The balcony at Château de Candé

The balcony at Château de Candé is surely one of the most famous in the world. This is where, on 3 June 1937, a groom and his bride posed for wedding photographs, the most scandalous wedding in history, it sparked a constitutional crisis which changed the British monarchy forever.

A very happy Edward, erstwhile His Majesty, King of England, and at the same time, a  very sad Edward, now the Duke of Windsor, posed with Wallis Simpson for the famous photographer Cecil Beaton. Happy because he had married the love of his life, sad because only a handful of the hundred invited guests attended. It was a modest, low key, almost sombre wedding. Not one member of the Royal Family, his family, was there.

Officially, the Church of England refused to sanction the union, but Robert Jardine, Vicar of St Paul's, Darlington, took pity on the couple and travelled to Château de Candé to perform the ceremony.

A further slap in the face came when Wallis was denied the title of Royal Highness. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were both removed from the Civil List. George VI personally paid his brother a generous allowance from his own pocket on the condition that Edward never returned to Britain.

Today, few visitors to Château de Candé can resist the temptation of posing for photographs on the balcony where the tragic Edward and Wallis posed over eighty years ago.

Post by Pamela, photography by Mark