A Ford car salesman was having a clandestine affair with Wallis Simpson while she was also being wooed by the future King Edward VII.

That revelation, carried in today's Times, follows the release of documents which show that Special Branch officers discovered the liaison with Guy Marcus Trundle while trailing her in 1935.

The married son of a vicar from York, Trundle was described in the surveillance papers as being “a very charming adventurer, very good looking, well-bred and an excellent dancer. He is said to boast that every woman falls for him.”

There was no record of his car sales strike rate.