Book Review 5: The Love of a King

All he wanted to do was to marry the woman he loved. But his country said ‘No!’
He was Edward Ⅷ , King of Great Britain, King of India, King of Australia, and King of thirty-nine other countries. And he loved the wrong woman. Mrs. Wallis was beautiful and she loved him- but she was already married to another man, Mr. Wallis. They met in the autumn if 1930, she had a cold then, and Edward worried about that. Mrs. Wallis told him the truth that the Prince of Wales would talk about something more interesting. He had never heard anybody said like that, he was pleased at her honesty. Soon he fell in love with Mrs. Wallis.
One day, The King was dead and Edward had to be the next King. When he knew that, he telephone to Mrs. Wallis and proposed to her. As soon as she heard it, she wrote a letter to her husband to ask him a divorce. They got divorce and she was free at last.
Next morning, Gordon Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury was waiting for Edward. He had some newspapers on his arm and told him not to marry Wallis. Lang also told him that the Church would be against their marriage. Edward was a King of Britain, so he was a Christian. Christian people had to keep their marriage and they could not have a divorce. Needless to say, they could not have remarriage. The Church would have a big outcry against Edward and Wallis.
He could not help following his heart, Edward decided to gibe the crown to his brother and he would leave England.
It was a love story that shook the world. The King had to choose: to be King, or to have love… and leave his country, never to return.
They lived in Paris for many years. In 1952, King George and Queen Mary died, and Edward and his wife could back to Britain and met Queen Elizabeth. She was Edward’s niece. After their death, their body was buried in England. ‘It’s a strange thing.’ one newspaper said. ‘When they were alive, the Duke (Edward) and Duchess (his wife) could never live in retain. It was only in death that they could be there together.’


From this story, I found a difficulty about the religion. There are no religious issues in particular, I think, in Japan. I could not understand the conflicts or fights about religion. Could the Japanese people understand and have to comprehend religious issues?? I think no one knows that…