The Edward VIII abdication crisis finally came out into the open in Britain when the Bishop of BradfordAlfred Blunt, speaking at his diocesan conference about the upcoming royal coronation, said of the king that "Some of us wish that he gave more positive signs of his awareness." The Yorkshire Post used the speech to question the king's behaviour and the rest of the British press soon followed suit, finally breaking their policy of self-imposed censorship.[1][2]
Nazi Germany passed several new laws. Membership in the Hitler Youth was made mandatory and the death penalty was introduced for those who hoarded their wealth abroad.[4]
British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin informed the King that a morganatic marriage would not be accepted.[1] Edward now had three choices: end his relationship with Wallis Simpson, marry against the advice of his ministers who would then resign, or abdicate.[6]
Wallis Simpson left England and boarded a boat for France. Over the next two days Simpson and her entourage drove to Cannes, doing their best to dodge reporters along the way.[8]
German media acknowledged the British abdication crisis for the first time when Hans Fritzsche gave an address over the radio explaining that the German press had taken a stance "nobler" than that of foreign newspapers by not reporting on "the private affairs of those concerned."[13]
Died:Juan de la Cierva, 41, Spanish civil engineer, pilot and aeronautical engineer (plane crash); Arvid Lindman, 74, Swedish admiral and two-time prime minister of Sweden; Lottie Pickford, 43, Canadian film actress and socialite (heart attack)
Edward VIII signed the Instrument of Abdication. As recited in the House of Commons that day, it read: "I, Edward VIII, of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Emperor of India, do hereby declare My irrevocable determination to renounce the Throne for Myself and for My descendants, and My desire that effect should be given to this Instrument of Abdication immediately. In token whereof I have hereunto set My hand this tenth day of December, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, in the presence of the witnesses whose signatures are subscribed."[6][17]
Edward gave his abdication speech by radio to a worldwide audience. "I have for 25 years tried to serve", he said. "But you must believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love."[3]
The Archbishop of Canterbury made controversial remarks about Edward's abdication during a radio address when he called it "sad" that the ex-king "should have sought his happiness in a manner inconsistent with the Christian principles of marriage and within a social circle whose standards and ways of life are alien to all the best instincts and traditions of his people." The speech was widely condemned for showing a lack of kindness toward the former king and attacking his friends.[21][22]
Italian reports from Ethiopia indicated that Imru Haile Selassie, cousin of Haile Selassie and the last of the major chieftains resisting the Italian occupation, had been captured.[30]
Anthony Eden disclosed to the House of Commons that 5,000 gas masks had been sold to the Spanish Republic. The government hastened to add that the gas masks were equally available to Franco's forces at the same prices because they were classified as "medical supplies" and not munitions.[32]
In Cannes, Wallis Simpson spoke to the media for the first time since her divorce, although she took no questions. She mostly talked about the weather and the beauty of the French Riviera. Herman Rogers, who was hosting Mrs. Simpson at the villa where the reception took place, said she would be staying there for several months.[34]
Cuban President Miguel Mariano Gómez vetoed a bill that would have introduced an army-sponsored 9-cent tax on each bag of sugar to fund the construction of rural schools run by the military. Gómez explained in his veto message that it was "the duty of the educational and not the military institutions" to teach Cuban children. Opponents of Gómez immediately began impeachment proceedings against him, accusing the president of trying to unconstitutionally force congress to defeat the tax bill as well as embezzling public funds.[35][36]
Pope Pius XI delivered his annual Christmas message from his sickbed. The pope called the Spanish Civil War "a new menace more threatening than ever before for the whole world and principally for Europe and Christian civilization."[38]
A Spanish coast guard cutter seized the German merchant ship Palos on suspicion of carrying contraband material.[39][40]
In New York, the first contingent of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade secretly departed aboard the Normandie to fight for the Republicans in Spain.[12]
George Orwell arrived in Barcelona with the intention of writing journalistic reports for the foreign press, but what he saw inspired him to join a leftist militia to fight against fascism. Orwell later collected his experiences into the book Homage to Catalonia.[41]
The Spanish government decided to hold the Palos despite a German threat of reprisals.[43]
Mahatma Gandhi emerged from two years of silence to make a political speech. He cryptically said, "Show me the way and I am prepared to return to gaol. I am prepared to be hanged. If you do all I want you to do, the Viceroy will say: 'I am wrong – I thought you people were terrorists, and if you like we Britishers will return by the next steamer.' We would then say to Lord Linlithgow and the British: 'India is big enough to hold you and more like you.' That is my Swaraj." Gandhi denied that his speech indicated that he was returning to public life.[44]
^ abFenwick, Charles G. (April 1937). "The Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace". American Journal of International Law. American Society of International Law. 31 (2): 201. JSTOR2190521.
^Tucker, Spencer C. (2010). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 1869. ISBN978-1-85109-672-5.
^Cortada, James W., ed. (1982). Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 504. ISBN0-313-22054-9.