Simpson and Edward VIII
He turned down the throne for a woman. The saga of the Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson has captivated the hearts of hopeless romantics for 75 years. When the newly crowned King Edward VIII decided he couldn't serve without the woman he fell in love with while yachting off the Spanish coast, he was forced to abdicate the throne in December 1936. British society was not about to accept as Queen a Baltimore-born woman with two divorced, and still living, husbands. The couple stepped aside in part because they thought there would still be a place for them in the royal court, but when Edward went on a friendly tour of Nazi Germany in 1937, and even met with Hitler, it all came to naught. Edward served out World War II as the governor of the Bahamas, and the couple lived out their lives in retirement.