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Monday, June 5, 1972
have also to confront and solve great social and economic needs, without
precedents and with only humanity and our determination to guide us.
"But he was Prince of Wales and King in a disjointed age,
an age of confusion, and he was a product of it, and we know the
dramatic and agonising sequel. Now that the drama and the anguish of his
abdication have passed into history we can see that his decision was
clear-cut, taken in the way he believed the needs of the country required,
and taken and lived-out with dignity.
"We know that the Monarchy was unimpaired; we know that it
has steadily gained in strength and in the affections and respect of
the British peoples; we know that the social and economic attitudes
towards which he reached have long been accepted.
11 He knew these things too. This knowledge, his domestic happiness
and the affection of the British people he had with him in the long
years of retirement that followed. The consolation of these things
he had with him when he died.'
11
Release time: 6.30 p.m.
1