Float through any social event with M's fast facts. This week: King Edward VIII, whose abdication was endorsed by the UK parliament 74 years ago today.
THE BASICS The first son and heir of George V, and the uncle of the present Queen Elizabeth, Edward was born in 1896. He came to the throne in 1936 but reigned for just 325 days. On December 10, 1936, he abdicated after advisers told him that his choice of bride, a divorcée, would not go down well with the public. Moreover, the King was also the head of the Church of England, which opposed remarriage after a divorce. Edward died of throat cancer in 1972. A major new film about Edward and his wife, called W.E and directed by Madonna, is due for release next year.
THE MARRIAGE After many affairs, Edward found Wallis Simpson, a plain, shrill, 40-year-old American with a questionable background. After their wedding in France in 1937 (none of the royal family attended), the couple were given the titles the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and settled in Paris. Simpson died in 1986. In 2003, British government papers revealed she had two-timed Edward during their courtship with a London car dealer, Guy Trundle.
THE CRISIS Edward VIII knew that the Conservative-led national government, led by Stanley Baldwin, would resign if he married Simpson against its advice. That would have prompted a general election and ruined his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. Edward's compromise solution of a morganatic marriage - in which Simpson would not become Queen - was rejected, and he abdicated in favour of his brother Albert, who became King George VI.
THE CELEBRITY Charismatic, good looking and not overly bright, Edward had an appeal unmatched by any royal until Diana, decades later. Edward's warm personality, war record and apparent concern for ordinary people made him a megastar. Featured in newsreels opening hospitals and touring factories, he struck a chord with his subjects. On a walkabout of an impoverished Welsh steel town, his words "Something must be done", were flashed around the world, much to Baldwin's dismay.
THE DANDY As a style icon, the David Beckham of the 1920s and '30s, Edward made the Prince of Wales collar and the Windsor necktie knot popular, as well as the pattern now known as Prince of Wales check. His colourful sportswear and loosely tailored suits cut a considerable dash with the fashionistas of the day. And like David and Victoria, Edward and his wife weren't worried about baggage allowances: they often travelled with more than 40 trunks in tow. As for the Duchess, her jewellery collection fetched US$45 million at auction in 1986.
THE CONSPIRACY THEORY Edward was suspected of being a Nazi sympathiser and may have been forced off the throne because of it. Winston Churchill, Britain's Second World War leader, took no chances and shipped him off to Bermuda to serve as governor. After the war, Edward retired and the couple became stalwarts of cafe society.
Five other royal-commoner marriages
UK: PRINCESS MARGARET AND ANTONY ARMSTRONG-JONES (LORD SNOWDON) The Queen's younger sister, Margaret married the photographer Armstrong-Jones in 1960. They had two children, but divorced in 1978. Margaret died in 2002.
JORDAN: PRINCE ABDULLAH II AND RANIA AL YASSIN The then-Jordanian prince married al Yassin, a high-flying executive at Citibank and Apple, in 1993. The Queen, a mother of four, has become a global ambassador for education and community programmes.
MONACO: PRINCE RAINIER AND GRACE KELLY The 1956 marriage of the Monaco royal and the American movie queen was dubbed "the wedding of the century". They had three children - Caroline, Albert and Stephanie. Grace was killed in a car crash in 1982; Rainier died in 2005.
SPAIN: PRINCE FELIPE AND LETIZIA ORTIZ ROCASOLANO Ortiz Rocasolano, an accomplished journalist who had worked at Bloomberg, CNN and Television Espanola, married Felipe in 2004. The princess could become the first Spanish queen to have been born a commoner.
JAPAN: CROWN PRINCE NARUHITO AND MASAKO OWADA The Harvard-educated Owada gave up a career in Japan's foreign ministry to wed the country's Crown Prince in 1993. She had turned him down twice in their six-year courtship. The couple have a daughter, Princess Aiko.
