“I, Edward the Eighth, of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Emperor of India, do hereby declare My irrevocable determination to renounce the Throne for Myself and for My descendants, and My desire that effect should be to this Instrument of Abdication immediately.” King Edward VIII, Great Britain

Saturday seemed to have better buoyancy than Friday and by night’s end, I had the groceries that should have arrived the previous evening. This delighted me.

I was house manager for the Ludlow Street ramp for ticket scanning which meant I was in earlier and out earlier. The patrons arrived with seasonal merriment and readied for the traditional Christmas favorite. My two scanning Volunteer Ushers were darling.

When I reached home, my grocery delivery was ten minutes out. While the dogs explored the backyard, I brought in and put away groceries, changed clothes, and prepared for an early bedtime. My body ached from the rain, which at times resembled a monsoon outside Schuster Center, and dealt with irritating gut problems.

Eighty-seven years ago this evening, the world listened to the farewell words of King Edward VIII of Great Britain.

“This I do with all my heart. You all know the reasons which have impelled me to renounce the throne. But I want you to understand that in making up my mind I did not forget the country or the empire, which, as Prince of Wales and lately as King, I have for twenty-five years tried to serve.”

With that, the abdication of King Edward VIII allowed him to renounce his throne to marry his twice-divorced fiancé, United States-born Wallace Warfield Simpson.

I was in my thirties when I first learned of King Edward VIII’s abdication and happened to mention it at dinner when my grandfather was present. Grandpa Leroy perked up, “Of course! Wallis Simpson and The King.” I was a bit surprised that my grandfather knew of this British episode. He explained that the rest of the world knew what was going on while the British press was hushed about the impending constitutional crises. Grandpa, then 15, explained that he would sneak the Indianapolis Star up to his room each night to read about the far-off drama. “What Will The King Do?” often read the banner in those last few days of the king’s reign. “It was even more exciting because this was an American who was at the heart of the crisis.”

On this date in history: (2005) American comedian and actor Richard Pryor, who revolutionized comedy with his frank and controversial style, died at age 65. (1996) South African President Nelson Mandela signed a new constitution that completed a transition from a long period of white minority rule (apartheid) to a full-fledged democracy. (1967) American singer-songwriter Otis Redding, who was one of the great soul stylists of the 1960s, died in an airplane crash. (1962) The British historical film Lawrence of Arabia, which was directed by David Lean and starred Peter O’Toole as T.E. Lawrence, had its world premiere; it became one of the most celebrated epics in the history of cinema. (1948) The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (1901) The first Nobel Prizes were distributed, marking the fifth anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who founded and endowed the awards through his will. (1898) Representatives of Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, concluding the Spanish-American War. (1884) American author Mark Twain’s classic novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published, appearing in the United Kingdom and Canada; it was released in the United States the following year. (1851) American librarian Melvil Dewey, who devised the Dewey Decimal Classification for library cataloging and was largely responsible for developing library science in the United States, was born. (1815) English mathematician Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer, was born. (1768) The first part of the first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, the oldest continuously published and revised work in the English language, was published and advertised for sale in Edinburgh on this day in 1768.

Make it a great day!