Only one British king has given up the throne voluntarily in the history of the monarchy — and he did it for the love of an American.

King Edward VIII was a known womanizer who had affairs with several married women before he fell deeply in love with Wallis Simpson, the wife of a prominent American businessman, according to a British Broadcasting Corp. report.

About the time of their affair, King George V died and Edward assumed the throne. But when he sought to marry the recently and conveniently divorced Simpson, his senior advisers said the Church of England would frown upon his marriage to a divorced woman.

So the king stunned the nation when he abdicated his position, fled to mainland Europe and married Simpson. The two settled in France and later had a controversial meeting with Adolf Hitler prior to World War II, the BBC reported.

During the war, Edward was named governor of the Bahamas and served in that position until the end of the war. After the war, Edward and his American wife lived out the rest of their lives in France, but he was ultimately buried alongside his royal kin in Windsor, according to the BBC report.

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