(1841-1910)
King of the United Kingdom
Emperor of India
Son of Queen Victoria & Prince Albert.
Husband of Alexandra of Denmark.
Edward's physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Bertie, as the Prince was known to his closest friends, was forty-four years old, and had a short, gray nicotine-stained beard, but was always immaculately dressed and perfumed himself with eau de Portugal. His voice was husky from smoking cigars, and he spoke in deep, sexy guttural tones, rolling the letter r with something of his father's Germanic pronunciation. He had a huge appetite for food and was rather portly... Bertie would later grow very stout from gorging himself with food and drink, and by age fifty-five, his waist measured forty-eight inches. He was, in 1895, still a fine figure of a man. . . ." (The Churchills: A Family Portrait: 87)
Edward the sexual cowboy.
". . . Edward was a sexual cowboy who spent his whole life chasing skirt in order to get as many notches on the butt of his pistol as possible. More than ten thousand notches is a fairly conservative estimate because he sampled at least four women a week from the age of nineteen until he died at sixty-nine. The actual figure could be between fifteen and eighteen thousand, though, because in good weeks he managed six or seven different bed partners." (OPC Global)
Bertie's insatiable sexual appetite.
"At the age of nineteen he lost his virginity in Ireland to an actress called Nellie Clifden. . . In 1863, at twenty-one, he was married to Princess Alexandra, the eldest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. They had five children in rapid succession, but this did little to prevent Bertie straying from outside his marriage. . . Although nineteenth-century England is rarely regarded as particularly licentious, the Queen herself complained that the upper classes and aristocracy, within whose exclusive circle the Prince was most particular to restrict himself, were 'given over to frivolity, the love of pleasure, self-indulgence and idleness'. This meant, among other things, a great deal of sex. The Prince had an insatiable sexual appetite and plenty of well-connected, well-to-do and often married women to choose from. As their husbands were usually complaisant, there was no stopping him. Alongside acknowledged liaisons with Lillie Langtry, Lady Brooke and Mrs. Alice Keppel, he had dozens of casual affairs. . . ." (Riviera: The Rise and Rise of the Cote d'Azur)
A pattern of a sexually insatiable prince of pleasure.
"Bertie could not have been described as a serial monogamist. The prince of pleasure never restricted himself to one individual woman, but was forever chasing another conquest. By 1867, a pattern had emerged of a sexually insatiable man who loved to sAnd Bertie never seemed to differentiate in the pursuit of his ideal: young, high-spirited, feminine in appearance but somewhat masculine in character. Bertie also managed to remain on good terms with his mistresses once the affairs were over; throughout his life, we see evidence of his kindness and generosity toward his former lovers. This was of course contingent upon the behavior of these women. In certain cases, to remain on good terms was impossible; in one case it was tragic." (Edward VII: The Prince of Wales and the Women He Loved: 41)
Edward's royal sex trips.
" . . . Bertie practised what he preached. Over the years, there were rumours of his affairs in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Paris, New Delhi; in Paris alone, French detectives traced him to meetings with the Comtesse Edmond de Pourteles, the Baronne Alphonse de Rothschild, the Princesse de Sagan, a Mme Kuchine, the widow Signoret, a Dame Verneuil, Baronne del Pilar, and the unidentified ladies at the Hotel Scribe and his favourite brothel, Le Chabanais. In England, there were chorus girls in sedan chairs at his friend Wynn-Carrington's; there were what Francis Knollys called his 'actress friends', what Lady Geraldine Somerset called 'his troop of fine ladies', what Edward Hamilton called 'H.R.H.'s virgin band'. For a while, according to the Duke of Cambridge, Edward too 'a strange new line', taking 'young girls and discarding the married women'; but in the long run he liked both. There were (probable) affairs with the wife of the Prefect of Moscow, the wife of Lord Wavertree, the wife of Lord Brooke; there were (notable) affairs with Lillie Langtree (the actress), Daisy Warwick (the countess) and Alice (Mrs. George) Keppel. . . ." (Human Biology and History: 83)
"While he waited, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales -- or 'Bertie,' as he was known before his coronation -- devoted himself to pleasure. He dressed in the height of fashion -- he set the fashions -- travelled, partied, hunted, played cards, went to the races and the theatre, and ate, smoked and drank heavily. In 1863, at the age of 21, he was married off to the affable and attractive Princess Alexandra of Denmark, but it made little difference to his behaviour. The Prince of Wales philandered insatiably with what was dubbed a 'troop of the ladies', though 'regiment' would be nearer the mark. One was Lady Jeanette Churchill, later the mother of Winston. Another, Harriet Mordaunt, dragged him into a divorce case, which could have ruined him -- though in the event she was committed to an asylum, where she would stay for 36 years." (The Rough Guide to the Royals)
French detectives hot on his trail.
"He had made elaborate efforts to give the slip to the indefatigable French detectives who, to his extreme annoyance, followed him everywhere, suitably disguised, event to the extent of wearing clothes appropriate to the different parts of the theatres to which they were assigned and taking their wives with them to restaurants. Occasionally the Prince's carriage had suddenly rattled off at such a pace from the Hotel Bristol that the police had lost track of him. But generally they managed to keep up with him and were able to submit reports of meetings with celebrated beauties in the Jardin de Plantes, of long afternoons spent with his intimate friends, the Comtesse Edmond de Pourtales in the rue Tronchet, the Baronne Alphonse de Rothschild in the Faubourg St. Honore, and the Princesse de Sagan on the corner of the Esplanade des Invalides. The police had watched him on his visits to Mme Kauchine, a Russian beauty who rented a room in the Hotel du Rhin; to the 'widow Signoret', mistress of the Duc de Rohan; to a certain 'Dame Verneuil' who had an apartment on the second floor at 39 rue Lafayette; to the Baronne de Pilar at the Hotel Choiseul; to Miss Chamberlayne (described in 1884 as his 'maitresse en titre') at the Hotel Balmoral; to unidentified ladies in the Hotel Scribe and the Hotel Liverpool in the rue de Castiglione. The police had been particularly concerned by his visits to the Hotel de Calais, where he often spent most of the night with a mysterious woman known to the chambermaid as Mme Hudrie, 'a very beautiful woman, aged about thirty, tall, slim, blonde, remarkable for her magnificent colouring and her perfect elegance ... usually dressed in white satin, but always in black when she meets 'the Prince'. This turned out to be the Comtesse de Boutourline, wife of the Prefect of Moscow, sister-in-law of General Boutourline, formerly military attache at the British Embassy in London, and granddaughter of Princess Bobinska with whom she claimed to be staying in the rue de Chateaubriand, though the police discovered that she was actually living in a house belonging to the Comte de Guinsonnas." (Edward VII; the Last Victorian King: 238)
Bertie's wandering eye.
"Bertie had a wandering eye that started in his teens. The other women in his life were beyond listing. Some of them were an American debutante identified by Hibbert as 'Miss Chamberlayne'; Lillie (Mrs. Edward) Langtry, who was 'almost maitresse en titre.' Hibbert wrote; Sarah Bernhardt (some sources consider this a platonic association); Lady Brooke whose husband later ascended to the title and she became Lady Warwick; comtesse de Boutourline, wife of the prefect of Moscow; Alice Keppel, wife of George Keppel, seventh earl of Albemarle." (Bertie, Denied Work Became Regal Roue @The Milwaukee Sentinel)
Bertie's three 'official' mistresses.
" . . . The Prince and later King was vulgar: he had next to no book learning; he cared little for the arts beyond theatre-going; his delights were the race course, the gambling table, food and drink, and, notoriously philandering. In addition to countless women, from duchesses to prostitutes, Edward had three more or less 'official' mistresses: Lillie Langtry, the actress; 'Daisy' Maynard, the proletarian-sympathizing Countess of Warwick; and Mrs. George Keppel, mistress during his reign as Edward VII. The last named was summoned, in the Queen's presence, to his deathbed." (Max Beerbohm Caricatures: 171)
"As any hope of useful employment fad thanks to his political incompetence, Bertie occupied himself as best he could in England. He began affairs with a married Canadian woman called Mrs. Sloane-Stanley, and a teenaged Irish beauty, Patsy Cornwallis-West, who was only sixteen when she began sleeping with him. She was hurriedly married off as soon as her family heard about her precarious situation. Marriage, though, only made it easier for Bertie to continue the affair and he remained close to Patsy long enough to help her daughter marry into the English aristocracy, which in turn only increased rumours that at least one of her three children was of royal descent." (Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France: 193)
Edward VII's "foreign" affairs.
" . . . Over the years, there were rumours of his affairs in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Paris, New Delhi; in Paris alone, French detectives traced him to meetings with the Comtesse Edmond de Pourtales, the Baronne Alphonse de Rothschild, the Princesse de Sagan, a Mme Kuchine, the widow Signoret, a Dame Verneuil, Baronne de Pilar, and unidentified ladies at the Hotel Seribe and his favourite brothel, Le Chabanais. In England, there were chorus girls in sedan chairs at his friend Wynn-Carrington's; there were what Francis Knollys called his 'actress friends', what Lady Geraldine Somerset called 'his troop of fine ladies'; what Edward Hamilton called 'H.R.H.'s virgin band'. For a while, according to the Duke of Cambridge, Edward took 'a strange new line', taking 'young girls and discarding the married women'; but in the long run he liked both. There were (probable) affairs with the wife of the Prefect of Moscow, the wife of Lord Wavertree, the wife of Lord Brooke; there were (notable) affairs with Lillie Langtree (the actress), Daisy Warwick (the countess) and Alice (Mrs. George) Keppel. 'A cloud of blue bottle flies constantly buzzed round the king.' 'To Henry James, who was sorry to see 'little mysterious Victoria' go, Edward was an 'arch vulgarian', 'Edward the Caresser'. In spite of which, his wife was sure, 'he always loved me the best.'" (Human Biology and History: 83)
Sex trips to Paris theaters.
"The prince remained an avid theater-goer. During his many trips to Paris he disported with actresses, and served as the model for the Prince of Scots who goes backstage at the Theatre des Varieties in Zola's novel Nana. The stagehands in the wings of Parisian theatres, the performers on stage and the audience all ogled one another -- 'creating on every side a spectacle of Pleasure, Orgy, Intrigue', in Edmond de Goncourt's description, 'no-where else can one find so many inducements to coitus. Parisian police spies tracked the prince to assignations with (among many others) Comtesse Edmond de Pourtales, Baroness Alphonse de Rothschild, the Princesses de Sagan, a Russian vamp called Madame Kauchine, an American Miss Chamberlayne (nicknamed Chamberpot by Princess Alexandra), a woman calling herself Madame Hudrie (actually Comtesse de Boutourline, wife of the Prefect of Moscow), and the courtesans Catherine Walters (known as 'Skittles', because she had once worked in a Liverpool bowling alley) and Cora Pearl (who appeared naked before him sporting only a string of pearls and a sprig of parsley). . . ." (Edward VII: the Cosmopolitan King)
Paris, the scene of plentiful other affairs.
" . . . Paris was the scene of plentiful other affairs. He conducted a liaison there with the soprano Hortense Schneider (though he had to share her with other European royals -- Schneider was nicknamed Le Passage de Princes). French detectives trailed about after him, detailing the 'long afternoons' spent in hotels and apartments and mansions with his 'intimate friends': the Comtesse Edmond de Pourtales, the Baronne Alphonse de Rothschild, the Comtesse de Boutourline, the Princesse de Sagan, the Russian beauty Madame Kauchine, the widow Signoret, a Miss Chamberlayne and a 'Dame Verneuil' on the second floor at 39 rue Lafayette." (The Rough Guide to the Royals)
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The Moulin Rouge, c1906 |
He was a regular at the Moulin Rouge.
"Bertie was also a regular at the Moulin Rouge, where he would apparently be greeted with shouts of 'allo Wales.' He was feted by the legendary Cora Pearl, who dressed herself up for him in a string of pearls and a sprig of parsley. At the fashionable Maison Doree restaurant, another famous prostitute, Giulia Beneni, notoriously turned her back on him -- while lifting her skirts and protesting that she'd been advised to 'show him my best side'." (The Rough Guide to the Royals)
The darling of Parisian society.
"Bertie - our reigning Queen's great grandfather - was the darling of Parisian society during his frequent visits to the capital. He launched Cannes as a fashionable resort and was the first guest invited to climb the Eiffel Tower - a huge honour, especially for a Briton. He was a stalwart of Parisian cabaret culture and saw the birth of the Moulin Rouge. Shows would be created in the hope he would attend because his presence guaranteed a hit." (Express)
The city's favourite anglais.
"While best known in Britain for his affairs with actress Lillie Langtry and society hostess Alice Keppel (Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's great-grandmother) he was also busy France, refining his reputation as a worldclass playboy, inveterate gambler and original sex tourist. He had affairs with the most famous French aristocrats, prostitutes, actresses and cancan dancers in the city. 'In fact, every woman in Paris wanted to get into the bed of the city's favourite Anglais,' says Clarke." (Express)
Effects on the lovers' family, other people and society.
". . .Prince Albert (Edward VII's father) . . . was psychotic on the subject of sex, evidently regarding sexual intercourse with women a stern duty that fell upon a husband . . . but a mortal sin in all other circumstances. He was Prince Consort and a father of nine children when he learned with horror that his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, then a young man of twenty, had actually had sexual relations with a woman! Albert became hysterical--no milder word is adequate--and, telling his depraved son that he must 'hide himself from the sight of God,' fell into such emotional convulsions that Victoria believed her son's 'disgusting conduct' to have been the primary cause of her beloved 'Angel's' death three months later." (Oliver)
Effect of Bertie's affairs on his wife, Alexandra.
"Alexandra's attitude toward her husband's mistresses was never consistent, and seemed to alter over time. She was tolerant of his affairs with Lillie Langtry, who was discreet despite the fact that Bertie showered her with obvious gifts. 'I've spent enough on you to buy a battleship,' he once supposedly told her. 'And you've spent enough in me to float one,' came Lily's waggish reply. But Alexandra was secure in the knowledge that no matter how many women her husband might bed, she would one day be crowned queen at his side. She consoled herself with the belief that the other women were merely temporary diversions and that there was no emotional bond between them and her husband. 'He always loved me best,' she once commented, and her words may, in fact, have reflected her husband's ultimate feelings for her." (Twilight of Splendor: 138)
"In order, his mistresses were Mary 'Patsy' Fitzpatrick from her teenage years (aged 14-18, 1870-June 1874); mother of Winston Churchill, Lady Randolph 'Jennie' Jerome Churchill (aged 19-22, 23 Aug. 1873-1876); Frances Evelyn 'Daisy' Greville nee Maynard/Countess of Warwick (14+, 1875-6 & 1890s-98); the first pin-up star and later actress Lillie Langtry (1876-81); actress Sarah Bernhardt (1879-1890s); Mary 'Patsy' Fitzpatrick's daughter Mary Theresa Olivia 'Daisy' Cornwallis-West (aged 15-18, June 1889-Dec. 1891), whose brother married Lady Jennie Jerome Churchill; the Duchess of Manchester, Lady Norrys; and Alice Keppel (1898-1910), with whom he had a daughter named Sonia Rosemary Keppel (24 May 1900-16bAug. 1986). Sonia Keppel was the half-sister of King George V and the great-aunt of the current QEII." (Stalin's British Training: Breeding Concubines & Paedophiles at War)
Edward VII's lovers were:
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| Agnes Keyser @Wikipedia |
1) Agnes Keyser (1852-1941)
Lover in ?-1910.
British courtesan & royal mistress.
Also known as Sister Agnes (by Bertie)
Daughter of: Charles, a stockbroker & Margaret Keyser.
" . . . One of them was Agnes Keyser, daughter of a rich stockbroker, who, with her sister, ran a nursing home for army officers in Grosvenor Crescent which was supported by donations from the King's rich friends. A handsome, governess-like woman of strong yet understanding personality, forty-six years old in February 1898 when the Prince first came to know her, Agnes Keyser shunned the kind of society which the Prince had enjoyed at Easton Lodge. And, when he felt disinclined to exert himself in more demanding company, Miss Keyser was prepared always to welcome him to a quiet dinner where, as though in a nursery far more agreeable than any he had known as a child, he was given such plain fare as Irish stew and rice pudding." (Edward VII: The Last Victorian King)
"Number 17 Grosvenor Crescent was a large, heavy mansion off Hyde Park Corner, just behind St. George's Hospital, the home of two unmarried sisters, Agnes and Fanny Keyser. Bertie's first dinner with the Keyser sisters is always said to have taken place in 1898, but in fact he dined with Agnes Keyser back in 1895. Agnes's money came from stockbroking; her family were linked to the Bischoffsheims, which may have been ow Bertie came to know her. She was the least glamorous of his mistresses -- if indeed she was one: a middle-aged spinster, controlling and governess-like, who fed him plain food. . . ." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII: 338)
2) Aimee Pirie (1864-1946)
Lover in 1918?.
British volunteer worker & hospital organizer
Also known as:
born Aimee Evelyn Pirie
Aimee Oakley
Dame Aimee Evelyn Dawson.
Daughter of: Gordon Pirie & Valentine Rousseau de la Brosse.
Wife of:
1. Henry Herbert Oakley (1863-1899), mar 1890
2. Sir Douglas Frederick Rawdon Dawson (d.1933), mar 1903
"Aimee Pirie was born at the Chateau de Varennes in France, the daughter of Gordon Pirie. She was married firstly (1889) to Herbert Oakley. This marriage remained childless and Oakley died in 1899. She was then remarried (1903) to Brigadier-General Sir Douglas Frederick Rawdon Dawson (1854 - 1933), who served as Master of Ceremonies to King Edward VII (1903 - 1910). This marriage also remained childless. During WWI Lady Dawson established hospitals for wounded soldiers in France. She was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) by King George V (1918), in recognition of her valuable work for the war effort. Lady Aimee survived her husband as the Dowager Lady Dawson (1933 - 1946). Lady Dawson died at Remenham Palace, Henley-on-Thames, London (Dec 24, 1946), aged eighty-two." (A Bit of History)
" . . . More significantly, however, her mother, Aimee, who was born in 1864, would have also been forty-six at the time of the King's death, hardly an ideal age for giving birth to her first and only child. Nevertheless her mother did at least have connections at Court through her second husband, who was Master of Ceremonies to King Edward VII from 1903. It she was to be passed off as the legitimate daughter of the Dawsons, then she must have been born after August 1903." (Royal Bastards)
"It has also been suggested that Rosemary Aimee Douglas Erskine Crum, nee Dawson, was yet another daughter of King Edward VII. According to her husband's entry in Who Was Who, Rosemary married in 1948 Lieutenant-General Vernon Forbes Erskine Crum, CIE, MC, (1918-71) and was the daughter of Brigadier-General Sir Douglas (Frederick Rawdon) Dawson, GCVO, KCB, CMG (1854-1933), who was Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Department from 1907-20. Dawson had married Aimee Evelyn (Evie), GBE, daughter of Gordon Prie and she was the widow of Herbert Oakley, whom she had married as her first husband in 1889. . . ." (Royal Bastards)
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Alice Keppel |
3) Alice Keppel (1868-1947)
Lover in 1898-1910.
"A royal mistress's job is to "curtsey first and then leap into bed". (Hall)
Also known as:
born Alice Frederica Edmonstone
Alice, Mrs. George Keppel
the Honorable Mrs. George Keppel
Daughter of: Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet Edmonstone, Superintendent of Woolwich Dockyard, Scottish naval commander, courtier & politician, & Mary Elizabeth Parsons.
Wife of: The Hon. George Keppel, son of the 7th Earl of Albemarle, mar 1891
Alice's physical appearance & personal qualities.
" . . . In June 1, 1891, a beautiful 22-year-old with milky white skin, thick chestnut-coloured hair, bright blue-eyes and a stunning hour-glass figure, she married Lieutenant-Colonel George Keppel (1865-1947), the handsome, although not wealthy, third son of William Coutts Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle. . . ." (The Florentine)
"Alice Keppel had a short, generously proportioned figure, with small hands and feet, of which she was very proud. When she got older she ran to stoutness, and was a perfect match for her portly royal lover. . . [Her] head was large and set upon broad shoulders. Her luxuriant chestnut hair was worn in high arrangements. Lustrous, blue-green eyes were set off attractively by her alabaster skin. Her lips were full, and her deep, throaty voice suggested sensuousness. She had a particular vocal mannerism. Usually she spoke in powerful tones, but when she had a special piece of gossip to emphasise she would allow her voice to drop to a whisper, incline her head and then increase the volume to a sonorous bellow as the key point she was making was reached. She was funny, bright and her flirtatiousness showed a deeply felt liking for men. In time she was to exhibit the most important qualification of a mistress -- she was a good listener. When one spoke to her, she gave, or seemed to give, the whose of her attention, looking the speaker full in the face. She had no rival for the Prince of Wales's affections except the beautiful but brainless Queen Alexandra. Alice Keppel took her time to enter a room so that she achieved the right effect on those present. Her every movement seemed to be studied, her every gesture looked almost rehearsed as if aimed at projecting her personality and her use of her long cigarette holder was positively balletic." (Alice Keppel and Agnes Keyser: Edward VII's Last Loves)
Adultery into art.
"Mrs. Keppel turned adultery into an art. Her demeanour and poise countered 'whispers, taints and horrible noxious suspicions. Clear as to what she wanted -- prosperity and status -- she challenged none of the proprieties of her class." (Martin's Town)
Alice's first encounter with Bertie.
"On February 27, 1898, Bertie had dinner for the first time in the residence of Hon. George Keppel and his 29-year-old wife, Alice, who was the daughter of Admiral Sir William Edmonstone. The Prince was immediately attracted by the talent and grace of his hostess and it was enough to begin a passionate relation that would last until Bertie's death. George Keppel accepted the relationship and soon Alice was shown everywhere in Bertie's company. Because of her qualities and discretion she was welcome almost everywhere they went in England and the Continent." (Martin's Town)
A first encounter that led to a lasting affair.
"It was in 1898, toward the twilight of his life as a womanizer, that Bertie met Alice Keppel. She was short, with fashionably small hands and feet, but on her way to plumpness. He was, by then, immensely stout; and Alix's biographer tells us that 'once when Queen Alexandra saw them together squeezed into a carriage she shook with laughter. Alice and Bertie, almost immediately, became lovers. They were quite open about it. She went almost everywhere with him, much as though she were his wife. They stayed together for the rest of his life---some twelve years---even as impotence apparently took hold of him. She served as his official mistress, a maitresse en titre, a Madame de Pompadour or du Barry. Taking such an established woman when a man reaches a certain age is a French sort of thing to do---and Bertie was very French." (The King and the Cowboy)
Elevated overnight to mistress-in-chief.
"It was in Cannes, in 1898, at Grand Duke Michael's Villa Kasbeck that the Prince encountered Mrs. Alice Keppel. The twenty-nine-year-old was so captivating that she was elevated virtually overnight to the status of mistress-in-chief. The Prince was fifty-seven. . . ." (Riviera: The Rise and Rise of the Cote d'Azur)
A mistress perfect for the job.
The youngest daughter of a retired admiral and Scottish MP, the 30-year- old Alice Keppel met the 57-year-old Prince of Wales in 1898, and as Sir Philip Magnus-Allcroft was to note in his biography of Edward "an understanding" was formed between them "almost overnight". Alice became Edward's mistress for the rest of his life. She was perfect for the job. She was a royal confidante who knew not to gossip about what she heard in the inner royal circle. She had great skill in mollifying her royal lover, whose temper was uncertain and his patience thin. She understood his character and his physical and emotional needs, and helped calm him down when he might say unguarded things about foreign policy or domestic affairs in his kingdom. She was able to turn the often bored, petulant, aggressive, immature, selfish and rude monarch into the genial, tolerant and witty sovereign that his people loved." (Independent)
Benefits from liaison.
"During the reign of George III this house was bought by the 3rd Earl of Albemarle for 63,000 pounds and would be transformed out of recognition by his son, William Charles, who greatly enlarged it with the addition of extra wings encasing the original. Tudor style mansion. The Earls of Albemarle, who retained possession of the Hall until 1948, were descendants of Walter Joost van Keppel who came over to England from the Netherlands as a page to William III in 1688, and it was at the Keppels that the family were known to King Edward VII. Alice Keppel, the Edwardian beauty who became the King's last mistress, was married to the third son of the seventh Earl. King Edward visited Quidenham Hall in 1907." (The Thompsons, Shipbuilders of Sunderland)
"In the early twentieth century the house passed to the English Alice Keppel, a famous beauty, known for being the favorite of Edward VII. (Wikipedia)
Affair's impact on the Queen and others.
"Alix tolerated Mrs. Keppel. She was displeased with the fact that Alice Keppel appeared everywhere Alix and Bertie went. She was in the yacht races at Cowes, in Biarritz for Bertie's winter holidays or in Marienbad where the Prince attended for his annual cure. Nevertheless, the Princess was grateful to Alice for keeping Bertie entertained, good tempered and far from boredom which haunted him permanently; she used to laugh at her husband and his lover while yachting them sitting side by side, since they were both quite plump while Alix twenty-five years the senior of Mrs Keppel, had always a slim figure." (Martin's Town)
"Queen Alexandra accepted Alice Keppel as her husband's royal mistress, in a long line of such. In time though, the lonely, neglected Queen became depressed and her congenital deafness caused her to withdraw from society functions; this was exacerbated by her irritation at the constant presence of Alice at the King's shoulder on photographs of country-house weekends. Alexandra refused to go with her husband to his favourite haunts in and around Biarritz. So Alice went, with her children Violet and Sonia, every year around March. Alice's progress through France was enjoyed in some grandeur as functionaries at border and station treated her with the respect and dignity the French had always shown royal mistresses. Only at Biarritz could Alice and the King act as husband and wife." (Independent)
Affair's effects on elite social circles.
"Through her royal associations, Alice became a rich woman, the king encouraging his rich friends like Sir Ernest Cassel to help her build funds that would keep her social position secure. Yet Alice's society skies were not cloudless. She was not welcome at certain houses like that of the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel, or the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey; and William Waldorf Astor stopped inviting her to Cliveden when, as he said, Alice "had sunk to the level of a public strumpet". Others frowned on what they saw as her rapaciousness: Virginia Woolf described Alice as an "old grasper: whose fists had been in the moneybags these 50 years"." (Independent)
Affair's effects on lovers' spouses.
"When Mrs. Alice Keppel became mistress to the Prince of Wales in 1898, he was 58 and she was 29. She remained his mistress until his death. She took her post seriously and her well-bred husband George (younger brother of the Earl of Albermarle) raised no objection. Queen Alexandra accepted her as a friend, and the Keppels were often invited to stay at Sandringham with the royal couple. . . It is documented that when the King was dying, Alexandra sent a brougham to fetch Mrs. Keppel, and herself took her up to Edward's bedroom, leaving her alone with him for a long time. I say God bless her for it. Few women would have done it,' wrote Daisy, Princess of Pless. . . ." (Women and Marriage in Nineteenth-Century England: 46)
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Faberge cigarette case |
A Faberge cigarette case for Bertie.
"At Christmas 1900 the Honourable Mrs. George Keppel gave a Faberge cigarette case to her lover Bertie, Prince of Wales and heir to the English throne. Made from three kinds of gold, enameled in royal blue, over its cover front and back coiled a serpent contrived from diamonds. The head and tail of the serpent formed a knot. It was a symbolic gift from the Prince's temptress, 'La Favorita', his 'little Mrs. George'. . . Ten years later when Bertie -- King Edward VII -- dead, his widow, Queen Alexandra, mindful of the sexual link between her husband and Mrs. Keppel, returned the cigarette case to her. Mrs. Keppel asked Bertie's daughter-in-law Queen Mary to accept it as a gift. It is now in the permanent royal collection of pieces by Faberge. . . ." (New York Times)
"Group photographs of huge shooting parties commemorate Mrs. Keppel's weekends with Bertie. He sits at the centre, portly and assured, Homburg tilted, hands folded on his walking stick, flanked by ladies in ankle-length gowns, their hats like nesting birds. All look inscrutably at the camera. Nothing is revealed of the secret relationships between other women's husbands and other men's wives, of the elaborate games of adultery decorously conducted at these country-house weekends. Mrs. is seen in one such picture taken at Crichel in 1909 a small part of which is reproduced on the left. Included with the party are the King and Queen with Princess Victoria and the Arlingtons, Lord Farquhar, the Countess of Gosford, Marquis de Soveral, the Earl and Countess de Grey, Lady Bass and others." (Martin's Town)
4) Baronne de Pilar.
Lover in 1880s.
". . . He had made elaborate efforts to give the slip to the indefatigable French detectives, who to his extreme annoyance, followed him everywhere. . . The police had watched him on his visits . . . to the Baronne de Pilar at the Hotel Choiseul. . . . " (Edward VII: The Last Victorian King)
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Caroline Otero |
Lover in 1897.
"The Prince of Wales, later Edward VII of England, travelled frequently met her in private rooms at Voison's, Durand's or the Cafe Anglais." (Trove)
"Sometimes the Prince paid for sex. 'Courtesan' means someone attached to the Court, and these women shared their affections -- or their bodies -- between their keepers. The normal arrangement was for a courtesan to look after either one royal, or two dukes or three millionaires, which shows a nice sense of social gradation. Obviously their stock-in-trade was sex, but unlike common prostitutes they usually offered their eminent lovers beauty, grace and considerable social standing, and the best courtesans of the day fluttered to its lights. Most famous of all was La Belle Otero. Caroline Otero was a Spanish gypsy who married an Italian baron, honeymooned in Monte Carlo and soon progressed to a career in what the French called une grande horizontale. Her clients included the Prince of Wales, Alfonso XIII of Spain, Leopold II of Belgium, Tsar Nicholas II, and a German millionaire of whom Otero observed 'Such a rich man can never be ugly.' There were also Liane de Pougy, La Leno, Gina Paleme and Cora Pearl -- the latter baptised as Emma Crunch." (Riviera: the Rise and Rise of the Cote d'Azur)
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Catherine Walters |
7) Catherine Walters (1839-1920)
Lover in 1870s.
British trendsetter and courtesan.
Also known as Skittles.
". . . She really was one of the greatest grandes horizontales, in a direct line of descent from Nell Gwyn, and as such it was only fitting that eventually she became the mistress of her greatest conquest, the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. . . . " (City of Sin: London and Its Vices)
". . . She also had a brief affair with Bertie, the Prince of Wales. After their liaison ended, the Prince also paid her an allowance, and whenever she was ill, he sent his own doctor to attend her. Once when he thought she was dying, he sent his secretary to collect and destroy 300 letters that he had sent her. . . . " (Scandalous Woman)
". . . Like Lily Langtry she was for a time the mistress f King Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales and he often visited her house in South Street in the West End of London which was delightfully furnished. . . . " (From Whoredom to Evangelism)
"The Prince had spent other evenings with the delightful English courtesan, Catherine Walters; and had visited his favourite brothel, Le Chabanais, where the chair upon which he sat with his chosen women was still displayed over a generation later to the brothel's customers. . . ." (Edward VII: The Last Victorian King)
"His health was improving rapidly, and he also began 'seeing' a French cocotte. She was in fact a Liverpudlian called Catherine Walters who had set up shop in Paris in the 1860s, and had returned to England when the Commune spoilt her business. Catherine was nicknamed Skittles, either because of her ability to bowl men over or because of her figure. There is a photo of her on horseback, sporting a jacket so tight that she could have worn a dog collar as a belt. The slenderness of her waist only emphasizes the curvaceousness of the portions of her that are perched upon the saddle." (Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France: 194)
8) Comtesse de Boutourline.
Lover in c1886.
" . . . The police had been particularly concerned by his visits to the Hotel de Calais, where he often spent most of the night with a mysterious woman known to the chambermaid as Mme Hudrie, 'a very beautiful woman, aged about thirty, tall, slim, blonde, remarkable for her magnificent colouring and her perfect elegance...usually dressed in white satin, but always in black when she meets 'the Prince.' This turned out to be the Comtesse de Boutourline, wife of the Prefect of Moscow, sister-in-law of General Boutourline, formerly military attache at the British Embassy in London, and granddaughter of Princess Bobinska. . . ." (Edward VII: The Last Victorian King)
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| Daisy Greville @Wikipedia |
9) Daisy Greville (1861-1938)
Countess of Warwick
Lover from 1889-1898.
British aristocrat, socialite & royal mistress.
Also known as:
born Frances Evelyn Maynard
Lady Brooke
Daisy Warwick
Daughter of: Hon. Charles Maynard & Blanche Fitzroy.
Wife of: Francis Greville, 5th Earl of Greville.
"At the other end of the princey scale we have unlikely Essex boy Albert Arthur George Saxe-Coburg Gotha, later King Edward VII, who frequently visited the county while conducting his affair with Frances Maynard, Lady Warwick/ Just one of a famous bevy of mistresses of 'Bertie'; she, however, was known to have been the most passionate love of his life and entertained the man who would be king for just under a decade." (Essex Boys)
Her way of saying she had become the prince's mistress.
"One day in February 1889, Bertie received a surprise visit from a member of the Marlborough House set: Lady Brooke. Daisy Brooke at twenty-eight had china blue eyes, a tiny waist and curvaceous figure of the type that delighted the prince, and the irresistible charm of manner that comes from always getting one's own way. Bertie found himself unable to decline an appeal for helm from 'Beauty in Distress'. Years later, Daisy recalled her conquest: 'He was more than kind . . . and suddenly I saw him looking at me in a way all women understand. I knew I had won, so I asked him to come to tea. For ten years afterwards he came to tea with me every day when we were both in London.' This was Daisy's way of saying that she had become the prince's mistress." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII: 263)
"The prince supplanted Charles Beresford, who hated to be beaten at anything, as Daisy Brooke's lover. He had the Brookes put on lists for country-house parties which he attended, while the Beresfords were deleted. The Beresfords resented this social boycott, and circulated an account of the affair entitled 'Lady River' (as in Lady Brooke). Lord Charles in a letter to the Prime Minister, Salisbury, threatened a more just way of getting right done than duelling: and that is --- publicity!'. Throughout 1889-91, in Salisbury's words, 'social hurricanes' raged around the prince, the Beresfords and Daisy Brooke.
A very beautiful woman,' Carrington record of her in 1891. She has a very pleasant voice, and such attractive manners that she could wheedle a bird out of a tree. She has the great gift of appearing intensely interested in anything that concerns anyone she may be talking to, and though a desperate attempt has been made to 'knock her out' of society, she will weather the storm yet: as she smiles on everybody, and looks pleasant, and never abuses or says an unkind word of any human being." (Edward VII: The Cosmopolitan King)
"Things took a turn for the worse in 1891, at the height of Bertie's affair with the young and beautiful Daisy, Lady Brooke, the future Countess of Warwick. Bertie had treated previous affairs as temporary diversions, but Daisy captivated him, and he even gave her a 'wedding ring.' Known by the rather unflattering epithet of 'the Babbling Brook,' Daisy spoke openly of the liaison, and the scandal reached its height that summer, when Lady Brooke convinced Bertie to retried a compromising letter she had writer to her former lover Lord Charles Beresford. It was found by Beresford's wife, whom the Prince of Wales cajoled and threatened; there were rumours that Lord Charles had stormed into Marlborough House and actually struck Bertie during an argument. At the height of the sordid affair, some wag circulated an anonymous pamphlet titled Lay River, a thinly veiled reference to Lady Brooke, which soon became required reading among the aristocratic elite." (Twilight of Splendor: 138)
The king's most passionate love.
"Daisy was the most passionate love of Bertie's life. He showered her with jewels, as he did all his mistresses, but to his stunningly beautiful Daisy he gave the ring his parents had given him on his confirmation. Big and gold, it bore the initials 'V&A' and was the most personal and intimate item he had even given anyone, 'My own adored little Daisy wife'." (Essex Boys)
The greatest love of his life.
".But the greatest love of his life is accepted to have been the wealthy and stunningly beautiful Daisy Warwick. . . ." (UK Government Watch)
Beloved by husband and royal lover.
" . . . Both Daisy's husband, whom she called 'Brookie', and the prince were devoted to her. Her husband stated he would rather be married to Daisy, with all her faults, than to any other woman in the world. Thus Lord and Lady Brooke entertained the prince at Easton Lodge frequently during the 1890s." (Essex Boys)
Affair's end & aftermath.
"Bertie was a regular visitor to Easton Lodge until 1898, when Daisy's much earlier indiscreet correspondence with another lover, Lord Beresford, were exposed by Beresford's wife. Daisy was replaced in the Prince's affection by Alice Keppel (the Hon. Mrs. George Keppel, great grandmother of the present Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall), who remained his devoted mistress until his death in 1910." (Halt! -- for a king's convenience on Geocaching)
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Easton Lodge |
"She was for some time the mistress of Edward Prince of Wales before and after her became King Edward VII. He visited Easton Lodge many times, together with groups of his society friends, arriving by train at Easton Lodge station which was paid for and maintained by the Countess." (Little Easton)
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Easton Lodge c1834 |
"Easton Lodge. The Lodge was the grand residence of the influential Maynard family from the mid 16th century. The original medieval house was extensively rebuilt after several disastrous fires and was finally demolished following a further fire in 1950, with the exception of the west wing ('Warwick House') which is still occupied. The sire of the demolished house was planted with a grove of birch trees." (Halt! -- for a king's convenience on Geocaching)
10) Dame Verneuil.
Lover in 1880s.
". . . He had made elaborate efforts to give the slip to the indefatigable French detectives, who to his extreme annoyance, followed him everywhere. . . The police had watched him on his visits . . . to a certain Dame Verneuil who had an apartment on the second floor at 39 rue Lafaterre. . . . " (Edward VII: the Last Victorian King)
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Edith Peers-Williams Countess of Aylesford c1890 |
11) Edith Peers-Williams, Countess of Aylesford (d.1897)
Also known as:
Edith Finch, Countess of Aylesford
Lady Aylesford.
Daughter of: Lt. Col. Thomas Peers Williams & Emily Bacon.
Wife of: Heneage Finch, 7th Earl of Aylesford, mar 1871, sep 1877.
"Edith Aylesford was a sister of Bertie's equerry Owen Williams. Photographs show a plump woman with a long face and heavy chin accentuated by the fashionable bonnets which she wore perched on the front of her head. She evidently was amusing; certainly Queen Victoria thought it must be Edith whom Bertie admired rather than Sporting Joe, as 'Lord A. was too great a fool to be really agreeable to the P. of W." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII: 183)
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Ellen, Countess of Kilmorey @Pinterest |
12) Ellen Constance Baldock, Countess of Kilmorey (d.1920)
Also known as:
Ellen, Countess of Kilmorey
Nellie.
Daughter of: Edward Holmes Baldock, MP for Shrewsbury & Elizabeth Mary Corbet.
Wife of: Sir Richard Needham, 6th Earl of Kilmorey & Hereditary Abbot of the Exempt Jurisdiction of Newry & Mourne.
"In his youth Francis Teck was something of a philanderer with a charming but feckless manner, according to Michael Nash, a lawyer and a writer on legal and constitutional affairs. He and his brother were the first princes of the royal family to go to a public school, where he had an argument with the maths master and threw him over a hedge. At first, he was reluctant to marry as he was having an affair with an older woman, Ellen Constance, wife of the Earl of Kilmorey, an aide-de-camp to the Prince of Wales who was soon to become Edward VII. She had earlier been Edward’s mistress: ‘Quite a lady!’ exclaimed Thomson politely. My own thought was more earthy: what a goer! Not for nothing was the family motto: Nunc Aut Nunquam, Now Or Never." (Spectator)
"The 3rd Earl, also MP for Newry, married Ellen-Constance Baldock in 1881, a renowned beauty who caused a scandal by being bequeathed the ‘Teck Emeralds’ among other jewels, from her lover, Francis of Teck, brother of Queen Mary. She also reputedly had a liaison with EDWARD VII, a frequent visitor to Mourne Park." (Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland)
Mrs. Willie James (nee Evelyn Elizabeth Forbes). She was the daughter of Sir Charles Forbes, a Scottish aristocrat, and married the immensely wealthy William Dodge James and set about entertaining the Prince of Wales in the lavish, opulent fashion he loved. Pictured here in her costume designed by Lucile for the Duchess of Devonshire's 1897 ball.
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Evelyn Forbes |
13) Evelyn Forbes (1868-1929)
Lover in 1867-1868.
Also known as:
born Evelyn Elizabeth Forbes
Evelyn Elizabeth Forbes James
Evie James
Lady Forbes?
Mrs. William Dodge James
Mrs. Willie James
Mrs. John Chaytor Brinton.
Daughter of Sir Charles Forbes, 4th Baronet of Newe & Helen Moncreiffe.
Wife of William Dodge James.
Personal & family background.
"Mrs. Willie James (nee Evelyn Elizabeth Forbes). She was the daughter of Sir Charles Forbes, a Scottish aristocrat, and married the immensely wealthy William Dodge James and set about entertaining the Prince of Wales in the lavish, opulent fashion he loved. Pictured here in her costume designed by Lucile for the Duchess of Devonshire's 1897 ball." (Pinterest)
"Eldest daughter of Helen Moncreiffe and Sir Charles Forbes, 4th Baronet of Newe. Their estate, Castle Newe, was adjacent Balmoral, the Scottish residence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The two families knew each other and Evelyn became a friend to Edward, Prince of Wales (Edward VII). In 1889 she married William Daniel James, who was the son of a wealthy merchant and they eventually purchased and altered West Dean House in West Dean, West Sussex, England. She became known as Mrs Willie James and was one of the great hostesses of the period, often entertaining the Prince of Wales as a guest and other notables including the King of Spain. She and Willie James had five children, four daughters and a son: Edward, whose god-father was Edward VII. After the death of her husband in 1912, Evelyn remarried to Major John Chaytor Brinton; the marriage was annulled in 1927. Evelyn died in 1929 following an operation." (Find A Grave)
The wonderfully eccentric Evie James, mother of four children, three daughters, and a son (he being the equally eccentric Edward James, the artist and recluse) was once asked by the family's nanny which child she wanted to accompany her to church. Evie replied, 'The one that goes best with my blue dress.' Evie James' obituary writers describe her as 'one of the best known of society hostesses. She was the eldest daughter of Sir Charles Forbes, the 4th Baronet of Newe, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; her mother was Helen, 'one of the beautiful Moncreiffe sisters. Her mother's sisters all had titles including Georgina, Countess of Dudley, who was a notable Red Cross worker in the Great War and Louisa, Duchess of Athole (sic). Evie's two sisters were Helen Blanche Forbes, later Mrs. John Blundell Leigh and Mabel Susan Forbes, later Lady St. Oswald. Evie died at Alfred House, 7-9 Portland Place, London in the care of Almina, Countess of Carnarvon." (Lady Almina Carnarvon's Famous Patients)
"Having grown up at Castle Newe near the royal Balmoral estate in Scotland, Mrs. James was appreciated by King Edward until his last days. He was godfather to her son Edward who later in life claimed that he was the grandson of Edward VII, the result of an affair between the then heir to the throne and Mrs. James's mother, Lady Helen of Newe." (V&A)
"The following year the marriage of Alice's brother Sir Archibald Edmonstone to Ida Agnes Stewart-Forbes, niece of the Ladies Forbes and Mordaunt, brought her an unexpected connection with royalty. Each of these ladies was in turn a mistress of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. Although they were brief affairs the result in Lady Forbes's case was a daughter Evelyn Elizabeth, who has a very strong claim to being considered the Prince's bastard daughter." (Royal Sex: Mistresses & Lovers of the British Royal Family)
"Mrs. Willie James (nee Evelyn Elizabeth Forbes). She was the daughter of Sir Charles Forbes, a Scottish aristocrat, and married the immensely wealthy William Dodge James and set about entertaining the Prince of Wales in the lavish, opulent fashion he loved. Pictured here in her costume designed by Lucile for the Duchess of Devonshire's 1897 ball." (Pinterest)
"“A Charming Hostess”: West Dean Park near Chichester, where the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire are to be the guests of Mr and Mrs Willie James during Goodwood week, is a fine old house, purchased by Mr James shortly after his marriage in 1889. Since that time it has been noted for its hospitality, and Mrs Willie James has acquired the reputation of being the most admirable hostess in the shires… Her Goodwood parties are always select and not infrequently lively. A dainty little brunette, Mrs James is herself lively and amusing, and though rather short she is so beautifully proportioned and so charmingly dressed that her guests cannot help thinking her the ideal of social perfection. Queen Alexandra entertains a warm and longstanding friendship for the mistress of West Dean Park and the King himself has many times enjoyed her hospitability. Mrs James was the eldest daughter of the late Sir Charles Forbes of Newe, her mother having been one of the beautiful Moncreiffes who queened it in society for back in the sixties. Her sisters, Lady St. Oswald and Mrs Blundell Leigh, curiously, are as fair as Mrs James is dark, with the Titianesque style that is characteristic of the majority of the old Scottish families. Mrs Willie James is, of course, a sister of present Sir Charles Forbes, and a cousin of Mr “Jim” Forbes… Castle Newe, the country seat of Sir Charles, is an old place not far from Abergeldie, which has been in possession of his progenitors for centuries, and there is some fine shooting to be had in the neighbourhood, The family of the present is very wealthy, but a few generation ago the Forbes’s fortunes had fallen rather low. An energetic son of the house however, went into the East Indian trade, established the great mercantile house in Bombay, now known as Sir Charles Forbes and Co., and proved the truth of the family motto, Altius ibunt, qui ad summa nituntur." (The Lafayette Negative Archives 1897)
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Georgina Ward Countess of Dudley, 1880s |
14) Georgina Ward, Countess of Dudley (1846-1929)
Lover in 1896.
Scottish aristocrat
Also known as:
born Georgina Elizabeth Moncreiffe.
Daughter of Sir Thomas Moncreiffe of that Ilk, 7th Baronet, and Lady Louisa Hay-Drummond, daughter of Thomas Hay-Drummond, 11th Earl of Kinnoull
Wife of William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley (d.1885) mar 1865
" . . . Her loveliness was something quite apart. Scores of women may be said to have challenged her supremacy, and to have been her superiors at certain points, but her exquisitely shaped and poised head, her flowerlike complexion, her matchlessly beautiful eyes,, her dignity of carriage, even in early youth, made her fame to ring through Europe. At Compiègne the Empress Eugénie and her Court, which consisted of all that was fair in France, confessed themselves completely outshone. In Vienna the crowds gathered in the Plaza to watch the Imperial carriage pass to and fro admitted that their hitherto peerless Empress paled before the Englishwoman seated by her side.” — Obituary of Lady Dudley in The Times, 4 February 1929" (Wikipedia)
Prostitute Madame Giulia Beneni (Julie Benin) (La Barucci) (1837-1870) France, was mistress of Edward VII (Albert Edward) (1841-1910) UK. When meeting Edward VII she was told to behave with decorum. When introduced she promptly let her dress fall to the ground without a word of warning. When she was reprimanded she exclaimed, “What, did you not tell me to behave properly to His Royal Highness? I showed him the best I have, and it was free!”
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Giulia Barucci |
15) Giulia Barucci (1837-1870)
Lover in 1867.
Italian courtesan
Also known as:
Giulia Beneni
Giulia Benini
Julia Benin
The number one whore in Paris.
"In 1867, Bertie found the time to enjoy the company of another notorious Parisienne, Giulia Barucci, the self-styled 'number one whore in Paris'. Known as La Barucci, this sultry Italian who spoke unashamedly bad French was one of the best-known top-tier courtesan, the grandes horizontales, and by the age of thirty she had earned enough selling her services to buy herself a mansion on the Champs-Elysee. She was living just across the road from one of her colleagues, La Paiva, who had started her career sleeping with English lords in London in the 1840s, and now held chic society soirees, one of which Bertie apparently attended during his trip to the Exposition." (Dirty Bertie: 120).
La Barucci's physical appearance & personal qualities.
"A contemporary of La Barucci's gives a description that explains why Bertie was so keen to meet her. She had, the playboy Comte de Maugny wrote: . . . large dark eyes, penetrating and hard but languorous at the same time; wide nostrils that quivered like those of a thoroughbred race horse; a lascivious mouth, protuberant breasts, a long, vibrant throat, a curvaceous body that was statuesque from head to foot, with a sweeping waistline; and she was taller than average, possessing the grace of a queen. . . You can almost hear Maugny throwing down his pen and leaping on the woman." (Dirty Bertie: 120).
La Barucci's unique way of introduction to a royal!
" . . . When meeting Edward VII she was told to behave with decorum. When introduced she promptly let her dress fall to the ground without a word of warning. When she was reprimanded she exclaimed, 'What, did you not tell me to behave properly to His Royal Highness? I showed him the best I have, and it was free!'" (Pinterest)
" . . . He had gone to the Maison Doree with the Duc de Gramont to meet the generous, passionate and consumptive Giulia Beneni, known as La Barucci, who arrived very late and, on being reprimanded by the Duke, turned her back on the royal visitor, lifted her skirts to her waist and said,' You told me to show him my best side.' He had asked also to meet La Barucci's rival, Cora Pearl, who had appeared before him naked except for a string of pearls and a sprig of parsley." (Edward VII: The Last Victorian King)
" . . . At No. 124, an Italian-born courtesan known as La Barucci, whose real name was Giulia Benini, had once told an army colonel that she would not sleep with him until he had paraded naked in front of her house---so he wrapped himself in a cloak, rode his horse at the head of his troops down the avenue, and then opened the cloak to her window out of the soldiers' view. . . ." (The Sinner's Grand Tour: 85)
"He was here in 1867 for The International Exposition but you wouldn’t have found him mooning over some Japanese woodcuts or getting over excited about electricity like Jules Verne. No, he was busy paying a call to Madame Giulia Beneni or as she’s better known “La Barucci”. She titled herself “The Greatest Whore in the World” and lived in palatial splendour on the Champs-Elysees. There were cards from every well heeled gent in town piled up in a bowl by her fireplace, (The Italian look being, at the time, popular among those of a discerning disposition.) So she sashes down this big staircase and Berite’s eyes are popping out on stalks. Some mealy mouthed French duke presents her to the Prince and as he murmurs a greeting she turns around, hoists up her skirts and gives him an eyeful of her bare arse. The Duke starts waving his hands in the air and babbling in French to which “La Barucci” replies ‘”What, did you not tell me to behave properly to His Royal Highness? I showed him the best I have and it was free.” That shut him up I can tell you. You can be dammed sure Bertie paid for it later though, and handsomely." (Rogues Gallery Online)
"Both Duke [3rd Duke of Sutherland] and Prince successfully courted the self-styled 'greatest whore in the world', Giulia Beneni ('La Barucci') in Paris. She had style. When being prepared to meet the Prince, she was told to behave with decorum. When introduced, she simply let her dress fall to the ground. Reprimanded, she exclaimed, 'What, did you not tell me to behave properly to His Royal Highness? I showed him the best I have, and it was free!' Nor was the Duke the Prince's only companion in such merry romps---Harry Chaplin was certainly in their number, as was the fire-chief, Captain Shaw. At least, when discovered, the Prince could rely on his friends to help in the cover-up." (The Life and Times of Mary, Dowager Duchess of Sutherland: Power Play: 80)
16) Grace Foster.
" . . . [There was also] Grace Foster, nee Bloomfield, of Co. Fermanagh who had a son Stewart Arthur Foster (who was born 30 August 1839) and thought by some to be the Prince's son. Apparently Stewart was teased a lot at Winchester about his paternity and the effect that his father appeared upon so much of the coinage of the Realm, yet his children now deny knowing anything about it at all!. . . ." (Sweetly Dreaming of the Past Blogspot)
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Harriet Moncreiffe Lady Mordaunt |
17) Harriet Moncreiffe (1848-1906)
Lady Mordaunt.
Also known as:
Harriet Sarah Moncreiffe
Harriet Mordaunt
Harriet Sarah, Lady Mordaunt
Lady Mordaunt.
Daughter of: Sir Thomas Moncreiffe of that Ilk, 7th Baronet & Lady Louisa Hay-Drummond, eldest daughter of the 11th Earl of Kinnoull.
Wife of: Sir Charles Mordaunt, 10th Baronet, mar 1861
Lady Mordaunt's other lovers were:
1. Frederick Johnstone, 8th Baronet.
18) Helen Elizabeth Duff.
Lover in 1887.
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Helene de Perusse des Cars @Wikipedia |
19) Helene de Perusse des Cars (1847-1933)
Madame Standish
Lover in 1874.
French aristocrat.
Also known as:
born Helene-Aldegonde-Marie de Perusse des Cars
Madame Helene Standish.
Daughter of: Amedee-Joseph de Perusse, Comte des Cars & Mathilde-Louise-Camille de Cosse-Brissac.
Wife of: Henry Noailles Widdrington Standish (1847-1920), a.k.a. Lord Henry Standish of Standish, mar 1870
"Among the guests at Esclimont were Monsieur and Madame Standish, Henry Standish, in spite of his English name, was a grandson of the Duc de Mouchy. As for his wife Helene, wrote Proust, 'It would take a whole lecture to explain to certain foolish young men why Madame Standish is at least as great a lady as Duchesse de Doudeauville.' She had made a sensation in London the year before and was said to have captivated Bertie; Robert Lytton, the Paris attache, was surprised to find her 'instead of fast and flippant very quiet, well bred and womanly'. In Paris, the prying police followed Bertie wherever he went, and tracked him to the house of Madame Standish, where he spent many hours. The liaison between 'Missis', as the Parisians called her, and the Prince of Wales was soon common knowledge. Proust noted that Madame Standish dressed with tailor-made austerity, and wore gowns that 'moulded her figure with a precision that was positively British'. In fact, she dressed like Alix, with a wasp waist, curled false fringe and high dog collar -- this was her way of advertising the fact that she was a mistress of the prince." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII: 170)
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| Hortense Schneider |
20) Hortense Schneider (1833-1920)
Lover in 1867-1868.
French soprano.
Also known as:
Catherine-Jeanne-Hortense Schneider
Daughter of Georges Schneider, Alsatian tailor & Elisabeth Bussière.
Wife of Emile Brionne, mar 1881, div?
The Prince's favourite companion.
"During his visit to the 1867 Exposition Universelle, Bertie seems to have done exactly what the journalist Paulus described -- he followed up his bonjour to the imperial couple with a lusty bonsoir to Hortense -- and apparently he kept up the relationship for some time. Bertie's biographer Christopher Hibbert calls Hortense the Prince's 'favourite companion' in 1868, even though at the same time she was carrying on a long-term affair with the Viceroy of Egypt, Isma'il the Magnificent (a name of his own choosing, no doubt), whom she had met when he ca,e to Paris for the Exposition, and whom she visited in Egypt the following year. Like the fictional Nana, Hortense Schneider was a lady who managed her love affairs with the skill of a theatrical agent, which explains how she was able to quit public life in her forties and live out a long retirement on her earnings, theatrical and otherwise." (Dirty Bertie: 120)
The original Belle Helene.
" . . . The rich public figure was Hortense Schneider, the original Belle Helene (1864) in Offenbach's operetta of the name. The lover who died of consumption was the Duc de Gramont-Caderousse. The beautiful deserted young spouse was the feckless Italian Emile Brionne, who called himself the Comte de Brionne. Schneider was famous in her own right as undisputed leading lady in the highly successful Offenbach operettas, able to chose (sic) her lovers, who included the Khedive of Egypt and the Duc de Morny. Surviving into her eighties (until 1920, in fact, she lived out her later life graciously, devoting herself to her mentally challenged son." (A History of Human Beauty: 119)
Most celebrated performer of the day.
"Hortense Schneider, who played the Grand Duchess, was the most celebrated performer of the day. The public hailed her as the demolisher of all consecrated subjects, while the intelligentsia shuddered in agreement. Born in Bordeaux to a German immigrant tailor and his French wife, Hortense descended on Paris in 1855 at the age of twenty-two. . . . " (Gas & Shadow: 110)
"Amongst Hortense's admirers and supposed lovers were Napoleon III, Tsar Alexander II of Russia, Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, King Luis I of Portugal, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and Bertie. If she had been a spy or a diplomat, Hortense Schneider could have ended war in Europe for the whole of the nineteenth century." (Dirty Bertie: 119)
Hortense's character.
"Schneider possessed a powerful voice, and her knack for delivering comic dialogue laced with sexual innuendo made her the toast of Paris. However, her temperamental and quarrelsome attitude, her tantrums and her walk-outs, all made her difficult to work with. When critics remarked that she was getting old, she promptly retired from the stage, but remained a prominent figure in Parisian society for the next five decades." (19th Century Photography)
21) Jane Chamberlain (1865-?)
Lover in 1884.
"At Homburg in 1882, Bertie's list of dinner guests included an American family: Mr., Mrs. and Miss Chamberlain. Nineteen-year-old Jane (Jeannie) Chamberlain, whom Bertie admired, was the daughter of William Selah Chamberlain, millionaire heir to a Cleveland railroad fortune. A shrewd American debutante, she refused to see Bertie without her parents being present. Chamberpots, as Alix called her, remained in favour for a couple of years. Whether she was really as innocent and virtuous as she pretended is debatable. In 1884, the Paris police watched Bertie paying visits to Jane Chamberlain (among many other women) at the Hotel Balmoral, and, according to them, she was his maitresse en titre. . . . " (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII: 234)
"Although Bertie;s stays in Cannes were very public affairs, with his daily engagements published in the papers, it is possible to read between the lines, and find hints of the illicit fun he might also have been enjoying. For example, on 8 February 1883, he was at a soiree given by a certain Lady Camden at her villa, and amongst the guests were 'Mistress et Miss Chamberlain'. This Miss was Jane, the daughter of an American millionaire, who was one of Bertie's favourites at the time, and who was seen with him in Paris the following year, when the police recorded her as the Prince's maitresse-en-titre (his 'officially appointed mistress' the Parisians, of course, have different grades of lovers." (Dirty Bertie: 276)
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Jeanne Granier |
22) Jeanne Granier (1852-1939)
Lover in 1889.
French actress & opera singer.
Daughter of actress Emma Granier, a resident of the "Théâtre du Vaudeville" and the "Théâtre du Palais-Royal".
"Bertie was also reunited with another former lover, the actress Jeanne Granier, in Monte Carlo, where the two apparently had a fond get-together in a hotel room in 1889. It was said that Jeanne kept the Prince amused for a whole evening with hilarious anecdotes about the Paris theatre scene. But of course she may well have amused him in other ways, as well." (Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France: 275)
The Prince of Wales's good friend.
" . . . One report on the banter between the prince of Wales and his 'good friend' Jeanne Granier had her telling the prince that since her youth, theater directors had been molesting her by 'putting her between their legs and kissing her' or pinching her buttocks. When the prince asked how she responded to the fondling, Granier was supposed to have replied, 'The more they paw me, the more I enjoy it.'. . . ." (Daughters of Eve: 123)
"Jeanne Granier was a star of the Paris operetta scene in the 1870s. "It was public knowledge that Bertie was her lover," claims Clarke. "Once, when he went to see Jeanne perform, the audience cheered her arrival on stage, and applauded Bertie too, for his good taste in mistresses. It would be hard to imagine something similar happening in Victorian London.'" (Telegraph)
". . . Bertie first met Jeanne Granier in 1889, when the journalist Frank Harris brought her to his room at the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo. Granier's racy stories of the French stage kept the prince and Randolph Churchill in fits of laughter until three a.m. and Bertie told Harris it was 'one of the most charming evenings' he had ever spent." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII: 379)
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Jeanne, Princesse de Sagan |
23) Jeanne de Seilliere, Princesse de Sagan (1839-1905)
Lover in 1866-1880s.
French aristocrat, art collector & socialite.
Also known as:
Anne-Alexandrine-Jeanne-Marguerite Seilliere de Sagan
Jeanne de Sagan
Jeanne-Marguerite de Seillière.
Daughter of: Achille Seilliere.
Wife of: Boson von Sagan de Talleyrand-Perigord, Duc de Talleyrand (1832-1910) mar 1858, Son of Napoleon-Louis von Sagan de Talleyrand-Perigord, Duc de Talleyrand & Anne-Louise-Charlotte de Montmorency.
"As a man of appetites, Bertie did not restrict himself to courtesans. In Paris, as in London, he also had affairs with society ladies such as Jeanne Seilliere, the Princesse de Sagan, 'an industrial heiress who had made a grand match' by marrying into the grand Talleyrand-Perigord family, who also owned the Sagan estates. In Paris, the Prince de Sagan was known as the fleur de pois, 'the pick of the crop.' He was an elegant dandy, with a caustic wit, and a notorious and completely unregenerate womanizer who 'excelled in the art of paying homage to women who showed themselves attentive to him, like a cat, without good-faith or law. Hurt and angry, Jeanne de Sagan passed most of her time at her homes in Cannes and Deauville, and at the Chateau de Mello, about sixty miles south of Paris, which she had spent considerable money on restoring and developing. An enterprising woman, Jeanne de Sagan had built laboratories at Chateau de Mello to distill perfumes, and it was a common joke in her circle that she was using them to find a method to poison her husband. Far from being annoyed by the fact that Bertie was having an affair with his wife, the Prince de Sagan reveled in it, finding it rather chic to be cuckolded by the Prince of Wales. When Bertie visited the Chateau de Mello, the atmosphere was like when Louis XV called upon Madame de Pompadour, the staff from the lowliest scullery maid to the butler, whipped into a frenzy of activity preparing for his arrival. When Jeanne de Sagan bore a child, nine years after the birth of her first son, Helie, he was assumed by all to be the son of Bertie." (Edward VII: The Prince of Wales and the Women He Loved: 40)
"In Henri's vast personal forest, Bertie rode to hounds, ostensibly to hunt stags, but he was probably more interested in pursuing one of the other riders, the scandalous Anne-Alexandrine-Jeanne-Marguerite Seilliere de Sagan, famous for ball gowns that, according to one witness, 'left the company in no possibility of doubting the symmetry of her limbs and general shapeliness of her person'. She was the flirt who had confided to Bertie at their first meeting in 1867 that she was unhappily married -- and at the Chantilly hunt, he took the hint. They became lovers, and their affair was even formalized by inspiring an obscene French pun. It was said of them that 'Sagan est son gant' -- 'Sagan is his glove'." (Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France: 199)
24) Jennie Churchill.
Lover in 1886-1889
An immediate hit with the Prince of Wales.
"And then there is Jennie Churchill, over whom a question mark always hovers, Jennie was too shrewd to be explicit about their relationship, despite have had over two hundred lovers. Jennie Churchill, nee Jerome, was the unhappy wife of Sir Randolph Churchill, a spectacular example of the Victorian cad. Raven-haired, panther-eyed, and smart as a whip, Jennie was an immediate hit with Bertie when they were first introduced at the royal yacht club in Cowes, anda following her marriage to Randolph, Bertie's carriage was regularly spotted outside their London home." (Edward VII: The Prince of Wales and the Women He Loved: 6)
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| Josephine Durwend |
25) Josephine Durwend.
Lover in 1867.
Also known as:
Finette.
"Finette 'La Bordelaise' (Josephine Durwend) was a cancan dancer of Creole origin, possibly from the Caribbean or Reunion Island. Author David Price states that she was part of the corps du ballet of the Paris Opera, performing as danseuse at the bal Bullier and the bal Mabille in Paris; then at the Lyceum Theatre (London) in 1867 and the Alhambra Palace (London) in 1868 as part of a 'Parisian Carnival Quadrille.' Finette was the first to bring the cancan to an English stage and was famous for her high kick that knocked the hats from male spectators, indicated by a verse in Judy (1868). . . ." (Connecting Whistler)
" . . . Mlle. Finette (real name Josephine Durwend) of the Bal Mabille was a can-can dancer, thirty years before the dance evolved into the meringue petticoats-and-bloomers form practised by La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge. The Bal Mabille was one of the more disreputable dance halls of the Second Empire, and Finette was also available to gentlemen after-hours for entertainment unrelated to her skills as a dancer. In his student days in Paris she was briefly the mistress of James McNeill Whistler, who made two etchings of her in 1859. She first demonstrated her version of the can-can to London audiences at the Lyceum Theatre on 26 December 1867, in a pantomime written by W.S. Gilbert. A week later, according to an advertisement in the Times, she was appearing at the same venue with Mlle. Esther Austin and Mlle. Henriette in "Milano's Grand Parisian Carnival Galop" and in the spring of 1868 she was appearing nightly at the Alhambra Theatre, on the same bill as Jules Léotard, the trapeze artist. The backplate for this carte incorporates the address of Disdéri’s London studio at 70, 71 and 72, Brook Street, which he briefly occupied in 1867 before moving to 4, Brook Street. The portrait therefore probably dates from around the time of her first appearance in London. She is seen her in her stage costume of spangled shorts and flowing blouse, apparently inspired by the traditional outfit of Neapolitan fishermen, with the addition of her ‘Finette’ ribbon fluttering over her shoulder. Her trade-mark of a cosmetically enhanced beauty spot, which no respectable woman of the 1860s would have sported, is clearly visible on her upper-lip. Photographed by A. A. E. Disdéri." (Finette @Pinterest)
26) Julie Stonor.
Lover in 1886
"Julie Stonor was the daughter of Alix's 'beloved' lady-in-waiting, Elsie Stonor. She and her brothers were orphaned when their father suddenly died in 1881, quickly followed by their mother. . Alix brought the Stonor children up as if they were his own. . . But the implication that she was a mistress of Bertie's is groundless fabrication. Fiercely lo to 'Motherdear', as she called Alix, Julie Stonor was not the sort of girl to engage in flirtation with HRH, whom she saw as a father figure." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII: 243)
27) Lady Filmer.
Lover in 1867.
28) Lady Forbes.
Lover in 1867-1868.
29) Lady Sefton.
Lover in 1870.
30) Leonora de Rothschild (1837-1911)
Lover in 1865.
Also known as:
Laury, Lally.
Daughter of Lionel de Rothschild & Charlotte
Wife of Alphonse de Rothschild, mar 1857
"In 1857 Alphonse de Rothschild married a cousin, Leonora "Laure" de Rothschild, the daughter of Lionel de Rothschild of the English branch of the family, and had four children. She is reputed to have been mistress to the Prince of Wales in 1865." (Bibelots London)
"On the rue Saint Florentin and at the races, Alphonse and Leonora were one of the most glamorous couples of their day. Considered by Queen Victoria to be one of the beauties of her generation, the 'lovely' Leonora had liquid almond- shaped eyes, the sweet complexion of a tea rose'. Her popularity in Paris never swayed her away from her Englishness. Her sister Evelina remarked, 'Laurie will be an Englishwoman wherever she is.'" (The Rothschild Archive)
31) Liane de Pougy.
Princess Ghica.
Lover in 1890s.
" . . . While she was appearing at the Folies Bergere, the Prince of Wales (the future British King Edward VII) was in town. Pougy cheekily sent him an invitation to the show she was appearing in, and he accepted. The heady mixture of the Folies Bergere and the heir to the British throne gave her a high profile and attracted a wider circle of admirers---both men and women. She quickly became one of the most famous women in France. Despite her lack of talent, she amassed a fortune, including several homes, expensive carriages, and an impressive collection of jewelry. Photographs of her show one of the most beautiful courtesans of the demimonde. She was described as tall, slender, and refined, with frightened doe eyes gazing out from below her curly brown hair. In later photographs, the frightened doe-eyed look has gone and she displays a more confident persona." (Scarlet Women: The Scandalous Lives of Courtesans, Concubines, and Royal Mistresses: 16)
"Take, for instance, the Belle-Epoque courtesan Liane de Pougy: 'for her feet, which were lovely, she had emerald rings which she wore only in bed.' As she was the sometime mistress of Edward VII of England, this tells as us much as Toynbee does about late Victorian morality and life-styles. . . ." (Life: 17)
"At dinner at the Elysee Palace, President Loubet mumbled a speech which he had written and pinned to a candlestick. Bertie replied in fluent French without notes. Afterwards, Jennie Churchill's nephew Shane Leslie watched him being driven to the Opera 'in a delirious struggling crowd. . . The cry of Vive le Roi was raised, shouted down and raised again till it conquered.' Inside the opera . . . Bertie spotted in the audience the famous courtesan Liane de Pougy. one of the many women with whom he was rumoured (falsely) to have had an affair. . . ." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII: 380)
32) Lillie Langtry (1853-1929)
Lover in 1877-1879.
British actress, courtesan & royal mistress.
Also known as:
Emilie Charlotte Le Breton
Mrs. Hugo de Bathe
Lady de Bathe
Daughter of: William Corbet Le Breton, Dean of Jersey & Rector of St. Saviours, & Emilie Charlotte Martin.
Wife of:
1. Edward Langtry (1877-1899), wealthy Irish landowner, mar 1874
2. Hugo Gerald de Bathe, 5th Baronet (1871-1940), mar 1899, div 1929.
"Bertie's first truly celebrated mistress was the actress Lillie Langtry, to whom he was purposely introduced at a supper party in 1877. The affair was common knowledge: he insisted she be invited to weekend country house parties, and kissed her on the dance floor at Maxim's in Paris. Paris was the scene of plentiful of plentiful other affairs. . . ." (The Rough Guide to the Royals)
"In 1874 Lillie married Edward Langtry, a relative of her brother's wife. Edward was from a wealthy Irish landowning family and was well known for his large yacht 'The Red Gaunlet', which some suggested was the main reason behind Lillie's acceptance of his marriage proposal. Lillie was eager to move away from the quiet Channel Isles and the couple moved to Edward's estate in Southampton. They later moved from Southampton to Belgravia in London." (The Genealogist)
"Lillie Langtry went to London at the age of sixteen, the trip was a disaster as she soon discovered that her clothes etiquette and manners did not fit into the the London social scene and quickly returned to Jersey. Lillie spent the next few years horse riding and enjoying Shakespeare until in 1873 her brother William Inglis Le Breton married Miss Elizabeth Anne Price. At the celebrations Lillie met the wealthy widower Edward Langtry who had been married to Elizabeth Price’s sister who had died of tuberculosis. Lillie was impressed by Edward Langtry’s generosity his wealth and his eighty foot yacht and he was smitten by her beauty. After six weeks he proposed and they were married on 9th of March 1874 at a wedding breakfast and sailed away on his yacht 'The Red Gauntlet." (Jersey Journey Boutique)
"In 1899, Lillie married the much younger Hugo Gerald de Bathe, who inherited a Baronetcy on his father's death, making Lillie 'Lady de Bathe'. He was a leading race-horse owner and the couple retired to Monaco where Lillie died in 1929. The De Bathe family feature frequently in Pedigree and Heraldry records. Burke's Peerage 1921 lists Sir Hugo Gerald De Bathe's lineage, his date of birth and date of marriage to Lillie. It also records Lillie as the widow of Edward Langtry and daughter of W C Le Breton." (The Genealogist)
Hugo de Bathe, 5th Baronet (1871-1940)
Also known as:
Hugo Gerald de Bathe
Lord Bathe.
"In 1899, the forty-six-years-old actress married Lord Hugo de Bathe, a twenty-nine-year-old playboy who spent Lillie's money as fast as she could earn it. . . . " (Royal Affairs: 230)
". . . Hugo de Bathe was useful to her as an official escort after her retirement to Monaco in 1918, but for the most part he occupied himself with chorus girls and debutantes in Nice. Lillie died, wealthy and alone, in Monaco in 1929." (The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People: 80)
"In 1897, Lillie met Hugo de Bathe, and despite their age difference, he was 26 and she was 44, they married two years later. She died in 12th February 1929 at the age of 75, in her little villa overlooking the Mediterranean." (bairdnet)
Spouse & Children: He married 1) in 1899, divorced 1929, Lillie Langtry; and 2) in 1931, Deborah Warschowsky. . . . She married Hugo de Bathe in a private ceremony in July of 1899 . . . but she had to wait eight long years for old Lord de Bathe to die so that his son could inherit his baronetcy. Long Before Mrs. Langtry became Lady de Bathe, however, Hugo had found other entertainments; although they remained married through Langtry's lifetime, the two lived together for less than a year. . . . " (Death at Epson Downs)
Lillie's physical appearance & personal qualities.
"'For the first and only time in my life I beheld perfect beauty. The face was that of the lost Venus of Praxiteles, and of all the copies handed down to us must have been incomparably the best, yet Nature had not been satisfied and had thrown in two or three subtle improvements. The small head was not reared straight on a white column of the throat as a capital crowns a pillar, but drooped slightly forward like a violet or a snowdrop, the perfect nose was made less perfect and a thousand times more beautiful by a slight tilt at the tip. The wonderful face was pale with the glow of absolute health behind the pallor, the eyes grey beneath dark lashes, the hair brown with glints of gold in it; the figure in its pose and motion conveyed an impression of something wild, eternally young, nymph-like . . . .'"
"The beauty of Lillie Langtry was legendary but this was hardly surprising as both her parents were noted for their good looks. Charles Kingsley the author of “The Water Babies” and “Westward Ho” described her mother as “the most bewitchingly beautiful woman I have ever seen”. By her early teens Lillie Langtry was already causing a stir with her beauty, one Charles Spencer Longley a staff paymaster with the garrison asked Dean Le Breton for her hand in marriage. When he was told she was only fourteen he was so embarrassed he asked for an immediate transfer back home. His father who was the Archbishop of Canterbury was not amused." (Jersey Journey Boutique)
First encounter with the Prince of Wales.
"The Prince had first met Lillie Langtry on 24 May 1877. . . The meeting took place at a small supper party given especially for the purpose by Arctic explorer, Captain Sir Allen Young, an unmarried friend of the Prince who had a house in Stratford Place. The Prince was immediately captivated by the tall, graceful, glowingly voluptuous woman who had recently established her as one of the most celebrated and sought-after beauties in London. . . ." (Edward VII: The Last Victorian King)
"In 1877 Bertie arranged to be seated next to Langtry at a dinner, and have her husband seated at the other end of the table. The prince and the socialite hit it off. She became his mistress and he built a special retreat at Bournemouth so they could enjoy their dalliances in private." (Daily Telegraph)
Affair's end & aftermath.
"Inevitably, Prince Louis met Lillie Langtry. Perhaps Bertie suspected an affair. In the summer of 1880, the relationship with his mistress grew difficult and at a private party Lillie Langtry went to far. She pushed ice cubes down Bertie's back. He would not be made a laughing stock. He left. It was over. For a few months, until a cooler friendship was restored. Langtry was dropped. News raced through society like a forest fire. Within days, the tradesmen knew, and began to chase unpaid Langtry bills." (Prince Eddy: The King Britain Never Had)
33) Lillie Suzanne Moulton (1864-1946)
Countess Raben-Levetzau
The Raben-Levetzau are among the most cosmopolitan and interesting people in Europe; another was, that Chamberlain and Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone were to be at the castle of Aalholm. Raben-Levetzau had been Minister of Foreign Affairs. He had married Miss Moulton, one of the most beautiful ladies in Europe and the daughter of Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone by her first marriage. Hegermann-Lindencrone had been minister to Washington when I was at Georgetown College doing some philosophical work under Father Guida and Father Carroll; but I had been permitted to go into society occasionally and the fame of Hegermann-Lindencrone was just beginning. Mutual acquaintances and memories established a friendship, and I came to know him as one of the cleverest, most farseeing and kind of diplomatists. If he has an enemy in the world, that enemy must be one of the few human beings worthy of eternal damnation!" (Ten Years Near the German Frontier: 222)
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| Mabel Grey @Meisterdrucke.uk |
34) Mabel Grey
Lover in late 1860s.
Victoria courtesan
Also known as:
born Annie King.
35) Mabel Veronica Hatch (1856-1915).
Lover in 1875-1876.
British amateur mezzo-soprano.
Also known as:
Mrs. Mabel Batten
Mrs George Batten.
"Among the Stracheys' party was the nineteen-year-old Mabel Batten. She had auburn hair and a mezzo-soprano voice, and she was used to being admired. Her father was was the Judge Advocate General of North-West India, George Hatch. A few months before, she had married George Batten, a forty-three-year-old Indian officer, who was the brother of Lady Strachey. . . In the camp at Agra, Bertie saw a great deal of Mabel Batten. He arranged to meet her a few weeks later, when he reached Allahabad, but Mabel did not appear. . . What happened at Agra can never be known, but it was probably no more than a flirtation. Bertie remained loyal to Mabel, however. Two decades later, when she returned to England, she resumed contact. . . ." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII:180)
36) Madame Kauchine.
a Russian vamp.
Lover in 1880s.
Also known as Madame Kuchine.
37) Madame von B.
Lover in 1865.
38) Maggy.
French prostitute in Amiens.
Lover in 1917.
"His amorous life got under way in 1916 when two equerries hauled him off to Amiens in France, where they left him in the tender embraces of a prostitute called Paulette. In Paris the next year he spent three days in bed with a woman called Maggy." (Daily Mail)
"There was another fille de joie, Maggy, with whom he spent three days in Paris in 1917, but he was not so naive as to believe that these liaisons depended upon anything but lust (on his part, at least; presumable the women were motivated to some extent by financial considerations, and possibly even by dreams of social advancement). . . ." (Stately Passions: The Scandals of Britain's Great Houses)
39) Mahlon Sands.
Lover in 1874.
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Margot Asquith Countess of Oxford @Pinteret |
40) Margot Tennant (1864-1945)
Countess of Oxford
British socialite, author & wit.
Also known as:
born Emma Alice Margaret Tennant
Margot Tennant.
Daughter of: Sir Charles Tennant, Glasgow industrialist & MP & Emma Winslow.
Wife of: Herbert Henry Asquith, mar 1894.
41) Marie-Blanche Sampayo, Duchessa di Caracciolo (1849-1890).
Lover in 1870.
Also known as:
Blanche de Sampayo
Blanche Sampaio
Blanche Caracciolo
Blanche, Duchess of Caracciolo.
Daughter of: Antoine-Francois-Oscar Sampayo, French ambassador to Portugal & American wife Virginia Timberlake.
Wife of: Gennaro Pinelli, Duca di Caracciolo (1849-?).
Natural Offspring: Allegedly with Edward VII or Stanislaw August Poniatowski, Donna Olga Alberta Caracciolo (1872-1929), a.k.a. Olga de Meyer
"Meanwhile, back in 1871, Bertie also kept up his relationships with friends from Napoleon's court and held gatherings for them at Marlborough House, his London home. The star amongst these was the half-American Blanche, Duchess of Caracciolo, a scandalous woman who had openly cuckolded her husband with one of Napoleon III's equerries. She was another heavy smoker -- always a trait that endeared Bertie to women -- and was in the habit of paying a slightly perverse public homage to Alexandra. Although she was almost certainly having an affair with Bertie, Blanche would dress like Alexandra, in high collars and tight-bodiced dresses, which his mistresses often did to confirm their status as royal bedfellows. It was heavily rumoured that Blanche's daughter, born in 1871, was Bertie's child -- the girl was christened Alberta in his honour and he would later set mother and daughter up in a house in Dieppe that he like to visit on short yachting expeditions. . . ." (Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France: 178)
"Exiles from the Imperial court were royally entertained at Marlborough House. Among them was Blanche, the half-American Duchess of Caracciolo, who scandalised London society that winter, going out shooting in a kilt and smoking cigarettes. Her ailing husband was cruelly teased by a prankster who dressed up as a doctor and told him that he was dying, while his valet disguised himself as a priest and heard his last confession. Soon the duchess was pregnant, and she gave birth to a daughter named Alberta Olga, in honour of Bertie, who was the baby's godfather and rumoured -- probably falsely -- to be her father too." (Bertie": A Life of Edward VII: 138)
"But the gossip-mongers were much more interested in Marie-Blanche's later life than her birth. She was officially the Prince of Wales's goddaughter but everyone knew he was really her lover, and it was rumored that Donna Maria Beatrice Olga Alberta Caracciolo (Olga's real name) was actually Edward VII's daughter. She certainly lived up to her heritage if she was. Born in 1871, she went on to be an artist's model, socialite, muse, writer, fencing champion, gossip-columnist, coke-sniffer and fashionista - oh, and a celebrated lesbian when 'that sort of thing' wasn't supposed to be going on." (The Greenwich Phantom)
"Olga, the Baroness de Meyer (1871 – 1930/1931) was an artists’ model, socialite, patron of the arts, writer, and fashion figure of the early 20th century. She was the wife of photographer Adolph de Meyer and was rumoured to be the natural daughter of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. To many individuals who observed Olga’s early life the most distinguished familial connection was her relationship with Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales and later King Edward VII. Though officially her godfather, the British royal was known to be one of Olga’s mother’s lovers and, consequently, suspected of being Olga’s actual father.'To many individuals who observed Olga’s early life the most distinguished familial connection was her relationship with Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales and later King Edward VII. Though officially her godfather, the British royal was known to be one of Olga’s mother’s lovers and, consequently, suspected of being Olga’s actual father.' However, other potential fathers have been identified. A strong candidate was Stanislaus Augustus, 3rd Prince Poniatowski and 3rd Prince of Monte Rotondo, a former equerry of Napoleon III, whom Olga reportedly resembled and with whom the newlywed Duchess Caracciolo reportedly eloped on 1 September 1869, the very day her arranged marriage with the duke took place. Olga married Marino Brancaccio in 1892, and divorced him in 1899. Artist Jacques-Émile Blanche, a family friend, called it “a short and most dramatic union“. A month later she married Adolphe de Meyer, a celebrated artist and photographer. This was a marriage of convenience, as the groom was homosexual and the bride was bisexual; some sources went to far as to identify her as a lesbian. The de Meyers were characterized by Violet Trefusis—who counted Olga among her lovers —as “Pederaste and Medisante” because, as Trefusis observed, “He looked so queer and she had such a vicious tongue“. Olga also had an affair with Princess de Polignac, the well known Singer sewing-machine heiress and arts patron.She worked briefly as a society columnist for a Paris newspaper in the 1890s. As Mahrah de Meyer, a name she adopted on the advice of an astrologer, she wrote one novel, the autobiographical Nadine Narska. The New York Times condemned the novel as “morbid, exaggerated and guilty of many carelessly written sentences”, while The Dial called de Meyer’s book “a miscellaneous mixture of paganism, diluted Nietzsche, and the doctrine of reincarnation“. Known as a female amateur fencing champion, Baroness de Meyer competed at tournaments in Europe and the United States in the early 1900s. The last years of Olga de Meyer’s life were not pleasant ones. As an observer wrote, “Nervous, drugged, surrounded by ambiguous friends and accompanied by a too-conspicuous husband, Olga became frankly spiteful. Scandal-mongering had eliminated the last of her respectable friends, and people visited her only because they could be sure to find a pipe of opium or a sniff of cocaine”." (Gimrack Hospital)
42) Marie-Henriette-Celine-Anne de Martin.
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| Marie Hope-Vere @NPG |
43) Marie Hope-Vere.
Lover in 1900s.
Also known as:
Mrs. Marie Hope-Vere.
"Three wives of mothers of OBs were Royal mistresses of Edward VII: Jeanne, Princess de Sagan, Julia Marquise d'Hautpoul and Marie Hope Vere." (Beaumont Facts)
44) Marion Trefusis,Countess of Leicester (1882-1955)
Lover in 1917-1918.
Also known as:
Marion Gertrude Trefusis
Marion Coke, Viscountess Coke
Marion, Lady Coke.
Daughter of: Hon. Walter Trefusis & Mary Montagu-Douglas-Schott
Wife of: Thomas Coke, 4th Earl of Leicester (1880-1945), mar 1905. [The Earls of Leicester]
"His first amour on home soil was in 1917 with Marion Cole, the wife of Viscount 'Tommy' Coke, heir to the Earl of Leicester. The prince spent so much time in her company that eventually her husband warned him to stay clear. That didn't stop Edward encouraging her to visit him in Paris. Twelve years older than Edward, who was young for his age, she sensibly declined his harebrained invitation which, apart from ending her marriage, would have brought social disgrace." (17 Carnations: The Windsors, The Nazis and The Cover-up)
" . . . His first experience of the latter emotion, though it was almost certainly unrequited, was with Marion, the wife of the Earl of Leicester's heir, Viscount Coke. . . He soon fell head over heels in love with Lady Coke, who was twelve years older, but she was far too canny to accept an invitation to join him in Paris. She knew that Edward did not truly expect her to become his lover and mistress. What he craved and required over all other things in a woman was to be mothered and comforted, and Marion Coke was happy to fulfil that role. . . ." (Stately Passions: The Scandals of Britain's Great Houses)
"The first major love of the Prince's life was Marion, viscountess Coke, 4th daughter of colonel the Hon. Walter Trefusis and his wife Lady Charlotte Montagu Douglas Scott, thus a descendant of Lucy Walter, mistress of Charles II and Louise von Dagenfeld, mistress of Charles Louis, Elector Palatine, Prince Rupert's brother. She was twelve years the Prince's senior and also cousin of Denys Trefusis who later married Violet Keppel, daughter of Alice. The affair with the Prince is alleged to have begun in 1917 when she was already the mother of four children, one of whom David Arthur, born 1915, was the Prince's godson. During their time together 'He saw much of her when he was in England and when he was away poured out his love in letters to her. . . She was 'small, lively, with an individual humour' but the affair had ended by the spring of 1918 and the Prince had moved on to his next major romance, Lady Rosemary Leveson-Gower whom he met at an army hospital in France in 1917, where she was working as a Red Cross nurse." (Royal Sex)
"Returning to England, he began seeing Lady Sybil Cadogan, but was soon in love with Mrs. Marian Coke, a married woman twelve years older than him. . . ." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals)
"Back home in England there followed, in quick succession, liaisons with glamorous aristocrats, most of them daughters of dukes. They included Viscountess Coke, 12 years his senior...." (Daily Mail)
"In 1915, the first target of the Prince's affections was Viscountess Coke, known as 'Marion', a married woman twelve years his senior who became for a time his closest confidante. As with many other women in his life, the Prince turned nasty when relations cooled. By early 1920, he was repeatedly referring to her in correspondence as 'that little bitch'. (The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder)
" . . . His first experience of the latter emotion, though it was almost certainly unrequited, was with Marion, the wife of the Earl of Leicester's heir, Viscount Coke. (Born Marion Trefusis, she was also a first cousin of Denys, husband of Violet Trefusis. . .) He soon fell head over heels in love with Lady Coke, who was twelve years older, but she was far too canny to accept an invitation to join him in Paris. She knew that Edward did not truly expect her to become his lover and mistress. What he craved and required over all other things in a woman was to be mothered and comforted, and Marion Coke was happy to fulfill that vital role. . . ." (Stately Passions)
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| Cora Potter Brown @Wikipedia |
45) Cora Brown-Potter (1857-1936)
Also known as:
Cora Urquhart Brown-Potter
Mrs. James Brown Potter
Mrs. Brown-Potter.
Daughter of: Col. David Urquhart, American merchant & Augusta Siocomb.
Wife of: James Brown Potter, American coffee broker, mar 1877, div 1900.
"They visited England in 1886 where they met the Prince of Wales and were subsequently invited to spend the weekend with him. James returned to the United States alone following the visit as Mary remained in England to pursue a career on stage." (Wikipedia)
"The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, went to see her performances and favored her with his society on several occasions. That, of course, helped her temporary success. She was regarded as one of the Bohemian set specially honored by the Prince, which included Mrs. Langtry and several others now forgotten." (The Pittsburgh Press)
"She first came to England in the summer of 1886 in the company of her husband and was introduced to the Prince of Wales (Edward VII to be) at a court ball. Taken with her beauty, the Prince invited the Brown-Potters to Sandringham for the weekend and they duly obliged. When James asked the prince what he should bring to wear, the Prince referred him to his tailors recommending a short jacket that he himself preferred to a full tailcoat for informal dinners. James followed the Prince's advice, and when he returned to the USA he wore the jacket at his club in Tuxedo, where other members admired the practicality and began to copy it. . . ." (Stage Beauty)
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| Mary Cornwallis-West @Wikipedia |
46) Mary Cornwallis-West (1858-1920)
Lover in 1870-1874.
Also known as:
Mary Adelaide Virginia Eupatoria FitzPatrick
Patsy; Mary Adelaide Cornwallis-West
Lady Mary Charteris
Mary Elcho.
"More lasting was Bertie's relationship with the nineteen-year-old Mary (Patsy) Cornwallis-West. The daughter of Lady Olivia Fitzpatrick, who had allegedly been expelled from court for flirting with Prince Albert, Patsy married at sixteen and had produced three children by the time she was twenty-one. 'The loveliest woman I have ever set my eyes on,' according to Lord Rossmore (who had a conflict of interest, being one of her lovers), Patsy was known as the Irish Savage, combining professional beauty with startling feistiness. Her son George Cornwallis-West (born 14 November 1874) was widely believed to have been fathered by Bertie; indeed, his alleged royal descent shaped his life. It is possible that Patsy and Bertue had a love affair, and the story gives an indication of the dates, but there are no known letters and at the time of the conception, which must have been around mid February 1874, Bertie was safely out of the country: in Russia. It is a biological impossibility that George Cornwallis-West was his son." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII: 167)
Sleeping with a sixteen-year-old Irish beauty: "As any hope of useful employment fad thanks to his political incompetence, Bertie occupied himself as best he could in England. He began affairs with a married Canadian woman called Mrs. Sloane-Stanley, and a teenaged Irish beauty, Patsy Cornwallis-West, who was only sixteen when she began sleeping with him. She was hurriedly married off as soon as her family heard about her precarious situation. Marriage, though, only made it easier for Bertie to continue the affair and he remained close to Patsy long enough to help her daughter marry into the English aristocracy, which in turn only increased rumours that at least one of her three children was of royal descent." (Dirty Bertie: 193)
Keeping appearances up.
"When Patsy was seventeen, after a year of dangerous, secret and most exciting romance, the prince suggested that the best plan would be for her to marry. They selected for this purpose a man twice her age, William Cornwallis-West, whom the Queen was about to install as Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire. By this arrangement the prince and his young mistress hoped that their liaison could continue, away from the prying eyes of the court. . . ." (Patsy: the Story of Mary Cornwallis West: 3)
Patsy's other lover was:
"Patrick Barrett was a young sergeant with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers during the First World War when he was wounded and shell-shocked. He was convalescing in the home of employees of Cornwallis-West when Patsy, in her late fifties by now, fell in love with him." (A Royal Mistress at 16, A Cougar at 58)
47) Mary Jane Kelly
a London prostitute.
Lover in 1888.
"The identity of the Ripper has never been conclusively established. Conspiracy theories continue to proliferate. One of the most far-fetched (published in the 1990s) claimed that Mary Jane Kelly was murdered because she was pregnant by the Prince of Wales. This theory lacks evidence of plausibility: no connection has even been proved between the prince and the victim. On 9 November Bertie was at Sandringham, celebrating his forty-seventh birthday with a dinner for 300 estate labourers and a county ball." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII:256)
48) Mary Ross.
Lover in 1864.
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| Maxine Elliott |
49) Maxine Elliott (1868-1940).
American stage actress.
Lover in 1908.
Also known as:
Jessi McDermott
Jessie Carolyn Dermot.
Wife of:
1. an unnamed 25-year-old male who seduced and got her pregnant when she was 15 years old.
2. George A. MacDermott, a New York lawyer
3. Nat C. Goodwin, a stage actor, mar 1898, div 1908.
"The American actress, Maxine Elliott, who was not invited to dinner parties in London by those hostesses generally known to entertain the King, confessed that she went to Marienbad, 'where matters could be more easily arranged' with the sole purpose of getting to know him. Sailing out to Bohemia with a socially impeccable American woman friend, she took rooms in a hotel near the Weimar and soon learned the King's routine. Thus it was that one fine morning, the delightful, beautifully dressed figure of Maxine Elliott was to be seen sitting on a bench near Kurhaus, apparently absorbed in a book. The King approached, attended by Frederick Ponsonby, Sidney Greville and Seymour Fortescue; Miss Elliott raised her eyes from her book; the King glanced into them; the royal party walked past. Then one of the King's attendants returned to the bench with a message: 'His Majesty believes you are Miss Elliott he admired so much in your play. His Majesty would be delighted with your presence tonight for dinner. Mrs. Arthur James is giving a dinner in His Majesty's honour. t.45 at the Weimar Hotel. Your invitation will, of course be delivered to your hotel.' After a further visit to Marienbad in a subsequent year, during which she was seen frequently in the King's company, Miss Elliott was sufficiently assured of his interest in her to buy a house in England, Hartsbourne Manor at Bushey Heath, where she spent a great deal of money on a suite of rooms above her own which she referred to as 'the King's suite'." (Edward VII: The Last Victorian King)
50) Melanie de Bussiere (1836-1914)
Comtesse de Pourtales
Lover in 1860s.
French salonniere & Lady-in-Waiting to the Empress Eugenie of the French.
Also known as:
Melanie-Louise-Sophie Renouard de Bussiere
Melanie Renouard de Bussiere
Comtesse Edmond de Pourtales.
Daughter of: Baron Alfred Renouard de Bussiere & Sophie-Melanie Coehoorn.
Wife of: Comte Edmond de Pourtales (1828-1895) mar 1857.
"The Countess de Portales, a brilliant lady, descended from a French Protestant family which had to quit France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and who was residing in Prussia shortly before the war, visited General Ducrot in 1868. . . ." (Descriptive Portraiture of Europe in Storm and Calm: 183)
51) Mistinguett.
Lover in 1908-1909.
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Irish actress.
Lover in 1861.
" . . . [W]hen news reached Victoria of Bertie's first sexual encounter, it stretched her relationship with her son to breaking point. How such an encounter came about was a piece of brilliant engineering on the part of his fellow Army cadets given that in 1861 the prince was spending ten weeks at Curragh Army training camp in Ireland. Minded 'day and night by two Grenadier officers and a colonel, Bertie even slept in the general's quarters, yet knowing that Albert was a sexual novice, his companions smuggled local actress Nellie Clifden into the prince's bedroom via a secluded window. Evidence in his engagement diary during September 1861 shows Albert enjoyed a second and third encounter with 'NC', obviously taking to this new-found activity with enthusiasm." (Essex Boys)
" . . . [E]dward's eye fell upon the wife of Lord Brooke. Frances Evelyn Greville (nee Maynard), the Countess of Warwick, who liked to be known by her childhood nickname 'Daisy', was the woman with whom he fell deeply in love. Daisy had married Lord Brooke in 1881 and, like Alexandra, had provided her husband with three children very quickly. Having produced a son and heir, Daisy had been open to the infidelity accepted in the aristocratic circles in which she moved and was already the lover of Lord Beresford, an engaging and ambitious young naval officer. With adultery a social convention, there was no need for divorce, and affairs in high society were almost to be expected. With the scandal of divorce far outweighing the reasons for it, liaisons were conducted with discretion, even Daisy herself declaring that 'a scandal was a romance until it was found out.'" (Essex Boys)
"Edward VII's life was shaped by an affair with an actress. She was Nellie Clifden, and she had been smuggled into his encampment by fellow officers while he was touring with the army in Ireland in 1861. On his return to England, apparently with Nellie still in tow, his furious mother, Victoria, sent Prince Albert to remonstrate with their son, who she already considered a slot-witted gadabout, ill-suited to be heir to the throne. After making the visit, however, Prince Albert's poor health worsened dramatically and was dead within a fortnight." (The Rough Guide to the Royals)
"One of these ladies in attendance on the 1st Regiment of Grenadiers that summer was the young actress, Nellie Clifden. Some of the young officers smuggled her past General Bruce's nose and into the prince's quarters. He found her waiting for him like a birthday present when he went to bed -- and by accounts he made the most of her...." (Edward the Rake)
"Even King Edward had a slow start to his private life. In 1861, aged 20 and then Prince of Wales, he had not yet slept with a woman. Brother officers smuggled Nellie Clifden, an 'actress', into his bed at an army camp at The Curragh in Ireland and Edward's world suddenly became a much brighter place." (The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder)
"One night several of these brother officers, most probably the worse for wear through drink, decided to play a prank on Bertie by introducing an Irish actress, Nellie Clifden, into his tent. The sexually innocent Prince of Wales found this unexpected tryst a thoroughly enjoyable experience, so much so that he took a fancy to Nellie and allowed her to follow him to Windsor. . . ." (Albert: A Life)
" . . . Queen Victoria's heir, Edward, the Prince of Wales [was] good-humoured, well mannered, utterly charming, [and] liked the good life. When he was a young man, his father Prince Albert had become convinced that his son would amount to little and kept him away from all possible contamination with the adult world, notably university or the armed services. However, at nineteen, the prince was sent to a military camp for a few weeks. Until then, his contact with young ladies had been minimal. One evening his fellow officers slipped a jolly, willing girl called Nellie Clifden into his bed, and the prince's life-ling devotion to lovemaking was the result." (Cupid and the King: Five Royal Paramours: 305)
Effects on lovers' family, other people and society.
". . . Albert reacted with horror to his son's involvement with this commoner. When the story leaked out in November, he was certain it would blow up into a disaster of major proportions. The Prince spent sleepless nights fretting over the potential impact of this affair, which had caused him to lose faith in his son, and with it his interest in life. In the end, prudish Victorian society proved perfectly up to shrugging off the scandal, just as it treated with a bemused smirk his subsequent flings as King Edward VII." (Albert: A Life)
53) Nelly Melba
Opera singer.
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| Rosa Lewis |
54) Rosa Lewis (1867-1952)
British chef
Also known as:
born Rosa Ovenden
Wife of: Excelsior Lewis, a.k.a. Chiney, butler, mar 1893
"Rosa Lewis is perhaps best known these days as the inspiration for the main character in the 1970s TV series "The Duchess of Duke Street," She was a Victorian kitchen maid who became a world-renowned cook and the proprietor of the Cavendish Hotel on Jermyn Street in London. Edward VII, both as Prince of Wales and later as King, greatly appreciated Rosa's excellent cooking and her sharp Cockney wit, as well as her beauty. It is rumoured that Rosa was one of his many mistresses, but she was the soul of discretion on this subject so the rumour has never been confirmed. Rosa lived through both world wars and experienced first-hand the resulting upheavals to the social structure. In prosperity and diversity, her wit and wisdom never failed her. . . ." (The Royal Forums)
"Rosa Lewis, née Ovenden (1867 – 1952) was a British chef and owner of The Cavendish Hotel in London, located at the intersection of Jermyn Street and Duke Street,St. James. Known as the 'Queen of Cooks', her culinary skills were highly prized by Edward VII, with whom she was rumoured to have had an affair in the 1890s. She was also called 'The Duchess of Jermyn Street.'" (Wikipedia)
"There are several versions describing how she met Edward VII. According to Time magazine, it was Lady Randolph who introduced them. However, the Cavendish Hotel biography states they first met while she was employed by Philippe, comte de Paris; he complimented her for the excellence of the dinner. In any case, he enjoyed her cooking very much. It was suspected by some that he helped her purchase the Cavendish Hotel in 1902. . . ." (Wikipedia)
"Edward VII and Rosa Lewis were close, and rumors swirled that she was King Edward’s secret mistress. Over the course of her life, Lewis has said she had three men in her life, but would never name them. After Lady Churchill’s party, she began to receive expensive gifts from a secret admirer whose name she never disclosed, and the Prince and future King was said to enjoy talking with her at dinner parties, although she never visited the palace. When asked what he liked about her he once said, “She takes more pains with a cabbage, than with a chicken.” But he expanded slightly when asked to explain why he loved her food so much, “She gives me nothing sloppy, nothing coloured up to dribble on my shirt front.” Ah, it must be love." (The Braiser)
"In gossips circle, Rosa's name was linked to Edward VII who had first seen her at Sheen House when the dinner so pleased him that he had sent for the chef. For the next 20 years tactful hostesses entertaining him employed Rosa whose cooking he liked best." (The Cavendish)
55) Rose Boote.
a.k.a. Miss Rosie Boote.
Lover in c1900.
56) Sarah Bernhardt.
Lover in 1879.
"Sarah Bernhardt, the Divine Sarah, took London by storm in the summer of 1879 with her passionate performance in the Comedie-Francaise's Phedre. It left her so shattered that she vomited blood all night as her doctor pressed crushed ice to her lips. The illegitimate child of a Jewish courtesan, Sarah Bernhardt had frizzy red hair, a white face and an unfashionably waif-like figure. She possessed a very modern genius for publicity. At the house she rented in Chester Square, she posed for photographers wearing the suit of white pantalons and jacket which she used for painting, and she bought a cheetah and a wolfhound to add to the menagerie of a monkey and a parrot that she kept in the garden. Naturally, Bertie was captivated. He watched her perform night after night, and he visited her gallery in Piccadilly. Sarah was introduced to the prince. 'I've just come back from the P of W,' she scrawled to director Edmond Got. 'It is 1.20 and I cannot rehearse at this hour. The Prince has kept me since 11. . . I shall make amends tomorrow by knowing my part.' There were rumours, there always were, of an affair, but this was a flirtation, beneficial not only to Bertie, who was addicted to celebrity -- a craving he shared with Oscar Wilde, passionate admirer of both Lillie Langtry and Sarah -- but also to Bernhardt herself, who gained social validation from his approval. She was lionised, much to the chagrin of Lady Frederick Cavendish, who thought it 'outrageous' that an actress, and a 'shameless' one at that, should be invited to the houses of respectable people." (Bertie: A Life of Edward VII: 220)
57) Sophie Hall-Walker.
Lover in 1903-1909.
"A carte-de-visite portrait of Lady Susan Vane-Tempest (1839-1875), who in 1864 became a mistress of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), and possibly gave birth his illegitimate child in 1871." (19th Century Photos)
58) Susan Vane Tempest (1839-1875)
Lover in 1871.
Also known as:
Susan Pelham-Clinton
Lady Susan Vane Tempest
Lady Adolphus Vane-Tempest.
"A successfully suppressed scandal involved Lady Adolphus Vane-Tempest, daughter of the Duke of Newcastle, and widow of Lord Londonderry's alcohol-crazed son, who had died in a struggle with his madhouse keepers. The prince began afternoon visits to Susan Vane-Tempest in 1867, and in 1871 she fell pregnant. She took five or six months to confide her predicament to te prince, who refused to see her and blamed her for not consulting earlier his physician Oscar Clayton, who seems to have been a Society abortionist among his stealthy guises and was knighted at the prince's request. She sent desperate, plaintive letters and had either a late abortion or a secret confinement. Broken by the prince's harsh rejection as well as socially compromised, she died in 1875 aged thirty-six. This was the only bastard pregnancy that can be attributed with sureness to the prince. . . ." (Edward VII (Penguin Monarchs): The Cosmopolitan King)
" . . . Young Lady Susan contracted a disastrous marriage at the age of eighteen with the notoriously unstable Lord Adolphus Vane, son of Lord and Lady Londonderry, described by Queen Victoria as having 'a natural tendency to madness'. Vane, who on one occasion violently attacked his wife and infant son, died four years later during a struggle with four keepers. After several years as an occasional mistress of the Prince of Wales, Susan bore 'Bertie' an illegitimate child in Ramsgate towards the end of 1871. She died in 1875." (Gladstone and Women: 96)
" . . . One of his mistresses, Susan Vane-Tempest, was a close friend of the family -- she had been a bridesmaid at Bertie's sister Vicky's wedding -- and had been in the Prince's little black book for several years when, in September 1871, she told him that she was pregnant. She was young -- thirty-two -- but a widow, which meant that unless Victorian society believed in immaculate conception amongst the upper classes, only a lover could be to blame. Bertie dealt with the matter clinically, by setting up an appointment with a doctor who was known to perform abortions. But Susan's pregnancy was too far advanced and the doctor refused. Bertie therefore decided that his embarrassing mistress would have to be exiled. Not to France, where he sent Blanche de Caracciolo (so that he could visit her again discreetly) but to the more prosaic Ramsgate, wher Susan settled, accompanied by a maid who was also pregnant (quelle conincidence). Susan sent Bertie heart--rending letters, begging for just one face-to-face farewell, but he ignored them all, and their baby, if it was born (there are suspicions that the doctor finally performed an abortion despite the dangers), has been erased from history. Perhaps the maid declared it as hers without knowing its true royal origins. Perhaps it died in infancy, as so often happened. In any case, the whole affair revealed a ruthlessness in Bertie that can only be explained by his terror that the truth would come out. In 1871 his (and the British monarchy's) reputation was on a knife-edge." (Dirty Bertie: 182)
" . . . Young Lady Susan contracted a disastrous marriage at the age of eighteen with the notoriously unstable Lord Adolphus Vane, son of Lord and Lady Londonderry, described by Queen Victoria as having 'a natural tendency to madness.' Vane, who on one occasion violently attacked his wife and infant son, died four years later during a struggle with four keepers. After several years as an occasional mistress of the Prince of Wales, Susan bore 'Bertie' an illegitimate child in Ramsgate towards the end of 1871. She died in 1875." (Gladstone and Women: 96)
"On 23 April 1860, two weeks after her 21st birthday, Lady Susan married Lord Adolphus Vane-Tempest, son of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. Her notoriously unstable and alcoholic husband, whom Queen Victoria described as having ‘a natural tendency to madness,’ attacked his wife on at least one occasion. A son, Francis, was born in 1863 but Lord Adolphus died the following year when he burst a blood vessel while being physically restrained by four keepers. That same year his widow began a protracted affair with the Prince of Wales, allegedly giving birth to his illegitimate child in Ramsgate towards the end of 1871. Nothing is known of the child’s subsequent faith. " (19th Century Photos)
59) Mrs. Susannah Menzies (1864-1943)
Lover in 1889.
Also known as:
Susannah West-Wilson
Mrs. Susannah West Wilson
Mrs. John Graham Menzies
Susannah, Lady Holford
Tottie.
Daughter of: Arthur Wilson of Tranby Croft & Mary Wilson
Wife of:
1. John Graham Menzies (d.1906), mar 1887, sep 1906.
2. Sir George Holford (d.1926) mar 1912.
"Oil painting on canvas, Susannah West Wilson, Mrs John Graham Menzies, later Lady Holford (1865-1943) by Ellis William Roberts (Burslem 1860 – Brighton 1930), 1890. A full-length portrait of a lady dressed in white, with a blue sash and a hat in a garden setting. Daughter of Arthur Wilson (1836-1909) of Tranby Croft. Arthur Wilson was first Lord Nunburnholme's youngest brother, and Susannah was therefore cousin to Enid, Countess of Chesterfield. Her first husband was John Graham Menzies (1861-1911). In 1912 as a widow she married Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George Holford (1860-1926)." (National Trust Collection)
60) Teresa Chetwynd-Talbot (1856-1919)
Marchioness of Londonderry.
Also known as:
Theresa Susey Helen Vane-Tempest (Talbot), Marchioness of Londonderry.
Daughter of Charles John Chetwynd-Talbot, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury and Anna Theresa Chetwynd-Talbot.
Wife of Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry.
"Theresa, Lady Londonderry's love affairs, for instance, linked her to two of the other guests. One of them was her sister's son: her nephew, Lord Helmsley. For several years, during the 1880s, she had had an affair with his father, who had been the best man at her own wedding. Her second son, Reginald, was thought to have been the product of this liaison. She was also rumoured to have had a brief affair with Edward VII, George V's father, who, when he was Prince of Wales, apparently seduced her at a shooting party. 'She was in love with Love,' wrote Theresa's confidante, Elizabeth, Countess of Fingall; 'she was deeply interested in the love affairs of her friends and very disappointed if they did not take advantage of the opportunities she put in their way. She used to say to herself: 'A am a Piate. All is fair in Love and War.' Lady Theresa's colourful emotional life was the rule rather than the exception in the fin-de-siecle years that extended to the beginning of the Great War. Aristocratic marriages were more less arranged; it was understandable -- and understood -- that the socio-economic motives that lay behind them would lead the parties to search for love elsewhere." (Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty)
"Both versions of the tiara - with and without pearls on top - were worn to great effect by Theresa (1856-1919), wife of the sixth Marquess. She had a forceful personality and plenty of influence to exert; she was a renowned society hostess and used the full force of the family jewel collection to get the job done (part of E.F. Benson’s description of her, as quoted in Geoffrey Munn’s Tiaras: A History of Splendour: “She reveled in personal splendor, she frankly and unmitigatedly enjoyed standing at the head of her stairs… with the ‘family fender’ as she called that nice diamond crown on her most comely head.”). Her use of that family fender at many important occasions is well recorded, including the time it slipped off her head and fell in the toilet at the coronation of Edward VII (a predicament that came to light when her extended time in the loo became conspicuous and she had to call for assistance; the tiara was rescued by a pair of forceps)." (The Londonderry Tiara)
62) Wilhelmina Cassel (1847-1925)
Lover in 1868-1869.
Also known as Wilhelmina Schonbrunn.
Daughter of: Jacob Cassel & Amalia Rosenheim
Wife of: M.S. Cassel, mar 1866, div ??.
"Cassel, Wilhelmina – (1847 – 1925), Anglo-Jewish society figure. Wilhelmina Cassel was the daughter of Jacob Cassel, and was the sister of Sir Felix Cassel (1852 – 1921), the friend and financier of Edward VII (1901 – 1910). She was married to a German named Schonbrunn, to whom she bore two children, and was known as Mrs Schonbrunn-Cassel. After the divorce she resumed her maiden name, which was also adopted by her children. She was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in London, where her tomb remains, with the inscription ‘Where’ere she found a stranger, there she left a friend.’ Her children were, Sir Felix Cassel (1869 – 1953), first baronet. He was married to Lady Helen Grimston, the daughter of the Earl of Verulam, and left descendants. Anna Cassel, she became the wife of Colonel Arthur Jenkins, and was the mother of Marjorie Minna Jenkins, Countess of Brecknock (1900 – 1989)." (A Bit of History - C)
Edward VII Gallery.
"The future King Edward VII is shown, aged 4, wearing a brand-new sailor suit ordered for him by Queen Victoria. He stands on a grassy path leading to the sea, his steady gaze belying his youth. The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, described it as ‘the prettiest picture I have ever seen’." (Royal Collection)
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| Edward VII Alamy Stock Photo |
Edward VII's Trysting Places.
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| Marlborough House @Wikipedia |
The Marlborough House Set.
"No one since the first Duke and Duchess of Marlborough made such a deep impression on Marlborough House as did Bertie and Alix, the Victorian Era's longstanding Prince and Princess of Wales. During the long, staid and formal years of Queen Victoria's reign following the death of her husband, the Prince Consort, in 1861, the circle surrounding the young and vibrant household of the Prince and Princess of Wales was a beacon of light to the "faster" set of London society. It didn't take long for that set to become known as "The Marlborough House Set." Led by the forward-thinking Prince, individuals were permitted within this glittering sphere who would have been unthinkable at any other time before, including the new rich, Americans and Jews. In short, the Marlborough House Set was a defining factor in helping to break down class barriers in British society -- or, at least, it was a start." (Time Travel Britain)
Bertie's inner circle of friends.
"Lord Esher, Sir Ernest Cassell, the 8th Duke of Devonshire, Lord Charles Beresford, Portuguese Ambassador Marquis de Soveral and Baron de Hirsch formed Bertie’s inner circle of friends, and among the ladies, the Duchess of Manchester (later, wife of 8th Devonshire), Lady Randolph Churchill, the Marchioness of Londonderry, and the Countess of Warwick reigned supreme. Other close friends included Christopher Sykes, Harry Chaplin, Consuelo, Lady Mandeville (wife of 8th Duke of Manchester), the Sassoons, the Rothschilds, and the Earl of Lonsdale, as well as a considerable number of Continental aristocrats, such as the Bohemian Count Charles Kinsky and the Italian Duchess of Sermoneta. Bertie was far from an intellectual, but possessed with an innate charm and skill as a conversationalist, he managed to form close relationships with Arthur Balfour and Lord Curzon." (Edwardian Promenade)
References for Marlborough House Set.
Marlborough House (with good pictures)
Le Chabanais.
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| Caricature of Edward VII Le Chabanais, Paris @Wikipedia |
"'Bertie", Prince of Wales, who would later become King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, often visited during the 1880s and 1890s. One room carried his coat of arms over the bed and a large copper bath-tub with a half-woman-half-swan figurehead, which he liked to fill with champagne and which, in 1951 after the closure, Salvador Dalí bought for 112,000 francs. Edward, heavily overweight, also had a "love seat" (siège d'amour) manufactured by Louis Soubrier, cabinetmaker of the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, allowing easy access for oral and other forms of sex with several participants." (Wikipedia)
"'Bertie' the playboy Prince of Wales, the 'prince of pleasure' and future King Edward VII of England was a regular client of the Parisian brothels during the late 1800's. A particular favourite of his was 'Le Chabanais' which even had his coat of arms above his bed. It was at this most famous of Parisian establishments that the famous Love Chair was based." (Hubpages)
"Her unusual intimate gallery sits facing the old site of Le Chabanais, one of the most luxurious ‘maisons closes’ that Paris had ever seen during its heyday of authorized brothels. The Prince of Wales (future King of England, Edward VII, son of Queen Victoria) had his very own room at the establishment that carried his coat of arms above the bed. As a frequent visitor, the Prince, better known as “Bertie” would bathe with Parisian prostitutes in a giant copper bath filled with champagne and enjoy threesomes in a lavish chair he called his “love seat” (which might explain where we get the name from). Salvador Dali later bought the copper bath tub adorned with a half-woman-half-swan figurehead for 112,000 francs, a few years after the brothel closed in 1946." (Messy Nessy)
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"In his profligate youth, the English Prince of Wales—Britain's future King Edward VII (he ruled between 1901 and 1910)—was a celebrity in Paris, thanks to his gargantuan appetites for both food and sex. Perpetually availed of champagne and cigars, his girth filled out by five high-protein meals a day, he would receive a standing ovation at the theater whenever he appeared with a beautiful new paramour on his arm. From 1877, Bertie kept an apartment in a building on the Avenue de l'Opéra, an address he relished because it was the Right Bank's upscale epicenter of vice, then dubbed by one British aristocratic roué, Lord Hertford, "the clitoris of Paris." He finally gave it up 27 years later, when he was crowned king, and the building changed hands several times before it became a hotel. Today, this loyal establishment names each suite after a consort of "Dirty Bertie," as the British nicknamed him, including actress Sarah Bernhardt, American socialite Jennie Churchill (Winston Churchill's mother), and courtesan Alice Keppel (great-grandmother of Camilla Parker Bowles)." (The Sinner's Grand Tour: A Journey Through the Historical Underbelly of Europe: 61)
"The Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, nicknamed Bertie, is pictured here in 1867, aged 26. The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, he had a reputation for being the most fashionable man in Paris. According to the biography, Dirty Bertie: an English King Made in France, he also had a reputation for sleeping with the city's most famous prostitutes." (Telegraph)
References for Edward VII:
