, at the party. Edward put Wallace's name on the guest list.
19:45George V crossed it out. He certainly wasn't having anything to do with this.
19:49And Edward somehow managed to bring her into the party to the fury of King George.
19:59Here is Wallace at this party in a dress in violet lame with a vivid green sash.
20:07Nobody could fail to notice her. I'm sure that Edward wanted to introduce Wallace to his parents,
20:13because he thought that they would be bound to share his intoxication with this alluring person.
20:22But George V was highly indignant. That woman in my house, get her out. You know,
20:27he didn't want to have anything to do with her. She was absolutely beyond the pale.
20:37George's wedding to Marina was a huge affair, you know, a real royal pageant with a touch of fairy tale to it,
20:51because the bride and groom were both so irresistibly glamorous.
20:56It had been more than 10 years since Princess Mary's wedding, and now in the depression,
21:01this royal fairy tale would provide a welcome boost for their public.
21:05At Buckingham Palace, there were scenes of unbelievable enthusiasm. Surely never before
21:10have there been such crowds. Countless thousands awaiting a glimpse of their new princess.
21:15A sea of faces expectant to turn towards the balcony.
21:18So finally, the wild, untamed George seemed to be doing what his father so wanted, stepping up to the
21:27responsibilities of marriage. But it did have quite an effect on his oldest brother.
21:35Wallace wrote rather perceptively that it was as though a kind of sadness enveloped Edward around the
21:42time of George's wedding, as though he was losing an anchor to his personal life.
21:51And within a matter of months, the family and their people would celebrate another royal wedding.
21:57Prince Henry, now purged of his scandalous love affair, had finally made his match.
22:03A year after George and Marina's marriage, Henry also found a bride, Lady Alice,
22:09who was the daughter of a wealthy Scottish landowner. And there was a real sympathy there.
22:18Henry's proposal to Alice could not have made more of a contrast to George's proposal to Marina when
22:25he took the plane. It wasn't exactly a big romantic declaration. He just muttered it as an aside during
22:33one of their walks. And as she put it, the rather swift affair was not troubled by much press interest or romance.
22:41On this great day of public rejoicing, a brilliant sun shines on the bride and tens of thousands who
22:47have come to London to see the third son of their majesties, the King and Queen, married to the daughter
22:51of an ancient Scottish family.
22:53We can see that the family is so relieved, almost as if he's made terrible choices in the past and
23:09they've all sort of been sitting behind the scenes going, oh God, please don't end up with that one.
23:14Alice has been lovely. She's made a very good impression. She's clearly going to be
23:20a very good partner for him and for the family. Henry's illicit affair with Beryl Markham was over
23:28but not forgotten. Prince Henry, I think, found it very difficult to end the affair despite the pressure
23:35bearing down upon him. Eventually, he had to conform and duty had to come first. And eventually,
23:43the affair petered out. For him though, I don't think he ever stopped loving Beryl. She was the love
23:49of his life. And I think we know this because when he died, the presents that she had given him were
23:56discreetly returned back to her. In other words, he could never bear to part with the gifts that she had
24:03given him. Queen Mary and King George still had one more son to marry off. Edward, heir to the throne,
24:11had yet to find a suitable bride to one day be queen. But after more than a year as the prince's
24:17favorite, Mrs. Simpson appeared to be going nowhere. I think seeing all his siblings conform and marry
24:26more or less suitable people and provide children was one of the things that made Edward more determined
24:33to rebel. And Edward would also rebel in the realms of politics and be drawn to the leadership of a
24:40dangerous dictator who was fast gaining ground. Edward's views are of course very different
24:56politically from those of the king. George V is made very anxious by fascism. He detests Hitler because
25:04he is not a constitutional politician. He represents a challenge to everything George V has built up and
25:13stands for. And Edward had made his own political stand in direct defiance of his father's constitutional
25:23model. He stands up in front of the royal British legion, thousands and thousands of people and says,
25:31you are the guys who should stretch the hands of friendship forward to the Germans. So he is not
25:40merely saying very, very publicly that friendship with Germany, with Nazi Germany is desirable,
25:47but that you are the guys who ought to be doing this. Edward's speech is a serious offense in a number of
25:55ways. It is a complete breach of etiquette. It's the heir to the throne taking a political stance.
26:02In 1935, the Windsors would celebrate the king's silver jubilee, marking 25 years on the throne,
26:17and proving how successful the king's royal rebrand had been. It would be their last tour de force as a
26:23family. The cheers of the people were an expression of solid, utter respect, down to the last man and
26:30woman, to show again its loyalty to our beloved king and queen, George and Mary. King George V's
26:37silver jubilee was a momentous affair. It was a culmination, really, of his reign. And it saw an
26:45outpouring of huge and genuine emotion. It was the antithesis of the theatre of power at Nuremberg.
26:56It was a pantomime of pomp rather than a theatre of power. And it solidified the loyalty that was felt
27:05in Britain to the crown. It was as though his rebranding of the monarchy and relaunching of the monarchy
27:15when he changed its name to Windsor, to make the monarchy a symbol of the people, it was as though
27:22that had really worked. Everybody wanted to come and celebrate the silver jubilee. It was a great national
27:28event. At the close of this memorable day, I must speak to my people everywhere. How can I express
27:43what is in my heart? As I passed, as I passed this morning, through cheering multitudes,
27:53I can only say to you, my very dear people, that the queen and I thank you from the depth of our hearts.
28:06I dedicate myself anew to your service for the years that they still be given to me.
28:17The Windsors seemed at the height of popularity, yet just a few months later, everything that they had
28:23worked so hard to build would be in danger of collapse.
28:36On a cold January day, the body of his late majesty King George V starts on its last journey.
28:43Behind the coffin walks His Majesty the King. Their Royal Highness is the Duke of York, Duke of Cluster,
28:49Duke of Kent and Lord Harwood. In the first carriage is the following figure of Her Majesty the Queen.
28:57Tuesday, January the 28th, 1936. Dense crowds everywhere and silent. Only noise, besides rumble of
29:06carriage and horses' hooves, was orders to troops lining streets. Many people fainted in crowds. Most impressive
29:15service and mercifully I did not break down. Today, it is as if the great curtains have been thrown back
29:24and the world takes leave of the man who was the symbol of all the might, majesty and power of the British
29:31Commonwealth of Nations. For a few more hours, King George is surrounded by the utmost of pomp and
29:37ceremony that tradition and reverence can devise to honour its beloved death.
29:45The death of the King has profound repercussions for the royal family, as it does for the nation.
29:52Elizabeth, the Duchess of York, says it's like a light gone out of the family circle.
29:59King George's death would empower the one son least ready to build on his legacy.
30:04King George's death would encourage the body of the king, the princess is always going to be a question mark of how
30:10George was going to be replaced. Edward was modern, very plugged in to what was happening,
30:19socially, obviously with very different standards and politically with ideas of his own.
30:27Just days after his father's death, Edward would break his first royal protocol.
30:44As he is officially proclaimed king, he watches the ceremony, a dramatic break with royal
30:50tradition.
30:51And in the window above the event, he has the controversial Wallace by his side.
30:56This is one of the moments when all the old court feel this is a dramatic breaking with
31:03history, with protocol, with custom.
31:07Wallace is, at this point, a married woman.
31:09Why on earth is she there watching the proclamation of the new king?
31:16For many, this was the moment when the scales fell from their eyes.
31:21Edward was showing the establishment, including Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, the kind of
31:26modern king he intended to be.
31:28George V's body is barely cold when Edward shows strong signs of wanting to claw back royal
31:40power and also to pursue friendship with Germany.
31:44One of the mourners that has come out from Germany is a relative, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Götter, who
31:55is also a very, very ardent Nazi.
31:58Edward is saying, who is king here, Baldwin or I, if I wish to talk to Hitler and will do so
32:17here or in Germany, tell him that, please.
32:21Edward is saying, in effect, as king, I am going to be my own man.
32:28Baldwin might be my prime minister, but I am the king.
32:33I have a position and power in my own right.
32:37Edward would begin to use that power, even with his own family.
32:45In April 1936, Lord Harwood, Mary's husband, gave a speech to a territorial army unit in
32:53which he talked about Hitler and Mussolini as being high women and gangsters and said, well,
32:59we mustn't interfere in their internal affairs, but when they begin to menace us, we must take
33:04notice of it.
33:06And Edward, as king, was really upset by this.
33:11And he wrote to his sister Mary saying that this was a most injudicious speech.
33:16He said he wished that in future, Lord Harwood would be much more careful about the things
33:22that he said, because he's essentially insulting Mussolini and Hitler, and we want to try and
33:27remain friends with them.
33:28So it was a real sort of a slap in the face to his brother-in-law.
33:36I think he is perhaps completely unaware that at this moment, he is absolutely sowing the
33:42seed for a division between older brother and younger sister, because he's expecting her
33:48to do as he says, in complete disregard for her sense of duty to her husband and her devotion
33:55to the life that they have built together.
33:59As Edward settled into his new public role as king, behind closed doors, after a rumored
34:05two years together, his relationship with Wallace Simpson would become more serious.
34:10But his public remained in the dark due to press silence on the story in Britain.
34:16Have you heard of Mrs. Simpson, writes Alan Turing, the mathematician to his mother,
34:22from Princeton in the summer of 1936?
34:25I expect not, but you will.
34:32King Edward VIII, the world's most famous bachelor, has often been a best man, but never a bridegroom.
34:38In this topsy-turvy world, it may be time for an American woman to marry a British king.
34:44Only one man knows the answer, and as yet, he is keeping it a royal secret.
34:52The British press silence about the king's relationship with Mrs. Simpson is part of the ongoing gentleman's
35:00agreement. The political class and the British press are concerned that if the silence breaks,
35:11it will precipitate a political crisis.
35:15Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin was under increasing pressure from the government and the press.
35:22Edward believes that he can rely on that press silence as he continues his relationship.
35:30But Baldwin advises Edward that this press silence cannot continue.
35:37There was time for an 11th hour family intervention.
35:42This letter is from a family friend who's the Duchess of Westminster.
35:45And she writes to Mary saying,
35:47You can't drive him, but you may be able to lead him. You used to be such good chums in your school days.
35:54Sympathy and kindness may do a lot for him now.
35:58It may be a turning point in his life and perhaps get rid of her, Wallace, for good.
36:04But what happened next would cause a family rift that would change the course of history.
36:08The story of Wallace Simpson and her relationship with the king of England had been held off by the British press for months.
36:22But the floodgates were about to burst.
36:24When the press start to report, there is a sense that the gun has been fired and, if not a free-for-all,
36:38that the press are now able to express political opinions about the monarchy.
36:44The door was now open for the public to express their opinion, and it was a nation divided.
36:52King's matter was being discussed by the man in the street, you know, from Sydney to New York.
36:58Suddenly, the royal family was caught in the headlights of the world's press,
37:02with all the shaming tittle-tattle of the king's affair known to everybody.
37:07And from Queen Mary's point of view, and the rest of the family, you know, it was deeply shaming.
37:15King Edward Romance holds the attention of the world, and in London, the drama of empire unfolds.
37:20Crowds like this surround Buckingham Palace to prove to the king that all the world loves a lover.
37:27Except, perhaps, Prime Minister Baldwin, leader of the government's fight against the marriage.
37:33Baldwin was an absolute master of tactical politics.
37:39He was under a lot of pressure from the hardliners in the civil service and his own cabinet to try and force Edward's hands.
37:49Baldwin knew that that was not the way forward.
37:53He knew, A, psychologically, that Edward would fight, and it would not look good if it was presented to the public.
38:03Baldwin knew that Edward had to be taken gently but remorselessly to face the fact that it was either
38:12marry Wallace or remain as king.
38:18After Edward met Baldwin, he went to see his mother and his sister Mary was there,
38:24and he told them of his decision. And his mother was absolutely shocked and horrified that he could,
38:32that he could say such a thing. She emphasized that so many people had
38:37died doing their duty in the First World War. And now he was not doing his duty, much lesser duty now.
38:48For next in line, Bertie, who had suffered with a crippling stammer since childhood.
38:54The wait to find out his fate was excruciating.
38:58Bertie constantly tried to communicate with his brother and find out
39:02really whether this this terrible cup was going to be presented to him and that he would have to
39:08drink it to the dregs. Edward didn't care about that.
39:13In the wake of the press frenzy, Wallace had fled to France.
39:18News of Edward's decision, made after less than a year as king, spread through the Windsor family
39:24like wildfire and all the way to Princess Mary's youngest son at boarding school.
39:30Darling Mummy, thank you so much for your letter which came this morning.
39:34I had read a bit in the papers about Uncle David and Mrs. Simpson,
39:37but I never dreamt that anything like this would happen. It gave me such a shock.
39:42I feel so sorry for you and Granny and everyone else.
39:45Best love to you and Granny from your loving Gerald.
39:48P.S. I expect George is most upset about it too.
39:53The family would have one last dinner before Edward would make his abdication speech to the nation,
39:58and go into exile.
40:02We had to say goodbye to David, all too sad as when he leaves he may not return here for some years.
40:09He did not appear upset, but does not seem to realize the situation.
40:14Mother was very brave.
40:17I think Edward's siblings would have felt that he had betrayed the ideal of kingship which George V had
40:27embodied.
40:31At long last, I am able to say a few words of my own.
40:38You all know the reasons which have impelled me to renounce the throne.
40:45So here was a dramatic combination of family, disintegration and national crisis.
40:55George Duke of Kent cried, he wept, about the loss of this great figure in his life and in the nation's life.
41:04For Henry it was, you know, a question of duty is not being done. He was a military man and
41:10here was his brother, you know, not facing up to his responsibility.
41:14Mary was deeply upset, she wept too.
41:19Bertie was anguished at the prospect of having to deputise for somebody whom he'd always revered
41:28and loved, it must be said.
41:31I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility
41:37and to discharge my duties as king, as I would wish to do,
41:43without the help and support of the woman I love.
41:48What throws great light on that meeting was the family letters that were sent to Baldwin
41:57by various of the siblings and relations of Edward. And these all expressed gratitude
42:04to Baldwin and shame at the indignity that had been cast on the institution by his
42:10the failure to take the responsibilities of kingship seriously.
42:13Dear Prime Minister, from the bottom of my heart I wish to thank you for the way you have helped the king.
42:20The action of my brother has distressed me more than I can say.
42:24You know, these are people who kept their personal feelings so intensely to themselves,
42:30and here we have them openly acknowledging the pain they are in. So you really do get a sense that this
42:37has absolutely destroyed them. It has sent a tidal wave through this family.
42:44Madam, your letter touched me deeply. Never was it more needful for those near him
42:50to recognise this and not lose their faith in him. Nothing but tragedy lies ahead. When the
42:56disillusionment comes, as come it must, he will need all the love and support that a sister and brother
43:02can give him. It will be the sanity of a human soul that will be at stake, and the women of his family
43:08may be able to do far more good than the men.
43:12And now we all have a new king. I wish him and you, his people, happiness and prosperity with all my heart.
43:28God bless you all. God save the king.
43:35Bertie felt that he was ascending a throne that was actually crumbling.
43:42God bless you all. God bless you all.
43:45God bless you all.
43:47Monarchy has to stay relevant. There has to be a reason why it exists. Without a reason, it's gone.
43:55God bless you all.
43:59God bless you all.
44:03God bless you all.