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Heresthetic and strategic choice in a constitutional moment: the abdication of Edward VIII

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British Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

Changes in constitutional power involve conflict. These contests can be modelled as a strategic interaction. The abdication of Edward VIII was primarily a strategic interaction between him and his prime minister Stanley Baldwin. The interaction can be modelled using game theory, but heresthetic better describes how both players attempted to change the incentives and choices available to the other, as well as the veto players that could block movement away from the status quo. Edward abdicated, but he did so in part because of a lack of commitment to winning. Nevertheless, Baldwin paid a price: the weakening of the empire and the commonwealth. The outcome of the crisis was predictable, but it was a strategic conflict, not the cooperative interaction that Baldwin at the time, and others since, have made it out to be.

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Notes

  1. Ziegler (1990), as Edward’s official biographer, had access to the files that were released to the public in 2003.

  2. In a morganatic marriage, a man (or less frequently a woman) of high rank marries, but his spouse and children lack any claim to his title or property (Oxford English Dictionary 2019).

  3. References to NA are to the National Archives of England and Wales, Kew Gardens. This particular file contains documents that reflect the establishment of and contributions to the trusts that held the funds. Additional funds seem to have been added later (Ziegler 1990, p. 350).

  4. Values in the table are ordinal; thus questions of interpersonal comparability are avoided. K’s 3 may be much worse than PM’s 0; the only comparisons that can be made are between one player’s payoffs: for either player 3 > 2 > 1 > 0.

  5. English divorce law at the time involved a decree nisi, which initiated the public proceedings and made it possible for others to object to the divorce, and a final decree, dissolving the marriage not less than six months later. Because Mrs Simpson was resident and domiciled in England, English divorce law applied (Rayden et al 1932).

  6. Mrs Raffray stayed at Ft Belvedere, Edward’s residence, along with the Simpsons the weekend of 27 March 1936, and she signed the guest book as Mary Raffray (Bloch 1986, p. 297). At dinner that Saturday, however, she used the name Buttercup Kennedy when she was introduced (Hardinge 1967, p. 90). The co-respondent in the Simpson divorce was Mrs E.H. Kennedy (Divorce Petition, amended 29 July 1936, NA TS 22/1/2).

  7. Statute of Westminster 1931, 22 Geo. 5 c. 4.

  8. Based on its contents, this appears to be Simon’s file.

  9. Statute of Westminster 1931, 22 Geo. 5 c. 4, preamble.

  10. Constitution (Amendment No. 27) Act, 1936 (Act. No. 57/1936); Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936, Act (Act No. 58/1936).

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge support for this research from Balliol College and the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford and to thank the following for helpful comments on earlier drafts: Iain McLean, Max Goplerud and Blake Ewing.

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  1. Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Scot Peterson

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Peterson, S. Heresthetic and strategic choice in a constitutional moment: the abdication of Edward VIII. Br Polit (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-021-00178-4

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