King Edward VIII b. 23JUN1894 d. 28MAY1972.

Born in White Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey. Died in 4, Route du Champ D'Entertainment, Paris. He is buried in the Royal burial ground, Frogmore, Windsor.

Reigned from 20JAN1936 until his abdication on 11DEC1936.

Best known of course for abdicating in order to marry Wallis Simpson (which he did in 1937) who had divorced her first husband and was in the process of seeking a divorce from her second.

As Head of the Church of England which took a dim view of re-marriage after divorce while the former spouse was still alive, his intentions were incompatible with the views of the Baldwin government which would have resigned and forced a General Election. This would have made his status as a politically neutral Monarch untenable.

Knowing that he could not marry Wallis Simpson and remain Monarch, he abdicated and his younger brother George VI succeeded him. His 326 day reign is one of the shortest in British history.

This dates these buttons to precisely 1936. Due to his very short reign very few buttons were actually made but those that were, were indicatively issued to those in the Royal Engineers, the Royal Army Service Corps and Officer Cadets at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) .

These buttons were manufactured by Buttons Ltd of Birmingham established 1907 and closed in 1959. They were very well regarded for high quality, crisp die-casting and stamping and as such are highly desirable to collectors.

A fantastic set and piece of history. These buttons are very hard to come by especially in these quantities and of this quality.