The King Wants Money For A Hypothetical Queen

Tuesday 28th April 1936

The Parliamentary Select Committee published its report on the Civil List, the public funding of the Royal Household. They had been confronted by an unusual request from the King and one that might have set alarm bells ringing. He had specifically asked that the Civil List made provision for a Queen. This was curious on two counts. No-one expected the King to marry in the near future and the normal practice was to allocate a sum to the Royal couple without specifying which spouse had what share.

In practice £33,000 of the total grant to the last two Royal couples had been intended for the Queen and the report recommended that this provision should continue but should not be drawn until the King actually married.  With hindsight it is clear that the King wanted to reduce the Government's scope for making financial difficulties if he carried through his secret plan of marrying Mrs. Simpson.