The Oddment Emporium
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Posts tagged Edward VIII:
Butter Sculptures
Butter sculptures often depict animals, people, buildings and other objects. They are best known as attractions at state fairs in the United States as lifesize cows and people, but can also be found on banquet tables and even small decorative butter pats.
The history of carving food into sculptured objects is ancient. Archaeologists have found bread and pudding moulds of animal and human shapes at sites from Babylon to Roman Britain. During the Renaissance and Baroque periods moulding food was commonly done for wealthy banquets. It was during this period that the earliest known reference to a butter sculpture is found. In 1536 Bartolomeo Scappi, cook to Pope Pius V, organised a feast composed of nine scenes elaborately carved out of food, each carried in episodically as centerpieces for a banquet.
The earliest butter sculpture as public art and not a banquet centerpiece can be traced to the 1876 when Caroline Shawk Brooks [Image Four], a farm woman from Arkansas, displayed her Dreaming Iolanthe, a bust of a woman modeled in butter [Image One]. The heyday of butter sculpting was from about 1890 to 1930. During this period refrigeration became widely available, and the American dairy industry began promoting butter sculpture as a way to compete against synthetic butter substitutes like margarine. Image Two depicts a 1925 butter sculpture of Edward VIII when Prince of Wales, about which you can read more here.
[Thanks to Vintage-Royalty]
(Source: Wikipedia)
Edward VIII on the right, dressed as a lady!
(Source: the-british-royal-family, via vintage-royalty)
The future King Edward VIII as a toddler.
David and Bertie
On this day, 10th December, 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII’s proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who was divorced from her first husband and was pursuing a divorce of her second.
The marriage was opposed by the governments of the United Kingdom and the autonomous Dominions of the British Commonwealth. Religious, legal, political, and moral objections were raised. As British monarch, Edward was the nominal head of the Church of England, which did not allow divorced people to remarry if their ex-spouses were still alive; so it was widely believed that Edward could not marry Wallis Simpson and remain on the throne. He was succeeded by his brother Albert, who took the regnal name George VI.
I’ve posted the above image before and although it’s crap quality I think it’s the best photograph of David and Bertie ever - the informality of it and casual expression of brotherly love…
The Duke of Windsor.
David Lloyd-George and Edward VIII. 1919.
What is your fascination with Edward VII? asked by Anonymous
NB: The anon who asked this changed ‘VII’ to ‘VIII’ in a second message.
Oh, I only wish I had a good enough command of the English language to articulate what my fascination with Edward VIII is! That being said, how long have you got…
For a start I’m interested in royalty, and especially British royalty, in general, and then Edward VIII’s story is just quite unique. Partly I sympathise with his predicament, and partly I think he needed to man up! I think there’s something undoubtedly noble in giving up everything you have ever known for love, but then I think, he had a duty! He was given a privileged life in exchange for him serving his country and he failed in the most monumental fashion … but then, he never really wanted to be king, so why should he have had to be!? I cannot imagine what it must have been like to make that decision. Its also somewhat harsh to blame him alone entirely for the abdication, the powers that be conspired to get him out because they feared his method of ‘kinging’ would be too radically different from that of his father, George V.
What people seem to forget though, is that Edward was a fantastic Prince of Wales. He genuinely cared about the poor in Britain and is famous for getting into trouble for saying ‘something must be done’ when he visited some poverty stricken area because it was seen as him meddling in political matters on which he should remain neutral! His trips around the British Empire following WWI also did a lot of good with regards to foreign relations. He was extremely popular and charismatic - people often compare his popularity with that of Princess Diana’s, for example. And, for what its worth, I think he would have made a good king if he’d have been allowed to carry on in the same manner. I think Britain would have a much more modern royal family now, like other European royal families, if he had remained king, but alas, it was not to be.
I’m much more interested in him pre-abdication than I am post-abdication, though that is not to say I am uninterested in him after he abdicated. His relationship with his family was bizarre, but fascinating! And Psycho Nanny! But also his relationship with Wallis Simpson is quite interesting too.
I think I like him because he’s become a historical figure that history has distorted almost beyond recognition. People just love to hate him, but when you actually read about him you realise he really is badly portrayed both in history and modern culture - The King’s Speech, I’m looking at you… His story is far more complex and emotional than any Daily Fail article or Channel Four documentary would have you believe! Oh, and he absolutely was NOT a Nazi!
I just think he’s a remarkable figure in history, with a remarkable story, but, if nothing else, he was incredibly easy on the eye!!!
I’m sorry this answer was so long. I’ve never really given much thought to why I liked him, I just sort of did! But there you have it!
Edward VIII or George VI Coronation Portrait
In what could be called an early example of airbrushing, the coronation portrait of Edward VIII was changed to be George VI. The portrait on the left side is the original coronation portrait, painted for the Illustrated London News, and shows Edward VIII in his coronation robes. Due to the speedy change of monarch, it was decided to just paint over the face with George VI’s.
Edward VIII on the day of his investiture as Prince of Wales, 13th July 1911.
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