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King Edward Viii Research Paper

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King Edward VIII, known as ‘David’ to the family, was the eldest child of King George V and his wife, Queen Mary of Teck. While growing up, Edward did not have a close relationship with his father which created a lack of sympathy and understanding between the two. Due to their different perspectives, they were not able to relate on issues concerning the Crown as “(King George V was) strict and self-disciplined… who sought to imbue their children with a strong sense of duty”1. Whereas Edward would grow bored of the formalities of royal occasions. Although Edward disliked the work of the Crown, he did multiple tours on behalf of Britain to establish the seriousness of the Monarchy’s role. From 1919 to 1922, he travelled to almost every continent including South America, Australia and the Far …show more content…

Edward to the people, was known for his “easy-going manner and outward-looking personality”2. This made him popular within society as it was seen as a refreshing side to the democratic attitude of the British Royal Family. Edward was called “one of the boys”3 meaning that he was able to relate to the public with ease and had great sympathy for the people and their needs. This was an approach he missed out on during his childhood due to his distant relationship with his parents. Although this was a valuable gift to have at the time, he would make mistakes that would cause conflict between the public and the monarchy. One event that caused un uproar between the two was in November 1936 when King Edward visited South Wales and gave sympathy over unemployed miners. His compassion towards the miners caused great political and economical interference and was referred as an attack on the Conservative economic policy. A Liberal MP had noted down Edward saying, “something must be done to find them work”4. The MP responded saying, “He responded instinctively to human misery , but he had no idea as to how it could be

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