As the highly controversial love triangle of now-King Charles, Princess Diana, and the “other woman” Camilla Parker Bowles unfolded, British history buffs witnessed history repeating itself. Yes, you read that right! Charles and Camilla’s ancestors, too, were madly in love with each other and were in an extramarital relationship for 12 years. And, if reports are to be believed, the first time Prince Charles met Camilla Shand (today his wife and the Queen Consort), she seduced him with the words, “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather — so how about it?”
Unlike Charles and Camilla, who eventually got the ending they wanted, Alice and Edward remained secret lovers till the time of his death in 1910.
Here’s a peek into Alice Keppel and King Edward VII’s scandalous love story!
Alice Frederica Edmonstone, who went by the nickname Freddie, was just 29 years old when she met Queen Victoria’s oldest son and future King of Britain, Bertie, who was in his fifties at the time. The two met at society hostess events, instantly fell in love and decided to go behind their partners’ backs and have an extramarital relationship.
Both Alice’s husband George Keppel and the King’s wife, Alexandra of Denmark, were privy to their affair. According to reports, Keppel even benefited from it. Edward bestowed his mistress with shares in a rubber company and promoted her husband to a highly lucrative job under Sir Thomas Lipton.
Meanwhile, it was rumoured at the time that even Alexandra of Denmark held her husband’s mistress in high esteem since Alice reportedly stood aside and helped King Edward VII with some diplomatic matters.
After Edward VII’s death, the royal family reportedly did all that they could to destroy evidence of his long affair with his mistress. His private secretary, Sir Francis Knollys, destroyed mountains of letters and private papers in a bonfire that lasted days, according to Daily Mail. Alice, too, was famous for her discretion and it was one of the many things Edward adored about her.
However, fragments of evidence have emerged in the last century that tell a fascinating story. A strongbox was discovered at Drummonds Bank at Trafalgar Square after Alice’s death, which contained gifts the King gave to his mistress. A note in the monarch’s own handwriting was discovered in the box along with a diamond-encrusted brooch, which read, “Position quarterly and open. I am about to fire a Whitehall torpedo ahead.” Other hints came from the journals and diaries of contemporaries such as American novelist Henry James
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