{"id":254849,"date":"2025-12-28T00:25:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T00:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/254849\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T00:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T00:25:16","slug":"dont-release-records-on-king-edward-viiis-abdication-british-government-urged-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/254849\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t release records on King Edward VIII\u2019s abdication, British government urged Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain strongly urged the Irish Government nearly fifty years ago not to release key 1936 records about King Edward VIII\u2019s abdication, especially a key conversation between \u00c9amon de Valera<\/a> and a top British official.<\/p>\n

Displaying the sensitivity surrounding the abdication even 30 years on, London was deeply worried in June 1967 that Irish records could bring an unwelcome public gaze onto the still-sensitive controversy.<\/p>\n

In a major constitutional crisis, Edward had stepped down after less than a year on the throne in favour of his younger brother, King George VI, so that he could marry an American divorc\u00e9e, Wallis Simpson.<\/p>\n

London was concerned that \u201ca crucial conversation\u201d about the crisis in 1936 between \u00c9amon de Valera, who was then president of the Executive Council, the role which would later become taoiseach, and a top Dominions Office official, Harry Batterbee, could be revealed, newly-released State papers reveal.<\/p>\n

The Irish side did not have a record of the de Valera\/Batterbee conversation, as it turned out, but it did have a note marked \u201csecret and personal\u201d sent to de Valera on December 4th 1936 by British prime minister Stanley Baldwin about the looming Constitutional crisis.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What did \u00c9amon de Valera ever do for us?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In it, Baldwin explained that Edward had sought permission to address the British people on the radio, explaining his reasons, but Baldwin turned it down, saying that such a course of action would be \u201cunconstitutional\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could not go on bearing heavy burdens resting on him as King unless he could be strengthened by a happy married life and he is firmly resolved to marry the woman he loves when she is free to marry him,\u201d he told de Valera.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither Mrs Simpson nor he has ever sought to insist that she should be Queen. All their desire was that their happiness should carry with it a proper and for her befitting wife,\u201d he went on, adding that the idea of such a radio broadcast was \u201cquite improper\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Duke of Windsor, formerly Edward the VIII, and Duchess of Windsor Wallis Simpson. Photograph: PA <\/p>\n

De Valera kept most of the documentation from the time, especially sensitive telegrams in his personal papers, for over three decades, but he did not release them to the Department of the Taoiseach\u2019s record-keepers until September 30th 1965 when he was president.<\/p>\n

Edward was still the head of state of the Irish Free State, which explains why de Valera was briefed in the same way as other leaders of the Commonwealth nations, including those of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The records are only now being released since they have been included in the Department of the Taoiseach\u2019s release of its 1995 papers to the National Archives, which are now available for public viewing.<\/p>\n

The Fianna F\u00e1il government led by Jack Lynch was contacted on June 16th 1967 by the British Ambassador to Ireland, Adam Gilchrist, who told them that London would not be releasing its abdication records and requesting that Dublin should follow suit.<\/p>\n

The British decision, Gilchrist told the then Department of External Affairs, \u201cwas in accordance with the normal principle that records concerning the Royal family are withheld indefinitely\u201d, before expressing hope that Dublin would \u201cfeel able\u201d to do the same.<\/p>\n

Saying that it was \u201cdesirable\u201d that all the governments concerned at the time \u201cshould march in step\u201d, Gilchrist urged that Dublin would \u201cfeel able to withhold similarly from public inspection all official records relating to the abdication.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Irish side were willing to help from the off, with an External Affairs official noting that the secretary of the department, HJ McCann \u201cwas disposed to fall in with the British wishes in this respect\u201d.<\/p>\n

In early January 1968, officials reporting to Mr McCann told him that they could \u201csee no likelihood in the foreseeable future\u201d whereby files held by the Irish about the abdication would be released, noting that they had \u201ccarefully recorded\u201d London\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n

A December 4th 1936 secret telegram to Dublin warned that a decision on the King\u2019s status was now becoming necessary: \u201cFeel certain postponement decision much longer would have disastrous results throughout British Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The secret note also indicated that Edward now appeared to be \u201cwavering\u201d in his previous determination to abdicate – and that he wanted to marry Mrs Simpson without her becoming Queen.<\/p>\n

Such a proposal was \u201cimpractical\u201d, Baldwin told de Valera: \u201cIn order to avert danger further delay … Cabinet have decided I should tell King this afternoon that he must make very early decision. <\/p>\n

\u201cPresent choice before him is give up Mrs S or voluntarily abdicate. We would have preferred consulted further with you before taking this step. But situation has become so grave that it brooks no delay.\u201d Edward abdicated six days later.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Are we still living in De Valera\u2019s Ireland?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain strongly urged the Irish Government nearly fifty years ago not to release key 1936 records about King…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,25366,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,131506,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-254849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eamon-de-valera","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-latestnews","16":"tag-main-news","17":"tag-mainnews","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-state-papers","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-world","23":"tag-world-news","24":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115794354427302044","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}