Support for Edward weakens

December 5, 1936

King Edward VIII has again met with Prime Minister Baldwin, and it is now assumed that the king will soon abdicate his throne. "The surest evidence that the King has resigned himself" to Prime Minister Baldwin's course that has been marked out for him is the cancelling of all of his public engagements for the next week. Carrying out these engagements would have been "an excellent opportunity to test the loyalty of the people not only to the crown, but also to the present wearer."
The King's friends have complained that Edward has not had the "opportunity to present his case to the people and to Parliament," but has been "rushed to his downfall by secret manoeuvrings by Ministers who are afraid of his popularity and personal independence and who want his more docile brother, the Duke of York, on the throne.
Winston Church had encouraged the king to maintain the engagements as this would have been a "timely opportunity to remedy the situation."
Tonight newspaper magnate Lord Rothermere issued a public statement tonight: "You cannot smuggle the greatest living Englishman off the throne off the throne of England during the weekend. A concerted effort is being made to do this. I have just returned from a trip around the world. Wherever, I went, to whomever I spoke, the people of all nationalities gave expression of unstinted praise and admiration for our King. Time must be given for a solution of this matter. The present haste is indecent and giving rise to unpleasant rumours affecting high political and other personages. No government on which this matter of supreme important runs counter to the wishes of the people of England can survive."