A Very Royal Crisis: Countdown to Abdication

In the 1930s, the Prince of Wales met and fell in love with an American socialite, Wallis Simpson. Their affair was an open secret. But, as this BBC Select Original Documentary reveals, things changed dramatically when the princes father died and he was to be crowned King Edward VIII. Edward was determined to have Wallis as his Queen. Soon, as the story breaks, his life would lie in tatters.

The British nation was divided as the crisis concerning Edward VIII and his relationship with divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson rumbled on. In the eye of the storm, Edward battled with his aides and family members before making his famous broadcast to the nation and relinquishing the crown.