HOW CLOSE WAS CIVIL WAR ? (2)

Following THIS POST ("How Close was Civil War?") on the Bishop of Ludlow's blog, an extract from "War of the Windsors - A Century of Unconstitutional Monarchy" by Picknett, Prince & Prior, (pps 122 - 123) concentrating on Edward VIII's infamous "night of soul searching" on 5th/6th December 1936:

"The only account of what went on in the King's mind that night ....is Edward's own, published in his memoirs in 1951. Of course, allowances must be made for his desire to justify himself after the event, but at least it reveals what was important to him at the time:

'Even though I might have been able to recruit a commanding majority, I could not have persuaded the entire nation and all the Dominions...By making a stand for myself, I should have left the scars of a civil war. A civil war is the worst of all wars. Its passions soar highest, its hatreds last longest. And a civil war is not less a war when it is fought in words and not in blood. The price of my marriage under such circumstances would have been the infliction of a grievous wound on the social unity of my native land and on that wider unity of the Empire.'

Although he acknowledged that he would emerge from the crisis still as King, he would have been the ruler of a 'riven and divided' nation ......... Edward spoke of a 'civil war', although one of words and not blood. But was this a real possibility? Just over a week later - three days after he departed from Britain - the newly created Duke of Windsor received a letter from a friend, Colin Davidson, an official in the House of Lords, which included the words:

'I must humbly express my intense admiration for your obvious and inflexible determination not to encourage a 'King's Party'. It was within your power to create Civil War and chaos. You had only to lift a finger or even to come to London and show yourself, to arouse millions of subjects to your support.'

The fact that Edward chose to quote this letter in his memoirs suggests that he had thought in terms of a more literally bloody civil war ... But was civil war a real possibility? From today's viewpoint it seems hardly credible, but it must be considered that at that time, in such an unprecedented situation, nobody could be sure what the consequences would be, and violent civil strife had to be considered a very real possibility. To many the core issue would not have been Mrs Simpson or the King's right to choose his own bride; for a good many Britons it would have been - "who rules Britain?"

As it was, crowds of demonstrators gathered outside Buckingham Palace (presumably because they assumed the King was inside) carrying placards reading "God Save the King - from Baldwin" "Down with the Government" and - most alarming of all - "Abdication means Revolution". Whatever might have happened if Edward had chosen to challenge the Government and bring about its fall, the weekend of 4 - 5 December 1936 was one of the rare occasions when the ceremonial guards outside the Palace were issued with live ammunition [1]."

"Most alarming of all....." A demonstrator outside Parliament. Whitehall in the background.

"Fear of civil disturbance was very much in the air. After the Cabinet meeting on 27th November, some of the junior ministers including Duff Cooper [2], Leslie Hore Belisha[3] and others - many of whom went on to higher office - held their own meeting. This group, according to Duff Cooper, considered that 'a coup d'etat was not impossible. The Government might be forced to resign: Churchill might take over and to to the country on a populist platform which might cause great divisions; parliamentary Government might disappear altogether." [4] To add to the inflammatory situation, the head of the British Legion, General Sir Ian Hamilton, told Baldwin that there might be an 'ex-servicemen's revolution' if Edward abdicated [5]. It was also recorded at the time that some army officers had declared that they were willing to take up arms against the Government and for the King [6]....."

A different decision, a different timeline.
A three quarter length Edward VIII in his VBCW "very Fascist" uniform

Notes:

[1] the cited source for this suggestion is "Kelley, p241" i.e. Kitty Kelley "The Royals" Warner Books 1997. In this post, Stephen Dorril, a more reliable historian, states merely "ceremonial guards...were said...to have been issued with live ammunition", suggesting a contemporaneous rumour rather than established fact.

[2] Duff Cooper was, in fact, Secretary of State for War at the time of the abdication. Not a "junior minister" as stated.

[3] Minister for Transport at the time. Replaced Duff Cooper as Secretary of State for War in May 1937.

[4]. Bloch, The Reign and Abdication of Edward VIII pps 189 - 190, quoting from unpublished parts of Duff Cooper's memoirs. Cooper's biographer, John Charmley, adds to the account of this meeting "..Some of the more excitable members of the Cabinet, including Hore Belisha and 'Shakes' Morrison feared that a 'coup d'etat was not impossible' with Churchill being called upon by the King to form a Government and then calling an election on the issue of the 'King's marriage' which might undermine democracy and lead to a Fascist Government...." (Charmley, Duff Cooper The Authorised Biography, 1986 Papermac p.96)

[5]. Inglis, Abdication, Hodder & Stoughton 1966 p315. General Sir Ian Hamilton had been the Commanding General at Gallipoli during the First War; in 1936, he was Scottish President of the British Legion. He was also a Vice President of the Anglo-German Association, working to promote rapprochement between Britain and Germany and describing himself as "an admirer of the great Adolph Hitler", dismissing Mein Kampf merely as a "youthful excess". See HERE

[6]. Anthony Cox, quoted in Zeigler, King Edward VIII, p319. Stephen Dorril confirms both this and General Sir Ian Hamilton's intervention - see HERE