I've been watching The Crown, and I've been inspired to write an Edward VIII timeline. This post is outlining the basic concept and asking some questions. I'd appreciate any feedback people can give me. I've decided on a couple of ground rules:
1) Edward never marries Wallis Simpson. I just don't believe the British government would ever accept that and allow him to remain King.
2) Edward is not a Nazi. Ignorant self-absorbed bigot who can't see what's wrong with saluting Hitler and taking tours of concentration camps, yes. Actual fascist ideologue, no. He will be King throughout the whole of World War Two without aiding the Nazis in any way. Except maybe by accident.
So if we're not writing about Queen Wallis, and we're not doing the Nazi King bit, what's the point? The question the timeline will address is whether the monarchy can survive. All through The Crown, people ominiously warn about the monarchy being put in danger. Everything from marrying divorced people to giving a bad speech in a car factory is supposed to lead to a popular revolt. But one character points out that in a constitutional monarchy, the royals have no power, so there's never anything to complain about. A king has even gone hopelessly insane without significantly affecting the government.
So, Edward reigns from 1936 to his death in 1972 despite being completely unsuited to the role. Does he destroy the monarchy and bring in a republic? If not, what's the monarchy like by the present day?
I'll post the first installment soon, but there are a few questions I'm mulling over.
1) How do we avoid the whole Wallis thing? Is she never born, never meets Edward, he's just not attracted to her?
2) Does he marry someone else? It's more interesting if he has his own children to inherit, rather than just having a middle-aged Elizabeth take over. My initial idea for the POD is that the husband of his girlfriend Freda Dudley Ward dies in a car accident, and he marries her before he meets Wallis. But I'm open to other suggestions.
3) What does Edward do differently during WWII?
4) How does the 1945 Labour government handle an unpopular monarch?
5) What happens to Prince Albert (our George VI) and his daughters? Do they have the same marriages and lifespans?
6) Generally, what's within the British monarch's power to do that would massively honk off the public, without actually getting him thrown out?
1) Edward never marries Wallis Simpson. I just don't believe the British government would ever accept that and allow him to remain King.
2) Edward is not a Nazi. Ignorant self-absorbed bigot who can't see what's wrong with saluting Hitler and taking tours of concentration camps, yes. Actual fascist ideologue, no. He will be King throughout the whole of World War Two without aiding the Nazis in any way. Except maybe by accident.
So if we're not writing about Queen Wallis, and we're not doing the Nazi King bit, what's the point? The question the timeline will address is whether the monarchy can survive. All through The Crown, people ominiously warn about the monarchy being put in danger. Everything from marrying divorced people to giving a bad speech in a car factory is supposed to lead to a popular revolt. But one character points out that in a constitutional monarchy, the royals have no power, so there's never anything to complain about. A king has even gone hopelessly insane without significantly affecting the government.
So, Edward reigns from 1936 to his death in 1972 despite being completely unsuited to the role. Does he destroy the monarchy and bring in a republic? If not, what's the monarchy like by the present day?
I'll post the first installment soon, but there are a few questions I'm mulling over.
1) How do we avoid the whole Wallis thing? Is she never born, never meets Edward, he's just not attracted to her?
2) Does he marry someone else? It's more interesting if he has his own children to inherit, rather than just having a middle-aged Elizabeth take over. My initial idea for the POD is that the husband of his girlfriend Freda Dudley Ward dies in a car accident, and he marries her before he meets Wallis. But I'm open to other suggestions.
3) What does Edward do differently during WWII?
4) How does the 1945 Labour government handle an unpopular monarch?
5) What happens to Prince Albert (our George VI) and his daughters? Do they have the same marriages and lifespans?
6) Generally, what's within the British monarch's power to do that would massively honk off the public, without actually getting him thrown out?