WEBVTT - A Scandal at Tranby Croft 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:12.160 and Mild from Aaron Manky Listener discretion advised. On September eighth, 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:17.360 eighteen ninety, the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward aka the 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:21.439 son of Queen Victoria and the future King Edward the sixth, 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.119 arrived in the town of Hull for a night of 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:30.159 debauchery with a retinue of fellow bachelors and ladies. He 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:35.240 was staying at an italianate mansion given the slightly pretentious 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:39.360 name tran be Croft, an estate owned by the wealthy 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:44.760 shipowner Arthur Wilson. After dinner, someone in the group proposed 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:49.360 that they all play baccarat. Though baccarat had been recently 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:53.200 made illegal if money was involved, it was still all 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:57.960 the rage amongst the upper crust. Albert would frequently spend 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:02.440 evenings at Marlborough House playing a backie, as he called it, 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.000 when he wasn't going to the opera or attending wild 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:10.039 parties with courts girls. Even though there was no baccerrat 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:14.280 table at tranby Croft, the guests made a makeshift one 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:18.200 by pulling three tables together and covering them with a 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:23.119 colored tapestry in case you're unfamiliar. In Baccert, there are 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:27.640 two participants, the player and the banker, who each draw 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:32.160 two cards face down on the table. The other participants 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:36.040 bet on either the player or the banker's hand, depending 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:40.520 on which they believe will add up closest to nine. 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:45.120 That evening, Albert played the banker. He passed out fancy 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:49.400 leather counters stamped on one side with the Prince of 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:53.040 Wales's feathers in gold, and on the other with either 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:58.880 two pounds or five pounds, essentially personalized poker chips. While 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:03.360 the game appeared to be proceeding as normal, Arthur Wilson's 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:10.399 son noticed something suspicious. Another player, Fourth Baronet Sir William 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:14.280 Gordon Cumming, was keeping track of whether the banker or 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:18.800 player won on a piece of scrap paper. Wilson's son, 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.200 a young man in his twenties, thought he saw Gordon 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:26.920 Cumming secretly add extra money to his bet when the 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:31.280 player's cards were good, and withdraw money when the player's 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:35.960 cards were bad. Wilson's son turned to another player at 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.480 the table and told him the man next to me 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:42.600 is cheating. Lo and behold. When that player started observing 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:47.560 Gordon Cummings, he caught him cheating as well. Neither that 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:52.560 player nor Wilson's son said anything at the time, perhaps 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.120 loath to call out a gentleman. But when the game 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.560 ended and the group went off to bed, the two 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:03.720 discs gust what they should do next. Wilson's son was 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.600 relatively low rank. He was considered a lay about who 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:12.160 had dropped out of Cambridge and stagnated. Similarly, his friend 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:17.239 was an officer in Gordon Cumming's regiment. He wouldn't feel 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:22.480 comfortable betraying his superior's loyalty, and so the pair mutually 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:27.560 agreed to hold their tongues. But the cheating wouldn't stay 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:32.480 secret for long. Wilson's son told his brother in law 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:37.160 and his mother, who had exclaimed, for goodness's sake, don't 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:41.160 let us have a scandal here. But despite her very 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:46.680 precient warning, a scandal this became, and unfortunately for her, 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:51.760 a scandal that became named after their house. This minor 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:56.840 cheating scandal among gentlemen friends would spiral out of control 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:01.520 until the Prince of Wales himself, the heir to the throne, 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:05.360 ended up being put on trial. One of the only 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:09.800 times in English history that a senior royal has appeared 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:14.400 in court. I'm Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood. 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:21.720 The evening after that first game of backer at Albert, 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:24.640 Gordon Cumming, the Wilsons and the rest of the crew 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.320 staying at Tranby Croft all sat down for another game. 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:33.960 The Wilsons saw Gordon Cumming cheat again, using the same 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:37.760 method he had attempted the night before. This time, the 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:42.200 Wilson family spoke out. The following day, after watching the 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:46.560 horse races at Doncaster, the Wilsons went to two courtiers 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:50.920 and revealed what they had seen. Despite having no physical 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:54.440 evidence to prove their case, the two courtiers took the 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:58.599 accusation seriously and decided to go to the Prince before 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.960 confronting Gordon c Coming about it. The courtiers decided to 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.440 approach Albert before dinner, and they told him about the 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:13.000 developing scandal. Albert was horrified. He believed the accusation immediately. 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:17.520 It's actually a bit strange how quickly he believed the accusation, 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.760 given that he and Gordon coming were old friends while 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:26.599 the Wilsons were near strangers. Reflecting later, the Prince would 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:30.760 say quote the charges appeared to be so unanimous that 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.920 it was the proper course. No other course was open 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.560 to me than to believe them. They decided that the 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:41.000 best way to quash this cheating scandal would be to 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.680 confront Gordon Coming about it before the next game of 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:49.480 baccarat began. The two courtiers initially went to Gordon Coming 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.679 privately and warned him that he had been charged with cheating, 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.640 but Gordon Comming brushed it off. Quote do you believe 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:02.880 the statements of a parcel of inex vurienced boys? He asked. Later, 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:07.240 the Wilsons sat down with Albert and Gordon Cumming and 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:11.440 made the accusation to his face. Gordon Cumming tried to 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:16.200 dispute the story once again, but Albert retorted, what can 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:20.040 you do? There are five accusers against you. The group 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.840 mandated that Gordon Cumming leave the room for half an hour. 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.680 When he returned, he was asked to sign a document 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:32.160 which stated that Albert, the Wilsons, and the courtiers agreed 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.960 to keep his cheating a secret if Gordon Cumming agreed 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:39.719 to quote never play cards again as long as he lived. 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.880 Gordon Cumming refused to sign the document since it would 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.560 function as an admission of guilt, but the Wilsons were 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:51.360 emphatic that if he didn't they would spread the story 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.760 at the race course the next day, and so finally 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:58.479 he signed the document along with the Prince and the 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:02.360 nine other men who had play laid backrat with him. 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.200 In case you were wondering how much he was being 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:09.320 accused of stealing, in his two games at tranby Croft, 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.480 Gordon Cumming had made two hundred and twenty five pounds 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:18.040 over twenty four thousand pounds in twenty twenty five. Adjusted 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.600 for inflation. This was a significant amount of money, but 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.040 it wouldn't have raised any red flags amongst the high 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:30.880 rolling Marlborough House set. Instead, the real issue with Gordon 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.920 Cumming's cheating was the breach of honor. It indicated that 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:39.520 he could not be trusted. That said, while Gordon Cumbing 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.920 was willing to sign the document under pressure, in the end, 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:48.240 it's still unclear whether or not he really cheated. After all, 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:51.960 the only evidence we have is hearsay from the Wilsons, 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:56.680 who had almost no baccarat experience. A lawyer in nineteen 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.720 seventy seven, looking at the case nearly a century later, 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:05.120 actually suggested that Gordon Cumming must have been innocent, arguing 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:09.240 that a man trying to cheat would not so brazenly 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:13.200 place his extra counters on the table where everyone could 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:17.960 have seen them, But historian Jane Ridley contends that Gordon 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:22.280 Cumming was probably guilty. It turned out that cheating at bacrat, 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:26.560 especially when playing with the prince, was relatively common practice. 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:31.440 Albert insisted on playing baccarat at most country house parties, 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:35.920 much to his courtier's chagrin, who were tired of losing money. 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:40.559 Instead of potentially angering the Prince by refusing to play, 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.560 they would cheat so they could resist the Prince in 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:48.080 secret and avoid losing too much. The two witnesses, who 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.559 were younger members of the court, may not have known 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:55.480 that cheating was so rampant, and naively made it a 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.880 bigger deal than it actually was. One courtier, reflecting on 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.800 this period, said, quote, we all cheated. It was such 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.319 a nuisance being made to play and lose money, and 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:11.720 the young men longed to be dancing instead. But coming 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.120 cheated too much, and he had a lot of enemies 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:19.880 end quote. Still, it was surprising that the Wilsons were 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:23.600 willing to go up against Gordon Comming. Gordon Cumming owned 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:27.560 thirty eight thousand acres of land in Scotland, and he 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:31.199 had a noble lineage going all the way back to Charlemagne. 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:35.240 More importantly, he was close with Albert, even letting the 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:40.280 Prince use his home in Belgravia for secret liaisons. Meanwhile, 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:44.640 the Wilsons were, as Jane Ridley put it, quote second 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:49.600 generation nouveau reche, and they had no specifically close ties 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:53.839 with the Prince. But Gordon Cumming did have a reputation, 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:59.280 particularly one as a lithario. He was known for being handsome, 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.920 with a five mustache, a keen wit, and such a 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:05.960 willingness to speak out of turn that he was called 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:10.000 quote the most arrogant man in London. He was also 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:14.480 quite the womanizer, who managed to I'm quoting him here 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:19.280 perforate as he called it, many women, and had a 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:24.600 controversial preference for married women. He once boasted all the 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:29.719 married women try me. That may have been his downfall. 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:34.880 Two days before Gordon Cumming was caught cheating at tranby Croft, 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:39.559 Albert arrived at Gordon Cumming's London home only to find 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:46.720 him seducing Daisy Brook, Albert's married mistress, much to Albert's humiliation. 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.760 He might have wanted to punish Gordon Cumming, and this 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:54.520 cheating scandal gave him the perfect opportunity to do so, 0:10:55.400 --> 0:11:00.000 but still possibly clouded by a desire for revenge, Albert 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.320 made a major mistake in signing his name on the 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:08.360 document where Gordon Cumming admitted his guilt. His involvement with 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:12.920 the scandal made it much more high profile, and his 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:18.160 signature was evident that he had been gambling illegally. Queen 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:23.120 Victoria later wrote, the incredible and shameful thing is that 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.840 others dragged Albert into it and urged him to sign 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.040 the paper, which of course he should never have done. 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.600 At the time, Albert had no idea what a mistake 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:39.200 he had made. His confrontation with Gordon Cumming seemed to 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.920 settle the cheating dispute, and he had agreed in writing 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:47.400 never to speak of it again. Albert sealed Gordon Cumming's 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.640 signed paper and an account of the events by one 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.480 of his courtiers in a packet to keep it safe. 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:58.200 He left Tranbycroft the morning after and was literally off 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.920 to the races for another day of gambling and cavorting, 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:06.360 but soon the secrets of tranby Croft would be out, 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.319 and they would drag the Prince into a public scandal 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:18.280 beyond his wildest imagination. In January eighteen ninety one, Albert 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:22.400 saw a shocking headline in the American Press. One paper 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:26.719 published a portrait of his mistress, Daisy Brook with the 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:32.640 headline the Babbling Brook. The story detailed the backrat scandal, 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:37.280 including the Prince's involvement, and accused Daisy of leaking it. 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:42.360 Daisy wrote to the editors denying the charges, arguing that 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.640 she was not at tranby Croft at the time and 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:49.560 could not have known about Gordon Cummings cheating, but the 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:53.160 editors replied that the story had been submitted by their 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:58.319 London correspondent, a quote lady moving in the Best Society, 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:02.440 who swore that day had revealed the secret if she 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.280 did spill the beans. Daisy may have learned the story 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:12.000 from Albert himself. After Albert's stint at tranby Croft, he 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.400 met up with the Lord and Lady Brooke for Tea 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.720 and could possibly have told the couple what happened. Daisy, 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:24.160 known for her indiscretion, could have plausibly spread the story 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:28.680 even further In any case, the secret was out. A 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:32.600 few weeks earlier, Gordon Cumming begged Albert to let him 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:36.360 back into his social circle. The forfeiture of your esteem, 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:41.200 he wrote, is the quote cruelest blow of all. But 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:46.880 despite Gordon Cumming's groveling, Albert did not respond. But now 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.840 that the tranby Croft affair was public knowledge, Gordon Cumming 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.960 changed his mind. He wasn't going to make good. He 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:59.200 prepared to bring an action for slander against the Wilson 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:04.160 family and take them to court, claiming five thousand pounds 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:09.320 in damages. The Prince's courtiers tried to avoid the embarrassment 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:13.240 of having Albert appear in civil court by putting a 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.840 military court on the case instead, which would deal with 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:22.200 the matter privately. The Adjunct General initially agreed to adjudicate 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:25.560 the case, but then he changed his mind, believing that 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:30.560 doing so would be an unfair intrusion on justice. The 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:34.720 Prince appealed to his brother Arthur, who was the colonel 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:39.520 in chief of Gordon Cumming's regiment, and he too refused 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:43.600 to get involved. He said, quote, being the Prince's brother, 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.600 it was more than ever incumbent on me not to 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.840 allow myself to be used in a way that might 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.680 cause the world to think that Cumming was being sacrificed 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:57.680 to the prince. He thought, probably correctly, that it would 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:03.360 fuel conspiratorial thinking and mistrust if the military protected the 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.800 monarchy from the normal rule of law. Arthur was right. 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:12.480 Albert was ambassted in the press for attempting to hamper 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:16.840 the court case, while Gordon Cumming looked like a martyr 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:22.400 being unfairly punished by London's elite. Albert braced himself for 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:26.440 the rebuke of his mother, Queen Victoria, and he refused 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.160 to go see her at Windsor if she planned to 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:33.480 scold him about gambling. One of the queen's friends stepped 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:37.240 in and tried to convince her to be gentle with Albert. 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:43.160 Victoria seemed sympathetic to her son, who had been dreadfully 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:46.920 attacked and was in a dreadful state. In her words, 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:51.680 She told Albert about her dislike of gambling in general terms, 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:56.920 but let him off the hook for the most part. Still, 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:01.320 Albert seemed distressed about his upcoming court case. He canceled 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:04.800 his spring trip to the south of France. One side 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.200 of his beard apparently had turned gray from the stress. 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:12.600 He discussed the case constantly and sought his friend's advice 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:15.240 on what to do, but all of them told him 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:18.840 to sit back and let the court proceed. Even the 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.680 Queen acknowledged that although it was a quote sad thing 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.040 that Bertie was dragged into it, the case might be 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:30.360 a quote shock to society and to gambling that would 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:35.360 promote better behavior. She hoped. This silver lining was no 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:39.560 solace to Albert quote. The whole thing has caused me 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:45.080 the most serious annoyance and vexation, he wrote. Finally, the 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.240 trial began on June first, eighteen ninety one. While the 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:53.720 trial was set to start at eleven, ticket holders began 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.000 getting in line at nine thirty, and the court was 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.480 already packed to the brim by ten thirty. The case 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:05.919 had become a popular sensation, inspiring not only extensive press 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:10.800 coverage but also several music hall songs and jokes about 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:16.399 backing a rat get it. The spectators dressed up for 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:20.520 the proceedings, with women in their most fashionable dresses and bonnets, 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.959 armed with opera glasses to get a better look. The 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:29.080 Pall Mall Gazette reported that the court presented an appearance 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.880 which save for the dignity of its own fittings and 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:37.000 its rose of learned looking lawbooks might have been taken 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:41.880 for a theater at a fashionable matinee. A little before eleven, 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:46.800 Albert finally entered the courtroom wearing a black frock coat, 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:49.800 and he took a seat in a red Morocco chair 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:54.560 right in front. The Prince didn't look too stressed as 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.800 the proceedings began. He smiled and kept his arms crossed 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:03.040 throughout the opening stone. The Solicitor General made an opening 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.560 speech on behalf of Gordon coming, and after that he 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:11.399 questioned Gordon coming on the stand, emphasizing his innocence and 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:15.119 that he was unfairly accused. To save the rest of 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:20.600 the court. The Illustrated London News wrote that Gordon Cumming 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:25.240 made an admirable witness, leaning easily on the rail, his 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:29.600 gray gloved left hand resting easily on the bare right, 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:36.440 perfectly dressed, his tones, equitable, firm, neither overhurried nor over deliberate, 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:41.800 cool but not too cool end quote. His performance didn't 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:45.600 seem to threaten Albert. One of Albert's courtiers reported that 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:49.000 the Prince was rather tired after sitting in court for 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:53.000 six hours, but seemed confident that his side would prevail, 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:58.639 saying the case was going strongly against coming. It was 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.720 Albert's turn to testify the next day. He didn't seem 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:08.119 particularly nervous at first, but one journalist observed him stroking 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:12.000 his beard for seven minutes, and another thought he looked 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:17.160 quote anxious and worn on the stand. The Prince responded quickly, 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.160 in such a hoarse, low voice that he was hard 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:24.960 to hear. He seemed non committal, changing his position over 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.000 the course of the twenty minutes he was examined and 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:32.000 flushed when he was asked a tough question. After the 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:35.240 lawyers finished, a man from the jury asked a question 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.439 as banker during the backer at game, did the Prince 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:45.080 notice Gordon coming cheating? Albert said no. Then the juror 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.840 asked if he believed the charges against Gordon coming at 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:53.320 the time, and Albert said yes. Even though journalists and 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:58.040 spectators alike were not entirely impressed with Albert's performance, the 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:03.120 defendants had bigger prop Lycett Green, the member of the 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:07.960 Wilson family most incensed by Gordon. Cummings's conduct, was a 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:12.879 disaster on the stand. According to one report, Green was 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:18.960 quote deplorable in every way, voice, manner, and matter. As 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:23.120 he was cross examined, Green lost control of his emotions 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:27.320 and seemed to barely remember anything about that night. He 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:31.280 did not understand the rules of baccarat and could hardly 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:35.199 explain how Gordon Cumming cheated in the first place. To 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.040 be frank, I don't understand the rules of baccarat either, 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.080 and it seems a little vague to me. But even 0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:45.720 worse on Monday, June eighth, the barrister tore the Wilson's 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:51.440 case apart. He pointed out that nobody except Stanley Wilson 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:56.679 Arthur Wilson's young son saw any foul play, except a 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.520 person who was already expecting to see it. He accused 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.440 Albert and his courtiers of only pretending to be friends 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:09.200 with Gordon, coming discarding him when he threatened the prince's reputation. 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:14.320 The barrister said, quote, there's a strong and subtle influence 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:19.760 of royalty, a personal influence which has perplexed the historian 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:24.800 with unknightly and dishonoring deeds done by men of character, 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:28.679 and done by them to save the interests of a 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:33.320 dynasty or to conceal the foibles of a prince. Even 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:37.080 though the jury and the tide of public opinion seemed 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:40.480 to have turned against the Prince, Albert would have to 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:44.080 wait until the next day to officially hear the verdict. 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:50.680 After seven days of testimony, June ninth, eighteen ninety one 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:55.600 was the final day of the tranby Croft trial. Lord Coleridge, 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:59.520 the Lord Chief Justice, who often incidentally kept a pet 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:03.680 ferret under his robes in the courtroom, spent four hours 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:08.240 summarizing the case. The press reported that in this speech 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:13.560 Lord Coleridge expressed a heavy bias against Gordon Coming, so 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:17.719 much so that the National Observer considered it a quote 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:22.199 melancholy and flagrant violation of the best traditions of the 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:28.159 English bench. After the summary, the jury deliberated. After thirteen minutes, 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:32.919 they emerged with their verdict. Gordon Coming was guilty of 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:37.119 cheating and the Wilsons were off the hook. As the 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:42.000 verdict was announced, spectators booed and hissed, mobbing the Wilson 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:46.320 family as they left the courtroom. Meanwhile, Gordon Coming emerged 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:50.800 as a hero, a martyr. Letters poured in from sympathetic 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:55.440 spectators emphasizing their support of Gordon Coming and his family. 0:22:56.280 --> 0:22:59.840 The press and public alike were shocked and incensed at 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:03.840 the results of the case. On a month long trip 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:08.320 to Ascot, Prince Albert was booed at many public appearances. 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:12.879 Bishops wrote into newspapers to crying the prince's lack of 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:18.240 accountability for his illicit activities. One article in the Review 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:23.000 of Reviews interviewed various country gentlemen who asserted that the 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:28.200 Prince was a quote, wastrel and horrmonger. As The New 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:32.080 York Herald's L. J. Jennings wrote to a courdier, quote, 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:35.240 anyone would think that he had broken all the ten 0:23:35.320 --> 0:23:40.239 commandments at once and murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury. And 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:44.280 it wasn't just the Prince who suffered reputation damage. The 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:49.040 backrat case reflected badly on the entire royal family. An 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:52.720 article in The New York Times wrote, quote the scandal 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:56.959 cannot fail to add to the growing conviction that quote 0:23:57.080 --> 0:24:00.639 royalty is a burden to the British tax payer, for 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:05.480 which he fails to receive any equivalent. Queen Victoria worried 0:24:05.520 --> 0:24:07.520 about the effects of the scandal on the rest of 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:12.200 the monarchy, telling her oldest daughter that the quote light 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:16.040 which has been thrown on Prince Albert's habits alarms and 0:24:16.280 --> 0:24:20.240 shocks people so much for the example is so bad 0:24:20.680 --> 0:24:24.120 the monarchy is almost in danger if he is lowered 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:29.479 and despised. Some royal officials suggested that the Queen issue 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:33.840 a public apology for Prince Albert's behavior, but the Prime 0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:38.000 Minister objected to that course of action, arguing that the 0:24:38.200 --> 0:24:42.560 morals of the prince's private life and reputation were not 0:24:42.840 --> 0:24:48.000 the government concerns. The Prime Minister wrote, I confess, if 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:50.960 I had the advising of him, which I am not 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:54.800 likely to have, I should recommend him to sit still 0:24:55.200 --> 0:24:58.800 and avoid backarat for six months, and at the end 0:24:58.840 --> 0:25:02.080 of that time write a letter to some indiscreet person 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:05.199 who would publish it, saying that at the time of 0:25:05.240 --> 0:25:07.800 the coming case there had been a great deal of 0:25:07.880 --> 0:25:12.200 misunderstanding as to his views, but the circumstances of that 0:25:12.320 --> 0:25:16.000 case had so convinced him of the evil that it 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:18.840 was liable to be caused by the game, that since 0:25:18.880 --> 0:25:21.720 that time he had forbidden it to be played in 0:25:21.800 --> 0:25:26.240 his presence. Such a declaration referring to what he had 0:25:26.280 --> 0:25:30.680 done would suffice to deodorize him of the unpleasant aroma 0:25:30.960 --> 0:25:34.320 which this case has left upon him and his surroundings, 0:25:34.520 --> 0:25:39.760 But nothing else would be sufficient end quote. Prince Albert 0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:43.560 did not follow the Prime Minister's advice. He did write 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:46.280 a private letter to the Archbishop a couple of months 0:25:46.359 --> 0:25:50.760 later proclaiming his horror of gambling, but he undercut his 0:25:50.960 --> 0:25:55.040 repentance by admitting that he thought a measly game of 0:25:55.119 --> 0:25:58.119 cards or a day at the horse races barely counted 0:25:58.160 --> 0:26:01.199 as gambling in the first place. He had plenty of 0:26:01.280 --> 0:26:04.119 ire for the press in the letter, which had been 0:26:04.960 --> 0:26:09.040 very severe and cruel, because they know I cannot defend myself. 0:26:09.800 --> 0:26:13.520 Most of all, Albert was angry at Gordon Cumming himself. 0:26:13.840 --> 0:26:17.719 He wrote that Gordon Cumming was a damned blaggard with 0:26:17.960 --> 0:26:21.040 no sense of wrong or right, who had done his 0:26:21.160 --> 0:26:25.000 utmost to mix his Albert's name up in the matter 0:26:25.160 --> 0:26:30.600 in endeavoring to cloak his iniquities. According to Gordon Cumming's daughter, 0:26:31.160 --> 0:26:35.520 the Prince completely ostracized him from his social circle, saying 0:26:35.600 --> 0:26:38.639 that anyone who spoke to him would never be asked 0:26:38.760 --> 0:26:43.160 to Marlborough House again. Also, no army or navy officer 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:47.960 was to accept invitations to shoot at Gordon Cumming's country estates. 0:26:48.600 --> 0:26:52.560 Gordon Cumming was dismissed from the army, he resigned from 0:26:52.560 --> 0:26:56.000 his social clubs, and none of his close friends ever 0:26:56.040 --> 0:26:59.680 spoke to him again. But not letting the scandal stop 0:26:59.760 --> 0:27:03.280 him in entirely, Gordon Cumming actually got married the day 0:27:03.440 --> 0:27:07.720 after the verdict to a woman named Florence Josephine Garner 0:27:07.960 --> 0:27:12.560 nicknamed Flip Flip, was an orphaned American heiress to a 0:27:12.640 --> 0:27:17.040 textile fortune, and much to her family's chagrin, she had 0:27:17.080 --> 0:27:20.040 refused to break off the engagement in the wake of 0:27:20.119 --> 0:27:24.600 the scandal. Only about six people attended the wedding at 0:27:24.640 --> 0:27:29.399 Holy Trinity Church. When Gordon Cumming returned to Scotland with 0:27:29.520 --> 0:27:32.560 his wife, he was greeted with an address from the 0:27:32.600 --> 0:27:37.840 Provost and quote great rejoicings. Even though he had lost 0:27:37.880 --> 0:27:41.320 his social circle, he at least had his wife's annual 0:27:41.359 --> 0:27:44.399 income of eighty thousand dollars a year to live off of. 0:27:45.080 --> 0:27:49.399 Despite the public scrutiny, the trial didn't really seem to 0:27:49.480 --> 0:27:53.400 affect Albert's behavior in the long run. He still gambled, 0:27:53.480 --> 0:27:57.240 but more discreetly. This time. He did give up backer 0:27:57.280 --> 0:28:05.439 at though choosing to play whist and instead. That's the 0:28:05.480 --> 0:28:08.879 story of the tranby Croft affair, but stick around to 0:28:08.920 --> 0:28:13.760 hear about how Albert's relationship with his mistress, Daisy Babbling 0:28:14.000 --> 0:28:26.720 Brooke leaked to the press. Not long after the backrat 0:28:26.800 --> 0:28:30.600 case died down, Prince Albert was beset with yet another 0:28:30.720 --> 0:28:36.960 public scandal. Lord and Lady Beresford, to other aristocrats, had 0:28:37.000 --> 0:28:40.160 been cast out of Prince Albert's social circle, much to 0:28:40.200 --> 0:28:45.760 their dismay, while Daisy Brooke, Lady Beresford's sworn enemy, was 0:28:45.840 --> 0:28:51.800 publicly welcomed at Marlborough House. Humiliated and seeking revenge and 0:28:51.960 --> 0:28:57.240 hoping to capitalize on the Prince's bad reputation, Lord Beresford 0:28:57.360 --> 0:29:00.520 wrote a letter to the Prince threatening to go public 0:29:00.640 --> 0:29:03.640 with the Prince's affair with Daisy Brook if he didn't 0:29:03.680 --> 0:29:09.120