A strong-willed activist prince who married a divorcee… King Charles III might not like it, but he has much in common with his wayward uncle Edward VIII – whose brief reign started on this day in 1936

On January 29, 1949, at dinner with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor at their home on the Cap d’Antibes, Lieutenant Colonel John ‘Jack’ Aird, Edward’s former equerry, commented wistfully to the assembled group.

“There never was Edward VIII,” he said. ‘That was a fantasy. Only two kings in my lifetime: George V and George VI. Some say there was another king, but today there is no trace of him left.’

But Aird was wrong. However short his reign was, and whatever disappointment those around him, including Aird, felt, there was indeed a King Edward VIII – and on this day, 88 years ago, he succeeded his father George V as King Emperor .

But unwilling to compromise on the promise he felt he had made to marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson, a woman he wrote “gives me the courage to carry on,” his reign ended in less than eleven months with the shock of his death. abdication.

He spent the remaining thirty-six years of his life in exile in France. an outcast from British royal circles.

Edward’s great-nephew and successor, Charles III, would undoubtedly reject the suggestion that his life or royal career bore any resemblance to that of his embattled uncle, but the parallels are there and they are striking.

During their long tenure as Princes of Wales, Edward and Charles shaped the office according to their own personalities, style and beliefs.

After the disruption and loss that Britain experienced during the First World War, Edward was convinced that the monarchy needed to be modernized.

He wanted, as he told his ghostwriter Charles Murphy in 1949, to “democratize the role of the royal family” and “bring the monarchy closer to the people.”

Breaking away from the formality of his parents’ generation, his style took a more empathetic and meritocratic approach.

His success was immediate, paving the way for Charles to engage more freely and meaningfully in a role that, according to Edward, was once entirely defined by “bringing genius in a top hat.”

In an effort to free himself from the constraints of tradition, Edward’s involvement in social issues of the time often led to criticism that he strayed too close to political struggle.

Like Charles, he had firm views on how to meet the challenges of the day and consistently used his position to highlight what he believed had gone unnoticed by the political establishment.

Edward, shocked by conditions in Britain’s industrial regions, defied the conventional charity model of other royals and spent the years of the Great Depression doing his best to alleviate the social impact of mass unemployment, especially as it related was concerned with fair social housing.

Yet his interventions caused political consternation because he broke the code of royal impartiality by quietly calling for action where he saw none.

His elevation to the throne, like the current king, led to immediate fears that he would be unable to resist the impulse to interfere further.

Edward hoped, as he put it, to ‘bring a fresh and original spirit to the duties of kingship’ – to revive the role – to become, as he put it, ‘a modern king’ – but above all to to maintain ‘a life beyond the boundaries of the world’. the office’.

He saw no reason to adopt the customs of his father’s kingship, including changing where he lived.

He refused to move to Windsor Castle and instead kept, as his private retreat, Fort Belvedere, just as Charles has zealously guarded the intimacy of Highgrove, a house that, like Edward’s, he built during his years as Prince of Wales has created and is seen as a reflection of him personally.

Charles has also managed to remain comfortably entrenched in Clarence House until now, fulfilling Edward’s belief that Buckingham Palace should be a royal office rather than a royal residence.

Obvious and undeniable, but hitherto completely overlooked by royal commentators, is that Charles has achieved what Edward failed to achieve in 1936.

He has married the divorcee he loves and now occupies the throne he has waited for for decades.

Embroiled in the dilemma of an enduring and consuming love affair, a description that could be applied as easily to Edward’s relationship with Wallis as to Charles’s with Camilla, both men were confronted with personal inclinations that threatened their royal role.

Yet they refused to abandon these women or settle for a discreet and unofficial relationship. Both sought to formalize their love, believing that marriage was essential to their happiness and success as modern kings.

Perhaps Edward’s most lasting contribution to the framework of modern monarchy is that he set the precedent for a monarch (or prince) to pursue marital fulfillment at the expense of royal convention.

In December 1936, Edward publicly called for changes to the traditional royal regulations.

He failed to win those concessions for himself, but set a precedent for his successors by ensuring that the current king has a woman at his side who supports, loves and fulfills his life, both in public and private .

An unconventional royal bride, Queen Camilla has proven to be an asset to her husband and the Crown.

It makes you wonder if King Edward VIII’s reign would have been different if he had had the same opportunity.

• Jane Tippet is the author of Once A King – the lost memoirs of Edward VIII, published by Hodder & Stoughton, price £25