Reputation of Prince Albert Victor ( Prince Eddy) and the Cleveland Street Affair 1889

Extract adapted from a longer (unpublished) piece -'Podge and Prejudice- The Fall of Lord Arthur Somerset '

"Reputation, reputation, reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself and what remains is bestial." Cassio in Othello Act 2 Scene 3

Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward or 'Prince Eddy', was born on 8th January 1864, the eldest son of (Albert) Edward Prince of Wales, or 'Bertie' and Princess Alexandra of Denmark : Whilst pregnant, Princess Alexandra took part in some frantic sledging across the ice at Windsor, which may have induced a premature birth of up to two months. Baby Eddy weighed about four pounds when born.COOK And Prince Eddy, though second in line to the throne, predeceased both his parents and his grandmother Queen Victoria, dying from influenza shortly after his twenty eighth birthday, on 14th January 1892. His younger brother became King George V in 1910, when their father Edward VII died.

Ir's hard to find a 'king we never had' with such a dismal reputation as Prince Eddy. Anti -monarchists highlight the disadvantages of hereditary titles when focusing on how Eddy floundered at anything he attempted, whether it was in failing at this studies at Cambridge University or a poor performance with serving with the 10th Hussars.WILSON At times Eddy found it difficult to keep to Royal protocol, appearing as self conscious and awkward. RIDLEY,

And now a swift online search will yield quite ludicrous claims that he may have been Jack the Ripper. In fact Eddy had alibis for at least three of the nights when murders were committed in Whitechapel.

Where controversy gets more complex is Prince Eddy's alleged involvement in the Cleveland Street Scandal. In July 1889 Post Office officials investigating a possible theft of cash at the Central London Telegraph Office building searched telegram boys, amongst them was fifteen year old Charles Thomas Swinscote. Young Charles had 18 shillings in his possession, far more than his weekly pay. After being interviewed, Charles admitted that he had been working for a Mr Hammond at 19 Cleveland Street, where he had being paid for going to bed with men. Charles named other telegram boys involved, who also had a sideline working there. Mr Hammond was tipped off and swiftly left town, number 19 was immediately closed for business. Another of the boys, Arthur Newlove, blurted out whilst being interviewed that it was jolly unfair that the lads were in trouble when higher up clients such as Lord Arthur Somerset* (third son to the Duke of Beaufort, and a Major in the Royal Horse Guards, known as 'Podge' to his friends), a Major Jarovis (who has not been traced) and Lord Euston were being left alone. HYDE, SIMPSON-CHESTER-LEITCH et al

Once 19 Cleveland Street had closed, police surveillance showed Lord Arthur Somerset going twice to the property, meeting a guardsman outside. It is possible that he and his gentleman friend were visiting for some privacy rather than to pay for sex with clients. However, there was certainly evidence that Lord Arthur was known to the young men and boys who were available-at least two were interviewed knew Lord Arthur as a customer who used the name 'Mr Brown' : And as Lord Arthur was employed as the Prince of Wales's head equestrian and part of his charmed 'Marlborough House' set, the scene was set for a royal sandal.

Lord Arthur was interviewed twice by police, the records do not survive. His solicitor Arthur Newton advised that they were prepared to reveal the name of a very important visitor to 19 Cleveland Street, with the initials 'P.A.V' . The Director of Public Prosecutions backed down, worried that this was a sly reference to Prince Albert Victor. HYDE et al

The authorities ended up prosecuting a couple of minor figures involved in the running of 19 Cleveland Street who plead guilty to lesser charges, hoping to avoid a major scandal. Unfortunately reporters were present at the trial. And in the age of telegraph, details could be transmitted round the world as well as within Britain and the newspapers made much of it including the New York Times of the 10th November 1889. RIDLEY. British papers such as Reynolds News and even local press were interested though more restrained in giving names of potential clients . ( For an extensive selection of international newspaper coverage of the affair, please see NORTON.)

A small circulation radical newspaper, The North London Press, was rash enough to call out what it saw as an establishment cover-up and to name Lord Euston as being a client of 19 Cleveland Street, also stating that he had fled to Peru. In fact Lord Euston was still in England, and sued for libel. His lordship claimed that he was lured into calling at the establishment thinking that he was visiting a (heterosexual) strip tease. Upon realising that the venue largely catered for men who like men, he called a member of staff an 'infernal scoundrel' and threatened to punch him, then left. Lord Euston won his libel case and the editor of said newspaper, Ernest Parke, was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment but released after six months. HYDE,

Further investigations showed that Lord Arthur Somerset was in fact financially supporting a youth by the name of George Allies, whom he had also procured to work at 19 Cleveland Street, who subsequently left London and went to live in Suffolk. Lord Arthur and his solicitor Arthur Newton attempted to launch a scheme whereby George Allies and others including Charles Swinscowe would leave Britain and go to Australia. They would be paid to do so, and receive money until they could obtain employment. Police surveillance busted this operation. HYDE, SIMPSON-CHESTER-LEITCH Arthur Newton was subsequently tried and convicted for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Eventually a warrant was issued for Lord Arthur's arrest on 12th November 1889 on three criminal charges. It appears that an aide of the Prime Minister Lord Salisbury tipped him off, and Lord Arthur had left the country several weeks before. After trying to settle in the Ottoman Empire, then Austria, he lived in France from 1890 until his death in 1926.The warrant was never rescinded and his lordship never returned to Britain ( as far as we know).

It is hard to prove a negative . It is not possible to demonstrate that Prince Eddy had convincing alibis on every occasion that 19 Cleveland was open for business to place him elsewhere. It is also possible the Prince Eddy may have been homosexual, bisexual or perhaps what would now be termed 'heteroflexible'.But this is still speculation.

The evidence against Prince Eddy as a client of 19 Cleveland Street is based on dubious sources . Firstly Arthur Newton, the solicitor representing Lord Arthur Somerset, was trying to get his client out of a precarious situation. Secondly, they would be sharp enough to realise that Prince Eddy, aged 25, was in the European royal marriage market, and the very accusation that he was homosexual could damage his chances.And proceeded to take the chance.It is clear that they were prepared to bribe witnesses and disrupt judicial proceedings The establishment may have decided to avoid any potential scandal.

Lord Arthur with his attraction to (underage) teenage boys would still be committing a criminal offence under today's legislation. But, as all sexual contact between men irrespective of age was illegal via the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, having a prince second in line to the throne and /or a key member of the Prince of Wales' household committing criminal offences could have sparked off a constitutional crisis. And if Prince Eddy ever got to ascend the throne, he would also be head of the Church of England generating even more problems if a connected to a homosexual scandal.

What seems to be missing from so much of the debate whether or not Prince Eddy was visiting 19 Cleveland Street was that the Prince had some very passionate -but doomed - affairs with young women. Just as the Scandal was breaking on 7th October 1889, Eddy was writing in a letter to his cousin Louis Battenberg about his love for his cousin Princess Alexandra ('Aliky') of Hesse. Aliky rejected him, she was never really interested, but married Nicholas Romanov the Czarevich,and later became the Empress of Russia,murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. CADBURY,COOK

Eddy swiftly moved on to Hélène d'Orleans, a French Princess though largely raised in Britain. and daughter of Comte D'Orleans, a claimant to the throne of France. But the country was by now a republic.And Hélène was also a Catholic. Their relationship was doomed, even though Queen Victoria had some sympathy for their plight. The second in line to the throne of Britain could not marry a Catholic, and it was not advisable for Eddy to be seen to support a revival of the French monarchy. CADBURY. Very much on the rebound, a distraught Prince Eddy started a new relationship with Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, known as 'May'. They got engaged six weeks before Prince Eddy died. The following year May married Prince George, and became Queen Mary when George ascended the throne in 1910. Moreover, on a more casual level, as princes, both Eddy and George shared a female mistress who lived in St John's Wood,,COOk. So certainly the question of Prince Eddy's sexuality is not conclusive.

A.N.Wilson in his extensive biography of Queen Victoria wrote,

"There was never any firm evidence that Eddy was bisexual, let alone homosexual, but he was the sort of man to whom scandal stuck like burrs" WILSON

Yet already by 1890 a new royal controversy emerged: Bertie, Prince of Wales was found to have been playing the banned card game of Baccarat at a house party held at Tranby Croft . A row broke out when a player was accused of cheating leading to court action. The Prince had to appear as a witness.The goings on at 19 Cleveland Street became overshadowed by this new scandal. And once Eddy died the Cleveland Street affair became a footnote in history until the 1970's.

Picture Credit

Photo from negative by Alexander Bassano, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Notes

* To confuse matters, there was another Arthur Somerset who served the Prince of Wales as an equerry and whose name appears at various Royal engagements at this time.

** Have only just got hold of 'The Cleveland Street Scandal-How Victorian Establishment Was Almost Brought to Its Knees',Neil Root, History Press, 2025. The first new book exclusively about the Affair for fifty years.

Sources

On line

Youtube

Prince Eddy The King We Never Had , part of the 'British History Documentaries' series.( Accessed 5th January 2026)

Rictor Morton newspaper coverage of the Cleveland Street Scandal . An excellent survey of newspaper coverage of the time, from Britain and abroad from rictornorton.co.uk

Websites

Unofficial Royalty Balanced Web Post about Prince Eddy.

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Reputation of Prince Albert Victor ( Prince Eddy) and the Cleveland Street Affair 1889

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