Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry his lover, Wallis Simpson, after facing opposition from the governments of the United Kingdom and the Dominions.

The bill was introduced by Stanley Baldwin as Prime Minister and supported by Clement Attlee as Leader of the Opposition.

Independent Labour Party MP James Maxton proposed an amendment that would have blocked the bill, arguing for the abolition of the monarchy given the turmoil and to introduce republicanism.

As the Statute of Westminster 1931 stipulated that the line of succession must remain the same throughout the Crown's realms, the governments of some of the British Dominions Canada, Australia, the Union of South Africa, and New Zealand requested and gave their permission for the act to become part of the law of their respective realms.

In the Irish Free State, which had been independent from the United Kingdom as a dominion since December 1922, and in which the monarch still had some diplomatic functions, the Oireachtas (parliament) passed the Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936, recognising George VI as king from 12 December 1936.