Old Photograph Prince Edward Balmoral Castle Scotland

Old photograph of Prince Edward at Balmoral Castle, Scotland. Edward was born on 23 June 1894 at White Lodge, Richmond Park, on the outskirts of London, England, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. He was the eldest son of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary. His father was the son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. His mother was the eldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck, Francis and Mary Adelaide. At the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind his grandfather and father. As a great grandson of the monarch in the male line, Edward was styled His Highness Prince Edward of York at birth. He was baptised Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David in the Green Drawing Room of White Lodge on 16 July 1894 by Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was created Prince of Wales on his sixteenth birthday, nine weeks after his father succeeded as king. As a young man, he served in the British Army during the First World War and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father. Edward became Edward VIII on his father's death in early 1936. Only months into his reign, he caused a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to Wallis Simpson, an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second. Choosing not to end his relationship with Simpson, Edward abdicated. After his abdication, he was created Duke of Windsor. He married Simpson in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Germany. During the Second World War, he was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France but, after private accusations that he held Nazi sympathies, he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. After the war, he spent the remainder of his life in retirement in France.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.