Hesse.
House party, 1860s. Lady-in-waiting Lady Macclesfield, the “precise little stick” who delivered Eddy, looks up at Alix. Oliver Montagu, equerry and “wicked boy,” lies on the grass at Alix’s feet. Bertie stands behind holding his hat.
Goodwood party, 1860s. Bertie poses in a white suit (left). Alix, fourth left, appears to ignore him.
Alix, with her hair down, convalescing from her illness with a seedy-looking Bertie at her side, 1867. Georgie and Eddy in frocks.
Hunting party at Kimbolton, 1868. Bertie stands on the balcony (middle). Beside him is Lord Hartington, and next to Hartington is his mistress Louise, Duchess of Manchester. Below, hatless, is Louise’s husband, the Duke of Manchester.
The Prince of Wales, c. 1867: Known for his womanizing and gambling, Bertie was an unpopular figure at this time.
Susan Vane-Tempest, Bertie’s discarded mistress. “I cannot describe to you how wretched I am,” she wrote him.
John Brown. Adored by Victoria but hated by the household, who called him “The Queen’s stallion.”
Danish sisters: Alix (right) and Minnie “double dressing.”
Minnie’s Russian family. The czar, Alexander II (seated) in front of his daughter, the Grand Duchess Marie, who married Affie in 1874. Alix’s sister Minnie sits with her baby, the future Nicholas II, on her knee. Her bearlike husband, the czarevitch Sasha, later Alexander III, stands behind her.
Alix (left) and (right) Oliver Montagu, her close friend and admirer. His support helped her survive Bertie’s unfaithfulness and Eddy’s death.
Bertie in Ceylon, 1875.
Lillie Langtry, the Professional Beauty (PB) whose Grecian profile took London—and Bertie—by storm.
Alix, photographed by Alexander Bassano in 1881. Note the collar of pearls concealing the scar on her neck.
Jennie Churchill, Bertie’s
chère amie.
“Had Lady Randolph Churchill been like her face she would’ve governed the world.”
Bertie and his family, 1884. From left: Georgie; Maud; Alix, looking thinner and prettier than her daughters; Eddy, breaking sartorial convention by wearing a wing collar, flamboyant tie, and spats with a kilt; Louise, Victoria.
Bertie’s daughters. From left: Maud, Victoria, and Louise, 1887. Unkindly known as “the Hags,” they still wore identical dresses though Louise was already twenty.
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, shortly before the Mayerling tragedy.
Daisy Brooke entertains the Prince of Wales at Easton Lodge, November 1891. From right: “Fat Mary,” Duchess of Teck; Princess May; the Marquis de Soveral, “the Blue Monkey” (seated); Daisy. Lord Brooke sits in front of Bertie.
Daisy with her son Maynard shortly after her “abdication” as Bertie’s mistress.
Queen Victoria, photographed by Alexander Bassano in 1882 wearing her crown made of one thousand diamonds. She refused to share power with Bertie.
May of Teck: engagement photo, 1891. Just over six weeks later her fiancé, Eddy, was dead; in 1893 she married his brother George.
Britain’s German family: Queen Victoria and Bertie at Coburg, 1894. From left: Arthur, Duke of Connaught; Affie, now Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Kaiser William II; his mother, Vicky, the Empress Frederick. The kaiser’s quarrel with his mother, his uncle Bertie, and his grandmother transformed dynastic diplomacy.
House party at Rufford with the Saviles, 1899. Consuelo Marlborough is on Bertie’s left. Mrs. Keppel sits, far right; as in all photographs, her gaze is firmly fixed on Bertie.
Invitation to the Coronation that was postponed because of Bertie’s operation.
The King in his study in 1901. Overwork made him ill in the first year of his reign.
Bertie recuperating after the Coronation with Alix on a cruise aboard the
Victoria and Albert.
Charlotte Knollys (left), woman of the bedchamber to Alix for more than fifty years, and Francis Knollys (right), her brother, Bertie’s private secretary. After forty years with
House party, 1860s. Lady-in-waiting Lady Macclesfield, the “precise little stick” who delivered Eddy, looks up at Alix. Oliver Montagu, equerry and “wicked boy,” lies on the grass at Alix’s feet. Bertie stands behind holding his hat.
Goodwood party, 1860s. Bertie poses in a white suit (left). Alix, fourth left, appears to ignore him.
Alix, with her hair down, convalescing from her illness with a seedy-looking Bertie at her side, 1867. Georgie and Eddy in frocks.
Hunting party at Kimbolton, 1868. Bertie stands on the balcony (middle). Beside him is Lord Hartington, and next to Hartington is his mistress Louise, Duchess of Manchester. Below, hatless, is Louise’s husband, the Duke of Manchester.
The Prince of Wales, c. 1867: Known for his womanizing and gambling, Bertie was an unpopular figure at this time.
Susan Vane-Tempest, Bertie’s discarded mistress. “I cannot describe to you how wretched I am,” she wrote him.
John Brown. Adored by Victoria but hated by the household, who called him “The Queen’s stallion.”
Danish sisters: Alix (right) and Minnie “double dressing.”
Minnie’s Russian family. The czar, Alexander II (seated) in front of his daughter, the Grand Duchess Marie, who married Affie in 1874. Alix’s sister Minnie sits with her baby, the future Nicholas II, on her knee. Her bearlike husband, the czarevitch Sasha, later Alexander III, stands behind her.
Alix (left) and (right) Oliver Montagu, her close friend and admirer. His support helped her survive Bertie’s unfaithfulness and Eddy’s death.
Bertie in Ceylon, 1875.
Lillie Langtry, the Professional Beauty (PB) whose Grecian profile took London—and Bertie—by storm.
Alix, photographed by Alexander Bassano in 1881. Note the collar of pearls concealing the scar on her neck.
Jennie Churchill, Bertie’s
chère amie.
“Had Lady Randolph Churchill been like her face she would’ve governed the world.”
Bertie and his family, 1884. From left: Georgie; Maud; Alix, looking thinner and prettier than her daughters; Eddy, breaking sartorial convention by wearing a wing collar, flamboyant tie, and spats with a kilt; Louise, Victoria.
Bertie’s daughters. From left: Maud, Victoria, and Louise, 1887. Unkindly known as “the Hags,” they still wore identical dresses though Louise was already twenty.
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, shortly before the Mayerling tragedy.
Daisy Brooke entertains the Prince of Wales at Easton Lodge, November 1891. From right: “Fat Mary,” Duchess of Teck; Princess May; the Marquis de Soveral, “the Blue Monkey” (seated); Daisy. Lord Brooke sits in front of Bertie.
Daisy with her son Maynard shortly after her “abdication” as Bertie’s mistress.
Queen Victoria, photographed by Alexander Bassano in 1882 wearing her crown made of one thousand diamonds. She refused to share power with Bertie.
May of Teck: engagement photo, 1891. Just over six weeks later her fiancé, Eddy, was dead; in 1893 she married his brother George.
Britain’s German family: Queen Victoria and Bertie at Coburg, 1894. From left: Arthur, Duke of Connaught; Affie, now Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Kaiser William II; his mother, Vicky, the Empress Frederick. The kaiser’s quarrel with his mother, his uncle Bertie, and his grandmother transformed dynastic diplomacy.
House party at Rufford with the Saviles, 1899. Consuelo Marlborough is on Bertie’s left. Mrs. Keppel sits, far right; as in all photographs, her gaze is firmly fixed on Bertie.
Invitation to the Coronation that was postponed because of Bertie’s operation.
The King in his study in 1901. Overwork made him ill in the first year of his reign.
Bertie recuperating after the Coronation with Alix on a cruise aboard the
Victoria and Albert.
Charlotte Knollys (left), woman of the bedchamber to Alix for more than fifty years, and Francis Knollys (right), her brother, Bertie’s private secretary. After forty years with
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