Description

1936 is a fresh and compelling reappraisal of a momentous year in British history – one that saw three monarchs on the throne in the space of twelve months.

In December 1936, King Edward VIII made history when he abdicated. The orthodox story: he gave up his crown for the woman he loved, the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson – a match the establishment deemed unsuitable for a Queen.

Historian Sian Evans argues otherwise. She points to the King’s November 1936 visit to the distressed areas of South Wales as the true tipping point. Edward VIII’s public sympathy for the unemployed – many of whom had served alongside him in the Great War – pushed him into politics, overstepping his constitutional role. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, determined to remove him, used the Simpson relationship as his pretext.

Month by month, 1936: The Year of Three Kings traces the private motivations and public actions of a reluctant new King – from the death of his father George V to his abdication and the accession of his brother George VI. It also traces the lasting repercussions for the British royal family that continue to this day.

At the heart of it all, one question: should personal happiness triumph over the obligations imposed by an accident of birth?