Tony Adler is incorrect in his statement that Queen Elizabeth would have no legitimate claim to the throne had her grandfather, George V, truly secretly married in Malta in 1893.

The Royal Marriage Act of 1772 specifically excludes a potential heir to the throne from contracting a legal marriage with any person without the reigning monarch’s specific consent.

Indeed, there is a precedent for this in the case of the future George IV who secretly married a Roman Catholic widow, Maria Fitzherbert in 1784. The marriage was regarded as being null and void and George eventually married his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, in 1795.

Thus, there was no reason for anyone to visit Malta to kill any rumours of bigamy.

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