A Brief History of the House of Windsor by Michael Paterson Read Free Book Online Page B

fashionable cavalry regiment, he settled into a routine of training and garrison duties at Aldershot and Hounslow, though he rebuffed attempts by his fellow officers to ‘make a man of the world of him’. A certain innocence was noticeable in his nature. In spite of this, he became mired in scandal when, in 1889, the police raided a homosexual brothel in London’s Cleveland Street. He was not among those apprehended, but it was alleged that he had been a visitor. Modern biographers have dismissed this as implausible, but there were persistent rumours at the time. To these have since been added the theory that he was Jack the Ripper, the serial killer whose murder of a number of prostitutes brought a reign of terror to the streets of Whitechapel during the autumn of 1888. Why would he have wanted to do such a thing? Allegedly because he was being blackmailed over involvement in a vice-ring, and sought to silence witnesses. In fact, crimes of this nature must have taken considerable planning. They would have been well beyond Prince Eddy’s abilities, even had it not been definitively proved that he was at Balmoral when most of them took place.
    Though both his charges might have been a disappointment to Mr Dalton in that neither of them showed intellectualpromise, they were good, agreeable young men, dutiful and dignified, whom one observer described as having ‘a total absence of haughtiness’.
    Eddy began to carry out royal duties. He visited India, and at home opened the Hammersmith suspension bridge. He was created Duke of Clarence and Avondale, and began gradually taking his place as a public figure. While his military career was mere marking of time, he did of course have another significant role to perform. He must marry and continue the succession. He made three attempts to do so. Limited in his choice of spouse to a member of another ruling house, he chose one who was entirely suitable: the curiously named Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine. She simply did not like him, however, and refused his offer. She would go on to make a love match with the Russian tsarevich, Nicholas, marrying him in 1894. They would be immensely happy together, though their lives would become increasingly tragic, ending in front of a Bolshevik firing squad in 1918.
    Eddy’s second attempt at finding a match seemed more promising. His attachment to Princess Hélène of Orléans was a matter of genuine, and mutual, affection. She belonged to the ousted Bourbon family. (There was no reason why a member of a ruling family could not marry someone from a deposed one. It was the blood that counted, not their current status. Queen Victoria, in fact, had something of a weakness for exiled sovereigns, and her country gave sanctuary to several of them.) The Bourbons were former rulers of France, and Princess Hélène was a Roman Catholic. This was a serious obstacle, but both parties attempted to compromise. Eddy offered to renounce his place in the succession. She offered to convert. In the event his family was willing, but hers was not. Her father refused to let the marriage take place, his religious convictions overruling even the prospect of his daughter one day occupying a throne.
    In the third instance Eddy was successful. His choice was inspired, for the young woman was eminently suited to bea queen. Victoria Mary, Princess of Teck, was nicknamed ‘May’ after the month in which she had been born. She was his second cousin once removed and related to the Dukes of Württemberg, an archetypal German dynasty. She had, however, grown up with her mother at the British Court. By the peculiar standards of royalty she was impoverished and obscure, overlooked by members of more illustrious families. Nevertheless she was extremely personable – lively, clever, charming and pretty – and observers could see that she would provide a useful counterweight to the prince’s natural inertia. In December 1891 Eddy proposed to her at a house party, to her