Winston Churchill played a “venal and unscrupulous” role in the United Kingdom’s abdication crisis in 1936 when King Edward VIII stepped down from the throne, according to a briefing paper prepared for Éamon de Valera. Edward VIII wanted to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, but he was strongly opposed by British prime minister Stanley Baldwin, whom Churchill saw as blocking his political ambitions. The detailed briefing note, whose author is unknown, is scathing of Churchill, and handwritten notes attached show that it was exchanged between De Valera, then president of the Free State’s executive council and minister for finance Seán...