PRINCESS ALEXANDRA OF DENMARK, THE WIFE OF EDWARD ALBERT, PRINCE OF WALES, DID NOT LIKE ALICE KEPPEL : BUT SHE LIKED HER MORE THAN OTHER MISTRESSES

Though their are legends about how well the Prince of Wales wife, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, accepted Alice as a mistress, this was probably not the case.  Yes, by the time Alice Keppel was the King's mistress, Queen Alexandra knew her husband had never been faithful to her. He'd had many mistresses and he was without apology.  However, she expected him and his women to be discreet. Alice Keppel might have been discreet in her way, but her personality was too big and she was so well know. She and the King were going here, there, and everywhere...

Excerpt page 195-196: "A legend persists, to this day, that the attitude of Alexandra, as Princess and Queen, towards her husband's affair with Alice Keppel was one of saintly forbearance.  She is popularly believed to have displayed all those qualities of charity and forgiveness for which she was renowned.  This is not quite accurate. In the first place, Alexandra was never the saint of popular imagination; she had many attractive quantities but could be stubborn and selfish.  her supposed acceptance of her husbands' mistress should simply have been a manifestation of self absorption.  And secondly, there where times when, far from approving of Mrs. Keppel, Alexandra revealed an active dislike.

It is true that the Princess of Wales preferred Alice Kepple to Daisy Warwick. .....And Alexandra would have approved of the fact that Mrs. Keppel did not flaunt her position to the extent that Daisy Warwick had once done. She would have been grateful to Alice Keppel for keeping the Prince in good temper.  But this did not mean that she found her almost continual presence any less irksome.

The Royal family also noted that Alexandra did not appreciate Alice's presence at events that they attended. And if she knew that Alice was going to be at an event, Alexandra was known to not be present.  She went on Mediterranean cruises, paid visits to her family and friends in Denmark, or traveled abroad.

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HOW OLD IS TOO OLD? IS AGE DIFFERANCE A PROBLEM : QUESTIONS FOR MISSY

QUESTION FOR MISSY :

How old is too old?  Older men seem to be very interested in me.  I'm 21. I go out with men who are in their late thirties to late forties basically. Some have been divorced. Some never married.

Roxanne

Minneapolis

ANSWER FOR MISSY:

Roxanne, when we fall in love, we fall in love.  I think when we do, we overlook the practical, such as that, if we are with a person who is a generation or so ahead of us, they may be in a different time of life than we are, or will be.  Think of this. Retirement! A man who is 37 to your 21 is basically going to retire about sixteen years before you!

I think one should consider as a candidate for a relationship those who are seven years younger to those who are seven years older.  At 21 this isn't practical.  It wouldn't even be legal or right for you to date a 14 year old.  For a 30 year old, this would mean dating men between the ages of 23 and 37.  Let's say a man is 50.  I think the age range of women he is dating should be between 43 and 57.

I still see potential generational differences but perhaps what's most important is maturity.

Tradition however, differs. Tradition is that a man marries when he can afford to - and that it is he who chooses who he will marry. And since it can take a while for a man to get there, he may very well choose a much younger woman.  What does afford to marry mean these days when so many women self-support? 

Self assess Roxanne.  Is the relationship a good one?

Love is love and love can be a rare thing in a life and maybe being practical should be overlooked in favor of love!

Missy

ALICE KEPPEL DECORATED THE HOUSES WITH AN ATMOSPHERE OF LUXURY : HER CHILDREN WERE KEPT ASIDE AND HER HUSBAND GAVE HER AND THE KING SPACE

Alice decorated the house to be approved of by the Prince, who it is reasonable to think was paying for most or all of it.  Eventually she would move to an even grander house in Grosvenor Street, and there also decorate to create an atmosphere of luxury.

Excerpt page 195: "The same "atmosphere of luxury" pervaded her bedroom. Its mounds of pillows, cut-glass vases filled with lilies and malmaisons and its rich velvet curtains drawn, in this instance, against  the daylight, all helped to create a suitably seductive setting for her extramarital assignations.  With George Keppel having obligingly gone off to his club - and later his job - for the afternoons, and with the staff remaining discreetly downstairs, the Prince and Mrs. Keppel would be certain of a couple hours to themselves.

The butler would make sure that the children and any visiting friends were kept away in the house, as the Prince showed up and left the house. Yet is is known that the children did understand that the man visiting their mother at the house was a special person.

Oh, I do wonder about so many accommodating husbands.  Let's just say that this was the way of the upper crust of society in those times and may still be the way today.

DO YOU DECORATE YOUR BEDROOM FOR SEDUCTION??

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PURITY

 Image from  Susan Wilkinson on Upsplash

ALICE KEPPEL AND HER FAMILY MOVED HOUSE SO AS TO BETTER ENTERTAIN AS A MISTRESS : SHE WAS GOOD TO THE SERVANTS

The Keppel family moved - George, Alice, and first child daughter Violet - from their home in Wilton Crescent to a more elegant home in Portman Square where Alice conducted her affair with the Prince of Wales.  

The house was six stories and the servants toiled all day but were expected to do their work without being seen.

Except page 191 -192 : ..."It had few of the amenities which were already being installed in comparable houses, such as central heating or the telephone, and food had to be kept cool in an outhouse in the area yard.  Yet it did boast some modern conveniences: it was lit by electricity instead of gas, and husband and wife had a bathroom each - an almost unheard of luxury for a London house. For most homes had no bathroom at all. Where, in some of the grandest country houses, there were one o two bathrooms, they were invariably huge, icy caverns situated at the end of unheateded corridors.

Additionally, the Keppels kept a modest two servants per, when it was typical of rich families to have up to eight servants per person. The servants were not paid well  A typical family had a housekeeper, cook, lady's maid, nurse, housemaids, kitchen maids, scullery maids, laundry maids, maids-of-all-work, as well as a butler, under butler, valets, footmen, pantry boys, lamp boys, odd-jo-men, and kitchen porters - and that was just for the inside of the house.  Much depended on how well they were treated by their employers.

Excerpt page 194: "By all accounts, Alice Keppel was an exceptionally considerate employer.... She was the kind of fair-minded and warmhearted mistress that servants appreciated.... As well as having a staff worthy of her Royal lover, Alice Keppel needed rooms worthy of him..."

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WHITE ORCHIDS

photo by Alexandra Nosova on Upsplash

The Prince of Wales often sent Alice white orchids, one of her favorite flowers.

 

THE MARRIED ALICE KEPPEL HAD PERSONALITY AND BEAUTY BUT MONEY? - NO NOT SO MUCH

Alice's husband, the Honorable George Kepple, a third son, might have been swayed to marry for money, but he married Alice for love. She had no money to speak of herself. She was the youngest child of nine.

Excerpt page 190: "Marrying for love was one thing; trying to live in London society in the 1890's without money was quite another  before many years had passed, the increasingly worldly Alice Keppel had come to appreciate that there was only one sure way by which a married but impoverished society woman to get the bills paid.  This was by adopting that easy-going attitude towards adultery characteristic of the Marlborough House set; she must take a wealthy lover.  It was said that the father of her first daughter, Violet, born in 1894, was the rich Ernest William Beckett, the future Lord Grimthorpe.

(Violet herself hinted that her father was the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII but this is not likely true for they had not met five years earlier.)

No matter where it was that the King and Alice met, it was the Keppel's home where Alice and her husband entertained the him when he was Prince o Wales. The author, Theo Aronson, has something interesting to say about why Alice proved to be the ideal mistress.

Excerpt page 191: "Alice proved to be the ideal mistress for an ageing man She was attractive enough to interest him sexually; entertaining when he was bored, patient when he was cantankerous, sympathetic when he was ill, unobtrusive when he appeared in public.  In his company she was amusing, even-tempered, uncomplaining  Like all successful mistresses, Alice was part-lover, part-wife, part-mother. An added attraction was that she was an accomplished  bridge player.  For the Prince was reaching the ae when a man values a good partner at bridge table as highly as a good partner in bed.  Before long, Alice Keppel had become an indispensable part of the Prince's life: a brilliant threat running through the fabric of his days.

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QUEEN VICTORIA WORE A SNAKE RING : ALICE KEPPEL GAVE THE KING A SNAKE RING TOO : VICTORIAN ERA LOVE MOTIFS

I thought you might be interested in this article about the symbolism of snake jewelry in the Victorian era. It has a drawing of Queen Victoria's snake ring! Snake rings are back in style now.

Excerpt: Serpent motifs became particularly prominent during the reign of Queen Victoria, who received an engagement ring from Prince Albert featuring a snake with an emerald-set head and ruby eyes. This sparked a fascination with snake-inspired designs, making them a defining trend of the Victorian era.

Today, it is believed the ring is buried with Queen Victoria at the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore.

Link here for more interesting information and photos 

LAPADA ORG GUIDE TO VICTORIAN JEWELRY

Now the image above is of a snake swallowing its own tail. I posted it here because our Mistress of the Month, Alice Keppel, gave King Edward VII a diamond ring with this eternal love motif.

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ALICE KEPPEL : THE "MISTRESS IN CHIEF" OF KING EDWARD VII : SHE CALLED HIM 'KINGY' : HE WAS ACCEPTED INTO HER HOME BY HER HUSBAND AND DAUGHTERS TOO

 

ALICE KEPPEL

 Alice Frederica Edmonstone***

"Freddie"

image from Wikimedia Commons

dated as originally painted between 1890 and 1900

1868 - 1947

Our Mistress of the Month here at MISTRESS MANIFESTO is Alice Keppel  who was very well known as King Edward VII's mistress - one of his last extramarital relationships that the very busy King had while married to Queen Alexandra - in her time. Perhaps she is best known today because Queen Camilla is one of her descendants. She was one of Queen Camilla's great grandmothers. ***  Over the last few months I've focused on King Edward VII's mistresses, having read over three books by three authors, that include Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, Agnes Keyser, and Alice Keppel. Alice lived until 1947 making her almost contemporary. But as the King died in 1910, we can say that her relationship with him, that began in about 1898 when she was about 30, lasted until she was about 42 years old. We also know that she was with him to the very end and went hysterical with grief. Perhaps he was the love of her life?

This month I will start with what I noted while reading the book Edward VII's Last Loves by Raymond Lamont-Brown.

Born Alice Frederica Edmonston, by the time she, as Mrs. George Keppel, met the then Prince of Wales he had been married six years and had four children by his wife. Born in 1841, the King was also seventeen years her senior - and had a history of taking much younger mistresses and, as I see it, was totally incapable of limiting himself when it came to women.

Alice came from the upper class of Scottish society, educated people, good schools for the boys, home schooling for the girls - nobility. She was raised by a nanny and a governess and was destined to be an idle married woman of the upper class, but she was a tomboy that her family called "Freddie" and 'outspoken for a girl.'  She was one to want more.

Alice grew up in a castle that had been home to the Edmonstons since the 4th century and had been a gift to them from King Robert III of Scotland. She was the youngest daughter of Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet of Duntreath, and Mary Elizabeth Parsons. Her father died when she was 20. At 23 she married the Honorable George Keppel, the son of the 7th Earl Albemarle, whose family had a history of service to the Royal family. He was not rich though, and had no inheritance to look forward to. She remained married to him.

Alice had two daughters, whose paternity is questioned as not sired by her husband, Violet, a lesbian who became a bit infamous in her time, was born in 1894, and Sonia, whose descendants include Queen Camilla, was born in 1900.  Sonia has been suspected as having been fathered by Edward Albert, Prince of Wales.

As members of Edward Albert's Marlborough House set, Alice had a series of affairs. Her husband did not object when she became the prince's mistress. Once she was Edward's mistress, prior to his becoming King Edward VII, the family benefitted from the King's largess. They moved into a better house where Alice could entertain the King and her daughters came to accept 'Kingy', as their mother called him, as a special visitor. He was good to her children and, to put it right, they knew how to get lost. 

Like other Royal mistresses, notably Daisy Warwick and Lillie Langtry,  Alice was blessed with glorious red hair. Her skin was alabaster and her eyes described as 'turquoise!" *** She was considered intelligent and informed - a good conversationalist. She traveled with the King, to Paris, to resorts, and was accepted by his court. As a result she was called 'Mistress in Chief" by them. The nick-name implies that they accepted that she was in charge of him, though it's clear there were aspects of his life that she had no say in. However, the notion that she was befriended by the Princess Alexandra, 'Alix," the Prince of Wales' wife, as reported by author Raymond Lamont-Brown, is denied in other books.

Now I will continue with this month's primary reference, the third book I read about King Edward VII and his mistress Alice Keppel. Theo Aronson's The King In Love.

She was the youngest of nine children, a girl with an independent spirit.

There are many versions of who introduced Alice and the King but the memories are unified in that the 56 year old King was at once wildly attracted to the 29 year old Mrs.George Keppel. She had the ideal curvatons Victorian figure, glorious hair, small hands and feet. But her personality also shone through.

Excerpt Page 187 : With her short but generously proportioned figure, Alice Keppel exuded an unmistakable sensuousness; there was a warm, almost Mediterranean quality about her appearance. This same exotic aura characterized her manner.  She was vivacious, extrovert, expansive.  Her voice was low and seductive.  In old age one admirer remembered her as having a 'deep throat voice like Garbo.'  Even in those less emancipated days she smoked, using a long cigarette holder; it emphasized her air of sophistication. She dressed with great panache and, after becoming the Prince of Wales' mistress, with greater panache still.  (She did have a Greek grandmother.)

Excerpt page 189 : As she matured, Alice Edmonstone - in spite of her Latin looks - appeared to be developing into a typically aristocratic young Scotswoman; honest, energetic, practical. She had, as they would say, her head screwed on correctly.  But there was more to her than this. Alice Edmonstone had a genuinely kind heart; her nature was without pettiness, prejudice or malice.  She never spoke ill of anyone; she almost never lost her temper. Even as a girl, her tact was remarkable. It was always she who kept the peace between her frequently bickering sisters; who formed the bridge between those who were dogmatic and those who were diffident. Her impartiality her willingness to make allowance, were to become proverbial.

Though we have this lovely portrait to refer to, let it be noted that bit by bit Alice Keppel became fat, dining so well and often with the portly King.

And with that, I say - The next post is coming soon!

Missy

Notes regarding Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom, upon the death of Queen Elizabeth upon her marriage to Prince Charles known as the Duchess of Cornwall. Camilla Parker Bowles's official title is Queen Camilla (or simply Her Majesty The Queen) following the coronation of King Charles III in May 2023. While she was initially referred to as "Queen Consort" upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the title was updated to "Queen" to reflect her position as the wife of the monarch. 

*** I've heard that Princess Diana's eyes were also considered to be turquoise.

*** Camilla denies that she ever offered Charles, Prince of Wales, to be his mistress back in the day when they first had a relationship.)

*** I've seen it spelled both Edmonstone and Edmonston...

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