Ralph Endersby Harwood Ralph Endersby Harwood Sir Ralph Endersby Harwood (28 March 1883 – 28 February 1951) was Financial Secretary to George V, Edward VIII and George VI. Harwood was born on 28 March 1883, the son of Charles Harwood of Shefford, Bedfordshire. He was educated at Bedford Modern School. Harwood served as Deputy Treasurer to George V from 1922 until 1935 and Financial Secretary to George V (1935), Edward VIII (1936) and George VI (1937). He later became a Governor of the London School of Economics. In 1903, Harwood married Kitty, the daughter of William Rule Endersby. They had one son and
George VI desire to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. British prime minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry a divorced woman and remain king. Edward abdicated to marry Simpson, and George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor. During George's reign, the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations accelerated. The parliament of the Irish Free State removed direct mention of the monarch from the country's constitution on the day of his accession. The following year, a new Irish constitution changed the