Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, eldest son of Edward VII (1864-1892)

[Mirabel]

I agree the prince would not have made an ideal ruler but surely it is now common knowledge that most of these rumours have been proven to be either complete falsehoods or not based on any existing information. The David Dickinson book is a fictitious NOVEL only and it is extraordinary that the Jack the Ripper murders are still even mentioned as being connected with the Royal Family.

Oh, I know; it's highly unlikely, and probably attributable to the ongoing fascination with the Ripper.

But it's undeniable that he (known as Old Collar and Cuffs because of his extremely long neck and arms) was what might be called a dodgy character; his tutors and commanding officers despaired of teaching him anything.

And it's long been thought that his death was greeted with a sigh of relief by the RF.
Only Alexandra seems to have sincerely mourned him (but George was always her favorite child).

 

[Roderick]

May I enquire as to where your information is from because it is clear from correspondence between members of the royal family and observations made by those close to them that whatever Albert Victor’s personal deficiencies were he had been a dearly loved family member and was deeply mourned by his immediate and extended family. His death shocked both his family and the nation and it is preposterous to claim that only his mother sincerely mourned him or that the family was `relieved` whatever they privately thought of his abilities to rule in the future.

 

[Mirabel]

The family may have been shocked by his death; maybe they did feel it keenly.
But I still believe that many of them felt a certain relief (Victoria, for example, often bemoaned Eddy's dissipated lifestyle).

And some of the candidates for his bride proved extremely reluctant (even May of Teck was worried about the marriage, and she was desperate).
If she was as grief-stricken over his loss as she claimed to be, she certainly hid it well!

 

[Grandduchess24]

Of course like any mother Queen Alexandra mourned the death of her child but to think at one point he was thought to be jack the ripper!

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Every man in London was thought to be Jack the Ripper, I've just heard a new theory that the Elephant Man was The Ripper. Eddy seems no different than his father, too interested in sex and not much going on upstairs. Many members of that family weren't intellectuals; Eddy's brother George V, His sons David and Albert, Elizabeth Bowes Lyon and even the current queen. The reputation of Albert Victor seems to be more about building one brother up by tearing the other brother down.

 

[Beberoyal]

From various bios I have read, Eddie was not much different from brother George and was in fact somewhat more liberal and personable. George iv was not exactly brilliant, or in possession of much personality or interests, outside of killing animals (and stamps). He became a decent King because he followed the constitution and did not try to take over. But neither brother seemed to have inherited the charm of their father...hard to know where he got that, really, unless from George IV, when he was still youthful. Certainly not from Victoria or Albert...

 

[CyrilVladisla]

As a letter of September 6, 1889 to his cousin, Prince Louis of Battenberg reveals, Prince Albert Victor had fallen in love with Princess Alix of Hesse.
Prince Albert Victor wrote:

I thought you knew I was fond of Alicky. I did not give her the slightest sign that I loved her, although inwardly I was longing to tell her so, but I thought I had better wait my time.
​

Would it have been possible for Albert Victor to have become Viceroy of Ireland?

 

[eya]

Letters suggest Prince Albert Victor was Jack the Ripper | Latest News | Breaking UK News & World News Headlines | Daily Star

 

[Curryong]

Not this old furphy again, for goodness sake! Yes, Prince Albert Victor was once treated for an STD. I have news for the Star and it's not 'breaking'! One bout of gonorrhoea does not a Jack the Ripper make!

At the time Annie Chapman was killed I believe Prince AV was in barracks in Yorkshire, having attended a banquet there the evening before. On later dates he was staying at Birkhill where he shot with his cousin Prince Henry of Prussia and drove over to Balmoral to lunch with his grandmother Queen Victoria. I don't know which part of the Ark the Daily Star have dug this fossil from but they should just quietly rebury it!

By the way James Stephen suffered a head injury in an accident which ultimately led to insanity. Mental illness doesn't mean you are the Ripper either!

 

[Denville]

I would not have said that AV had a difficult relationship with his father. Of course he was worried that the boy was so dim and hard to train and that he also might embroil the family In scandals. And what father hasn't been annoyed by the way his son dressed?
I think that Alix adored all her children and blinded herself a bit to how unsuitable Eddy was for the throne... but Edw VII was more conscious of it.
But I think he loved his son very much and while there may have been moments of feeling "perhaps it was for the best", he grieved for him

 

[Denville]

Every man in London was thought to be Jack the Ripper, I've .

I've just remebered a joke from a comedy programme, with a sketcth about Q Victoria talking to Bertie.... about - well a parody version of Jack the Ripper.
One of them says "Mr Gladstone says that it might be ANYBODY" and the other replies "and EVERYBody says that' its Mr Gladstone"

 

[Curryong]

Possible but not very likely IMO. The Irish Question was a very hot potato politically in the late 19th century, even after Gladstone's First Home Rule bill was defeated in the Commons. The Viceregal position was part ceremonial, it's true, but it still needed a cool head and a certain amount of political nous, not the sort of thing that a rather dim Prince of no particular talent would be adept at.

 

[Denville]

Possible but not very likely IMO. The Irish Question was a very hot potato politically in the late 19th century, even after Gladstone's Home Rule bill was defeated in the Commons. The Vicregal position was part ceremonial, it's true, but it still needed a cool head and a certain amount of political nous, not the sort of thing that a rather dim Prince of no particular talent would be adept at.

Gven AV's lack of brain, I wouldn't even say possible.....

 

[Tsaritsa]

Gven AV's lack of brain, I wouldn't even say possible.....

Might that have been due to his premature birth or a pre-natal accident........or even being dropped as an infant? His eyes seem to be rather unfocused.

 

[Curryong]

He was a premature baby, had to be wrapped in cotton wool at first, so it's possible. However, I have also read that Prince AV may, just may have had hearing difficulties, rather like his mother Alexandra, from childhood on. If so it was undiagnosed. He was regarded as rather a dozy, languid sort of person, though polite and quite amiable. However, like his brother George, prince Eddy was very bad at his lessons, even though he was of course sent to Cambridge to finish off his education. He didn't seem to get much out of it though.

 

[Denville]

He was a premature baby, had to be wrapped in cotton wool at first, so it's possible. However, I have also read that Prince AV may, just may have had hearing difficulties, rather like his mother Alexandra, from childhood on. If so it was undiagnosed. He was regarded as rather a dozy, languid sort of person, though polite and quite amiable. However, like his brother George, prince Eddy was very bad at his lessons, even though he was of course sent to Cambridge to finish off his education. He didn't seem to get much out of it though.

I thought quite a few of Alixs babies were premature.. and while none of them were brainy, none of them were considered such a problem as poor Eddy. He woud hardly "get anything out of Cambridge" when he clearly was barely able to get through a basic education. He does look a bit "out of it" in photos..True it has been speculated that he had hearing difficiulties as well..

 

[Tsaritsa]

I thought quite a few of Alixs babies were premature.. and while none of them were brainy, none of them were considered such a problem as poor Eddy. He woud hardly "get anything out of Cambridge" when he clearly was barely able to get through a basic education. He does look a bit "out of it" in photos..True it has been speculated that he had hearing difficiulties as well..

Well, quite certainly, I imagine we'd all look a bit unfocused if we couldn't hear what was being said!! Totally unsurprising that he didn't "get anything out of Cambridge" OR anywhere else!! However, was not Alexandra's deafness the result of a childhood illness as opposed to something she inherited?

 

[Curryong]

I believe Alix's mother Queen Louise had the same form of deafness as her daughter, which was hereditary otosclerosis. I'll have to look up where I read it but it was quite recently. Queen Victoria noted Louise's deafness when she met her before Bertie and Alix's engagement, but whether it was as bad as Alix's (which worsened with every pregnancy) I don't know. She ended up as deaf as a post, as we know.

I certainly don't think Prince Eddy's was on that scale or it would have been picked up but being a bit hard of hearing AND unacademic certainly would not have helped matters.

 

[Tsaritsa]

I believe Alix's mother Queen Louise had the same form of deafness as her daughter, which was hereditary otosclerosis. I'll have to look up where I read it but it was quite recently. Queen Victoria noted Louise's deafness when she met her before Bertie and Alix's engagement, but whether it was as bad as Alix's (which worsened with every pregnancy) I don't know. She ended up as deaf as a post, as we know.

I certainly don't think Prince Eddy's was on that scale or it would have been picked up but being a bit hard of hearing AND unacademic certainly would not have helped matters.

You are correct, Curryong. I'd forgotten the hereditary otosclerosis.

 

[Denville]

I believe Alix's mother Queen Louise had the same form of deafness as her daughter, which was hereditary otosclerosis. I'll have to look up where I read it but it was quite recently. Queen Victoria noted Louise's deafness when she met her before Bertie and Alix's engagement, but whether it was as bad as Alix's (which worsened with every pregnancy) I don't know. She ended up as deaf as a post, as we know.

I certainly don't think Prince Eddy's was on that scale or it would have been picked up but being a bit hard of hearing AND unacademic certainly would not have helped matters.

its only speculation, though that he had hearing difficulties. But I think it is vrey clear that he was more than just "unacademic". George was unacademic.. Eddy was it appears very slow mentally and also generally letharigic as well....

 

[Roderick]

Eddy's letters show he wasn't particularly "slow mentally" but he would likely be diagnosed with some form of learning difficulty today. One of his army tutors said he had no trouble learning and remembering, but not from books. At least one author noted that his spelling and handwriting were better than George's. As for the physical aspects, in his early life, he was likely just lazy. In his later life, there is now speculation that his oft commented on sallowness and thinness could have been a form of hepatitis he picked up during his tour of India in 1889. From then on, that's when correspondence between his family and doctors of his health "issues" seemed to start.

 

[Curryong]

Yes, Eddy's letters aren't bad. He and George's father Edward VII, had difficulties with books and learning in the schoolroom as well, so it could have been some form of dyslexia combined with disinterest/laziness for both father and son.

 

[Jacknch]

Please note that speculative posts (and responses) without sources have been deleted.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Monologue about Prince Albert Victor

In 1892 Prince Eddy died. "No two brothers could have loved each other more than we did," his brother Prince George wrote to his mother, Alexandra, Princess of Wales. George continued: "Alas! It is only now that I have found out how deeply I have loved him."

After Prince Albert Victor's demise, Princess Mary of Teck became to the press the sole object of the nation's sympathy as a widowed maid. Under an ancient statute for a princess betrothed to a future heir to the throne, there were reports that she could not marry for five years. If these reports are true, could Mary have gotten engaged to Prince Eddy's brother, Prince George?

 

[Curryong]

As Mary and George became engaged only a year and four months after Albert Victor's death then obviously the ancient law, if it existed, was ignored. The country and both families felt that the couple should marry, and that was considered important. There had been endless speculation in the Press for months.

 

[Denville]

After Prince Albert Victor's demise, Princess Mary of Teck became to the press the sole object of the nation's sympathy as a widowed maid. Under an ancient statute for a princess betrothed to a future heir to the throne, there were reports that she could not marry for five years. If these reports are true, could Mary have gotten engaged to Prince Eddy's brother, Prince George?

Since she did get engaged to George after Eddy's death Im not sure wht this ancient statue was

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Do you think that Prince Albert Victor would have been good in the position of Viceroy of Ireland?

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Prince Albert Victor learning skills as a cadet in 1877
http://www.gettyimages.com/license/3365777

 

[CyrilVladisla]

On June 30, 1889 The New York Times reported:
It is stated upon tolerable authority that young Prince Albert Victor, who is known as "Collar and Cuffs", is shortly to be married to his first cousin Princess Victoria of Prussia.

 

[Carin]

Monologue about Prince Albert Victor

In 1892 Prince Eddy died. "No two brothers could have loved each other more than we did," his brother Prince George wrote to his mother, Alexandra, Princess of Wales. George continued: "Alas! It is only now that I have found out how deeply I have loved him."

After Prince Albert Victor's demise, Princess Mary of Teck became to the press the sole object of the nation's sympathy as a widowed maid. Under an ancient statute for a princess betrothed to a future heir to the throne, there were reports that she could not marry for five years. If these reports are true, could Mary have gotten engaged to Prince Eddy's brother, Prince George?

I have just noticed, the situation of George and Mary after Albert Victor died is remarkable very similar to two other Princes and a Princess.
Drumroll please Princes Arthur and Henry and Infanta (Princess) Catalina of Aragon. Lucky George was not the sames as his notorious predecessor. Henry VIII I have never noticed this before.