The Wedding That Cost a Crown: Edward and Wallis Marry

On June 3, 1937 — the day that would have been his late father's 72nd birthday — the man who had been King of England married an American divorcee in a French chateau, and not a single member of his family came to the wedding.

The story had stunned the world six months earlier. Edward VIII, after a reign of just 325 days, announced he would give up the British throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite. The Church of England would not sanction the marriage of a king to a divorced woman whose former husbands were still living, and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's government rejected every compromise. On December 10, 1936, Edward signed the instrument of abdication; the next evening he explained himself to the empire by radio: "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility, and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love." His younger brother became King George VI.

Wallis's divorce became final in May 1937, and the couple were reunited at the Chateau de Cande in Monts, in France's Loire Valley — lent to them by the French-American millionaire Charles Bedaux. On June 3 they married in a small civil-and-religious ceremony conducted by the Reverend Robert Anderson Jardine, a Church of England vicar willing to perform the service his church would not officially sanction. About sixteen guests witnessed it, including Winston Churchill's son Randolph, Baron Eugene von Rothschild, and the best man, Major Edward "Fruity" Metcalfe. Wallis wore a slim blue-gray dress by the designer Mainbocher in her signature shade — "Wallis blue" — and Edward gave her an emerald-and-diamond engagement ring engraved with the words "We are ours now."

The royal family's absence was the point. Queen Mary considered the choice of date — her late husband's birthday — a deliberate slight. The new king created his brother Duke of Windsor but, under pressure from his ministers, denied Wallis the style of "Royal Highness." The British establishment that had refused to accept the marriage never truly forgave it.

It matters because it was the 20th century's greatest royal crisis — and a turning point for the monarchy. The abdication forced a shy, stammering younger brother onto the throne just as Europe slid toward war, and George VI's steady wartime leadership redeemed the crown's standing. Edward and Wallis, meanwhile, remained married for the rest of his life, living in exile in France until his death in 1972 — a love story to some, a cautionary tale to others, and endlessly fascinating to everyone.

Photo: Daniel Jolivet, CC BY 2.0 (via Wikimedia Commons). The Chateau de Cande in Monts, France, where the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson were married on June 3, 1937.