The Prince of Wales, later to be Edward VII, was a man of massive appetites. As Spartacus Educational reports, he ate “five large meals a day. These meals often consisted of ten or more courses. By the time he was middle-aged he had a waist of forty-eight inches. Edward also smoked twelve large cigars and twenty cigarettes a day.”
In addition, he had an unquenchable thirst for the ladies. In his 2007 book , Anthony John Camp claims to have identified 55 mistresses of the Prince of Wales. He certainly seems to have been a very busy man in the boudoir having also fathered six children with his wife Princess Alexandra of Denmark.
Harriet Sarah Moncreiffe Marries Sir Charles Mordaunt
In 1866, Harriet Moncreiffe, the daughter of a Scottish baronet, married a man 12 years her senior. Her husband, Sir Charles Mordaunt, was a wealthy member of the English landed gentry with a fondness for hunting and fishing; occupations not enjoyed by his spirited and beautiful young wife.
So, while Sir Charles was off killing wildlife Harriet was whiling away the time with a series of lovers. Roger Wilkes writes in that, “it was only when she gave birth to a blind baby daughter, Violet, in February 1870 that she confessed that he was not the father, and blamed the infant’s affliction on a venereal disease.”
She told her husband that among her lovers were Viscount Cole, Sir Frederic Johnstone, and the Prince of Wales.
Sir Charles Petitions for Divorce
Sir Charles was furious and set in motion a process to divorce his wife. An obituary of one of his descendants in notes that, “The subsequent divorce case lasted for several years, with the public treated to further titillation by the Prince’s appearance in the witness-box to deny any impropriety.”
Roger Wilkes suggests the problem was solved by a bribe from the Prince of Wales to induce Viscount Cole to take the fall and admit to adultery with Lady Mordaunt. But, Harriet’s defence was that she was insane and unable to understand the consequences of her actions. The jury agreed with the defence and found her to be suffering from post-partum psychosis. Sir Charles continued to pursue a divorce, which was finally granted in 1875.
Aftermath of Scandalous Affair
Lady Mordaunt was declared to be mad and spent the remaining 35 years of her life in a lunatic asylum.
Biographers disagree on whether or not Lady Mordaunt was insane. Diana Souhami leans to the conclusion that the finding of madness was a convenient way of punishing Harriet and keeping the real details of her extra-marital life under wraps. However, Royce Ryton and Michael Havers in writing about another scandal involving the Prince of Wales assert that Harriet was clearly deranged.
The Prince of Wales suffered no punishment other than a scolding from his mother, Queen Victoria, and was content to carry on his libertine lifestyle.
In an interesting postscript, one of the prince’s later mistresses was Alice Keppel. Her great-granddaughter, Camilla Parker Bowles, became the mistress and, later, wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, the current heir to the throne of England.
Sources
“Royal Mistresses and Bastards: Fact and Fiction, 1714–1936.” Anthony John Camp, self published, Sept, 2007.“Sex Mad - and off to the Asylum to Prove it.” Roger Wilkes, , January 16, 2002.“Sir Richard Hamilton, Bt.” Obituary, , October 3, 2001.“Mrs. Keppel and Her Daughter.” Diana Souhami, St. Martin’s Griffin, 1998.“The Royal Baccarat Scandal.” Royce Ryton and Michael Havers, Samuel French Ltd., 1990.
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