The investiture of the Prince of Wales, Carnarvon Castle, 1911-1912.Artist: Marshall Herskovitz

The investiture of the Prince of Wales, Carnarvon Castle, 1911-1912. Reproduced from a Kinemacolor film. On the death of his father, King George V, in January 1936, Prince Edward (1894-1972) was proclaimed King Edward VIII. Before long, rumours circulated about his alleged romance with an American, Mrs Wallis Warfield Simpson, then married to her second husband, a London shipping broker. On October 20, 1936, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin counselled Edward, as king and head of the Church of England, to remove all cause for the rumours. A week later Mrs. Simpson was granted a divorce, to become final in six months. In November the king confided to Baldwin that he intended to marry Mrs Simpson even if it meant his abdication. A morganatic marriage was proposed, but the cabinet was unwilling to accept this compromise. On December 11 1936, therefore, the king abdicated in favour of his brother, the duke of York, who became King George VI. Edward received the title duke of Windsor and married Mrs. Simpson in June 1937. From Penrose's Pictorial Annual 1911-1912, The Process Year Book, volume 17, edited by William Gamble and published by AW Penrose (London, 1911-1912). A print from Penrose's Pictorial Annual, The Process Year Book, Volume 17, William Gamble (editor), A W Penrose, London, 1911-1912. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)