Queen Elizabeth II's father never expected to take the throne—until a royal ruckus changed the monarchy forever. Our royal experts detail the shocking tale of how King George VI became king of England.
The Scandalous Story of How King George VI Became King
Updated on Apr. 29, 2025
Queen Elizabeth II was the longest-reigning British monarch and beloved by the people—but she was almost not a queen to begin with. Wait, what? It’s true: Her father was not supposed to take the throne. Indeed, the story of how King George VI became king is one for the ages.
Nearly a century ago, the unlikely story began with two brothers: One, the heir to the throne, was a flamboyant and distractible bachelor; the other, a dutiful and devoted husband and father. Who would make the better king and lead Britain through one of its darkest times? As it turns out, history made the wise choice. “The Abdication Crisis of 1936 was a unique event in the history of the British monarchy,” says historian, author and royal commentator Carolyn Harris. It had never happened before, or since.
Read on to find out how the British monarchy abdication crisis altered the country’s path, and led to the late Queen Elizabeth’s momentous reign.
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Who were the members of the royal family before the abdication?
Queen Elizabeth II’s grandfather, King George V, had shepherded Britain through World War I during his reign from 1910 to 1936. But as the king grew older, the British royal family grew uneasy about the impending rule of his first son, Edward, Prince of Wales, later styled the Duke of Windsor—and the feeling was mutual. “Edward had been uncomfortable with his role as Prince of Wales for several years before succeeding to the throne,” Harris says. “He had frequent differences of opinion with his father, and questioned the purpose of his royal duties.”
The unenthusiastic prince seemed to give little thought to his royal responsibilities. “Edward had been a problem for years because he made no real attempt to find a wife,” says royal historian Marlene Koenig. “He was the heir apparent, a popular young man, but he did not seek out an eligible bride.” Without consideration for his future role, he became involved with the married Viscountess Thelma Furness and other married women.
King George V and his wife, Queen Mary, had decided their children would not need to marry royalty, as the first World War had decimated several monarchies and so there were fewer potential royal brides to choose from, Koenig says. But their son’s romantic interests were still concerning. As king, Edward needed a wife he could marry in the Church of England and, ideally, provide him with an heir.
In contrast, Edward’s brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), had married the very suitable Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923.
Who became king after King George V died?
Even though Edward would become king after his father, George V, he seemed unfit compared with his brother. By 1930, Prince Albert, nicknamed Bertie, was the epitome of family life with two young daughters. Because Edward had no children, Albert was second in line to the throne, followed by his daughter Princess Elizabeth. “Elizabeth was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1929, at the age of 3, sparking speculation that she might one day become queen,” Koenig says. But the young princess assumed she would live her life as a minor royal, with her and her sister, Princess Margaret, in roles similar to today’s Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
Enter American divorcée Wallis Simpson, then married to her second husband. She met Prince Edward in 1931, and in the following several years they became romantically involved while she was still married—which was unacceptable for a serious relationship. “King George V would never have given permission for Edward to marry Wallis. His comment about his elder son was prescient: ‘After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself within 12 months,'” Koenig says. “Wallis’s grip on Edward was complete by the time he succeeded his father in January 1936.”
Upon the death of King George, Prince Edward immediately became King Edward VIII.
Why was the Wallis Simpson issue so problematic?
As king, Edward VIII was Supreme Governor of the Church of England, which at the time did not allow the remarriage of divorced people, so Simpson would not have been able to marry Edward while he was king. “A divorced person was a social pariah—you were not welcome at court; you could not remarry in the Anglican Church,” Koenig says.
Technically, King Edward did not need permission to marry according to the Royal Marriages Act, because the sovereign did not need to give himself permission, Koenig says. And Simpson was also already pursuing a divorce from her second husband, allegedly even taking it upon herself to announce, “Soon I shall be Queen of England.”
But tensions were growing worse with Edward’s family, who still did not approve the match. “After George’s death, the family dynamics changed,” Koenig says. “It was a struggle for Bertie and his family, knowing he was now the heir as his older brother was determined to marry Wallis. There was no support within the family for this.” Plus, as she was already 40 years old, the question of whether she and Edward would have children, and thus an heir to the throne, seemed doubtful.
One way or another, it seemed Bertie or his daughter Princess Elizabeth would succeed Edward as monarch.
How did Edward and Wallis cause a constitutional crisis?
King Edward and his still-married fiancée were not backing down, even though the British government and the Church of England also strongly opposed the marriage. “They believed the king’s role as the head of the Church of England would be compromised by marrying a divorcée, and would thus cause a constitutional crisis,” says Nicoletta Gullace, an associate professor of history at the University of New Hampshire. But what is a constitutional crisis, exactly?
As a constitutional monarch, King Edward was expected to follow the advice of his British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, and the advice of the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth realms such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, who did not want him to marry Simpson. “Yet, the king was determined to go ahead with the marriage, which meant that he could no longer be a constitutional monarch as he was refusing his prime minister’s advice,” Harris says.
It seems they had reached an impasse.
Why did Edward VIII abdicate the throne?
Despite the objections of his family, the government and the church, and a divided public opinion, the king was adamant he would marry Simpson. He tried suggesting she not hold the title of “queen” after their marriage, but that idea was rejected, leaving Edward with no other choice. “He made it clear he would abdicate the throne for the woman he loved,” Koenig says. “And he could not abdicate without an act of Parliament.”
But Parliament allowed Edward to give up the throne. Why? Gullace has some insider Edward VIII abdication details you probably haven’t heard before: “One reason the abdication wasn’t totally shut down by the government may have been that the Duke of Windsor was a bit chummy with the Nazis,” she says. “It is possible that members of the government were aware of his proclivities, and were not wholly opposed to his abdication in favor of his solidly pro-British younger brother.”
Ironically, King Edward’s last act as sovereign was to consent to his own abdication. He signed an Instrument of Abdication on December 10, 1936, which went into effect the next day. “The constitutional crisis was averted because Edward abdicated before marrying Wallis,” Gullace says.
The country was shocked and upset, as such a royal family scandal had never happened before in the long history of the British monarchy. “There was no historical precedent for the voluntary abdication of a monarch in Britain,” Harris says. Other kings had given up the throne, but always in the aftermath of being forced out of power.
Now it was up to Bertie, who succeeded Edward as king, to restore the monarchy.
What happened to Edward VIII and Wallis?
Following the abdication, Edward and Wallis Simpson both laid low on the continent—she in France, he in Austria—until her divorce was finalized. Then, they did in fact get married, in 1937.
“After his abdication, the Duke of Windsor was shunned by the royal family, who detested his wife for the scandal they believed she had caused the monarchy,” Gullace says. “Queen Mary, Edward’s mother, never forgave the duke for marrying her.”
Reprehensibly, Edward had put his personal life above duty and the Crown. “That was a deal-breaker for the family, especially for his mother, who believed duty came first,” Koenig says. He was regarded as “disloyal, nettlesome and difficult.”
Bertie, who chose the name King George VI, gave Edward and Simpson the titles of Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but stopped short of bestowing the added “Her Royal Highness” (HRH) on Simpson. “This was a decision the Duke of Windsor resented,” Harris says.
But the couple’s life wasn’t too shabby. “While denying the Duchess some of the honorifics of royalty, the family nevertheless gave the duke a magnificent villa outside of Paris,” Gullace says. He also had an allowance to live on.
Although Edward had been a charming and glamorous figure, that faded as the years went on. The couple remained married and lived the remainder of their lives mainly in France, with Edward returning only a few times to England. They did not have children.
Sadly, Edward was never really able to mend the rift with his family. “The bitterness never faded,” Koenig says.
Was Edward VIII a Nazi?
Not exactly, but the couple did become controversial public figures on the world stage, Harris says. Edward and Wallis met with Hitler in October 1937, not even a year after the abdication, so suspicions of his Nazi sympathies had not been unfounded. “The British government did not want him to meet with Hitler. It was not a good look, to say the least,” Koenig says. After the visit, Edward thanked Hitler for the “wonderful time” they had together.
“When the Second World War broke out in 1939, there were concerns in the British government about the Duke of Windsor being used as a puppet king by Nazi Germany,” Harris says. To get him out of Europe, he was given the position of Governor of the Bahamas, where the couple lived from 1940 to 1946. The Duchess lavishly redecorated the Governor’s House, although such an extravagance during wartime did not make her popular.
What happened next for the monarchy?
Upon the abdication of his brother in 1936, Bertie took the throne three days before his 41st birthday. Reportedly to give continuity with his father’s name and restore the reputation of the monarchy after the abdication scandal, he took one of his middle names to become King George VI. “King George VI had never expected to become king. As the second son of King George V, he had pursued a career as a naval officer, serving at the Battle of Jutland during the First World War,” Harris says.
A quiet, shy and reserved man, he was warmly welcomed as a steady leader after the tumultuous year of Edward’s reign. “The majority of the public embraced the new king and family—he was everything his older brother wasn’t,” Koenig says. “The public knew little of the private battles over money and titles that would eventually surface in royal biographies.”
King George VI had a sense of duty and a determination to repair the damage his brother’s behavior had caused. “The seamless transition to George VI, who stepped into the role of king despite some misgivings, meant that there was minimal political fallout,” Gullace says. Although he wasn’t trained for it, the new king had a personality much more suited for the role than Edward. As a bonus, the public fell in love with the photogenic new royal family, complete with a beautiful queen and two adorable daughters.
What were King George VI’s early challenges?
Because Bertie was not raised to be king, he reportedly had some anxiety about taking on the role. He also suffered from a stutter and worked with the speech therapist Lionel Logue to improve his public speaking, Harris says. This was dramatized in the 2011 Best Picture Oscar winner, The King’s Speech. “Bertie had the love and support of his wife, who helped him, stood with him and was the moral support and backbone of that marriage,” Koenig says.
In addition, Harris notes that as king, Bertie’s schedule of royal duties increased, so he had less time to spend with his family, including the new heir to the throne, 10-year-old Elizabeth. The rules of the time dictated that if the queen had a son, he would pass his older sisters to become first in line for the throne, but it seemed unlikely she would have another child. So the press focused on Elizabeth, who, like her father, was suddenly thrust into the spotlight, supported by her loving family as she faced her future responsibilities, Koenig says.
How did King George VI lead the country during World War II?
Despite how King George VI unexpectedly became king, he was a symbol of continuity and stability during the Second World War, which began just three years into his reign, Harris says. His desire to serve made him a wonderful wartime leader for his people. “Here you had a king who represented the country, who did not shirk his duties and who presented a strong family life,” Koenig says. King George also had good working relationships with the new prime minister, Winston Churchill, and United States president Franklin Roosevelt.
King George refused to leave London even after the palace itself was bombed. “George VI is remembered as the king who remained with his people during the Blitz, when the German Luftwaffe bombed the city of London for eight months, destroying countless buildings and factories,” Gullace says. “The king and queen remained in Buckingham Palace during this period, often touring bombed-out sites in the East End of London, boosting the morale of inhabitants who had lost their homes.”
After the war, “he offered stability during Britain’s transition from an Empire to a Commonwealth and was a steady presence during Britain’s post-war ‘Welfare State,’ when the country struggled with economic uncertainty and material destruction from the war,” Gullace says. During this time, the government established social reforms to support the recovering country.
How did King George VI shape the future of the monarchy?
“George VI’s loyalty to his people and to the monarchy meant he was a beloved figure up to his death,” Gullace says. Unfortunately, that happened too soon: The king’s reign was cut short when he fell ill and died in 1952 at the age of 56. Even though King George was a smoker who “failed to recover from a lung operation,” according to his official royal biography, the stress of unexpectedly becoming a wartime king is said to have had a role in his early death. “Queen Elizabeth [his wife] blamed Edward for the premature death of her husband,” Koenig says.
With his passing, the war-weary British public was saddened once again—although this time, there was no King George VI succession crisis. “King George is remembered today as the beloved father of Queen Elizabeth who did much to restore the reputation of the monarchy,” Gullace says.
Koenig puts it even more bluntly: “King George VI saved the monarchy.”
What happened after King George VI’s death?
The new Queen Elizabeth, just 25 years old in 1952, was on an official visit to Kenya when her father passed, and like him, she had not planned on becoming the sovereign—at least not this soon. But with her father as a role model, she took on her new position with a strong sense of service. “Both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II were committed to carrying out their royal duties,” Harris says, and to put those duties above their personal inclinations. The Queen accomplished this throughout her 70-year reign, until she died in 2022 and was succeeded by her son, King Charles III.
But after nearly a century, the stories of the abdicated king and his divorced bride, and how King George VI became king, continue to intrigue. “Today, people remain fascinated by the scandal, especially given the parallels between them and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex [Prince Harry and Meghan], similarly glamorous figures who also ‘abdicated’ in a fashion during the Megxit fiasco,” Gullace says. Whether steadfast or scandalous, the British royals still have the power to captivate.
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Sources:
- Carolyn Harris, PhD, professor of history at the University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies and author of Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting; email interview, April 2025
- Nicoletta Gullace, PhD, associate professor at the University of New Hampshire and author of The Blood of Our Sons: Men, Women, and the Renegotiation of British Citizenship During the Great War; email interview, April 2025
- Marlene Koenig, historian of British and European royalty; email interview, April 2025
- Official Royal Website: “Edward VIII”
- Official Royal Website: “George VI”
- Westminster Abbey: “George VI”
- Sandringham Royal Estate: “The Life and Times of King Edward VIII”
