Wednesday, June 10, 2026

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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