Intelligence files: Edward VIII bugged by own Government as he prepared to abdicate The telegram was intercepted and Sir John fiercely denied the facts before warning Grant he was putting the stability of the country at risk with his "improper and reckless" reporting. Edward abdicated at Fort Belvedere four days later. The papers are among hundreds of files, collected by successive Cabinet secretaries, which have been kept in a locked vault under their offices for up to eight decades. Gill Bennett, the former official historian at the Foreign Office who reviewed the files for release, said they were kept secret because they were regarded as "too difficult" to know what to do with. Released through the National Archives today, the papers shine a light on the fevered days ahead of an abdication that stunned the world. The previous month the new King, who had not yet been crowned, informed Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin that he intended to marry Mrs Simpson, an American divorcee. At a time when the Church of England refused to remarry divorcees while their former spouse was still living, Baldwin was adamant that such a match was impossible if Edward was to remain on the throne. Amid this backdrop Sir John ordered the General Post Office (GPO) covertly to monitor the King's telephone calls. A note dated December 5 and marked "Most Secret" was sent from the Home Office to the head of the GPO Sir Thomas Gardiner and read: "The Home Secretary asks me to confirm the information conveyed to you orally, with his authority by, by Sir Horace Wilson that you will arrange for the interception of telephone communications between Fort Belvedere and Buckingham Palace on the one hand and the Continent of Europe on the other." The file does not contain any record of the intercepted calls but it likely the Europe reference relates to the south of France where Mrs Simpson had taken refuge with friends. The Government was also desperate to kill off press rumours, even when they were true. On December 6, Grant sent his telegram reading: "King has abdicated leaves England tomorrow stop Arrangement may possibly be altered but that is agreement reached tonight = grant. It was intercepted but the rumour was still reported in at least one newspaper in South Africa the following day and in India. Sir John told Grant there was "no truth" in his report and said that if the news had reached South Africa and then been telegraphed back to Britain, the reactions might have been "of a most serious character." "I reminded him that in 1815 a false rumour that we had lost the Battle of Waterloo produced a financial crisis and ruined many people," Sir John wrote. I asked him if he did not realise that his responsibilities as a journalist and an Englishman made the sending of such a message without definite authority as to its truth very improper and reckless. Other papers revealed the King had asked police to step up the guard around Mrs Simpson's residence overlooking Regent's Park. An officer even drew a diagram of the planned extra patrol which involved three "old and experienced constables" walking a 700 yard loop around the block "eight hours each for 24 hours." One note said the "inconspicuous beat" had "resulted in preventing pressmen and photographers making a nuisance of themselves on one or two occasions."