The crisis that had caused Edward such anxiety in his final months was now thrust onto the shoulders of his successor. The Prime Minister, who was determined it must be brought to a decisive conclusion, demanded that the King provide a guarantee that he would, if necessary, create a sufficient number of peers to flood the Lords and so see the Bill through. To Edward, the very idea had been repugnant. It sat no more comfortably with George but, after an extremely tense meeting with Asquith and Lord Crewe on 16 November, he gave his begrudging consent. Almost as distasteful to the
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