You know what, 80+ years has left a gloss over the early years after King Edward's abdication. In those early days, he and Wallis were just as demanding, just as entitled, and just as threatening as the Stoats. He really thought at first they they could live the half-in/half-out life, not realizing that leaving meant exile forever. He was always threatening lawsuits and was obsessed with Wallis and could not understand why no one else could see how perfect she was. The two Davids (as both have it as part of their names) are mirror images of one another
The difference is that there was no social media and the world was on the brink of war, so the demands of a couple of brats were easily ignored by the general public. By the time war was over, George VI and his family were so beloved for their stalwart actions during the war and the Windsors' initial cosiness with the Nazi so reviled, that they realized that they had to keep their mouth shut in public. He got a pension of sorts from the family too (and no the family should NOT do that for the Stoats -at least Edward/David had been the King for a while)
Tommy Lascelles (a fascinating guy - I recommend his published diaries!) wrote in his diary that (and this is verbatim from Traitor King): "He was like the child in the fairy story who was given every gift except a soul. There was nothing in him which understood the intellectual or spiritual sides of life, and that all art, poetry, music, etc were dead to him....he had no friends in this country, nobody whom he would ever wish to see again...He was without a soul and this made him a trifle mad...he never cared for England or the English. He hated his country since he had no sould and did no tlike being reminded of his duties."
MP Robert Bernays wrote: "He hasn't one real friend to lean upon in this emergency. His case seems to be arrested development. He never passed the stage from boyhood to manhood. He is the spoiled child of success with the film star mentality. He sees his job only in terms of cheering crowds...he has never thought the matter out. He thought that he could quietly retire into private life, leaving his brother to perform the dreary ceremonial functions while he spent a tranquil life gardening at Fort Belvedere and holidaying on the Riviera, occasionally emerging...[to] receive the cheers that mean so much to him. For the first time he has been brought up against the fact that abdication means exile and that for the rest of his life he can serve no useful purpose."
