The King's Son

Marie, Maria, Marcelle, May, Mary, Maggie ... and the Duke of WindsorEdward, known to his inner circle as David, was the eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary of Teck. Within the family he was often referred to as Young David - a title he abhorred. He was invested as Edward, Prince of Wales on his sixteenth birthday, just nine weeks after his father, King George V, succeeded his grandfather as king in 1910. In 1936, upon the death of his father, Edward succeeded him as King Edward VIII. In the shortest reign in the last 450 years of British Kings and Queens, Edward abdicated 236 days later in favour of his brother when the British Government refused consent to his proposed marriage to Wallis Simpson. The American socialite had already divorced one husband who was alive and being still married, was intending to divorce her current husband to allow them to marry. As a young man, David served with the British Army in France during the First World War. In the years following, George V's relationship with his eldest son and heir, deteriorated. The king became increasingly disappointed in David's failure to settle down in life and was appalled by the continual reports of his very public relationships with mainly well-known, but married women. The first of his many trysts over the years, however, was quite different - his first not only continued as a love affair for nearly three years but resulted in the birth of a son in Paris in 1916 whilst the Prince was on active service in France... and remained a close-held secret. This is the incredible true story of the only son of Edward VIII - later to become the Duke of Windsor and marry Wallis Simpson.