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Eighty years ago the obituary of Britain as a financial superpower is tucked in the small print of the US bail-out loan agreement

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  The US Senate approved the bail-out loan to Britain and it was granted. Not only had US law-makers been at odds over the loan but the State and Treasury Departments had been opposed. The $3.75bn (£2.2bn) loan was presented as cheap money given the 1.62% rate of interest, but, unremarked at the time, one of the terms set the headstone on the grave of Britain's status as a financial superpower. Britain agreed to allow "sterling balances" held in London to be converted freely into other currencies after a year. This money totalled  £3.5bn and had mainly been deposited by the countries of the British Empire, notably India and Egypt. Within twelve months Britain faced the prospect of having to pay out in foreign currency (in practice US dollars) one and a half times what it had just borrowed. Intentionally or otherwise, US largesse worked hugely to the benefit of Britain's former possessions. The US accepted the British proposal to the conference on the German peace trea...
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Sunday, 2nd February 1936 The Dean of Windsor delivered his first public sermon in St. George's Chapel since the funeral.  He had been in office since 1917 and had practically grown up in Queen Victoria's court, but he was alert and not hostile to the way in which the world had changed over the years. He began with a conventional enough tribute to George V, emphasizing his simplicity. It was when he turned to the new King, that his sympathies became clearer. Edward should not an "imitation" of his father and it would be wrong to criticize him for this. His father had grown up in an atmosphere of "settled faith" whilst Edward was "plunged into the turmoil of war" and "grew up in a generation of unsettled faith and disturbed thought." The ten years that he had spent traveling the Empire had prevented him developing home ties. At one level the sermon tried to excuse Edward for his poor church attendance and bachelor status. It also hinted...
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Eighty years ago abdication offers a last minute chance to save the monarchy in Italy

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    Victor Emmanuel III abdicated as King of Italy in favour of his son Umberto II. A referendum had already been called on whether to make Italy a republic and the abdication offered the only way in which the monarchy might have been saved.  The removal of Mussolini and the armistice in 1943 had been designed more to protect Victor Emmanuel on the throne, but Umberto who had exerised most of his father's powers since 1944, had achieved little to rescue the monarchy from its tarnished image.  King since 1900, Victor Emmanuel  had appointed Mussolini and actively supported Fascism, making no attempt to restrain Mussolini's destructive policies. He had become Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Albania when Italy invaded these countries in 1935 and 1939 respectively. Senator McFarland's amendment to the bill approving to the US loan to Britain was defeated in the Senate by 45 votes to 40. McFarland had sought to make the loan conditional of the US being granted...
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