Historical Timeline –
Events Taking Place During Rebecca Dean’s
PALACE CIRCLE

1911

• Coronation of George V and Queen Mary
• Investiture of Edward, Prince of Wales
• Suffragettes march in a five-mile procession of protest
• Winston Churchill becomes First Lord of the Admiralty

1914

• Britain declares war against Germany
• Spring offensive Ypres
• Sinking of the Lusitania

1916

• The Somme campaign opens
• The Minister’s son, Raymond Asquith, is killed leading his men into battle on the Somme
• Bessie Wallis Warfield marries E. Winfield Spencer
• Lloyd George replaces Mr Asquith as Prime Minister

1917

• America enters World War 1
• There are Zeppelin raids over London

1918

• Prince Edward begins 16-year affair with Mrs. Dudley-Ward
• Germany signs the Armistice

1919

• Versailles Peace Conference
• Birth of Prince Farouk, Cairo

1927

• Wallis divorces E. Winfield Spencer
• Wallis marries Ernest Simpson

1929

• Prince Edward begins an affair with Thelma Furness

1931

• Thelma Furness introduces Wallis Simpson and her husband to the Prince of Wales

1932

• British Union of Fascists is founded by Sir Oswald Mosley
• Roosevelt wins Presidential election

1933

• Hitler becomes Chancellor of German Reich
• Thelma Furness takes a trip home to America. In Thelma’s absence Wallis’s relationship with Prince Edward changes from friendship to something far more intimate
• Sir Miles Lampson becomes Egypt’s British High Commissioner
• Mosley Fascist Rally, Olympia

1935

• King George celebrates his silver jubilee

1936

• King George V dies
• Edward succeeds to the throne as King Edward Vll
• King Fuad dies
• Prince Farouk succeeds his father as King of Egypt

1936

• King Edward holidays aboard the yacht ‘Nahlin’ with Wallis and a party of friends. Their relationship begins to attract much international press attention.
• Wallis’s divorce petition is heard at Ipswich Assizes
• The Prime Minister, Mr Baldwin, meets with the King in deep concern over what is considered to be an impossible liaison.
• All through the month, Edward struggles to keep both his throne and Wallis. It is a battle he loses. On Dec. 10th he abdicates. His younger brother, Prince Albert, becomes King, taking the name George Vl.

1937

• Edward, now the Duke of Windsor, marries Wallis at the Château de Candé, France.
• Fruity Metcalfe is his best man

1939

• Britain declares war with Germany
• Winston Churchill is once again First Lord of the Admiralty

1940

• The Nazis occupy Denmark and Norway
• Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister. One of his first acts is to intern the British fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley.
• France Falls
• Italians attack British Somaliland from Ethiopia
• The British mount a major offensive against Italian troops in the Western Desert

1941

• Rommel and two crack Panzer divisions arrive in North Africa
• British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, flies to Cairo to give a first-hand report to Churchill
• The war in the desert is being conducted on a vast scale

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Palace Circle - Timeline