The Prince of Wales becomes King
On the afternoon of 16 January 1936, as he was shooting in Windsor Great Park, the Prince of Wales was handed a note written by Queen Mary˳ She had advised him that the royal physician, Lord Dawson of Penn, was ‘not too pleased with Papa’s state at the present moment’, and he should come to Sandringham, but in a casual manner so as not to alarm him˳
Next morning, he flew to Sandringham in his private aeroplane˳ Later that day he telephoned Mrs Simpson to tell her that the King was unlikely to live for than two or three days˳ The Dukes of York and Kent joined them, leaving the Duke of Gloucester who was at Buckingham Palace, recovering from his laryngitis˳ On 20 January, shortly after midday, the King received his Privvy Counsellors for the last time˳ Propped up in an armchair, wearing his dressing-gown, he was too weak to do more than answer ‘Approved’ when the Lord President read out the order paper, and make two shaky marks signifying his initials G˳R˳ on the document˳ Shortly before midnight, in the words of Lord Dawson, his life moved ‘peacefully to its close’˳
Queen Mary’s first act as a widow was to kiss the hand of the eldest son, the new sovereign˳ Immediately afterwards, the new King telephoned Mrs Simpson with the news˳
Edward’s relationship with his brother, the Duke of York, deteriorates
The new King’s penny-pinching (he had made cuts, dismissing members of staff and only telling the family once it was a fait accompli) at a time when he was showering his mistress with lavish gifts lost him much sympathy from his servants and household˳ Shortly after his accession, a sanction was obtained that no man in royal employment should be dismissed without being offered alternative employment, but this rule was soon quietly dropped by the King˳ Servants resented having their wages cut when they spent much of their time loading furniture, plates and cases of champagne for despatch to Mrs Simpson’s flat˳ The King’s personal instruction that soap supplied for the guests in the royal residences, which was collected up after the guests had left and finished in the servants’ quarters, should in future be brought to his own rooms, was also ill-received below stairs˳
At the time of her brother-in-law’s accession, the Duchess of York was in low spirits˳ Early in the new year she has been struck down with influenza, and was till very weak when the King died˳ She grieved for him, noting that unlike his own children she was never afraid of him, and in all the years she had known him ‘he never spoke one unkind or abrupt word to me˳’ As yet she attached little importance to the King’s infatuation for Mrs Simpson, though a tasteless remark by the latter did nothing to raise her standing with the Duchess˳ She was told that in early February, during a conversation about court mourning, Mrs Simpson remarked that she had not worn black stockings since she gave up the Can-can˳
It was noticed that the Yorks no longer visited Fort Belvedere, so much did they dislike what they heard of the King’s subservient behaviour towards Mrs Simpson˳ The Gloucesters did, but with deep misgivings˳ They were unhappy about the liaison, but the Duke felt personally obliged to go˳ The Kents did likewise, but the Duke was saddened that his eldest brother, who had always been so close, now appeared so remote and distant˳ Against her better judgement, the Duchess of Kent regularly invited her brother-in-law and Mrs Simpson to tea at Coppins and at their London home in Belgrave Square˳
