Albert Victor
Prince Albert Victor, the eldest son of Edward VII and his queen Alexandra, nicknamed "Eddie". Logically, he was born a winner in life, succeeding to the throne in second order after his father, Edward VII.
But his information is pitifully scarce, and some sources say that his brain is slow to learn anything, implying that he has intellectual problems. There are other, more sensational stories that haunt him, are embroiled in the Cleveland Street scandal, and even involve jack the world-famous killer Ripper.
Albert, who died of the flu at the age of 28, was privately described by some unscrupulous media as being "humanely destroyed" by the British royal family. A huge mystery lingered on this noble prince, but it made people want to find out more about him.
01
Some rumors about Eddie's IQ
Prince Eddie's father, Prince Edward VII of Wales, did not like to read when he was a child, and when it came time to read, he began to fall asleep and look impatient. So Eddie also doesn't like to read, but it is quite understandable, the origin of family learning. But after leaving the academy, Edward was immediately a good man. This was not the case with his eldest son, Eddie, who was sleepy every day, uninterested in anything, who said a word to him, who would not react for a long time, and who seemed to be unusually slow in understanding. Some historians have suggested that Prince Eddie may have suffered from mild forms of childhood epilepsy, and that his drowsiness and lack of concentration can be explained.
Queen Alexandra and her children (Eddie - top left)
But at the end of the 19th century, medical experts could not tell what was wrong with him, so the prince's mentor was worried about Eddie's education, he did not like to learn, and it seemed that he could not learn anything. He's the Crown Prince! The one who will take over the whole kingdom in the future.
Edward, Prince of Wales, simply arranged for Eddie and his brother George to be cadets for naval officers. If sitting in the academy does not allow him to acquire knowledge, then it is broadened in practice. The three-year circumnavigation of the globe made George fall in love with the sea, and in second place he chose to become a naval officer. As for Eddie, there was still nothing to cheer up the sleepy Eddie, and the old father had no choice but to send him to Cambridge University, hoping that the Cambridge professors would teach him something.
Eddie and younger brother George
Here, Eddie had a happy time. Although the teacher who taught him commented that he was unusually slow, he often could not understand the meaning of even the simplest words. But there is no sad look on his mother's face, nor is there a nagging father who hates iron and steel, and Eddie has a mentor, James Kenneth, who expands Eddie's thinking through literature and poetry, and has a different evaluation of Eddie. He thought that the prince was very kind, that he was a compassionate and empathetic man, and that he would certainly be able to be a benevolent prince when he ascended the throne. For the first time in his life, Eddie received a positive review.
02
Cleveland Street scandal
James is trusted by Eddie and grows closer to the prince. But soon, another rumor arose: James was simply a sensational villain, and he did not play a positive role in Prince Eddie, but guided the prince to become a homosexual. Edward soon distanced his son from him, and it is not known whether the relationship between the two was a close friendship or a physical relationship, but according to historical records, Prince Eddie should have preferred the same sex in the emotions of the two sexes.
Prince Eddie
Today's Britain is dubbed the "corrupt country" and is extremely inclusive of same-sex feelings. But more than a hundred years ago, during the Victorian era, Britain was one of the most severely punished countries in all of Europe for homosexual acts. In that era, Germany had more same-sex lovers in and out of pairs, and it was also more tolerant of same-sex feelings.
Back on 4 July 1889, a full-staff body search was being carried out at a post office in St Maarten, London. There were so many petty thefts in London that searchers had to look up the telegraph delivery men who frequented the streets. When searchers sipped 18 shillings in cash from a 15-year-old boy named Charles Swinschaud, the teenager had to account for the source of the "huge" fortune.
"Cleveland Street Scandal"
Questioned several times by the police, the frightened Swinsko immediately confessed plainly. The 18 shillings were earned by his peers through a part-time job at a house at 19 Cleveland Street. Part-time content is to "sleep" with gentlemen. According to the teenager, every time he "sleeps" he can get 4 shillings, he is not a thief, and every penny is the income of labor.
With regard to male love, Henry VIII of Steel passed a bill in 1533 to include same-sex feelings as a capital offense from hanging. Although the act was repealed in 1861, the Victorian era generally imposed a ten-year hard sentence for homosexuals.
"People Involved" Recorded in the Cleveland Street Scandal
Because of the involvement of "male civil servants", the case attracted the attention of the police. They raided 19 Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia, London, and the identity of the reported "Mr. Brown" has been identified as Lord Arthur Somerset, the youngest son of the Duke of Somerset, a member of the Royal Guard and an aide-de-camp to Crown Prince Edward.
Lord Arthur Somerset
Under pressure, the British police sent the indictment against the Lord to the Royal Prosecution Service on charges of "indecency against decency". But upon receipt of the complaint, Lord Somerset merely informed through his lawyer that if the police insisted on investigating, he would have to ask the Duke of Clarence to appear with him as a party.
Duke Clarence, full name Albert Victor, is our Eddie.
At this point, the police had to withdraw the indictment against Lord Somerset. The Lord left London shortly afterwards for a holiday in France, while Eddie took a boat to India for a "visit". Only a few male prostitutes arrested at the scene were brought to court and charged with indecent assault and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 4 to 9 months. However, they are said not to have gone to jail, but were arranged to travel to Australia after receiving a settlement fee. Of course, no prostitutes were prosecuted in the thunderous Cleveland Street scandal, and it was widely believed that the government covered up the scandal to protect the reputations of aristocrats and other major patrons.
Biographer Harnold Nixon claimed that he had been told that the prince was indeed involved in a scandal at the time, and that the magistrate even needed to give perjury to help him get out of the crime...
Princess Alex of Hesse
Whether all of the above is a slander against Prince Eddie or a true matter is now unknown. What we can know is that the old grandmother, Queen Victoria, immediately began to arrange Eddie's marriage, and at first, she hoped to marry her granddaughter Princess Alex of Hesse to Eddie, but everyone knows that this melancholy beauty has already secretly communicated with Nicholas II and become the last queen of the Romanov family.
Princess Helen of France
Queen Victoria was so disappointed with her granddaughter's choice that she considered Princess Helen of France and Countess Sibi Saint Clair-Erskine, but the marriage negotiations were unsuccessful. Eventually, Eddie became engaged in 1892 with Lord Mary, who had been George's (Eddie's younger brother) sweetheart.
03
Ripper "Eddie"
From those old photos with dark colors, it can still be seen that Prince Eddie is a very handsome young man. He inherited the appearance of a beautiful mother, tall and well-mannered. But because of the extremely poor wind evaluation over the years, what brain is not good, prostitutes, homosexuals, etc., so that Prince Eddie's evaluation among the people is not high. There are also some gossip tabloids that report some gossip, the prince is constantly involved in those strange scandals, and the most terrible and nonsensical of them is the legend of "Eddie the Ripper".
Prince Eddie Prince Eddie
In London in 1888, mysterious killers brutally murdered at least five prostitutes in a row in the Area of Whitechapel in london's East End. Not only that, during the crime, the murderer wrote to the police station many times to provoke, but he never fell into the net. This is London's most notorious Jack the Ripper serial murders.
Jack the Ripper
At that time, the forensic technology was not developed, there was no DNA evidence, and then rendered by the media, this suspense case soon caused panic in british society at that time. To this day, the Jack the Ripper case has not been solved, which has attracted countless reasoning fans around the world to express their high opinions. In the streets and alleys, everyone is talking about this terrible murder, but I don't know when, among the countless kinds of discussions, a voice is very loud, the ripper should not be called Jack, it should be called Eddie.
The story is brilliantly rendered: the Ripper is Queen Victoria's eldest grandson and the second in line to the throne, Prince Albert Victor. The reason was that the debauched Eddie had an illegitimate daughter with a prostitute named Anne Elizabeth Crook in the Whitechapel area, but this was a shocking scandal for the British royal family, so Queen Victoria put the poor girl Crook under house arrest and had her surgeon Sir William Gayle "clear" all the insiders. Sir Gale, who aided and abetted the abuse, took matters into his own hands and created a horrific serial murder.
Sir William Gayle
Sounds like a lot of sense doesn't it? Because Jack was very skilled at harvesting the victim's organs, it was said that the doctor could indeed explain it. Moreover, because of the Queen's cover-up, it seems reasonable that the police cannot investigate the truth.
Eddie with her mother Queen Alexandra
A story is a story, and a case is about evidence. First, Whitechapel belonged to the East End of London, an area inhabited by the poor, which was clearly distinct from the area where the Prince was active; secondly, there was no evidence that Eddie had met a prostitute named Anne, and no one had ever seen this so-called illegitimate daughter; the key evidence came, that Sir William Gale did have him, but in 1888 the doctor was 70 years old, and had suffered a stroke, and it was indeed difficult for him to carry out the task of killing and disemboweling him. You might say that it could also be a killer hired by Sir Gale, no problem, but that's a far cry from the speculation that the killer was a doctor or a butcher. Not to mention, in Eddie's 28-year career, the probability of being close to men is much higher than that of women, and this "royal conspiracy theory" is more like a smear of the royal family image of the imperial party.
Eddie, who was always on the cusp of the storm, quickly came to the end of his life. In 1890, a flu swept across Europe, and Eddie was one of the victims of that terrible winter when thousands of people died from flu outbreaks. The day before her 28th birthday, Eddie had a cold, which turned into the flu and then pneumonia. But what everyone did not expect was that under the careful care of the imperial doctor, Eddie did not survive a week.
Eddie with his fiancée, Lord Mary
His parents wept bitterly, and of course perhaps Edward VII might have secretly breathed a sigh of relief. According to the law of succession, Eddie must be the next king, but his intellectual disability and homosexual behavior are well known, can he be a good king? Or should the country be handed over to a more secure monarch?
Isn't that cruel? But if Eddie is truly as gentle, decent, and kind as some documents have written, where will Britain go in the wave of the First World War?
Edward and Alexandra lost their son and Mary lost her fiancé. Eddie's younger brother George stepped up, took the throne and fiancée of his brother, and eventually became a generation of masters. History is really cruel and firm, as if the changes in nature are vicissitudes, and it is like a white cloud and a dog.
Prince Eddie, as if he were gradually disappearing from everyone in history, is born with incomplete intellectual development, or whether he has other hidden feelings, it is now impossible to know. Or maybe he's really a good-natured man, but the times are bad, and history is written by the victors.