Queen Elizabeth II had almost lost out on a senior royal role if she had fallen prey to a secret plot in motion against her.
Unearthed reports show how a plan was drawn against the then-princess by exploiting her and removing her from the top position.
Channel 5’s documentary Inside Buckingham Palace gave a glimpse of the “treasonous” plot that was set in motion to sidestep then Princess Elizabeth for another royal family member.
Elizabeth was expected to take over as regent for her father King George VI back in 1946 after his health deteriorated.
However, the great influence Prince Philip and his uncle Louis Mountbatten had on Elizabeth became a cause of concern for some as editor Kenneth de Courcy became the first to appeal to former king Edward VIII to become the regency for King George VI.
Christopher Wilson made these revelations in the documentary as he cited the British editor writing to the then Duke of Windsor, Edward VIII: "I do not think it too much to say that if the Regency should be one primarily influenced by the Mountbattens , the consequences for the Windsor Dynasty might be fatal.”
"The Mountbattens, thoroughly well-informed of the situation, will do everything in their power to increase their influence,” de Courcy added.
"While in this case the Duke is of course not concerned with winning the Crown, he could be concerned in something even more important than that, namely, in laying entirely fresh foundation-stones in the place of those which are now endangered. None of this can be done without extremely careful and painstaking work,” he went on to write.
"The King is suffering from a grievous malady which is incurable, it has spread over his whole body and the result is the blood does not flow freely through the arteries.]”
"I am told on the highest medical authority that the King faces. The fearful tragedy of losing first one leg and then the other within two or three years,” de Courcy reportedly wrote.
"The Duke could, in these difficult circumstances be a decisive influence for good – making it absolutely impossible for the Mountbattens to become the decisive political and social influence upon the Regency and the future Monarch."
Edward VIII kept the entire plot under wraps but dropped a clue in a letter where he mentioned “the subject we discussed in Paris.”
The plan was concealed in order to steer clear of possible accusations of treason.