Cultural depictions of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson

Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson have been depicted in popular culture, both biographical and fictional, following his abdication in 1936 and their marriage the following year.

Literature

* Robertson Davies's ''The Deptford Trilogy'' has Edward's profound effect on his public as a key element. One of the characters, Boy Staunton, is a great admirer of Edward VIII, having met him in person once and styled himself after him. His discontent upon being appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario mirrors Edward's decision to choose love over his title and position.
* Several alternate history works depicting a victorious Nazi Germany assume that Edward VIII would have become a pro-Nazi puppet King (which the Nazis indeed tried to achieve in actual history - see Operation Willi).
** Robert Harris's alternative history novel ''Fatherland'' depicts Edward VIII as the restored king of the United Kingdom alongside Wallis Simpson as part of a pro-Nazi puppet government in Britain. Like the rest of western Europe, Great Britain, although unoccupied, is forced to sign up to an E.U. (except Switzerland) which shows their loyalty to the Greater German Reich. However, the British Empire still controls its territories in Africa and Asia, Germany allows this to spread their influence around the world, whereas Canada, Australia and New Zealand are U.S. allies which recognize his niece Elizabeth as the Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms.
** In Stephen Fry's '' Making History'', Adolf Hitler is never born, but the Nazi Party nevertheless is founded and takes power, led by Rudolf Glodner - a far more capable leader than Hitler. Under him, Nazi Germany develops nuclear weapons by 1938 and easily conquers the whole of Europe including Britain by 1939, its rule remaining firm and uncontested for generations to come. Also in this timeline, Edward VIII lives out his life as a puppet King, and is complicit in the brutal suppression by the Nazis of a forlorn British rebellion in 1939 and in the mass executions which follow - among those summarily shot by the occupying Nazis including the King's own brother, the Duke of York (who in other circumstances would have become King George VI).
** Guy Walters's ''The Leader''an alternate history of World War II wherein Edward VIII does not abdicate but reigns as king with Wallis Simpson as queen. They rule a fascist Britain after World War II and are allied with a victorious Adolf Hitler, but are opposed by the hero of the book, Captain James Armstrong. In this scenario, Edward VIII is an ally of the Nazis rather than their complete puppet.
* In the timeline of Robert A. Heinlein's first novel '' For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs'' (written 1938, published 2003) - then a future history which can now be considered as a retroactive alternative history - Edward returns to England at the outbreak of war and distinguishes himself in wartime service. After the war - which ends in 1944 due to Germany's economic collapse - a European Federation is formed and Edward is made into a Constitutional Emperor of Europe, a task which he fulfills with great success. However, he dies without issue in 1970 (two years earlier than in actual history) and in the aftermath Europe is torn up in forty years of highly destructive war and is largely depopulated.
* In '' I Never Promised You a Rose Garden'', written by Joanne Greenberg under the pseudonym Hannah Green, a mental patient believes that she is the secret first wife of Edward VIII.
* ''Famous Last Words'', a novel by Timothy Findley