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08/03/2016

Abdication: A Very British Coup

A very interesting documentary about the abdication of the English King Edward VIII., which raises the question, whether we people can really live in a democracy. Will the persons we vote for really keep their promises to represent us and our wishes or will they use their rise to power to fulfill their own dreams? Is the form of government we call democracy not rather an oligarchy? The English people loved their King Edward VIII. very much and were willing to accept Wallis Simpson as his wife. But the "establishment", the powerful men in the government, church and the royal court (especially the over-ambitious Queen Mother Elizabeth), did not like the king at all and wanted to get rid of him. Edward's thoughts were too liberal for their taste. Who cares that the English people loved their king and were willing to accept a divorced Catholic woman as his wife? The "establishment" decided according to its own wishes.

Reading suggestion: Susan Williams: The People's King - The true story of the abdication, New York and Basingstoke, Hampshire 2004

and

The Secret Diaries of Wallis Simpson

and

Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson - Full interview with Kenneth Harris - 1970

and

"Love in Exile" - The Duke and Duchess of Windsor

and

Wallis Loved and Lost