Queen Elizabeth II had a unique connection with Kansas through her uncle, King Edward VIII

Queen Elizabeth II had an unusual Kansas connection.

The British monarch, who died Thursday at age 96, hadn't expected to become queen.

But her uncle, King Edward VIII, cleared the way for that to happen when he abdicated his throne amid a public outcry over his plans to marry twice-divorced socialite Wallis Simpson.

Simpson's first husband had been a native of Kinsley, Kansas, a city of 1,456 people about 35 miles northeast of Dodge City.

'God-like creature' was born in Kinsley, Kansas

Simpson was born in 1896. She grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, then went to live in Pensacola, Florida, with her cousin Corinne Mustin.

Corinne's husband, Lloyd Mustin, was a captain with the U.S. Navy, which maintained a flight school at Pensacola.

It was through the Mustins that Simpson met U.S. Navy pilot Earl Winfield Spencer Jr., a stockbroker's son who had been born in 1888 in Kinsley.

Simpson was married in 1916 to Spencer, who went by the nickname of "Win."

He and his fellow aviators seemed "to belong to another race of men — god-like creatures who had descended to earth from a strange and adventurous realm," Simpson would later write.

'A succession of quarrels'

Spencer in 1917 took command of the newly created Naval Air Station at San Diego, according to archives of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

But the couple's life together became a "succession of quarrels," according to the website historyofroyalwomen.com. They were divorced in 1927.

Simpson then in 1928 married Ernest Simpson, an American-born British shipbroker.

'The woman I love'

The still-married Wallis Simpson through mutual friends in 1931 met Edward VIII, the heir apparent to the British throne. They became romantically involved.

Edward VIII became king when his father, King George V, died at age 70 in January 1936.

But her status as a divorcee caused the British government and Church of England to condemn Edward VIII's decision to marry Wallis Simpson, who had also filed seeking a divorce from Ernest Simpson in October 1936.

Edward VIII consequently abdicated his throne and was demoted to Duke of Windsor in December 1936.

He said in a radio broadcast, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility, and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love."

Wallis Simpson's divorce from Ernest Simpson was finalized in May 1937. She and Edward VIII were married the following month and remained married until he died at age 77 in 1972. She died at age 89 in 1986.

Earl Winfield Spencer Jr. died at age 61 in 1950 and Ernest Simpson at age 61 in 1958.

Elizabeth II was queen 70-plus years

Queen Elizabeth's father, King George V, succeeded his older brother, Edward VIII, to the throne in December 1936. At the time, she was 10.

Elizabeth was 25 when she became queen upon her father's death at age 56 from coronary thrombosis in 1952.

She spent more than 70 years as queen before dying Thursday at age 96.

Tim Hrenchir can be reached at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Here's Queen Elizabeth II's unusual Kansas connection