Edward VIII

George McMahon: Fascist Assassin or British Spy?

Mystery surrounds George McMahon who, having tried to assassinate Edward VIII, outed himself as an agent of a ‘foreign power’. Does the discovery of new Italian documents solve the puzzle or obscure it further?

Edward VIII: A Prince in the Promised Land

At the end of the First World War, the British monarchy sought to strengthen bonds across the English-speaking world. Frank Prochaska discusses the ambassadorial role played by Edward, Prince of Wales, in the United States.

Playing the King

George Bernard Shaw influenced the Abdication Crisis with a short play that has been forgotten in the last seventy years. 

Wallis Simpson and the Divorce Law

Did the British government suppress evidence that might have prevented Wallis Simpson’s divorce? Edward VIII’s marriage prompted changes to the law, but did it also break it?