All language subtitles for The.Windsors Dynasty.S01E01_English

female narrator: The latest
in a long line of brides

prepares to join

the most celebrated
royal family on Earth.

[dramatic music]

Actress Meghan Markle
will marry into a world

of grand tradition
and vast wealth.

♪ ♪

- My whole life shall be
devoted to your service.

narrator: But all that
glitters is not gold.

For 100 years,
this royal house

has faced scandal,

war...

- A bomb fell only a few feet
from the palace building.

narrator:
Adultery...

- It would have been far easier
to have had two wives.

narrator: And tragedy.

- Diana,
the Princess of Wales,

has died at the age of 36.

narrator:
A family that will do

whatever it takes to survive.

- This vast crowd here
to celebrate

six decades
of the queen's reign.

narrator:
Duty, power, and sacrifice.

"The Windsors."

♪ ♪

1911.

The future
of the British monarchy

rests on the shoulders
of a teenage boy:

Prince Edward.

He is the eldest son
of King George V

and his wife, Queen Mary.

On his father's death,

Edward will reign over Britain
and her vast empire.

♪ ♪

- Edward is only 17
when his father,

King George V,

forces him to go through
this special ceremony

declaring him Prince of Wales
and heir to the throne.

- The whole ceremony
is all planned

by his father King George,

and everything about it
is one giant symbol

of what George
thinks monarchy should be.

narrator: King George V
is the 38th monarch in a line

that stretches back
nearly a thousand years

through eight royal houses

all the way
to William the Conqueror.

Though George holds
no direct political power,

as Head of State

and Supreme Governor
of the Church of England,

many regard the king
as the ultimate symbol

of Britain's
national identity.

♪ ♪

Today, Edward will be publicly
presented as king in waiting

when he is crowned
Prince of Wales.

- King George designs
this wonderful medieval outfit

for him to wear.

- Edward absolutely hates it,

and he can't wait to get out
of the ceremonial robes.

- He must have looked
to the future

with absolute horror.

It was a foretaste of a life
of formality and ceremony

which he absolutely hated.

[crowd cheering]

- Edward is part
of a new generation,

and he wants to do things
differently from his father,

and his father, King George V,

is very much part
of the old guard.

narrator: The upbringing
of the royal children

has been purposefully shaped

to protect a thousand years
of tradition.

- George V is particularly
strict on his children

because he believes

that they should be
sort of virtuous role models

that his people should then
look up to and emulate.

- There were precise rules
for everything.

The children could be punished
for something so slight

as wearing the wrong kilt
with the wrong jacket.

- George V had
a ruthless temper.

When the boys were summoned
to their father's study

they were absolutely terrified
because he was the king,

and you didn't argue
with the king.

- There is almost nothing

of the natural sort
of fun and affection

that you would expect to see
in most families.

narrator: As a child,
Edward is closest

to his younger brother,
Prince Albert,

known in the family
as "Bertie."

- Bertie is shy.

He suffers
from a serious stammer.

His father
is very unsympathetic.

- Edward and Bertie
are both really oppressed

by their father's tough regime,

and they do gain some solace

from the fact
that they are in it together.

narrator: But the two brothers
find an escape route

from their father's
strict household...

war.

♪ ♪

- Germany
is threatening to become

the dominant power
on the European continent,

and there comes a point
when Britain has to intervene.

narrator: More than
30 countries,

including the United States,

will be dragged into the first
truly global conflict:

World War I.

- 20-year-old Edward,

like other 20-year-old
young men in Britain

want to go out
and fight for their country.

- George is advised
that it would be good for him

and for the monarchy

if his sons are seen
to take part.

narrator: But if the king
allows his sons to go to war,

they will be fighting
against their own family.

Germany's ruler,
Kaiser Wilhelm,

is George's first cousin.

- In fact, the British
royal family is related

to most of the royal houses
of Europe.

They're all intermarried,

and they're all cousins
of one another.

narrator:
George V and Kaiser Wilhelm

are both grandsons
of the late Queen Victoria.

Known as
the Grandmother of Europe,

she sat at the center
of a vast network

of royal families connected
by blood and marriage.

Victoria was married
to a German, Prince Albert.

- So the name
of the British royal family

is the
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty.

- George's German roots are a
PR disaster waiting to happen.

His people are at war
with Germany,

but how can the king
command their loyalty

if they're questioning
his British origins

in the first place?

- The British public becomes
very much aware and critical

of the German origins
of the king,

and at this point

George makes
a really radical change.

- They have to change
the family name.

- The question is, what name?

And all sorts
of names were thought of,

and eventually they come up
with the brilliant idea

of calling the new dynasty
the House of Windsor.

[grand orchestral music]

narrator: The name comes
from Windsor Castle,

one of the official residences
of British monarchs.

- Windsor Castle, been there
for a thousand years,

it's absolutely
quintessential Britain.

- They change their name from
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor,

and with that they say
to the nation,

"We're not German;
we're English.

We're English, just like you."

narrator: It works.

The PR maneuver increases
the king's popularity.

One crisis has been averted,

but the war will soon force

an impossible decision
on the king.

[dramatic music]

announcer:
1917.

The First World War rages on.

Prince Edward is now an
officer in the British army.

- But he's not allowed
to fight.

He's not allowed
near the front line.

- He says to his father,
King George,

"Look, I've got
to be doing my bit."

And his father said,

"No, no, you can't risk
being killed or captured."

- And that's an experience that
he finds extremely humiliating.

narrator: His father insists
that the Prince of Wales

is protected at all times,

but Edward defies
his father's orders.

- At one point
he escaped from his minders

and stole a motorbike and
headed off for the front line.

[motorcycle engine chugs]

And he hears the stories
of ordinary men,

and he sees the sacrifices
that they're making.

- It's at this time
that Edward realizes

that he is able
to make contact and connection

with ordinary people outside
the bubble of the court.

- He was extremely popular.

He represented
a new generation.

♪ ♪

narrator: Edward's personal
popularity may be on the rise,

but King George faces
another wave

of public dissatisfaction
with the monarchy.

- The carnage
of the First World War

makes people question the old,
traditional social order.

They're supposed to be
fighting for king and country

but really,
what is it all about?

- The working classes
in particular

are questioning
the decisions taken

by their social superiors,
people like the monarchs.

- Particularly worrying
is what's going on in Russia

with George's cousin,
Tsar Nicholas II.

[crowd clamoring]

narrator: In March 1917,

revolutionaries
depose the Tsar

and place the Russian royal
family under house arrest.

- Tsar Nicholas needs asylum.

He wants to come to England.

- King George is very close
to his cousin Nicky.

They were actually
very good friends,

and they looked
almost identical.

The problem
with the Tsar is that

he is incredibly unpopular
amongst some people in Britain.

- He is seen
as a blood-stained tyrant,

brutally quashing any kind
of uprising prior to 1917.

narrator: The fall of the Tsar
is celebrated

by a growing number
of the British working class.

- George is afraid
that if he brings in Nicholas

we'll have a sort of flaming
of communist revolution

in this country as well.

- If the Russian royal family
can be toppled,

what's to say that the British
royal family aren't next?

- George will do
everything he can

to preserve his own dynasty
and his own family.

narrator: The king makes
a cold-hearted choice.

He refuses asylum
to his cousin,

his wife,
and their five children.

One year later,

King George learns the fate
of his Russian family.

- A group of Bolshevik soldiers
just opened fire on them.

[gunshots]

The Tsar died straightaway,

but it took a long time
to kill his son,

the tsarina,
and the princesses.

They all had jewels, diamonds,
sewn into their underwear,

which acted
as a kind of armor

and so their death
was more agonizing

than it might
otherwise have been.

- George writes in his diary
of his shock and his misery,

but he never speaks
of it publicly

because he knows
he didn't save them.

He didn't offer them asylum.

- Ultimately,

the survival of the British
monarchy comes first.

[soldiers cheering]

narrator: In November 1918,
after four long years of war,

Germany surrenders.

Prince Edward,
heir to the throne,

is welcomed home
as a war hero.

- But at this point,

a whole new set
of challenges emerges

and the biggest of those,
perhaps,

is the survival
of the British Empire,

which is starting
to fray at the edges.

♪ ♪

narrator:
King George's empire

extends from Canada
to Australia,

covering a fifth
of the world's population.

♪ ♪

Nearly 3 million
of George's subjects

from across the empire
fought in World War I,

and hundreds of thousands
lost their lives.

Many now question
their sacrifice.

♪ ♪

- There is lots of discontent
and rebellion

in different parts
of the empire.

- There are
nationalist uprisings

and a lot of violence

in Egypt, Ireland,
and in India.

- King George realizes

that his son Edward's
wartime popularity

is something that he can use

to shore up the loyalty
of the British Empire.

- In the fall of 1919,
Edward is sent off

on his first major
overseas tour to Canada.

- Edward embarks
on these tours

as an ambassador
on behalf of his father

to broker good relations

between Britain and
the representative figures

who he meets
in these different countries.

- The program that's been set
for him

is a very old-fashioned,
formal one

with carriage rides and
formal lunches and receptions.

- Edward is the very
antithesis of his parents,

King George and Queen Mary,

who were enormously correct
and very, very stuffy.

- The first thing that Edward
does when he gets to Canada

is to fire the organizer
for the tour.

That's the same man

has organized his father's tour
a few years before.

- He begins to practice

the more informal style
of monarchy

which he had begun to develop
during the First World War.

- He wants
to have mass receptions

where he can meet
as many people as possible.

- He shook so many hands that
his right hand became unusable.

It was too bruised, and he had
to start shaking hands

with people
using his left hand.

- Of course,
the Prince of Wales

was a very dynamic character,

and the fact
that he was so good-looking,

he got mobbed
wherever he went.

- At the end
of his Canadian tour,

Edward decides
to tack on

a visit to America

where President Woodrow Wilson
has invited him.

- He's given a ticker tape
parade in Manhattan,

and people are
just delighted to see him.

[crowd cheering]

- He falls in love with the
U.S. and American way of life.

♪ ♪

- For him,
the wide-open spaces

represent a life of freedom,

somewhere where
he can be his own man

in charge of his own destiny.

- Edward loves North America
so much

that he buys a cattle ranch,
and he has this fantasy

that one day he will be able
to retire from public life

and go and live out a private
existence on this ranch.

- He's got all of
these responsibilities,

he's representing
the British throne,

and then at the same time there
are things that he wants to do.

He loves the social life;
he loves to go dancing.

He really is a kind
of Jazz Age prince.

narrator: The prince's
flirtation with America

will set him
on a collision course

not only with his father,

but also with the entire
House of Windsor.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

announcer:
Throughout the 1920s,

Prince Edward crisscrosses
the British Empire

as ambassador for his father,
King George.

- George V
really understands that

for the monarchy to survive,
it has to be useful.

Edward travels
around the world

on behalf
of the British Empire

on endless goodwill tours.

- What an amazing constitution
the Prince of Wales must have.

Here he is arriving at
a garden party in Buenos Aires

where he shook hands
with over 500 people.

- Edward works really hard
as Prince of Wales.

He goes on all these tours,

much more than George had done
when he was Prince of Wales.

Prince Edward
is Britain's answer

to Hollywood celebrity.

- Whatever he wears
is adopted as a fashion.

- I suppose we shall all
be wearing boaters now.

narrator: Despite Edward's
huge popularity,

his father, King George,

is irritated
by his modern approach.

- From George's point of view,
Edward can do nothing right.

George is constantly
picking, criticizing,

silly little things about,
you know,

how he shakes too many hands,
or he wears the wrong clothes.

You know, constant carping.

narrator:
In 1924,

Edward takes a break
from his royal duties

and is drawn back
to his beloved America.

♪ ♪

- The USA is one of the few
places in the world

that Edward visits that's not
part of the British Empire,

so he feels much greater
freedom in America.

[jaunty music]

♪ ♪

- Edward falls in
with the kind of

high-living, socializing set
of Long Island,

and he spends three weeks
living it up.

♪ ♪

- One of the first people
he meets in America

is Pinna Cruger,
a Hollywood starlet.

She is married
to a New York millionaire,

and they embark
on a passionate affair.

♪ ♪

- It was fun, probably,
for everybody,

except for the
Prince of Wales's father

who back in England
is thinking, "Good Lord,

this isn't possibly the tour
that we had anticipated."

- When Edward returns from
his trip to America in 1924,

his father is apoplectic.

[dramatic music]

- The king has a pile
of news clippings on his desk

with such headlines as,

"Prince gets in
with the milkman."

- George V expects his son
to behave properly,

with decorum, with etiquette,

to project
a certain moral virtuosity,

to maintain the image
worthy of the future king.

In George's mind, Edward
is letting the side down.

- George is furious
at this public exposure,

and he is so annoyed

that he refuses
to let Edward ever go back

to the United States again.

♪ ♪

narrator:
But America's influence

has transformed
Edward's vision

of the kind of royal
he wants to be.

♪ ♪

- Edward believes that America
is more democratic,

that if he could dispense
with pomp and pageantry

that perhaps the monarchy
will have a relevance.

- Britain is going through very
difficult times economically

with the Depression.

He is out there
meeting the people,

going into ordinary houses,

finding out
about working conditions

on a much more direct
and immediate level

than royalty
has ever done before.

- Edward
is enormously popular.

Suddenly here was somebody

who was willing to talk to you
like a normal human being,

and people were just
overwhelmed by that.

♪ ♪

- He speaks out about

the dreadful living conditions

and housing in Britain.

- And this shocked
the government

because it was
an implicit criticism of them.

- It was crossing a line,
if you like,

that here was
the Prince of Wales

actually getting involved
with politics,

and this was something that
the monarchy of George V

was certainly very against.

- Usually the monarchy should
stay out of politics,

and Edward
is breaking all the rules.

- King George worries
desperately about the future,

and he is reported to say,

"After I am dead, the boy will
ruin himself in 12 months."

narrator:
But the king is delighd

with the man his second son
Bertie is promising to become.

- Edward and Bertie are
very different characters.

Edward's very glamorous,
outgoing,

and Bertie is terribly shy
and rather nervous.

- Bertie marries
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

who is from a very grand,
ancient,

Scottish aristocratic family.

- In 1926, she has Elizabeth.

In 1930,
she has Margaret Rose.

- Bertie, in living his life
the way he is,

is pleasing his father

and doing exactly what George V
would want him to do.

- Bertie has become very close
to his father,

and that's because he lives
a virtuous family life.

And on the other hand
you have Edward, the bad boy.

He is unmarried, single,

and his father thinks
his eldest son

is woefully underprepared
for becoming king.

- So as Edward approaches 40,
he's really at a low ebb.

He feels lonely.

His brothers
are all settling down,

making marriages,
and having children.

- And that's when
he meets the woman

who will throw the entire
monarchy into crisis.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

announcer:
London, spring 1934.

Prince Edward hosts a party
at the Dorchester Hotel.

Among the guests
are an American couple,

Ernest and Wallis Simpson.

♪ ♪

Wallis is a socialite
from Baltimore.

Ernest, her second husband.

- Wallis exudes charm.

♪ ♪

She's got
very strong features.

Of course, elegantly dressed.

Tiny skinny.

I mean, "You can never be
too rich or too thin,"

I think she might have said.
[laughs]

♪ ♪

- They're sitting together,
other people are dancing,

and Edward suddenly opens up
about his work,

the visits that he's making
to the coal mining areas.

And Wallis
listens attentively.

- And he talks to her about
the burdens that he faces

and all the difficulties
of his daily job,

and Wallis
is not only deeply sympathetic,

she's very knowledgeable.

- And he says,

"Wallis, you're the first woman

who has ever been interested
in my job."

♪ ♪

- Wallis very quickly realizes

that beneath
that confident veneer,

the Prince is actually

lacking in self-confidence
to some extent.

- In Wallis, he finds someone
with whom he can really discuss

all these matters
that are preying on his mind.

- Wallis doesn't defer to him
in a slavish kind of way

as the English tended to do.

He was subjected
to the most arrant,

appalling flattery
by the English.

She didn't do that.

She'd talk to him
as woman to man,

and he liked this.

narrator: Edward and Wallis
become secret lovers.

Before long, she is a regular
guest at Fort Belvedere,

his private retreat.

- Fort Belvedere meant
everything to Edward.

He can be there

with no royal protocol
going on around him.

- Fort Belvedere was his
sort of getaway

from the rigors of court life.

- What he loves doing

is having the cocktails
before dinner

and rolling up
the carpet after dinner

and putting on
gramophone records.

All of those sort
of things that

Queen Mary up the road
in Windsor Castle

and King George would abhor.

♪ ♪

- It's amazing how quickly

the relationship between
Wallis and Edward develops.

- Edward falls head over heels
for Wallis,

I think precisely because

she offers him
the love and support

that he wasn't necessarily
getting

particularly from his father
but also his mother.

It's also the case that

Edward has a great affection
for all things American.

- There was something about
an American woman

that he found spirited
and different and sparky

that is key to any relationship
as far as Edward is concerned.

- She had this ability
to make you feel

that you were the most
important person in the room,

and the rest of the world
had just sort of vanished

and she was completely
focused on you.

- Wallis establishes herself
very quickly

as the unofficial wife
at Fort Belvedere.

- But Wallis presents
a number of problems,

not least the fact

that she is married
and has been divorced.

Divorce is simply not done.

I mean, it's taboo
not just in Britain

but also
in the United States.

- Divorced people in England
at this point have no status.

They're almost viewed
as pariahs.

- So, for him
to have a relationship

with a woman
who has been divorced

is completely unheard of.

- Divorced people can't be
presented at court,

so they can't meet
the royal family officially.

- However, Edward is
so besotted with her

that he wants her
to accompany him

to the pre-wedding ball
of his younger brother,

Prince George.

- Edward
is absolutely determined

he is going to bring Wallis
to this party

to meet his father against
all advice and protocol.

♪ ♪

- Edward's younger brother
Bertie and his wife Elizabeth

are horrified.

They think that this
unscrupulous woman,

this woman of low morals,

should not be in the company
either of themselves

or for that matter,
the Prince of Wales.

- Wallis is finally introduced
to Edward's father,

King George V,

and she feels the icy stare
almost burning through her.

♪ ♪

- George really explodes
with rage and says, you know,

"She must not
darken my doors again."

And there is
a real serious bust-up

between father and son.

- King George and Queen Mary

are terribly worried
about the degree

to which he is completely
under Wallis's spell.

narrator:
His parents are fearful

of what this could mean for
the future of the monarchy.

♪ ♪

But before they can intervene,

King George's health
suddenly declines.

- King George becomes
seriously ill.

It's clear that
he's on his death bed,

and that means
that Edward will become king,

and that will change

everything about
his relationship with Wallis.

[dramatic music]

narrator: At Sandringham House
in January 1936,

King George V dies
from heart failure

at the age of 70.

- When George
breathes his last,

Mary, the queen--

one of her first acts is to bow
before her son Edward

and to kiss his hand,
because in that moment

he's gone from being Edward

to King Edward VIII.

♪ ♪

- Two days after
he becomes king,

there is a ceremony
at St. James's Palace

when his accession
is proclaimed.

[fanfare]

- Prince Edward
Albert Christian

George Andrew Patrick David.

[cannon blasts]

- My grandmother was
at the proclamation.

She's there in the courtyard,

and looking up,
she sees at a window

the new king, Edward,

with Wallis by his side,

and she's very shocked
by this.

- We have the new king standing
next to his American mistress

laughing, enjoying himself,

when they should have
been in mourning,

and it should have been

a much more somber,
dignified occasion.

- The king's only just died.

To appear at a window

with your mistress
as you're proclaimed king?

Well, what more can I say?

♪ ♪

- The gravity of his role
as the new constitutional king

seems to pass Edward
completely by.

- And you get the feeling
that really

he is kind of liberated.

Now, his father is gone.

He can do
exactly what he wants.

- He spends most of every week
planning luncheons and dinners

and weekends
at Fort Belvedere,

or buying costly presents
and jewels for Wallis.

A playboy king.

- Edward's reliance
on Mrs. Simpson grows.

He neglects
his official duties.

He doesn't do the things
that he's supposed to be doing.

He doesn't do his job.

narrator: So far,
his affair with Mrs. Simpson

has been successfully
kept from the public,

but Edward's passion
for Wallis

is becoming all-consuming.

- Edward should be meeting
and greeting his ministers,

looking through state papers
and signing off laws,

and yet, he very quickly
lets things slide.

♪ ♪

- Edward charters a yacht

to go round the Mediterranean
for a few days.

- Edward thinks that
he's sort of off-duty.

He can behave as anybody might
behave in those circumstances.

You know,
they sail round Greece.

He's photographed
without his shirt on.

This would have made poor
George V turn in his grave.

- Up to then,
in public at least,

he's been relatively discreet
about meeting Wallis,

but on holiday he throws
caution to the winds,

and there are dozens
of photographers

following Edward and Wallis
on this tour.

♪ ♪

- The American press
print so many photographs

of Mrs. Simpson
with the king

that it starts a conversation

about whether or not
they will marry.

♪ ♪

- And there's one particularly
compromising photograph

which shows Wallis Simpson
resting her hand

in a very sort of
comfortable way on his arm.

- The king's body
is reverent and dignified.

You're not meant
to touch the king's body,

certainly not in public.

It's not the done thing.

- That is the moment when it's
pretty obvious they are close

and have been for some time.

- The trip is very much
a turning point

for Wallis and Edward,

because their relationship
becomes known globally.

narrator:
While the entire world learns

of Edward and
Mrs. Simpson's affair,

in Britain,
the story is censored.

- You could buy American
newspapers in England,

but if there was a story
about Wallis

it would be cut out
with scissors.

The newsagents had to remove it

before they were allowed
to sell it.

- Now, this is as a result
of a gentleman's agreement

whereby the press is very
deferential to the monarchy.

- So after Mrs. Simpson
and Edward

return from their cruise,

her Aunt Bessie from Baltimore

sends her a pile
of newspaper clippings.

- Wallis is furious that
she's become public property.

Wallis says to the king,

"We have
to break this off now."

- He's besotted by her.

He's absolutely at her mercy.

- He threatens,
wherever she goes

he will come and find her,
and if he doesn't find her,

having searched
the four corners of the Earth,

he will kill himself.

♪ ♪

narrator: Finally,
Wallis and Ernest Simpson

decide their marriage is over

and initiate divorce
proceedings.

- A crisis is now imminent.

- Members of the government,
members of the palace,

all become very concerned

that within six months,
she will be divorced

and she will then be free
to marry him.

- For the royal family
to marry a divorced woman

is the most appalling,

scandalous, unthinkable thing.

♪ ♪

- As king,

Edward is Supreme Governor
of the Church of England

and defender of the faith,
and as such,

he simply could not
marry a divorced woman

because this was outlawed

by the faith which
he was trying to defend.

- And King Edward realizes

that he's going to have
to make a choice.

[fanfare]

- Today, the American press

is filled with rumors
of royal romance,

and in this topsy-turvy world,
it may be time

for an American woman
to marry a British king.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

narrator: King Edward
has been on the throne

for just nine months.

Until now, he's managed
to keep his two-year affair

with Wallis secret
from the British public.

- The world knows all about
this relationship,

but in Britain,
they're still in the dark.

- Expatriates in America
are writing home to Britain

saying, "What is happening?"

♪ ♪

- Finally,
Edward has a meeting

with the Prime Minister,
Baldwin.

♪ ♪

- Edward declares his hand.

He says that he is determined
to marry Wallis.

♪ ♪

- This is a bombshell.

- The prime minister tells him
that he has three options.

He can give up
his relationship

with Mrs. Simpson,

he can marry Mrs. Simpson

against the express wishes
of his ministers

who will then resign,

or he can abdicate.

♪ ♪

- There is no precedence
for abdication.

There is no blueprint
of what a king

or indeed a prime minister
or a parliament should do.

- It's the throne
or it's Mrs. Simpson.

It's one or the other.
He can't have both.

- However, before Edward
has made a decision,

the story breaks in the press.

♪ ♪

- Ultimately,
the British newspapers realize

that they simply can't hold off
any longer.

This story is too big.

They break
the gentleman's agreement

and decide to publish it.

- The British Empire faces
an extraordinary crisis.

Not for centuries have these
houses of parliament witnessed

so dangerous
a political struggle.

Shall King Edward VIII
marry Mrs. Simpson?

No, say the ministers
of the cabinet

supported by
the Church of England

and the upper classes.

They are bitter in opposition
to the king

marrying the American woman
twice divorced.

♪ ♪

- There's a great division
among the public

between those people who see
this as a great love story,

and then there are a great many
people who see this

as an absolute dereliction
of duty

because he wants to marry
a American socialite.

- Wallis becomes
immensely unpopular

as the woman who threatens
to take away the king,

and her house is surrounded.

Stones are thrown
through the window.

- She's the center
of this attention,

and you know,

that would be hard
for any woman.

- So Wallis
is quite panicked now

and she thinks the time
is right to flee London,

and she drives off
to the south of France

and she's chased
by a press pack

desperate for more details.

- Edward is desolate
when she leaves.

She has been his support,

his confidant,
and obviously, his lover,

and without her
he is completely bereft.

♪ ♪

- Edward finds himself faced
with a huge dilemma.

He's having
to choose between

doing the job that he had
trained his entire life for

and Wallis Simpson.

[distant bells clanging]

narrator: Eight days after
the crisis breaks,

Edward finally
addresses the nation.

♪ ♪

- This is Windsor Castle.

His royal highness,
Prince Edward.

- I was in bed.

I think I was half asleep,

'cause I remember
somebody coming in

and saying that
the king's coming on,

so there was going
to be an announcement.

- I mean, everybody tuned in.

It was
an extraordinary moment.

- Until now,

it has not been
constitutionally possible

for me to speak.

A few hours ago,

I discharged my last duty

as king and emperor.

But you must believe me
when I tell you

that I have found it
impossible

to carry the heavy burden
of responsibility

and to discharge
my duties as king

as I would wish to do

without the help and support
of the woman I love.

- When the British public
finally learns what's happened,

they feel absolutely
shocked and betrayed.

How could a king
give up his throne and empire?

♪ ♪

- I thought it was a doomsday.

I thought it was
the end of the world.

[chuckling]
We hadn't got a king anymore.

♪ ♪

- Edward sits down with
his brothers around him

as witnesses to this momentous,
unprecedented event

and signs that fateful decree,

abdicating the throne
of England.

- Bertie, who will become king,
feels nothing but dread

at the prospect of succeeding.

Edward himself feels a sense,
finally, of freedom.

[engine turns over]

narrator: In the early hours
of December the 12th,

Edward leaves the country
and goes into exile.

- No king has ever abdicated
like this before.

It's completely unprecedented.

- Edward leaves after just over
300 days on the throne...

♪ ♪

And in doing so, he throws
the monarchy into chaos.

narrator:
Next on "The Windsors"...

- Bertie has been tasked with
this incredibly difficult job.

- He'd always been the moon
to his brother's sun.

- His brother Edward is,
if you like,

cavorting with the Nazis.

- And all of this
was undermining Bertie.

- Edward hasn't yet adjusted
to the fact

that he is not the king.

This is a big problem.