Rapturous Reception for Edward VIII at Remembrance Festival in Albert Hall

Wednesday 11^th November 1936

The commemoration of Armistice Day at the Cenotaph in Whitehall proceeded along entirely traditional lines. The King led the procession, wearing naval uniform and bearing the first wreath to be laid at the memorial. He was followed by his brothers, senior politicians, Dominion High Commissioners and practically every other dignitary in the land. Place was found for a stray Maharajah who happened to be around.

The King also maintained his practice of attending the British Legion’s Festival of Empire and Remembrance at the Albert Hall. He had done so frequently as Prince of Wales, but his father had only attended once in 1931 and that only as a spectator. In contrast to the usual muted, dignified and reverential atmosphere at the Cenotaph, the King was received with rapturous and sustained applause. It was a striking, but perhaps dangerously misleading demonstration, of his personal popularity.