2-378-340 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

Edward VIII leaving Windsor Castle, after his abdication speech, 11 December, 1936. King Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, (1894-1972), on his way to Portsmouth to board the destroyer HMS 'Fury' which would take him to Boulogne. He abdicated the throne in order to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee, thus heading off an impending constitutional crisis.