The abandoned coronation of King
Edward VIII
Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...
of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
was due to take place at
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
on 12 May 1937. Preparations had already begun and souvenirs were on sale when Edward VIII decided to
abdicate on 11 December 1936. He did this because of opposition from many quarters to his attempt to marry
Wallis Simpson
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused ...
, who had previously divorced. His
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...
was cancelled as a result of his abdication. The coronation date itself wasn't cancelled. Edward VIII's brother and successor King
George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...
and wife Queen
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
were crowned on that date.
Accession
In January 1936, King
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936.
Born duri ...
died and his eldest son,
Edward VIII
Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...
, succeeded him as King of the United Kingdom. Edward VIII was unmarried at that time, but the American socialite Wallis Simpson had accompanied him on numerous social occasions in years leading up to 1936; she was married to the shipping executive
Ernest Aldrich Simpson
Ernest Aldrich Simpson (6 May 1897 – 30 November 1958) was an American-born British shipbroker, best known as the second husband of Wallis Simpson, later wife of the former King Edward VIII.
Simpson served as an officer in the Coldstream Gua ...
and had previously been divorced. The relationship had not yet been reported in the British press.
Preparation
Planning
The Coronation Committee had been delayed when it met for the first time on 24 June 1936;
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...
, the
Lord President of the Council
The lord president of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the ...
, met with the
Duke of Norfolk
Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...
, to discuss the proceedings; MacDonald would chair the Coronation Committee as a whole, and the Duke would chair the executive committee. While Edward VIII was away, cruising on the ''
Nahlin'' with Wallis Simpson, his brother, Albert, Duke of York (the future
George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...
) sat in his place on the committees.
Edward VIII had initially been reluctant to have a coronation at all (asking the Archbishop of Canterbury whether it could be dispensed with), but conceded that a shorter service would be acceptable; his desire for a lower-key event led to the planned abandonment of the royal procession through
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
the following day, the thanks-giving service at
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
and the dinner with London dignitaries.
[Strong, ''Coronation'', 2005, pp. 421-422]
Archbishop of Canterbury
Although the executive committee was at the direction of the
Earl Marshal
Earl marshal (alternatively marschal or marischal) is a hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the sovereign of the United Kingdom used in England (then, following the Act of Union 1800, in the United Kingdom). He is the eig ...
, the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
,
Cosmo Lang
William Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth, (31 October 1864 – 5 December 1945) was a Scottish Anglican prelate who served as Archbishop of York (1908–1928) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1928–1942). His elevation to Archbishop ...
, was also a driving force behind the preparations for the coronation and many of the decisions in respect to the order of service were made by or with him. Owing to his office, he was a member of both the executive committee and the Coronation Committee, which dealt with the detail and, as such, he attended all of the rehearsals. He tended to take a leading role in the planning process, becoming a key mediator when queries arose, and dealing with questions over how the service should be broadcast by the media.
Abdication
The King's desire to marry an allegedly unsuitable woman was the public reason for a
constitutional crisis
In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variations to this d ...
that led to his abdication from the throne on 11 December 1936. While plans for the coronation went ahead, this time for a
different monarch, thousands of businesses, both large and small, were stuck with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pounds' worth of souvenirs and other memorabilia with Edward's face or
monogram
A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series o ...
on them.
Disposing of memorabilia
Coins
![EdwardVIIIcoin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/EdwardVIIIcoin.jpg)
Due to the brevity of his reign, both proof and circulation strikes of Edward VIII coinage are extremely rare, and highly desired by
numismatists
A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...
.
While silver coinage was not supposed to be issued until just before the coronation was to take place, the new brass
three-penny bit was already being made for introduction early in January 1937, and the entire stock was melted down. The same was done for other coins in
Commonwealth realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations whose monarch and head of state is shared among the other realms. Each realm functions as an independent state, equal with the other realms and nations of the Commonwealt ...
s, although rumours of a
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar ( symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style ...
surviving have made the rounds.
Less than a dozen Edward VIII
proof set
Proof coinage refers to special early samples of a coin issue, historically made for checking the dies (as in demonstrating that something is true) and for archival purposes. Nowadays proofs are often struck in greater numbers specially for co ...
s are believed to have survived.
A few
gold sovereigns were released, and the
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins.
Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclus ...
has a collection of pattern designs for Edward's coinage. Four British possessions,
British West Africa
British West Africa was the collective name for British colonies in West Africa during the colonial period, either in the general geographical sense or the formal colonial administrative entity. British West Africa as a colonial entity was orig ...
,
British East Africa
East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was an area in the African Great Lakes occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day Kenya from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Controlled by Britai ...
,
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
, and
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
minted a total of seven low-denomination coins with his name, but not image. Three Indian states,
Jodhpur
Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...
,
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
, and
Kutch, each produced a coin with his name in the local scripts.
Prior to its introduction, twelve coins were sent out to
vending machine
A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...
manufacturers to calibrate their machines. They were never returned to the mint; six are held in private hands and are worth thousands of pounds. The other six are still missing. An example was put up for at auction in 2013, at an asking price of £30,000.
Postage stamps
United Kingdom
As soon as the beginning of the reign in January 1936, the British
Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
were preparing two issues after the four definitive stamp series that was considered as an "Accession issue". Therefore, works at the Post Office and
Harrison & Sons
Harrison and Sons was a major worldwide engraver and printer of postage stamps and banknotes.
History
The company was established in 1750 by Thomas Harrison in Warwick Lane, London; in 1839 Thomas Richard Harrison entered into partnership with Jo ...
were done for a "Coronation issue" previewed for the 12 May 1937 and a final "Definitive issue". Essays for the former were made with the King wearing different military uniforms, such as the
Bertram Park's pictures of Edward VIII wearing the uniforms of the
Welsh Guards
The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V ...
and
Seaforth Highlanders
The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, mainly associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The regiment existed from 1881 to 1961, and saw servic ...
. In March 1936, the King accepted the idea of larger stamps picturing his effigy and castles. However, the abdication ceased all designing efforts despite essays having been made.
Australia
![Tumbler, coronation (AM 10638-2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Tumbler%2C_coronation_%28AM_10638-2%29.jpg)
The 2 pence red stamp project of Australia used a photograph of the King in uniform. The sole ornaments were the denomination into an oval in the bottom right corner and the red "POSTAGE" bar at the bottom. Printing of this stamp began in September 1936 at the
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busine ...
's printing branch. All operations were stopped with the abdication.
Lord Vestey
Baron Vestey, of Kingswood in the County of Surrey, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1922 for the shipping magnate Sir William Vestey, 1st Baronet. He was the co-founder of the Blue Star Line. Vestey had alread ...
and John Michael, ''Unissued Edward VIII Stamps of Australia (from display to the Society on 11 June 2009'', ''The London Philatelist'' #1367, Royal Philatelic Society London
The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History, at its he ...
, July–August 2009, pages 202-3.
Despite the destruction of the stock and all material needed for the printing, a six x 2-pence red stamp signed corner block is in the hand of a British collector. On 29 September 1936,
William Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield
William Charles Arcedeckne Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield, (3 January 1883 – 20 November 1969) was a British Conservative Party politician, Governor of Victoria, and Administrator of Australia. He was the first Australian-born governor of an ...
,
Governor of Victoria
The governor of Victoria is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the Australian state of Victoria. The governor is one of seven viceregal representatives in the country, analogous to the governors of the other states, and the ...
, visited the plant and was invited to sign and date one of the finished sheets. In the name of the Commonwealth Bank, printer
John Ash offered the sheet to the Governor in October, but had to claim it back on 16 December. The sheet was given back the next day, but the six-stamp corner block bearing the signature was missing. The Governor had already sent it to someone in England and could not retrieve it.
The stamps still exist and have sold for hundreds of thousands at auction.
Canada
In Canada, the official destruction of Edward VIII stamp dies and proofs happened on 25 and 27 January 1937; some essays were kept in the archives and the two plaster casts were saved by coin engraver
Emmanuel Hahn and a postal officer.
[Paul J. Henry, « The Edward VIII Postage Stamp Essay », ''The Canadian Philatelist / Le Philatéliste canadien'', ]Royal Philatelic Society of Canada
The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada is the premier philatelic organization in Canada. It is a member of the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (F.I.P.) and the Federation Inter-Americana de Filatelia (F.I.A.F.).
The Patron of the socie ...
, March–April 1999, pages 56 to 62
pdf file
on the RPSC website, retrieved on 3 October 2008.
Other memorabilia
There are stories of schools retrieving commemorative mugs and plates from students and replacing them with ones for the new king and queen, while many vendors put the "obsolete" items up for sale anyway.
Memorabilia – Edward Viii – Carter's Price Guide to Antiques and Collectables
/ref>
See also
* Coronation of the British monarch
The coronation of the monarch of the United Kingdom is a ceremony (specifically, initiation rite) in which they are formally invested with regalia and crowned at Westminster Abbey. It corresponds to the coronations that formerly took place in ot ...
References
{{Ceremonies of the British monarch
Edward VIII
Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...
Abdication of Edward VIII
Edward VIII
Edward VIII
Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...
Westminster Abbey
1937 in London
May 1937 events
1930s in the City of Westminster