Fury, who stretched his unbeaten record to 32 wins and a draw, with 23 knockouts, said it was unlikely that he would fight again, and if the right uppercut that downed Whyte was the last punch of his career, it was a high note to end on.
"I owed it to the fans, I owed it to every person in the United Kingdom to come here and fight at Wembley and now it's all done," a triumphant Fury said in the ring before referring to a promise he had made to his wife Paris to retire.
"I have to be a man of my word, and I think this might be the final curtain for the Gypsy King, and what a way to go out."
Fury, fighting on English soil for the first time since June 2018, made a long entrance, with a detour via a throne before he shed his robe and jogged with his team to the ring at the centre of Wembley Stadium as rock music boomed out of the speakers and the 94,000 crowd roared along.
Though dominating on the scorecards, Fury struggled to show the slick, intelligent boxing that saw him climb to the top of the heavyweight division as the bout turned into a bad-tempered affair that referee Mark Lyson struggled to control.
Whyte came out in a southpaw stance in an opening round of probing jabs but, aside from some crisp shots to the body, that seemed to be the only surprise he had in store for the 33-year-old Fury.
Possessing a considerable height and reach advantage, Fury fought most of the fight on the outside, controlling the distance with his jab and punishing his fellow Briton with lead hooks as the challenger tried to close the distance.
Both fighters threw shots on the break and a cut opened up over Whyte's right eye after a clash of heads.
Fury brought the fight to a stunning close with a blistering right uppercut out of nowhere to send Whyte crashing to the canvas, and though he got back to his feet, Lyson waved the fight off.
