What to name him. What to name him. Oh, I know: Albert!
Albert Victor was born to Albert Edward (himself the son of QV's beloved Albert Albert. I mean Francis Albert) 8 January, 1864. Two months premature. His mother was, of course, the Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra. Wikipedia uses language that I think was designed to try to be charitable to the lad:
"Albert Victor was known to his family as "Eddy"... Albert Victor's intellect, sexuality and sanity have been the subject of much speculation. Rumours linked him with a scandal involving a homosexual brothel, though there is no firm evidence that he ever went there or was even homosexual. Some authors have argued that he was the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. Contemporary documents indicate that Albert Victor could not have been in London at the time of the murders, and the claim is widely dismissed."
Really? "No firm evidence" - what an unfortunate choice of words when speaking of a homosexual brothel.
This young man has been one of my very favorite royal characters for a very long time, so perhaps we can "delve a little deeper" just to satisfy my own desire to further sensationalize this ever-down-spiraling blog.
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I found this so intriguing that I had to read more. Apparently his tutor thought his mind was "abnormally dormant". It's a little bit of a shame the dormancy didn't spread as far as his left eye.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't so much Albert who was behind the killings, it was his lead doctor with the help of Walter Sickert, who was very familiar with Whitechapel, who carried them out. Read The Final Solution by Steven Knight and Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell. Those two have it nailed shut.
ReplyDeleteI actually went through a stint as a Ripperologist and, though I favor Gull myself, I don't think anything's nailed shut.
ReplyDeleteExcept that Albert Victor was not. I'd read that article in Wikipedia already (I was ahead of you) and found the description of learning orally intriguing. That's a common trait for dyslexics.
I think his sudden quiet vacant stares lend credence to the epilepsy theory. Not that he couldn't also have been dyslexic.
ReplyDeleteNo reason it couldn't have been both, actually.
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