The royal Ripper
Why Queen Victoria’s grandson found himself in the frame
What if Jack the Ripper wasn’t a predatory and solitary killer? What if his crimes were the cold and calculated act of a collective conspiracy? Such fears often surface at times when the establishment’s reputation is being called into question. This is exactly what happened during the counter- cultural 1960s and 1970s, which saw government ministers being disgraced in the Profumo and Lord Lambton affairs, as well as a growing suspicion of the power of secretive organisations with links to local government and the police.
Given this climate of distrust, it’s hardly surprising that a number of theories emerged during this period linking the Jack the Ripper killings to some of the most powerful figures of the late Victorian era – among them members of the royal family.
Queen Victoria’s grandson, ‘Eddy’, the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, has long proved a fruitful suspect. One theory has it that in the second half of 1888, the famously dissolute prince was seized by a syphilisinduced psychosis that led him to murder the five Ripper victims.
A second theory – that Eddy’s crimes precipitated an elaborate cover-up – proved equally alluring. In this version of events, Eddy ran away to the East End, where he married a Catholic woman Annie Crook and fathered a child with her. Faced with a scandal that could potentially bring down the monarchy, shadowy establishment figures forcibly split up the couple and masterminded the elimination of the five female acquaintances who knew the truth.
As it would have required the involvement of stealthy agents of clandestine power, the theory that the establishment engineered a cover-up spoke to popular prejudices about secretive organisations such as the Freemasons. It also enabled macabre (and sensational) ritualised activities, performed in the act of murdering each of the five women, to be woven into the conspiracy.