The photographs of a shirtless King Edward VIII and his lover Wallis Simpson in 1936 put a spotlight on the affair that ended his reign Simon Perry is a writer and correspondent at PEOPLE.

Edward VIII was the eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary and was born on 23rd June 1894. In 1910 he was created Prince of Wales. Educated at the Royal Naval College and Magdalen College Oxford ...

Henry VIII had three children: Mary by his first wife, Elizabeth by his second and Edward by his third. Edward being the youngest child, but the eldest male child, became king when Henry VIII died ...

Ever since King Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 the official explanation had been simply that the government disapproved of his marriage to a twicedivorced woman However newlyreleased documents ...