THE BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY ARE NO STRANGERS TO SCANDAL, BUT WILL WE EVER KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR? HISTORIAN AND NOVELIST JA WELLS SPECULATES ON ONE OF THE 18TH CENTURY’S MOST INTRIGUING COVER UPS.

A FORMAL PORTRAIT OF PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR, DUKE OF CLARENCE AND AVONDALE, ELDEST SON OF THE PRINCE OF WALES AND GRANDSON OF QUEEN VICTORIA.

During the summer of 1889, Prince Albert Victor’s name was conveniently omitted when a scandal broke in British newspapers.

A north London newspaper editor had authorised a report connecting Mr Henry James Fitzroy, Earl Of Euston to the goings on in a brothel in Cleveland Street, adjacent to Tottenham Court Road. When the Earl subsequently sued for libel, the story caught the interest of The Times.

The eldest son of the Duke Of Grafton, the Earl was strolling down Piccadilly one evening when a tout handed him a card printed with a name and address: Charles Hammond, 19 Cleveland Street, London. Invitingly declared under the name and the address was “Poses Plastiques”. The Earl put the card in his pocket. A week later, curiosity got the better of him and he paid Cleveland Street a visit.

It was Mr Charles Hammond himself who let the Earl Of Euston inside the house and, after showing him into the parlour, explained the nature of the “poses plastiques” (“flexible poses”) in no uncertain terms. The Earl later told the court he was disgusted by what he heard and threatened Hammond with violence unless he let him out the door immediately (as reported in The Times’).