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Among the most memorable abdications of antiquity may be mentioned that of Sulla the dictator, 79 BC, and that of the Emperor Diocletian, AD 305.
Probably the most famous abdication in recent memory is that of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom in 1936, who abdicated the British throne in order to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson, over the objections of the Church of England and the royal family. (See Abdication Crisis of Edward VIII.) This was also the first time in history that the British crown was surrendered entirely voluntarily. Richard II of England, for example, was forced to abdicate after the throne was seized by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, while Richard was out of the country.
When James II of England, after throwing the Great Seal of the Realm into the Thames, fled to FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. in 1688, he did not formally resign the crown, and the question was discussed in Parliament whether he had forfeited the throne or had abdicated. The latter designation was agreed upon, for in a full assembly of the Lords and Commons, met in convention, it was resolved in spite of James's protest "that King James II having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by breaking the original contract between king and people, and, by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself out of this kingdom, has abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant." The Scottish parliament pronounced a decree of forfeiture and deposition.
Historically, if a monarch abdicated it was seen as a profound and shocking abandonment of royal duty. As a result, abdications usually only occurred in the most extreme circumstances of political turmoil or violence. This has changed in a small number of countries: the monarchs of the NetherlandsDutch redirects here. For other uses, see Dutch (disambiguation). The Netherlands ( Dutch: Nederland is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a constitutional monarchy. It is located in northwestern Europe and borders the North Sea, Belgium, LuxembourgThe Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (also Luxemburg is a landlocked state in the north-west of the continental European Union, bordered by France, Germany and Belgium. Grand-Duche de LuxembourgGrossherzogtum LuxemburgGroussherzogtum (Grand-Duche) Letzebuerg ( I and CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia (Kampuchea, Khmer ) is a country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered in the south by the Gulf of Thailand, in the west by Thailand, Laos in the north, and Vietnam in the east. The majority of Cambodians are the Khmer people. Cambodia have abdicated as a result of old age, and the prince of LiechtensteinThe Principality of Liechtenstein (pronounced "LEEKH-ten-shtine" ( IPA: ['lik. tan]; SAMPA: ["lik. StaIn]) is a small, doubly landlocked country in central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Being mountainous, it is a has recently made his son regent.