Edward VIII’s Abdication

In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII’s proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American national.

The marriage was opposed by the King's governments in the United Kingdom and the autonomous Dominions of the British Commonwealth. Religious, legal, political, and moral objections were raised. Mrs. Simpson was perceived to be an unsuitable consort because of her two failed marriages, and it was widely assumed by the Establishment that she was driven by love of money or position rather than love for the King. Despite the opposition, Edward declared that he loved Mrs. Simpson and intended to marry her whether the governments approved or not.

The widespread unwillingness to accept Mrs. Simpson as the King's consort, and the King's refusal to give her up, led to Edward's abdication in December 1936. He remains the only British monarch to have voluntarily renounced the throne since the Anglo-Saxon period. He was succeeded by his brother Albert, who took the throne name George VI. Edward was given the title His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor following his abdication, and he married Mrs. Simpson the following year. She became the Duchess of Windsor, thereafter. They remained married until his death 35 years later.

Many historians think that the ulterior motives of governmental pressure exerted on Edward were his attempts to take active part in political affairs, which contradicted the tradition of “reigning but not ruling Monarch”, and, moreover, his sympathies for Nazi regime in Germany. He met Hitler in 1937, praised for German economy, and, allegedly, was planning to introduce elements of Nazi social system in Britain during his short reign.

After his abdication, Edward and his wife immigrated to France. In 1940, he was installed as a governor of the Bahamas; Churchill believed that there the Duke could do the least damage to the unity of British society. When the World War II ended, the couple returned to France. The Duke died in 1972, and the Duchess followed him 14 years later.

Edward VIII, of the United Kingdom Wallis Simpson,

for whom he rejected the Throne

The most infamous action of him

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads.

The Lake District, one of the most scenic regions of England, saw Wordsworth’s childhood. William's father, although rarely present, did teach him poetry, including that of Milton, Shakespeare and Spenser, in addition to allowing his son to rely on his own father's library. Wordsworth made his debut as a writer in 1787 when he published a sonnet in The European Magazine. In November 1791, Wordsworth visited Revolutionary France, and fell in love with a French woman, Annette Vallon, who in 1792 gave birth to their child, Caroline. The occurring lines reveal his deep love for both child and mother. However, he married a childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson, ten years later.

In 1795, Wordsworth met another Romantic poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. They quickly developed a close friendship. Later Robert Southey joined them. The threesome came to be known as the "Lake Poets", partly because they lived nearby in the Lake District.

In his "Preface to Lyrical Ballads", which is called the "manifesto" of English Romantic criticism, Wordsworth calls his poems "experimental." This book is considered a central work of English Romantic literary theory. In it, Wordsworth discusses what he sees as the elements of a new type of poetry, one based on the "real language of men" and which avoids the poetic diction of much eighteenth-century poetry. Here, Wordsworth gives his famous definition of poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility."

Wordsworth's masterpiece is generally considered to be The Prelude, a semiautobiographical poem of his early years which he revised and expanded a number of times. It was posthumously titled and published, prior to which it was generally known as the poem "to Coleridge." Wordsworth was Britain's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.