Edward VIII (23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) became King after the death of his father, George V (1910–36), on 20 January 1936, until his abdication on 11 December 1936. He was the second monarch of the House of Windsor, his father having changed the name of the Royal house from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1917.

Before his accession to the throne, Edward VIII held the titles of Prince Edward of York, Prince Edward of York and Cornwall, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, and Prince of Wales. As a young man he served in World War I, and undertook several foreign tours on behalf of his father. Throughout these years he was associated with a succession of older married women.

The day after Edward took the throne, he broke royal protocol by watching the proclamation of his own accession from a window of St. James's Palace, in the company of the then still-married Mrs. Simpson. It was also at this time that Edward became the first Commonwealth monarch to fly in an aeroplane, when he flew from Sandringham to London for his Accession Council.

Edward caused unease in government circles with actions that were interpreted as interference in political matters. On visiting the depressed coal mining villages in South Wales the King’s observation that "something must be done", for the unemployed coal miners. This was seen as directly critical of the Government, though it has never been clear whether the King had anything in particular in mind. Government ministers were also reluctant to send confidential documents and state papers to Fort Belvedere because it was clear that Edward was paying little attention to them and because of the perceived danger that Mrs. Simpson and other house guests might see them.

Only months into his reign, Edward forced a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Although legally Edward could have married Mrs. Simpson and remained king, his ministers opposed the marriage arguing that the people would never accept her as queen. Edward knew that the Government of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead and this could have dragged the King into a general election, thus ruining irreparably his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. Rather than give up Mrs. Simpson, he chose to abdicate.

After his abdication he reverted to the style of a son of the sovereign, The Prince Edward, and was created Duke of Windsor on 8 March 1937. During World War II he was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France, but after private accusations that he was pro-Nazi, was moved to the Bahamas as Governor and Commander-in-Chief.

After the war he was never given another official appointment and spent the remainder of his life in retirement until his death in 1972.

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