Cultural depictions of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

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Edward VIII of the United Kingdom has been depicted a number of times in popular culture.

Contents 1 Literature 2 Screen 3 Other 4 Footnotes

[edit] Literature

Edward's profound effect on his public is given extensive literary treatment in Robertson Davies's Deptford Trilogy. One of the characters, Boy Staunton, is a great admirer of Edward VIII, having met him in person once and styled himself after him. His discontent upon reaching the position of Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario mirrors Edward's decision to choose love over his title and position.

Other novels including Edward as a character include Guy Walters's The Leader (Headline Book Publishing Ltd. 2003) – a fictional alternative history of World War II: Edward VIII does not abdicate but reigns as king with Wallis Simpson as queen. They rule a fascist England after World War II and are allied with a victorious Hitler, but are opposed by the hero of the book, Captain James Armstrong. In the novel I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, written under the pen name Hannah Green, there is a mental patient who believes she is the 'secret first wife of Edward the VIII, abdicated King of England'.

Royce Ryton's play Crown Matrimonial, telling the abdication story from Queen Mary's viewpoint, opened at the Haymarket Theatre in 1972, with Peter Barkworth as Edward, and Wendy Hiller as Queen Mary. In a televised version in 1974, Barkworth reprised his role, but Queen Mary was played by Greer Garson.

Snoo Wilson's 1994 play HRH dealt with the Duke's life in Bermuda and examined his possible role in a suggested cover-up following the murder of multi-millionaire Harry Oakes in 1943. This subject also features prominently in William Boyd's novel Any Human Heart.

[edit] Screen

On screen, Edward has been portrayed by:

• John Greenidge in the silent film The Scarlet Woman: An Ecclesiastical Melodrama (1925)
• Richard Chamberlain in the American TV drama The Woman I Love (1972), which focused on the love between Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson
• Ian Ogilvy in the BBC TV drama The Gathering Storm (1974), based on the book by Winston Churchill
• Edward Fox in the Thames Television drama series Edward and Mrs Simpson (1978), based on Frances Donaldson's 1974 biography, Edward VIII
• David Yelland in Chariots of Fire (1981)
• Madison Mason in the episode of the American TV series Tales of the Gold Monkey entitled "God Save the Queen" (1983)
• John Standing in the TV drama To Catch a King (1984), based on the novel by Jack Higgins
• Anthony Andrews in the HTV drama The Woman He Loved (1988)
• Peter Sands in the LWT TV drama Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (1988)
• Andrew Ray in the TV drama Passion in Paradise (1989), about the murder of Sir Harry Oakes
• Jonathan Weightman in the Portuguese film Passagem por Lisboa (1994)
• William Boyde in the TV series A Dance to the Music of Time (1997), based on the novels by Anthony Powell
• Charles Edwards in the Carlton Television drama Bertie and Elizabeth (2002)
• Julian Firth in the BBC TV series Cambridge Spies (2003)
• Stephen Campbell Moore in the TV drama Wallis & Edward (2005), billed as the first scripted account of the romance from Wallis Simpson's point of view.^[1]

In the 1963 cartoon Million Hare, Bugs Bunny remarks that he has the same tailor as the Duke of Windsor.

[edit] Other

The calypso song "Edward VIII" by the Trinidadian calypsonian Lord Caresser was the most popular calypso record in 1937.^[2] In singer-songwriter Al Stewart's song "Life Between the Wars" there is a reference to Edward: "The King is leaving Buckingham Palace/It's far too cold; he'd rather have Wallis."

[edit] Footnotes