‘ Edward VII’ airs royalty’s dirty laundry
Biography focuses on Bertie and his bevy of bedmates
Victorian England: We know what that was supposed to mean — all priggish prudery and “we- are- not- amused” harrumphing. Except now we know it wasn’t all that, a point driven home by a new biography that focuses — deliciously — on the women who shared the scandalously plentiful sex life of Queen Victoria’s eldest son, the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII.
The portly pepperpot of a prince could hardly be considered sexy, even then, but being heir to a 900- year- old monarchy had its charms. And with little else useful to do for 50 years, thanks to one of the worst royal mothers ever, Bertie, as he was called, indulged his sensual tastes for women’s company, often in bed.
At his 1901 coronation, he even invited some of his royal concubines to sit in a pew in Westminster Abbey designated for “the King’s special ladies.” They didn’t call him “Edward the Caresser” for nothing.
Now comes Edward VII: The Prince of Wales and the Women He Loved ( St. Martin’s Press, 250 pp., out of eeeg four), by journalist and pop historian Catharine Arnold, to give us the 4- 1- 1 on these women. Prostitutes and good- time girls, actresses and aristocrats, socialites and social- climbers, all took a turn in Bertie’s bed, becoming famous, at least among the royal, titled and rich set, for being the Prince of Wales’ mistress.
His lovers included one of the first American “dollar princesses,” Jennie Churchill, Winston’s mum; pin- up beauty Lillie Langtry, the original Jersey girl; and the “divine” Sarah Bernhardt, the bisexual French stage actress with an opium habit.
Bertie’s last mistress- in- chief, Mrs. Alice Keppel, was the great- grandmother of Duchess Camilla of Cornwall, the second wife of the current Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, Bertie’s great- great- grandson. Aside from her famous descendant, Keppel is best known in her family for her late- life quip about the duties of a royal mistress: “Curtsey first and then jump into bed.”
Anyone who follows royal goings- on, especially the tortured triangle of Charles, Camilla and his late first wife, Princess Diana, knows the outline of the story of Bertie’s sex life; it has been covered in previous bios, including the widely acclaimed 2013 book, The Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince, by Jane Ridley. Those books re- evaluate Bertie’s long apprenticeship ( now officially surpassed by Prince Charles’ wait for the throne) and his short reign as Edward VII. ( He turned out to be a pretty good king.) Arnold’s book focuses on his lovers and, to some extent, on the rumored illegitimate children allegedly sired by Bertie. For those less familiar with the details, it might be hard to suppress surprised sneers about royal “familyvalues” hypocrisy. This was the age when, as famous actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell once put it, no one cared what people did in bed or who they did it with, as long as “they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses.” Or the scandal- phobic Queen Vic, whose many positive qualities as a young queen are currently on display in PBS’ Victoria but whose contempt for and resentment of her charming but dissolute son just about ruined him as he waited for her to give up the ghost. After more than 63 years on her throne, she finally did, in January STUART MARSHALL Catharine Arnold 1901, and Bertie became king, only to die in May 1910.
Victims of Bertie’s behavior included his long- suffering wife and mother of his legitimate children, the beautiful and beloved Danish- born Queen Alexandra. On the king’s deathbed, Alix, as she was known in the family, sent for Keppel, the only mistress allowed to visit Bertie as he was dying. It’s a bizarre scene, according to Arnold. Alix did not allow this visit out of the goodness of her heart or her own lifetime habit of ignoring Bertie’s many affairs. ( This was made somewhat easier as she was deaf.) She did it, Arnold writes, because a frantic Keppel was in effect banging on the Buckingham Palace gate, waving a letter Bertie had written to her allowing her to visit.
Once she was in the room, Bertie, passing in and out of consciousness, seemed not to recognize Keppel and even asked his wife to kiss her. Eventually, Keppel became hysterical, and the queen had enough.
“Get that woman away,” she muttered to the doctor.