Edward VIII | King of the United Kingdom | May 28

Edward VIII, also called Prince Edward, duke of Windsor, in full Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, (born June 23, 1894, Richmond, Surrey, England—died May 28, 1972, Paris, France), prince of Wales (1911–36) and king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of the British dominions and emperor of India from January 20 to December 10, 1936, when he abdicated in order to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson of the United States. He was the only British sovereign ever to voluntarily resign the crown.

Edward became king on his father's death in early 1936. Initially, Edward was tutored at home by Helen Bricka. When his parents travelled the British Empire for almost nine months following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, young Edward and his siblings stayed in Britain with their grandparents, Queen Alexandra and King Edward VII, who showered their grandchildren with affection. Upon his parents' return, Edward was placed under the care of two men, Frederick Finch and Henry Hansell, who virtually brought up Edward and his brothers and sister for their remaining nursery years.

As king, Edward VIII set in motion drastic economies in the royal estates. In November he opened Parliament and then toured distressed areas in South Wales. Meanwhile, his attempts to gain the royal family’s acceptance of Simpson, who had obtained a preliminary decree of divorce on October 27, 1936, met with firm opposition, backed by the Church of England (of which he was the head) and most politicians in both Britain and the Commonwealth. 

Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin attempted to impress upon the king the peril to the integrity of the monarchy caused by the private friendship with a divorcée. Discussions of a morganatic marriage were pursued, but on December 2 Baldwin assured him that this was impracticable. It was doomed by being somewhat hurriedly and forcibly put to the dominions and by the explosion of the whole matter in the press and Parliament on December 3. On the following day the word abdication appeared in the newspapers for the first time. The king therefore made his final decision and submitted his abdication on December 10, 1936.