Wallis Simpson “did Britain a favour” by taking Edward VIII away from the monarchy and allowing his brother George VI to assume the throne, according to an expert.

In 1936, just a few months after ascending to the throne, Edward chose to abdicate after being told he could not marry the woman he loved, as she had been twice divorced.

Marlene Koenig believes this may ultimately have been beneficial for the Royal Family, as both Edward and his wife were completely “unsuitable” for life as monarchs.

She told Express.co.uk: “As a young man, who toured the US and Canada Edward, known as David, of course, was very popular, but his sense of duty did not match the efforts from his younger brothers, especially the Duke of York, who married the right woman, had two young daughters.

“David was making no attempt to find a suitable bride to be his Princess of Wales and future Queen Consort.”

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She added: “Then he met Wallis Warfield Simpson. The issue for most was her marital status. She was on her second husband when she met David and that marriage also ended in divorce, with Ernest Sampson playing a role to make it look like he was unfaithful so she could get the divorce.

“It would’ve been difficult in the late 1930s for a divorced person to marry in the Anglican church. Edward wanted to marry a woman who was twice divorced.

“In hindsight, Wallis did Britain a favour. She was so unsuitable in the late 1930s to be Queen that Edward chose to abdicate to marry the woman he loved.”

Another reason for the couple’s unsuitability to be royal was their sympathy towards Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany, even though this was not an isolate case amongst the British aristocracy at the time.

There were photographs taken of Edward and Wallis meeting with the Nazi leader in Germany in 1937, although royal historian Carolyn Harris claims his motives for the trip were more about encouraging global acceptance of his new wife.

She said the Duke of Windsor was “eager to carve out a new role for himself and ensure that his wife was treated as a full member of the Royal Family even though she had not received the title of Her Royal Highness – an issue that was of great concern to the Duke”.

After the abdication King George VI ascended to the throne, the father of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, with the former later becoming Queen Elizabeth II.

Despite never expecting to become King, George led the country successfully through the Second World War, although the stresses of the role took their toll on his health and he was also a heavy smoker.

He died in 1952, with Elizabeth sitting on the throne for 70 years until her own death in 2022 and she was succeeded by her son King Charles.