Former West Brom chairman's daughter in legal battle over Wallis Simpson's French knickers

The mementos of 'the love affair of the 20th century' were lost about 10 years ago when the late Lady Barbara Millichip moved house from Barnt Green, near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire – but have turned up in her former home.

Now her daughter Mrs Sally Simmonds is fighting to get them back – but Mr Raymond Gibbs, the man her mother sold the house to, claims they have been thrown away.

At the centre of the dispute are two long silk night-dresses; two pairs of silk French knickers, one in peach, the other cream; a peach-coloured silk negligee; two pairs of full-length kid gloves and two pairs of shorter kid gloves.

For years they were preserved in tissue paper and a blanket, in a box, together with a letter of authentication from Wallis Simpson's lady's maid, Frenchwoman Pauline Armitage who worked for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in Paris in the 1950s after the King's abdication in 1936.

Lady Millichip, who died last year aged 88, was given them after befriending Mrs Armitage. Lady Millichip often took the mementos to charity events where guests would pay to see the garments and she would give a talk on the history of the Royal romance.

Mrs Simmonds said: "I would dearly love these garments back. I don't want to sell them. My mother had some very nice jewellery but that was stolen and being an ardent Monarchist she loved these things. I would like to give them to my niece and say 'That's what your grandmother treasured.'

"Mum used to put them on show for various charities although she didn't feel it was right to put the Duchess's French knickers on show."

Mrs Simmonds said Lady Millichip moved house twice after her husband died, eventually settling in her home near Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire. For many years Lady Millichip thought the box had been left at the first of the houses she lived in but after persistently asking the new owner if it had been found, she accepted it had either been lost or was mixed up with other family clutter. It was only in recent weeks Mrs Simmonds became aware the box had been found at Lady Millichip's former bungalow home in Cherry Hill Road, Barnt Green, when they were shown off to a local resident.

Word reached Mrs Simmonds who first asked for their return and later sent a solicitor's letter to Mr Gibbs saying she would turn up to collect them.

When she did, Mr Gibbs's family said the box and contents had been thrown away in a tip and the door was slammed in her face.

Now Mrs Simmonds plans to sue Mr Gibbs for the return of the box and its contents or for their value. The mementos are likely to be worth several thousand pounds.

"Mum would have been absolutely delighted these things have been found," said Mrs Simmonds.

Her lawyer Michael Stephens, of Millichips solicitors in West Bromwich, said the box had been hidden in the attic and when Mr Gibbs discovered them he had a legal duty to return them to Lady Millichip or the executors of her estate.

He said: "I have spoken to Mr Gibbs on the telephone and I said if you have taken them to the tip, I suggest you go and collect them. I don't know whether he bothered to go and look for them."

Mr Gibbs said the box had been in his garage since Lady Millichip moved out nine years ago but he had not been given a forwarding address.

"I got rid of them out of temper more than anything else. They have been in the garage for about nine years. I never tried to sell them or anything like that. I was fed up with the clothes and I threw them in the black bin.They don't exist any more." Wallis Simpson was an American socialite who was twice divorced before marrying the King. Edward VIII was forced to choose between Mrs Simpson and the Throne because Parliament would not allow him to marry a divorcee. The couple, who became Duke and Duchess of Windsor, lived in Paris before World War Two and returned after 1945. The Duke died in 1972 and the Duchess in 1986. In 2008, Mrs Armitage, a French farmer's daughter now aged 91, sold several items given to her by the Duchess of Windsor from the days when she was a maid at the magnificent Villa Windsor in the Bois de Boulogne.

She said at the time of the auction: 'I worked for the Duchess for five years and I had the life of a millionairess too.'

Sir Bert Millichip, became chairman of West Bromwich Albion in 1974 and remained President until his death in 2002. He was chairman of the Football Association from 1981 to 1996.