Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth imperialism to the Empire. The coronation was an important event in the history of television, being the country's first major outside broadcast, although television cameras were not allowed inside the abbey. It was also the first coronation to be filmed, as well as the first to be broadcast on radio. In January 1936, King George V died and his eldest son, Edward VIII, succeeded him as king-emperor of the British Empire. He was unmarried at that time, but the American socialite, Wallis Simpson, had accompanied him on numerous social occasions in years leading up to 1936; she was married to
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