Robert Anderson Jardine

[1] This marriage of the former king to a twice-divorced woman with two living ex-husbands - contrary to the teachings of the Church of England - was seen as scandalous by conservative-minded Britons, though others in Britain and elsewhere saw it as the culmination of a great love story.

[2] Following his abdication from the thrones of all his kingdoms and dominions in December 1936, the Duke of Windsor left England immediately to start the process of marrying Wallis Simpson, "the woman he loved".

Press supporters of the wedding called Jardine, whose working-class parish was dominated by heavy industry, the "poor man's pastor".

Letters patent, published just before the ceremony in the London Gazette as the Depriving Act of 1937, explicitly stated that the title of Royal Highness, which conveyed precedence, would be enjoyed by the Duke but not by the Duchess.

Some public statements which he made to American audiences — to the effect that he judged that there were circumstances in which the Duke of Windsor might have the Throne restored to him, and referring to Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang as "an ecclesiastical cad" — were seen as inflammatory.

[6] He ministered for a short while at a Downtown Hollywood church named the 'Windsor Cathedral' — which Jardine designated a 'shrine to love' [6] — but because of visa problems was obliged to leave the United States.

Finally becoming bishop-designate of the South African Episcopal Church in Cape Town, they returned to the UK to settle their affairs there, but he died suddenly in Bedford in March 1950 before he could take up the new post.