How Queen Elizabeth Welcomed Edward VIII And Wallis Simpson Back To The Family

King Edward VIII, Queen Elizabeth II’s uncle, chose to abdicate in 1936, paving the way for King George VI’s ascension to the throne. Edward VIII’s decision to give up the throne was all because of a woman, the American divorcee Wallis Simpson, who became one of the most controversial figures of her time.

After he gave up the throne, Edward VIII and Simpson, who by then carried the title Duke and Duchess of Windsor, moved to France, where they got married in 1937 and primarily lived thereafter. It would be 30 years later that they would be reunited with the royal family again, when the couple received a highly symbolic invitation from Queen Elizabeth II herself.

The invitation of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor by the royal family happened in 1967, according to “The Queen’s Diamond Decades,” an Amazon Prime documentary. At that time, their presence was requested for an official public ceremony — the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to Edward’s mother and Her Majesty’s grandmother, Queen Mary.

Prior to this event, Edward VIII visited England on a couple of trips, but they can be thought of merely as personal trips because they were not the result of official invitations by the royal family. For instance, he attended the funeral of his brother King George VI in 1952, as well as the funeral of Queen Mary the year after.

This meant that the Duke of Windsor’s 1967 trip to England via Queen Elizabeth II’s invitation was very meaningful as it symbolized his official return to the British royal family. But Edward VIII was rather nonchalant about the Queen’s gesture of reconciliation. “It’s only natural that as her eldest son, that we should be invited to this purely private family ceremony in tribute to my mother,” the duke said.

However, Her Majesty did her best to heal the rift between Edward VII and the family who exiled him. “It was Elizabeth II who gently welcomed the Windsors back into the family fold, three long decades after the scandal had rocked the monarchy,” documentary narrator Patricia Hodge said.

But it appeared that not all royals were happy about Wallis Simpson’s return. While the Queen can be seen smiling while talking to the Duchess of Windsor, the Queen Mother was conspicuously absent. People were not too surprised as many knew that her relationship to Simpson back then was “notoriously frosty.”