Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage believes Prince Harry has “let the side down”, and compared his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, to Wallis Simpson, another American divorcee whose relationship with the Royal Family brought down a king.

The Brexit campaigner was speaking on his LBC radio show after the royal couple announced, reportedly without informing Queen Elizabeth II, that they would be shirking their duties as “senior royals” to pursue private business ventures — but not, apparently, giving up their titles or their home renovated at public expense.

“He’s had some big downs in his life, he’s been a brave lad, he’s been out in Afghanistan and done all sorts of things that I haven’t done… and I admire him for that, and I think things like he’s done with the Invictus Games — fantastic, amazing, I mean, he’s made that work,” Farage said of Prince Charles’s younger son, giving him due credit for his past military service and work with wounded veterans.

But he expressed disapproval at “all this complaining about the press, and now announcing they’re off the royal rota with press… actually, for most of his life, Harry’s had a very good press, in my view.”

Harry, Farage suggested, was at risk of becoming a modern-day Edward VIII, who abandoned his post to pursue a marriage with his American mistress Wallis Simpson, who reportedly boasted “Soon I shall be Queen of England” when George V — the Queen’s grandfather — passed away in 1936.

The ambitions of the twice-divorced socialite were thwarted, however, as a proposed marriage to Edward lacked public approval and would have clashed with the new king’s role as Supreme Governor of the established Church of England.

Hillary Clinton Longs to Hug Meghan Markle, Comfort Her over Media Coverage https://t.co/onk83LNqIY — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 13, 2019

Ultimately, Edward chose Mrs Simpson, as the press called her, over his country, abdicating the throne, leaving it to his younger brother George VI — the Queen’s father — and retiring to France as Duke of Windsor.

The Queen’s late mother believed the unexpected burden of taking up the crown at a time of great national upheaval — George VI reigned through much of the Great Depression and throughout the Second World War — precipitated his early death, and the Queen’s own equally unexpected elevation to the throne at the age of 25.

“[Prince Harry] is going off, effectively resigning, to live in America, to make loads of money,” Farage said.

“All I can say is, I hope he’s going to be happy — because whenever I saw those photographs, or those films, of the Duke of Windsor, living in the Bois du Boulogne with Wallis Simpson, he didn’t look very happy to me.”

Meghan Markle Crowned Britain’s Top Social Climber by Society Magazine https://t.co/5CWTMTdS3I — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 9, 2019

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery