In late November 1861, the Prince of Wales received a letter from his father, Prince Albert, that would change the royal family forever. The 19-year-old heir to the British throne had been carrying on a secret affair with Nelly Clifton, an Irish actress and sex worker, and his parents had learned every detail. The letter revealed that Albert knew exactly how his son had met Clifton and even the specific location where the pair had slept together. Despite signing the letter with the words, “I have not the heart to see you from your unhappy father,” Albert decided he needed to confront Bertie in person to ensure his message had landed.
On the rainy evening of November 25, 1861, Albert traveled to Cambridge to see his son. Their conversation lasted until the early hours of the morning, and when the Prince Consort returned to Windsor the next day, he had fallen seriously ill. Within weeks, Albert was dead, and Queen Victoria would never fully forgive her eldest son for what she believed was his role in her husband’s death. The relationship between Bertie and his parents had been troubled from the start.
Born on November 9, 1841, the future King Edward VII was seen by his mother as a disappointment. Victoria referred to him simply as “the boy” and wrote privately about her sorrow over his perceived shortcomings, complaining about his appearance and expressing “bitter disappointment” and “awful anxiety” about his future. The affair with Clifton began in the late summer of 1861 after the pair likely met at a party in England. When Bertie traveled to Ireland for ten weeks of military training with the Grenadier Guards, Clifton joined him at the army camp.
The Prince of Wales documented their encounters in his engagement diary with three entries for September reading “NC first time,” “NC second time,” and “NC third time. ”
Bertie and Clifton continued their relationship when the prince returned to Cambridge. On his 20th birthday, he made his most audacious move yet, sneaking Clifton into his rooms at Windsor Castle. That decision turned a private scandal into the most talked-about moment of the entire affair.
At the start of that same year, Prince Albert had been working on securing a strategically advantageous marriage for his son, aware that Bertie needed a suitable wife before he could choose one for himself or disgrace the monarchy. Days after the Windsor Castle incident, court gossip George Bing confirmed the rumors to an horrified Prince Consort. Victoria later described the moment Albert learned of the affair in a letter to her daughter, writing of “that face of heavenly woe and sorrow which was so dreadful to witness. ” Albert then wrote a lengthy, anguished letter to his son, expressing his deep disappointment and asking what had become of Bertie’s “religion, morality, decency, and honor.
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Albert’s health deteriorated after his rainy walk with Bertie in Cambridge. He was diagnosed with typhoid fever on December 7, and his condition worsened. Throughout his illness, Albert never asked about his eldest son, and it was Princess Alice who sent the telegram informing Bertie of his father’s condition. Albert died on the evening of December 14, 1861.
Although Victoria initially wanted Bertie near her in the days after the death, she soon found she could barely stand to look at him. She wrote, “Oh, that boy, much as I pity, I never can or shall look at him without a shudder. ”
The tragedy appeared to shock Bertie into compliance with his parents’ plans.
He began actively courting Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the 17-year-old daughter of the King of Denmark, whom Albert had been desperate for the Prince of Wales to marry.