Queen Wouldn't Have Reigned if Not for Her Uncle Pulling a Prince Harry

Queen Elizabeth II's 70-year reign made her one of the most famed public figures in the world—but none of it would have happened had a former king's love for an American divorcée not changed the monarchy's future forever.

It is a story that has been compared to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's own departure from the royal family, though in reality, the two stories are very different.

Elizabeth's uncle, Edward VIII, wanted to marry U.S. socialite Wallis Simpson but their romance caused a constitutional crisis. At the time, the Church of England did not allow marriages involving a divorcée with a living former spouse, meaning their only option would have been a civil ceremony.

However, the British monarch is Supreme Governor of the Church of England and the perception was that a church wedding would be a must. The British government, as a result, opposed the marriage and Edward VIII chose love over duty, abdicating the throne in 1936 months after his accession so that he could marry Simpson. The pair became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and lived in exile in Paris.

Elizabeth, then a princess, was 10 years old at the time that her father became King George VI that December, taking the throne that had been destined for his brother.

The crisis, in other words, changed her fate and paved the way for her own reign some 16 years later. Elizabeth was George's eldest daughter and therefore his heir, meaning that she would have to step up when he died.

Three years after Edward's abdication, Britain was at war with Germany. Elizabeth and her sister Margaret stayed at Windsor Castle for most of the war, while her parents were based at Buckingham Palace.

In the years following World War II, she married Prince Philip in 1947 and gave birth to Prince Charles, in 1948, and Princess Anne, in 1950. Over the same time period, her father's health deteriorated.

George VI died in 1952 when Elizabeth was just 25 years old, and she served as Britain's head of state until her death at the age of 96 on September 8.

The similarities between Harry and Meghan's story and that of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson end with the two women being American divorcées. The constitutional issues provoked in 1952 did not apply to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as by then the law had changed.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was able to grant Harry and Meghan permission to have a church wedding and he married them at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in May 2018.

The Sussexes made it clear they feel equally hounded out of Britain—just not by the rejection of the country's government. Instead, it was the actions of the media and social media trolls and disputes with family members that the couple blamed for their departure from royal life.