US EditionIrish officials criticised ‘venal’ Churchill amid King Edward VIII crisis
Irish officials viewed Churchill as a manipulative figure amid Edward VIII’s abdication, seeing the crisis as a chance to weaken British monarchy and cabinet power.
- Newly released National Archives files show Irish civil servants concluded Winston Churchill was `unscrupulous` while discussing how the royal marriage could serve the Irish Free State's interests.
- King Edward VIII decided to marry Wallis Simpson, American divorcee, despite opposition from Stanley Baldwin, then British prime minister, and his cabinet, triggering a constitutional crisis.
- A hand-written note between Eamon de Valera, then head of the Irish government as president of the executive council, and Sean McEntee, finance minister, described Churchill as `a figure of great potentialities and of overweening ambition` and called his political life `a gamble`.
- Irish briefings argued the marriage would weaken the British monarchy and the British cabinet, warning the crisis `will occasion a serious cleavage in Great Britain which will persist for a very long time`.
- The archive also contains a later diplomatic request as a British ambassador asked Irish authorities to keep royal-family documents withheld indefinitely, while files note British monarchs ceased as head of state in Ireland as a Republic.
13 Articles
13 Articles
“And they lived happily ever after.” Wallis Simpson’s tales of palatial intrigues did not end the day King Edward VIII abdicated for her and changed the course of the British monarchy. Behind an omnipotent appearance, full of luxuries and frivolity, the Duchess of Windsor lived a Calvary toward the end of her life. Impotent and isolated from a world that once knew how to revere her. American Besie Wallis Warfield was the king’s lover, married to…
New documents reveal Irish civil servants aimed to exploit King Edward VIII's abdication
Freshly disclosed records from the National Archives in Dublin have exposed how Irish government officials in the 1930s schemed to turn King Edward VIII's constitutional crisis to their own benefit
Newly released documents reveal the fear of officials that the Wallis Simpson crisis could be used against Britain.
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