How did Australia, as one of the Dominions, respond to the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936? This episode was a pivotal moment in the twentieth century history of the British monarchy, and by extension one with significant legislative and cultural implications for the Empire. Despite the intense scholarly and popular interest in Edward and his wife prompted by the release of previously-restricted British government records held by the National Archives at Kew in 2003, the impact of Australian politics and popular culture in shaping the affair has never attracted the same degree of scrutiny from a local perspective. As a paradox between private happiness and public duty, it is not difficult to imagine that the abdication caused Australians to review existing interwar convictions concerning the royals and the institution that they symbolised. Drawing on the extensive related records preserved by the National Archives of Australia, this paper considers the complex social and moral distinctions revealed in the responses of the press, the political class, and the public. I argue that the episode was more open-ended in the scale of its political and cultural consequences than has previously been ascertained.