Top secret papers released today show that King Edward VIII had wanted to tell the nation of his intention to take the throne after his marriage to American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

But the King's impassioned speech was censored by then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, and he was sensationally forced to abdicate following a report in the Telegraph & Argus in December, 1936.

The T&A's story of a speech by The Bishop of Bradford, Dr Alfred Blunt, to the Bradford Diocesan Conference reported the Bishop's concern over Edward VIII's suitability as monarch in light of his affair with Mrs Simpson.

The story was picked up by the national press and he made his dramatic abdication speech nine days later.

Now the previously top-secret files, which have been released by the Public Records Office in London, show King Edward had every intention of going public with his plan to marry Mrs Simpson once her second divorce was granted, although he accepted she would never be Queen.

In the undelivered speech to the nation, which it is thought Winston Churchill helped write, he speaks of his love for Mrs Simpson and his wish for openness.

It read: "It was never my intention to hide anything from you.

"Hitherto it has not been possible for me to speak, but now I must.

"I could not go on bearing the heavy burdens that constantly rest on me as King, unless I could be strengthened in the task by a happy married life; and so I am firmly resolved to marry the woman I love, when she is free to marry me.

"You know me well enough to understand that I never could have contemplated a marriage of convenience.

"It has taken me a long time to find the woman I want to make my wife.

"Without her I have been a very lonely man. With her I shall have a home and all the companionship and mutual sympathy and understanding which married life can bring."

Other sensational revelations released in the documents include details of a plan to pay £150,000 to Mrs Simpson's husband Ernest to spend the weekend with another woman as part of an elaborate plot to provide the grounds for her divorce.

The papers also showed that police Special Branch officers had spied on Mrs Simpson, discovering that she was having an affair, behind Edward VIII's back, with Guy Trundle, a car salesman and motor engineer.

Release of the so-called Abdication Papers follows the death last year of the Queen Mother.

The documents include official files but not the Queen Mother's personal papers, which are held in the Royal Archives at Windsor.

The files, released today by the Public Records Office, contain little material relating to the Queen Mother's role, if any, in the abdication.

Nor is there ample evidence of her reputed enmity towards both the former King and his bride.

Original 1936 coverage recalled