Most people, if they remember the Duke of Windsor at all, remember him because he abdicated the British throne before he was crowned as Edward VIII. But ‘Prince David’ (as he was often known in his family), was about 40 when he abdicated, and had, by that time, been Prince of Wales for nearly 35 years.
There has rarely been any agreement as to the duties of the Prince of Wales. The title is usually passed to the oldest son of the reigning monarch, IF said son is the heir apparent, It is customary to grant the title in a ceremony called ‘investiture’, though this ceremony is not necessary. But the duties involved in the rôle are usually vague, and are often defined by the reigning monarch,
Indeed, there have probably been several periods in British history during which there WAS no Prince of Wales. Victoria’s immediate predecessor, for example (her uncle, who was named William IV at the age of 60, after the deaths of his brother, George IV, and of their brother the Duke of Kent), apparently never held the title Prince of Wales: and Victoria herself, though named Heir Presumptive after the death of her own father, due to the fact that none of her uncles older than her father had any legitimate children, was also apparently never given the title of Princess of Wales, so that there was no Prince of Wales from about 1820 until at least 1841, when Victoria bore her first son, the future Edward VII.
By the time George V’s firstborn son became Prince of Wales, (in 1911, at the age of ~17), the duties of the Prince of Wales involved a great deal of travel. Although the Prince of Wales had no official ruling or diplomatic capacity, the Prince was sent on many trips for ceremonial purposes, and for the purpose of maintaining relations throughout the British Empire and other parts of the world.
It was in this capacity that he is often quoted as saying something along the lines of (versions vary) “Never pass up a chance to sit down, or an opportunity to relieve yourself.”
This is generally good advice for travelers (although such chances and opportunities have been getting farther and farther between since his days): but it was also a warning that he was not looking forward to becoming king.
Frankly, for all that he argued his romantic reasons for refusing to be crowned, it’s always been my opinion that the quarrel over Wallis Simpson was just the last of many straws, and that Edward VIII was glad to turn his backside to the throne. Which makes it all the more ironic that prominent Nazis thought they might be able to kidnap the Duke of Windsor and reinstall him on the throne he had so emphatically spurned, eh?
Today’s less obvious question also involves British royalty. I got to wondering whether Elizabeth I left a will. Since she had no obvious heir, being childless, and since she was reluctant to name an heir. it would seem likely that she was pressed to make a will. But apparently, she didn’t. So negotiations for her successor were evidently done in secret.
treraia 