Abandoned coronation of Edward VIII Abandoned coronation of Edward VIII The coronation of Edward VIII as King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth and as Emperor of India was due to take place at Westminster Abbey on 12 May 1937. Preparations had already begun and souvenirs were on sale when he abdicated on 11 December 1936. To keep everything from going to waste, it was decided to hold the coronation of his brother and successor George VI on the same date. In January 1936, King George V died and his eldest son, Edward VIII, succeeded him as king-emperor of the
Cultural depictions of George VI to explain why he would not leave Britain for any safe zone, namely Canada, during World War II. George is a significant character in Michael Dobbs' 2003 novel "Winston's War", and Len Deighton's alternate history novel "SS-GB", in which he is imprisoned during a Nazi occupation of Britain and killed during an escape attempt. In the alternate history novel "Fatherland" by Robert Harris, George VI was deposed when Nazi Germany conquered the United Kingdom and the British Empire in the early 1940s. Most of the Royal Family were forced into exile in Canada and his elder brother Edward VIII was