Mrs Simpson's other man

The Duchess and Duke of Windsor in December 1954

A police file from 1935 released for the first time today reveals that Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee for whom Edward the Eighth gave up his throne, cheated on him with another lover.

The document throws new light on the love affair that led to the abdication crisis a year later. But, it seems, no-one ever told the King about his future wife's affair

How much will this alter our perception of the abdication crisis?

Historian Andrew Roberts told Breakfast that the course of history might have been altered, if anyone had bothered to tell the King what was going on.

"Special Branch and the Home Office knew about it, so why didn't the and the King know?

"At some point the information was known and could have stopped the abdication crisis. "

Roberts is convinced that the Royal Family didn't know about Mrs Simpson's affair:

"The Queen was only 10 at the time. I think she would be as facinated as anyone else by this."

click here to watch Breakfast's interview in full with Andrew Roberts

The documents published today also reveal that Edward was banned by the government from making a speech in an attempt to win public support.

The King wanted to deliver an impassioned speech in the hope of marrying American divorcee Wallis Simpson and still retaining his throne.

But Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin blocked the oration and, in the end, Edward was confined to making a farewell address.

Timeline

20 January 1936 Edward VIII becomes King

27 October 1936 Wallis Simpson decree nisi is issued

13 November 1936 The King is warned of the implications of his proposed marriage

3 December 1936 Story of the intended marriage is revealed by the press

4 December 1936 The King's request to broadcast to the nation is refused

11 December 1936 Parliament passes Act of Abdication, Prince Albert Duke of York accedes to the throne as George VI

27 April 1937 Wallis Simpson's divorce declared absolute

3 June 1937 Duke and Mrs Simpson marry

October 1937 Duke and Duchess of Windsor visit Germany and meet Hitler

28 May 1972 Duke of Windsor dies in Paris

24 April 1986 Duchess of Windsor dies in Paris, buried alongside the Duke

Previously top-secret files, released by the Public Records Office in London, contain the text of the King's banned speech.

In it he speaks of his love for Mrs Simpson and hints at the possibility of a morganatic marriage whereby she would not have been Queen.

His original version made no mention of giving up the throne - it spoke of his love for Mrs Simpson and appealed to the public for sympathy and time.

There's also evidence that spin doctors were hard at work trying to stifle public debate on the crisis.

It is thought Winston Churchill helped write the speech and that a Downing Street 'media machine' stage managed the abdication to avoid any criticism.

The papers released under the so called 30 year rule show that Wallis Simpson was tailed by special branch while she was courting Edward VIII and found to have a secret lover from York.

But the Queen was keen to ensure that Wallis Simpson wasn't snubbed following the Duke of Windsor's death in 1972.

This ensured that when the Duke died, flags were flown at half mast and their was a period of Court mourning.

But documents published today, show the Queen Mother's contempt for the Duke and Duchess.

In a note to the then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, George VI said:

"I think you know that neither the Queen (Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother) nor Queen Mary (George V's widow) have any desire to meet the Duchess of Windsor, and therefore any visit made for the purpose of introducing her to members of the Royal Family obviously becomes impossible."

When the Duke married Mrs Simpson in June 1937, members of the royal family were not allowed to go to the wedding in order to maintain a 'certain aloofness'.

In 1940 the Duke was made Governor of the Bahamas, he returned to the UK in 1952 from Paris where he was living for the funeral of George VI - his brother.

But it took until 1967 for the Duke and Duchess to be allowed to carry out an official engagement: the unveiling of a plaque in memory of the Duke's mother Queen Mary who died in 1953.

The couple spent their final years together living in Paris.