CABINET AND THE EX-KING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 297, 15 December 1936, Page 6

CABINET AND THE EX-KING.

Mr. Baldwin on Thursday gave the House of Commons, and the world, an account of the events which led up to the abdication of King Edward VIII. It was an account which satisfied the House, including the Labour Opposition, which has never hesitated to criticise and sjttack the actions of the Government. But the habit of suspecting dark and sinister motives has led some people to imagine, and to assert, that the King's abdication was not due to the Government's refusal to agree to his proposal to marry Mrs, Simpson, but to the Government's alleged disapproval of His Majesty's pointed actions and remarks in sympathy with the people of the "distressed areas," especially South Wales. A study of the sequence of events reveals the fatuity of such a suggestion.

It was on October 20 that Mr. Baldwin, concerned by the damaging statements that were being given sensational prominence in the Press of the United States, went to see the King. He acted without knowledge of the Cabinet; it was, at that stage, a matter betwefen the King and himself. On November 16 the King sent for Mr. Baldwin, and in the course of their conversation His Majesty said he was going to marry Mrs. Simpson, and that he was "prepared to go." That night, according to Mr. Baldwin, thft King told his mother, Queen Mary, and on the next day he told his brother, the Duke of York. It was not until later in that week, and more than a! month after Mr. Baldwin had had his first audience of His Majesty, that the King, on I [November 18 and 19, visited South Wales. J