<P> As Prince of Wales, Edward had publicly referred to Labour county councillors as "cranks" and made speeches counter to government policy . During his reign as king, his refusal to accept the advice of ministers continued: he opposed the imposition of sanctions on Italy after its invasion of Ethiopia, refused to receive the deposed Emperor of Ethiopia, and would not support a strengthening of the League of Nations . </P> <P> Members of the British government became further dismayed by the proposed marriage after being told that Wallis Simpson was an agent of Nazi Germany . The Foreign Office obtained leaked dispatches from the German Reich's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Joachim von Ribbentrop, which revealed his strong view that opposition to the marriage was motivated by the wish "to defeat those Germanophile forces which had been working through Mrs. Simpson". It was rumoured that Simpson had access to confidential government papers sent to Edward, which he left unguarded at his Fort Belvedere residence . While Edward was abdicating, the personal protection officers guarding Simpson in exile in France sent reports to Downing Street suggesting that she might "flit to Germany". </P> <P> As a result of these rumours and arguments, the belief strengthened among the British establishment that Simpson could not become a royal consort . British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin explicitly advised Edward that the majority of people would be opposed to his marrying Simpson, indicating that if he did, in direct contravention of his ministers' advice, the government would resign en masse . The King responded, according to his own account later: "I intend to marry Mrs. Simpson as soon as she is free to marry...if the Government opposed the marriage, as the Prime Minister had given me reason to believe it would, then I was prepared to go ." Under pressure from the King, and "startled" at the suggested abdication, Baldwin agreed to take further soundings on three options: </P> <Ol> <Li> Edward and Simpson marry and she become queen (a royal marriage); </Li> <Li> Edward and Simpson marry, but she not become queen, instead receiving some courtesy title (a morganatic marriage); or </Li> <Li> Abdication for Edward and any potential heirs he might father, allowing him to make any marital decisions without further constitutional implications . </Li> </Ol>

Who abdicated the throne to marry a divorced woman