Prince Eddy: The King Britain Never Had

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Prince Eddy , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Aug 18, Laura rated it really liked it. It's nice to read a sympathetic biographer. I liked this book and hadn't really known anything except the Jack the Ripper rumors. It's a good read for someone who is interested in the period and the European royality of that time, but who isn't necessarily an historical expert.

My only criticism is that I felt the whole description of the Cleveland Street scandal was confusing, but hey that might have been me and not the author. I generally read while sipping wine. Aug 31, Sharon Terry rated it really liked it Shelves: I found this book a difficult read for several reasons.

I admire the intention of Andrew Cook, to "clear" Prince Albert Victor's name, but I wish he could have done it with better style. I found his writing often dull and his presentation of facts sometimes confusing. However, he does convincingly refute the rumours that have hung like a miasma around the long-dead prince; he was not Jack the Ripper nor, it seems, a member of the gay underworld.

Albert Victor - known as Eddy - was the eldest son I found this book a difficult read for several reasons. Eddy was, therefore, heir presumptive to the British throne and a subject of some interest and glamour in his day. But he lived such an ordinary Royal life! Navy training, indifferent schooling by the uninspiring Mr Dalton, membership of the Hussars and world-touring. The latter is the only really interesting feature of this life and, unfortunately, reveals Eddy to have been an enthusiastic hunter!

However, Cook does quote from Eddy's letters, which show him to have been thoughtful and kind. Many people did find him lazy, a "dawdler", lacking drive, but still thought him a lovable person. Obviously, it would have taken more than his personality for Eddy to stamp himself on the public memory, but he died too soon for maturity and kingship to show what he might have been made of.

The worst section of the book deals with the Cleveland Street scandal and the possibility that Eddy was somehow involved. I felt as if I was in a maze reading that chapter! Anyone really interested in it would be better off reading a work devoted to this subject - or even Wikipedia! As for Jack the Ripper, that theory has long been debunked by sources showing exactly where Eddy was when the murders were committed. The most interesting chapter in the book, for me, was the final Appendix, containing an analysis of Eddy's handwriting as shown in letters written over the course of his short life.

Whether you believe in graphology or not, this analysis seems to reveal a pleasant personality, maturing satisfactorily. All in all, a bit of a disappointing read, but a valiant attempt to restore a reputation. Mar 13, Gordon rated it it was amazing Shelves: A very interesting book and the first to draw upon the personal written letters and effects by Prince Eddy himself, Andrew Cook looks into some the myths surrounding the Prince and dispels these with evidence.

Once thought to be involved in homosexual prostitution or later thought to be Jack the Ripper, this are dispelled thanks to new evidence from his own hand and other family members, and had he lived would he have been the greatest King Britain had that is something we will never know, but f A very interesting book and the first to draw upon the personal written letters and effects by Prince Eddy himself, Andrew Cook looks into some the myths surrounding the Prince and dispels these with evidence.

Once thought to be involved in homosexual prostitution or later thought to be Jack the Ripper, this are dispelled thanks to new evidence from his own hand and other family members, and had he lived would he have been the greatest King Britain had that is something we will never know, but for now as my grandmother always said never judge a book by its cover so I hope you will enjoy for yourself. Oct 26, Boots rated it really liked it Shelves: May 30, Jeffrey Marks rated it liked it.

The two most fascinating things about this otherwise forgettable prince were the rumors about him being Jack the Ripper and the Cleveland Street scandal. Granted, the Ripper story is a bit of a stretch and can be relatively easily disproved by the dates Eddy was out of town, but the author neglected to even cover the basic storyline, dismissing it out of hand.

The Cleveland Street scandal is a bit more problematic. There's no direct evidence, but Eddy did keep company with Stevens, Wilde and oth The two most fascinating things about this otherwise forgettable prince were the rumors about him being Jack the Ripper and the Cleveland Street scandal.

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There's no direct evidence, but Eddy did keep company with Stevens, Wilde and others. It's a more likely scenario. However, the author acts incredibly uncomfortable with the subject in general and positively cringes at the specifics. He barely mentions Stevens. His only mention of Bosie calls him a happily married man.

Overall, I got the impression that the author would have rather been writing about one of the other primaries in the book. Chapters about Eddy include large amounts of information on George, Bertie, and Alix, so much so that the reader sometimes forgets who is being profiled. This is the young man about whom it was bandied about for decades was at least a contender for the title of Jack the Ripper. The book provides excerpts of letters written by various people who knew him.

He was often described as lazy and indolent, but his parents, Edward VII and his queen consort, Alexandra, were more interested is their social whirl than anything else. And as a grandson of the Widow of Windsor, he was going to fail from the start by comparison with his grandfather, Albert.

Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale - Wikipedia

However, he is presented as having a winning personality that would have served him well as king. And he could have learned as his father did. By obtaining state papers on the sly. One wonders where the British monarchy would be if he had not died at twenty-eight. He succeeded falteringly, flimsily in that although believing all of these stories about Prince Eddy to be true is far more int "I wondered why I even finished this one; I certainly skimmed quite a bit of the middle like so many books, it had a promising start.

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He succeeded falteringly, flimsily in that although believing all of these stories about Prince Eddy to be true is far more interesting and fun but the book was just kind of dull. Every once in a while, a tetch of bitchiness would shine through, as when Cook snidely commented on Patricia Cornwell's possession of two letters supposedly from Prince Eddy.

That was the main issue I had with the book -- is it a respectable scholarly tome or a juicy bitchy tell-all? Several women were lined up as possible brides for Albert Victor. The first, in , was his cousin Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine , but she did not return his affections and refused his offer of engagement. In mid, Albert Victor was attended by several doctors, but in correspondence his illness is only referred to as "fever" or " gout ". In late , the Prince was implicated as having been involved with a former Gaiety Theatre chorus girl, Lydia Miller stage name Lydia Manton , who committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid.

Lydia Manton was the petite amie of a certain young prince, and that, too, quite recently. Rumours also surfaced in , after Albert Victor's death, of his association with another former Gaiety girl, Maude Richardson birth name: Louisa Lancey , [86] and that the royal family had attempted to pay her off. In , Albert Victor wrote to Lady Sybil St Clair Erskine that he was in love once again, though he does not say with whom, [91] but by this time another potential bride, Princess Mary of Teck , was under consideration.

Queen Victoria was very supportive, considering Mary ideal—charming, sensible and pretty. Just as plans for both his marriage to Mary and his appointment as Viceroy of Ireland were under discussion, Albert Victor fell ill with influenza in the pandemic of — He developed pneumonia and died at Sandringham House in Norfolk on 14 January , less than a week after his 28th birthday. The nation was shocked. Shops put up their shutters. Drawn together during their shared period of mourning, Prince George later married Mary himself in She became queen on George's accession.

Albert Victor's mother, Alexandra, never fully recovered from her son's death and kept the room in which he died as a shrine. His tomb, by Alfred Gilbert , is "the finest single example of late 19th-century sculpture in the British Isles". Kneeling over him is an angel, holding a heavenly crown. The tomb is surrounded by an elaborate railing, with figures of saints. Five of the smaller figures were only completed with "a greater roughness and pittedness of texture" after his return to Britain in the s. One obituary, written by a journalist who claimed to have attended the majority of Albert Victor's public appearances, stated:.

He was little known personally to the English public. His absence at sea, and on travels and duty with his regiment, kept him out of the general eye During his life, the bulk of the British press treated Albert Victor with nothing but respect and the eulogies that immediately followed his death were full of praise.

Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale

The radical politician, Henry Broadhurst , who had met both Albert Victor and his brother George, noted that they had "a total absence of affectation or haughtiness". The exact nature of his "dissipations" is not clear, but in Theo Aronson favoured the theory on "admittedly circumstantial" evidence that the "unspecified 'dissipations' were predominantly homosexual".

Rumours that Prince Albert Victor may have committed, or been responsible for, the Jack the Ripper murders were first mentioned in print in The Final Solution , that Albert Victor fathered a child with a woman in the Whitechapel district of London, and either he or several high-ranking men committed the murders in an effort to cover up his indiscretion.

Though such claims have been repeated frequently, scholars have dismissed them as fantasies, and refer to indisputable proof of the Prince's innocence. According to the official Court Circular , family journals and letters, newspaper reports and other sources, he could not have been near any of the murders.

Albert Victor's posthumous reputation became so bad that in Philip Magnus called his death a "merciful act of providence", supporting the theory that his death removed an unsuitable heir to the throne and replaced him with the reliable and sober George V. The conspiracy theories surrounding Albert Victor have led to his portrayal in film as somehow responsible for or involved in the Jack the Ripper murders. The Hughes brothers ' From Hell was based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell , and was released in The story, based largely on the same sources as Murder by Decree , is also the basis for the play Force and Hypocrisy by Doug Lucie.

A pair of alternative history novels King and Joker and Skeleton in Waiting , written by Peter Dickinson , are the adventures of a fictitious royal family descended from an Albert Victor who survived and reigned as King Victor I. In the former, he is the British monarch during World War I. Amazonia from the Elseworlds subseries, has "Eddy" as a minor character in a steampunk alternate history of the Jack the Ripper legend, with Wonder Woman inserted into the mix.

With his dukedom, Albert Victor was granted a coat of arms, being the royal arms of the United Kingdom , differenced by an inescutcheon of the arms of Saxony and a label of three points argent , the centre point bearing a cross gules. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 9. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg 2. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn 5. Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld 1.

Christian IX of Denmark Princess Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel 3. Princess Alexandra of Denmark Prince William of Hesse-Kassel 7. Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel Princess Charlotte of Denmark.

Prince Eddy: The King Britain Never Had

Accessed 1 May A Cambridge Alumni Database. London Review of Books. Volume 12, issue 21, p. William Rogers quoted in Bullock, Charles Prince Albert Victor — ". The Sexual Constitution of Political Authority: The 'Trials' of Same-Sex Desire. Accessed 12 June The Unreliable Life of Harry the Valet: XXXI, issue 83, p. Description of His Last Hours". Accessed 28 March King Edward the Seventh , p. Riddere af Elefantordenen, — in Danish. The generations indicate descent from George I , who formalised the use of the titles prince and princess for members of the British royal family.

Princes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Prince Andreas Prince Adrian. King Philippe I Prince Laurent. Retrieved from " https: Webarchive template wayback links CS1: Views Read Edit View history. In other projects Wikimedia Commons. This page was last edited on 25 November , at