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Musique:
There are many mysteries connected to the
Cleveland Street affair. None more challenging
than this. Did Prince Albert Victor Edward, son of
the Prince of Wales, grandson of Queen Victoria,
and Heir Presumptive to the throne, visit the male
brothel at 19 Cleveland Street?
In those days of Royal scandals, we would not be
surprised or necessarily shocked. Homosexuality
is nothing new in the Royal Family. But Victorian
society was perturbed. And history has drawn a
discreet veil over the matter.
He was a great disappointment to his Royal father.
A poor soldier with an apparently appalling grasp of
politics and social graces, he was a true misfit. Or
perhaps he just wanted to be his own man, not be
obliged to be a dutiful Royal or to tow the official line. One only needs to look at Princess Diana for a modern example. There were all sorts of rumours about his sexual adventuring, and certainly his father the Prince of Wales was a notorious philanderer. And he would have been well acquainted with Lord Arthur Somerset, his father's Private Equerry, who was a regular visitor to Cleveland Street.
Would it have been possible for Eddy to visit the Cleveland Street brothel without being recognised?
Though they did not have our intrusive and all-pervasive media, the Victorians certainly took a great interest in their Royal Family. The photograph opposite is a carte de visite, taken of the young Prince in Brussels. Many people would have collected photographs like this and displayed them in their homes and their albums. If Prince Eddy did follow in the footsteps of the other aristocrats who visited, then he may well have been advised to do so in disguise!
Of course, there is always the possibility that his name was simply dragged into the frame to draw attention away from the senior politicians and members of the aristocracy who were known to be visitors.
The answer is, we shall probably never know. Members of the Royal Family today keep company with some very dodgy individuals, as "part of their Royal duties" we are told - and sometimes not. Is it inconceivable that Prince Eddy followed in the footsteps of the other well-known aristocrats who frequented 19 Cleveland street?