Edward VIII of the United Kingdom was born on 6 January 1894, at York Cottage, Sandringham, Norfolk. He was the youngest son of George V and Queen Mary, and the fourth in line to the throne. He was educated at Eton College from 1907 to 1912 and then studied at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Edward became a second lieutenant in the Scots Guards on 15 November 1911
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In November 1914 he saw action at Gallipoli where he was wounded. In June 1915 he was promoted to captain and posted to London as a staff officer with 3rd Guards Brigade. He was seconded to France where he served on the Western Front from July 1916 to May 1918.
In 1918 he returned to England and served with his regiment in Palestine from July 1919 to March 1920 before being demobilised. In 1921 Edward married Wallis Simpson. On 10 December 1936 he abdicated his position as king in order that he could marry Mrs Simpson without divorcing his wife of nearly 25 years, who had been forced into a secret marriage by her father some years earlier.
The former king lived with Mrs Simpson in France until she died of cancer on 4 January 1937. On 28 May 1946 he married Mrs Simpson in Paris while she was still alive so that they could obtain a divorce in order for him to marry her daughter, Marie-Christine. The marriage lasted for two months until it ended when the future king died of cancer on Bosworth Field on 16 August 1972.
