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Welcome to Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.2,446,162 articles in EnglishArtsBiographyGeographyHistoryMathematicsScienceSocietyTechnologyAll portalsOverview · Editing · Questions · HelpContents · Categories · Featured content · A–Z indexToday’s featured articleEdward VIII (1894–1972) was King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India from the death of his father, George V, on 20 January 1936, until his abdication on 11 December 1936. As a young man he served in World War I, undertook several foreign tours on behalf of his father, and was associated with a succession of older married women. Only months into his reign, Edward forced a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Although legally Edward could have married Mrs. Simpson and remained king, his various prime ministers opposed the marriage, arguing that the people would never accept her as queen. Edward knew that the ministry of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead; this could have dragged the King into a general election thus ruining irreparably his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. Rather than give up Mrs. Simpson, Edward chose to abdicate, making him the only monarch of Britain, and indeed any Commonwealth Realm, to have voluntarily relinquished the throne. He is one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British history, and was never crowned. (more…)Recently featured: New York State Route 32 – Russian-Circassian War – Typhoon PakaArchive – By email – More featured articles…Did you know…From Wikipedia’s newest articles:… that the Bahá’í community of Panama (Bahá’í House of Worship in Panama City pictured) was estimated to make up two percent of the national population?… that in 1967, Ann Pellegreno and a crew of three successfully flew a similar aircraft, Lockheed 10A Electra, to complete a world flight that mirrored Amelia Earhart’s 1937 flight plan?… that in the 1537 Battle of Ollantaytambo, an Inca army resorted to flooding the battlefield as a way to counter the Spanish cavalry?… that David William Thomas, mayor of Minden, Louisiana who also published newspapers, practiced law, and taught at the university level, was called “Renaissance man”?… that Eat This Book has been criticized as “basically a book-length infomercial” for the International Federation of Competitive Eating?… that actor Jiří Sovák played the role of a man who had a prophetic dream about the Velvet Revolution in the 1996 Czech film Kolya?… that Long Island’s Roslyn Grist Mill is one of the few surviving Dutch colonial timber frame commercial buildings in the U.S.?… that a statue of French general Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes in Bamako, Mali was torn down shortly after Mali’s independence in 1960?Archive – Start a new article…In the newsA suicide bomber rams a car bomb into the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing 41 people.An explosion near the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, Pakistan, kills at least 18 people on the first anniversary of the deadly siege and storming of the mosque.In tennis, Rafael Nadal of Spain and Venus Williams (pictured) of the United States win the men’s and women’s singles title, respectively, at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships.Clashes are reported between Georgian and South Ossetian forces near Tskhinvali.Weekend cross-strait charter flights between Taiwan and Mainland China resume after 59 years.A series of explosions at a depot storing 1,500 tonnes of obsolete munitions forces the evacuation of some 2,000 people in Sofia and the closure of the Bulgarian capital’s main airport.Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events…On this day…July 8: Feast day of Saint Kilian and Saint Procopius (Roman Catholic Church)1579 – Our Lady of Kazan (pictured), a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, was discovered underground in Kazan, present-day Tatarstan, Russia.1758 – French and Indian War: French forces defeated the British at Fort Carillon on the shore of Lake Champlain in the British Colony of New York.1859 – Charles XV became King of Sweden and Norway following the death of his father Oscar I.1898 – American con artist and gangster Soapy Smith was killed in Skagway, Alaska when an argument with fellow gang members turned into an unexpected gunfight.1947 – Various news agencies reported the capture of a “flying saucer” by United States Air Force personnel from the Roswell Army Air Field in Roswell, New Mexico.2004 – After a 19-month trial, U.S. Marine Corps Major Michael Brown was convicted by a court in Naha, Okinawa for an attempted indecent assault on a Filipina bartender.More events: July 7 – July 8 – July 9Archive – By email – More anniversaries…It is now 16:59, July 8, 2008 (UTC) – Refresh this pageToday’s featured pictureIntercession of Charles Borromeo supported by the Virgin Mary, a fresco in the Karlskirche in Vienna, Austria. In 1713, a year after the bubonic plague epidemic, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor decided to build a church to honor his namesake patron saint, who was renowned as a healer for plague sufferers in his day.Artist: Johann Michael RottmayrRecently featured: LAPD helicopter – Scene composed using Blender – American RobinArchive – More featured pictures…