Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky Listener discretion advised. On September eighth,
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety, the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward aka the
Speaker 1: son of Queen Victoria and the future King Edward the sixth,
Speaker 1: arrived in the town of Hull for a night of
Speaker 1: debauchery with a retinue of fellow bachelors and ladies. He
Speaker 1: was staying at an italianate mansion given the slightly pretentious
Speaker 1: name tran be Croft, an estate owned by the wealthy
Speaker 1: shipowner Arthur Wilson. After dinner, someone in the group proposed
Speaker 1: that they all play baccarat. Though baccarat had been recently
Speaker 1: made illegal if money was involved, it was still all
Speaker 1: the rage amongst the upper crust. Albert would frequently spend
Speaker 1: evenings at Marlborough House playing a backie, as he called it,
Speaker 1: when he wasn't going to the opera or attending wild
Speaker 1: parties with courts girls. Even though there was no baccerrat
Speaker 1: table at tranby Croft, the guests made a makeshift one
Speaker 1: by pulling three tables together and covering them with a
Speaker 1: colored tapestry in case you're unfamiliar. In Baccert, there are
Speaker 1: two participants, the player and the banker, who each draw
Speaker 1: two cards face down on the table. The other participants
Speaker 1: bet on either the player or the banker's hand, depending
Speaker 1: on which they believe will add up closest to nine.
Speaker 1: That evening, Albert played the banker. He passed out fancy
Speaker 1: leather counters stamped on one side with the Prince of
Speaker 1: Wales's feathers in gold, and on the other with either
Speaker 1: two pounds or five pounds, essentially personalized poker chips. While
Speaker 1: the game appeared to be proceeding as normal, Arthur Wilson's
Speaker 1: son noticed something suspicious. Another player, Fourth Baronet Sir William
Speaker 1: Gordon Cumming, was keeping track of whether the banker or
Speaker 1: player won on a piece of scrap paper. Wilson's son,
Speaker 1: a young man in his twenties, thought he saw Gordon
Speaker 1: Cumming secretly add extra money to his bet when the
Speaker 1: player's cards were good, and withdraw money when the player's
Speaker 1: cards were bad. Wilson's son turned to another player at
Speaker 1: the table and told him the man next to me
Speaker 1: is cheating. Lo and behold. When that player started observing
Speaker 1: Gordon Cummings, he caught him cheating as well. Neither that
Speaker 1: player nor Wilson's son said anything at the time, perhaps
Speaker 1: loath to call out a gentleman. But when the game
Speaker 1: ended and the group went off to bed, the two
Speaker 1: discs gust what they should do next. Wilson's son was
Speaker 1: relatively low rank. He was considered a lay about who
Speaker 1: had dropped out of Cambridge and stagnated. Similarly, his friend
Speaker 1: was an officer in Gordon Cumming's regiment. He wouldn't feel
Speaker 1: comfortable betraying his superior's loyalty, and so the pair mutually
Speaker 1: agreed to hold their tongues. But the cheating wouldn't stay
Speaker 1: secret for long. Wilson's son told his brother in law
Speaker 1: and his mother, who had exclaimed, for goodness's sake, don't
Speaker 1: let us have a scandal here. But despite her very
Speaker 1: precient warning, a scandal this became, and unfortunately for her,
Speaker 1: a scandal that became named after their house. This minor
Speaker 1: cheating scandal among gentlemen friends would spiral out of control
Speaker 1: until the Prince of Wales himself, the heir to the throne,
Speaker 1: ended up being put on trial. One of the only
Speaker 1: times in English history that a senior royal has appeared
Speaker 1: in court. I'm Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood.
Speaker 1: The evening after that first game of backer at Albert,
Speaker 1: Gordon Cumming, the Wilsons and the rest of the crew
Speaker 1: staying at Tranby Croft all sat down for another game.
Speaker 1: The Wilsons saw Gordon Cumming cheat again, using the same
Speaker 1: method he had attempted the night before. This time, the
Speaker 1: Wilson family spoke out. The following day, after watching the
Speaker 1: horse races at Doncaster, the Wilsons went to two courtiers
Speaker 1: and revealed what they had seen. Despite having no physical
Speaker 1: evidence to prove their case, the two courtiers took the
Speaker 1: accusation seriously and decided to go to the Prince before
Speaker 1: confronting Gordon c Coming about it. The courtiers decided to
Speaker 1: approach Albert before dinner, and they told him about the
Speaker 1: developing scandal. Albert was horrified. He believed the accusation immediately.
Speaker 1: It's actually a bit strange how quickly he believed the accusation,
Speaker 1: given that he and Gordon coming were old friends while
Speaker 1: the Wilsons were near strangers. Reflecting later, the Prince would
Speaker 1: say quote the charges appeared to be so unanimous that
Speaker 1: it was the proper course. No other course was open
Speaker 1: to me than to believe them. They decided that the
Speaker 1: best way to quash this cheating scandal would be to
Speaker 1: confront Gordon Coming about it before the next game of
Speaker 1: baccarat began. The two courtiers initially went to Gordon Coming
Speaker 1: privately and warned him that he had been charged with cheating,
Speaker 1: but Gordon Comming brushed it off. Quote do you believe
Speaker 1: the statements of a parcel of inex vurienced boys? He asked. Later,
Speaker 1: the Wilsons sat down with Albert and Gordon Cumming and
Speaker 1: made the accusation to his face. Gordon Cumming tried to
Speaker 1: dispute the story once again, but Albert retorted, what can
Speaker 1: you do? There are five accusers against you. The group
Speaker 1: mandated that Gordon Cumming leave the room for half an hour.
Speaker 1: When he returned, he was asked to sign a document
Speaker 1: which stated that Albert, the Wilsons, and the courtiers agreed
Speaker 1: to keep his cheating a secret if Gordon Cumming agreed
Speaker 1: to quote never play cards again as long as he lived.
Speaker 1: Gordon Cumming refused to sign the document since it would
Speaker 1: function as an admission of guilt, but the Wilsons were
Speaker 1: emphatic that if he didn't they would spread the story
Speaker 1: at the race course the next day, and so finally
Speaker 1: he signed the document along with the Prince and the
Speaker 1: nine other men who had play laid backrat with him.
Speaker 1: In case you were wondering how much he was being
Speaker 1: accused of stealing, in his two games at tranby Croft,
Speaker 1: Gordon Cumming had made two hundred and twenty five pounds
Speaker 1: over twenty four thousand pounds in twenty twenty five. Adjusted
Speaker 1: for inflation. This was a significant amount of money, but
Speaker 1: it wouldn't have raised any red flags amongst the high
Speaker 1: rolling Marlborough House set. Instead, the real issue with Gordon
Speaker 1: Cumming's cheating was the breach of honor. It indicated that
Speaker 1: he could not be trusted. That said, while Gordon Cumbing
Speaker 1: was willing to sign the document under pressure, in the end,
Speaker 1: it's still unclear whether or not he really cheated. After all,
Speaker 1: the only evidence we have is hearsay from the Wilsons,
Speaker 1: who had almost no baccarat experience. A lawyer in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy seven, looking at the case nearly a century later,
Speaker 1: actually suggested that Gordon Cumming must have been innocent, arguing
Speaker 1: that a man trying to cheat would not so brazenly
Speaker 1: place his extra counters on the table where everyone could
Speaker 1: have seen them, But historian Jane Ridley contends that Gordon
Speaker 1: Cumming was probably guilty. It turned out that cheating at bacrat,
Speaker 1: especially when playing with the prince, was relatively common practice.
Speaker 1: Albert insisted on playing baccarat at most country house parties,
Speaker 1: much to his courtier's chagrin, who were tired of losing money.
Speaker 1: Instead of potentially angering the Prince by refusing to play,
Speaker 1: they would cheat so they could resist the Prince in
Speaker 1: secret and avoid losing too much. The two witnesses, who
Speaker 1: were younger members of the court, may not have known
Speaker 1: that cheating was so rampant, and naively made it a
Speaker 1: bigger deal than it actually was. One courtier, reflecting on
Speaker 1: this period, said, quote, we all cheated. It was such
Speaker 1: a nuisance being made to play and lose money, and
Speaker 1: the young men longed to be dancing instead. But coming
Speaker 1: cheated too much, and he had a lot of enemies
Speaker 1: end quote. Still, it was surprising that the Wilsons were
Speaker 1: willing to go up against Gordon Comming. Gordon Cumming owned
Speaker 1: thirty eight thousand acres of land in Scotland, and he
Speaker 1: had a noble lineage going all the way back to Charlemagne.
Speaker 1: More importantly, he was close with Albert, even letting the
Speaker 1: Prince use his home in Belgravia for secret liaisons. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the Wilsons were, as Jane Ridley put it, quote second
Speaker 1: generation nouveau reche, and they had no specifically close ties
Speaker 1: with the Prince. But Gordon Cumming did have a reputation,
Speaker 1: particularly one as a lithario. He was known for being handsome,
Speaker 1: with a five mustache, a keen wit, and such a
Speaker 1: willingness to speak out of turn that he was called
Speaker 1: quote the most arrogant man in London. He was also
Speaker 1: quite the womanizer, who managed to I'm quoting him here
Speaker 1: perforate as he called it, many women, and had a
Speaker 1: controversial preference for married women. He once boasted all the
Speaker 1: married women try me. That may have been his downfall.
Speaker 1: Two days before Gordon Cumming was caught cheating at tranby Croft,
Speaker 1: Albert arrived at Gordon Cumming's London home only to find
Speaker 1: him seducing Daisy Brook, Albert's married mistress, much to Albert's humiliation.
Speaker 1: He might have wanted to punish Gordon Cumming, and this
Speaker 1: cheating scandal gave him the perfect opportunity to do so,
Speaker 1: but still possibly clouded by a desire for revenge, Albert
Speaker 1: made a major mistake in signing his name on the
Speaker 1: document where Gordon Cumming admitted his guilt. His involvement with
Speaker 1: the scandal made it much more high profile, and his
Speaker 1: signature was evident that he had been gambling illegally. Queen
Speaker 1: Victoria later wrote, the incredible and shameful thing is that
Speaker 1: others dragged Albert into it and urged him to sign
Speaker 1: the paper, which of course he should never have done.
Speaker 1: At the time, Albert had no idea what a mistake
Speaker 1: he had made. His confrontation with Gordon Cumming seemed to
Speaker 1: settle the cheating dispute, and he had agreed in writing
Speaker 1: never to speak of it again. Albert sealed Gordon Cumming's
Speaker 1: signed paper and an account of the events by one
Speaker 1: of his courtiers in a packet to keep it safe.
Speaker 1: He left Tranbycroft the morning after and was literally off
Speaker 1: to the races for another day of gambling and cavorting,
Speaker 1: but soon the secrets of tranby Croft would be out,
Speaker 1: and they would drag the Prince into a public scandal
Speaker 1: beyond his wildest imagination. In January eighteen ninety one, Albert
Speaker 1: saw a shocking headline in the American Press. One paper
Speaker 1: published a portrait of his mistress, Daisy Brook with the
Speaker 1: headline the Babbling Brook. The story detailed the backrat scandal,
Speaker 1: including the Prince's involvement, and accused Daisy of leaking it.
Speaker 1: Daisy wrote to the editors denying the charges, arguing that
Speaker 1: she was not at tranby Croft at the time and
Speaker 1: could not have known about Gordon Cummings cheating, but the
Speaker 1: editors replied that the story had been submitted by their
Speaker 1: London correspondent, a quote lady moving in the Best Society,
Speaker 1: who swore that day had revealed the secret if she
Speaker 1: did spill the beans. Daisy may have learned the story
Speaker 1: from Albert himself. After Albert's stint at tranby Croft, he
Speaker 1: met up with the Lord and Lady Brooke for Tea
Speaker 1: and could possibly have told the couple what happened. Daisy,
Speaker 1: known for her indiscretion, could have plausibly spread the story
Speaker 1: even further In any case, the secret was out. A
Speaker 1: few weeks earlier, Gordon Cumming begged Albert to let him
Speaker 1: back into his social circle. The forfeiture of your esteem,
Speaker 1: he wrote, is the quote cruelest blow of all. But
Speaker 1: despite Gordon Cumming's groveling, Albert did not respond. But now
Speaker 1: that the tranby Croft affair was public knowledge, Gordon Cumming
Speaker 1: changed his mind. He wasn't going to make good. He
Speaker 1: prepared to bring an action for slander against the Wilson
Speaker 1: family and take them to court, claiming five thousand pounds
Speaker 1: in damages. The Prince's courtiers tried to avoid the embarrassment
Speaker 1: of having Albert appear in civil court by putting a
Speaker 1: military court on the case instead, which would deal with
Speaker 1: the matter privately. The Adjunct General initially agreed to adjudicate
Speaker 1: the case, but then he changed his mind, believing that
Speaker 1: doing so would be an unfair intrusion on justice. The
Speaker 1: Prince appealed to his brother Arthur, who was the colonel
Speaker 1: in chief of Gordon Cumming's regiment, and he too refused
Speaker 1: to get involved. He said, quote, being the Prince's brother,
Speaker 1: it was more than ever incumbent on me not to
Speaker 1: allow myself to be used in a way that might
Speaker 1: cause the world to think that Cumming was being sacrificed
Speaker 1: to the prince. He thought, probably correctly, that it would
Speaker 1: fuel conspiratorial thinking and mistrust if the military protected the
Speaker 1: monarchy from the normal rule of law. Arthur was right.
Speaker 1: Albert was ambassted in the press for attempting to hamper
Speaker 1: the court case, while Gordon Cumming looked like a martyr
Speaker 1: being unfairly punished by London's elite. Albert braced himself for
Speaker 1: the rebuke of his mother, Queen Victoria, and he refused
Speaker 1: to go see her at Windsor if she planned to
Speaker 1: scold him about gambling. One of the queen's friends stepped
Speaker 1: in and tried to convince her to be gentle with Albert.
Speaker 1: Victoria seemed sympathetic to her son, who had been dreadfully
Speaker 1: attacked and was in a dreadful state. In her words,
Speaker 1: She told Albert about her dislike of gambling in general terms,
Speaker 1: but let him off the hook for the most part. Still,
Speaker 1: Albert seemed distressed about his upcoming court case. He canceled
Speaker 1: his spring trip to the south of France. One side
Speaker 1: of his beard apparently had turned gray from the stress.
Speaker 1: He discussed the case constantly and sought his friend's advice
Speaker 1: on what to do, but all of them told him
Speaker 1: to sit back and let the court proceed. Even the
Speaker 1: Queen acknowledged that although it was a quote sad thing
Speaker 1: that Bertie was dragged into it, the case might be
Speaker 1: a quote shock to society and to gambling that would
Speaker 1: promote better behavior. She hoped. This silver lining was no
Speaker 1: solace to Albert quote. The whole thing has caused me
Speaker 1: the most serious annoyance and vexation, he wrote. Finally, the
Speaker 1: trial began on June first, eighteen ninety one. While the
Speaker 1: trial was set to start at eleven, ticket holders began
Speaker 1: getting in line at nine thirty, and the court was
Speaker 1: already packed to the brim by ten thirty. The case
Speaker 1: had become a popular sensation, inspiring not only extensive press
Speaker 1: coverage but also several music hall songs and jokes about
Speaker 1: backing a rat get it. The spectators dressed up for
Speaker 1: the proceedings, with women in their most fashionable dresses and bonnets,
Speaker 1: armed with opera glasses to get a better look. The
Speaker 1: Pall Mall Gazette reported that the court presented an appearance
Speaker 1: which save for the dignity of its own fittings and
Speaker 1: its rose of learned looking lawbooks might have been taken
Speaker 1: for a theater at a fashionable matinee. A little before eleven,
Speaker 1: Albert finally entered the courtroom wearing a black frock coat,
Speaker 1: and he took a seat in a red Morocco chair
Speaker 1: right in front. The Prince didn't look too stressed as
Speaker 1: the proceedings began. He smiled and kept his arms crossed
Speaker 1: throughout the opening stone. The Solicitor General made an opening
Speaker 1: speech on behalf of Gordon coming, and after that he
Speaker 1: questioned Gordon coming on the stand, emphasizing his innocence and
Speaker 1: that he was unfairly accused. To save the rest of
Speaker 1: the court. The Illustrated London News wrote that Gordon Cumming
Speaker 1: made an admirable witness, leaning easily on the rail, his
Speaker 1: gray gloved left hand resting easily on the bare right,
Speaker 1: perfectly dressed, his tones, equitable, firm, neither overhurried nor over deliberate,
Speaker 1: cool but not too cool end quote. His performance didn't
Speaker 1: seem to threaten Albert. One of Albert's courtiers reported that
Speaker 1: the Prince was rather tired after sitting in court for
Speaker 1: six hours, but seemed confident that his side would prevail,
Speaker 1: saying the case was going strongly against coming. It was
Speaker 1: Albert's turn to testify the next day. He didn't seem
Speaker 1: particularly nervous at first, but one journalist observed him stroking
Speaker 1: his beard for seven minutes, and another thought he looked
Speaker 1: quote anxious and worn on the stand. The Prince responded quickly,
Speaker 1: in such a hoarse, low voice that he was hard
Speaker 1: to hear. He seemed non committal, changing his position over
Speaker 1: the course of the twenty minutes he was examined and
Speaker 1: flushed when he was asked a tough question. After the
Speaker 1: lawyers finished, a man from the jury asked a question
Speaker 1: as banker during the backer at game, did the Prince
Speaker 1: notice Gordon coming cheating? Albert said no. Then the juror
Speaker 1: asked if he believed the charges against Gordon coming at
Speaker 1: the time, and Albert said yes. Even though journalists and
Speaker 1: spectators alike were not entirely impressed with Albert's performance, the
Speaker 1: defendants had bigger prop Lycett Green, the member of the
Speaker 1: Wilson family most incensed by Gordon. Cummings's conduct, was a
Speaker 1: disaster on the stand. According to one report, Green was
Speaker 1: quote deplorable in every way, voice, manner, and matter. As
Speaker 1: he was cross examined, Green lost control of his emotions
Speaker 1: and seemed to barely remember anything about that night. He
Speaker 1: did not understand the rules of baccarat and could hardly
Speaker 1: explain how Gordon Cumming cheated in the first place. To
Speaker 1: be frank, I don't understand the rules of baccarat either,
Speaker 1: and it seems a little vague to me. But even
Speaker 1: worse on Monday, June eighth, the barrister tore the Wilson's
Speaker 1: case apart. He pointed out that nobody except Stanley Wilson
Speaker 1: Arthur Wilson's young son saw any foul play, except a
Speaker 1: person who was already expecting to see it. He accused
Speaker 1: Albert and his courtiers of only pretending to be friends
Speaker 1: with Gordon, coming discarding him when he threatened the prince's reputation.
Speaker 1: The barrister said, quote, there's a strong and subtle influence
Speaker 1: of royalty, a personal influence which has perplexed the historian
Speaker 1: with unknightly and dishonoring deeds done by men of character,
Speaker 1: and done by them to save the interests of a
Speaker 1: dynasty or to conceal the foibles of a prince. Even
Speaker 1: though the jury and the tide of public opinion seemed
Speaker 1: to have turned against the Prince, Albert would have to
Speaker 1: wait until the next day to officially hear the verdict.
Speaker 1: After seven days of testimony, June ninth, eighteen ninety one
Speaker 1: was the final day of the tranby Croft trial. Lord Coleridge,
Speaker 1: the Lord Chief Justice, who often incidentally kept a pet
Speaker 1: ferret under his robes in the courtroom, spent four hours
Speaker 1: summarizing the case. The press reported that in this speech
Speaker 1: Lord Coleridge expressed a heavy bias against Gordon Coming, so
Speaker 1: much so that the National Observer considered it a quote
Speaker 1: melancholy and flagrant violation of the best traditions of the
Speaker 1: English bench. After the summary, the jury deliberated. After thirteen minutes,
Speaker 1: they emerged with their verdict. Gordon Coming was guilty of
Speaker 1: cheating and the Wilsons were off the hook. As the
Speaker 1: verdict was announced, spectators booed and hissed, mobbing the Wilson
Speaker 1: family as they left the courtroom. Meanwhile, Gordon Coming emerged
Speaker 1: as a hero, a martyr. Letters poured in from sympathetic
Speaker 1: spectators emphasizing their support of Gordon Coming and his family.
Speaker 1: The press and public alike were shocked and incensed at
Speaker 1: the results of the case. On a month long trip
Speaker 1: to Ascot, Prince Albert was booed at many public appearances.
Speaker 1: Bishops wrote into newspapers to crying the prince's lack of
Speaker 1: accountability for his illicit activities. One article in the Review
Speaker 1: of Reviews interviewed various country gentlemen who asserted that the
Speaker 1: Prince was a quote, wastrel and horrmonger. As The New
Speaker 1: York Herald's L. J. Jennings wrote to a courdier, quote,
Speaker 1: anyone would think that he had broken all the ten
Speaker 1: commandments at once and murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't just the Prince who suffered reputation damage. The
Speaker 1: backrat case reflected badly on the entire royal family. An
Speaker 1: article in The New York Times wrote, quote the scandal
Speaker 1: cannot fail to add to the growing conviction that quote
Speaker 1: royalty is a burden to the British tax payer, for
Speaker 1: which he fails to receive any equivalent. Queen Victoria worried
Speaker 1: about the effects of the scandal on the rest of
Speaker 1: the monarchy, telling her oldest daughter that the quote light
Speaker 1: which has been thrown on Prince Albert's habits alarms and
Speaker 1: shocks people so much for the example is so bad
Speaker 1: the monarchy is almost in danger if he is lowered
Speaker 1: and despised. Some royal officials suggested that the Queen issue
Speaker 1: a public apology for Prince Albert's behavior, but the Prime
Speaker 1: Minister objected to that course of action, arguing that the
Speaker 1: morals of the prince's private life and reputation were not
Speaker 1: the government concerns. The Prime Minister wrote, I confess, if
Speaker 1: I had the advising of him, which I am not
Speaker 1: likely to have, I should recommend him to sit still
Speaker 1: and avoid backarat for six months, and at the end
Speaker 1: of that time write a letter to some indiscreet person
Speaker 1: who would publish it, saying that at the time of
Speaker 1: the coming case there had been a great deal of
Speaker 1: misunderstanding as to his views, but the circumstances of that
Speaker 1: case had so convinced him of the evil that it
Speaker 1: was liable to be caused by the game, that since
Speaker 1: that time he had forbidden it to be played in
Speaker 1: his presence. Such a declaration referring to what he had
Speaker 1: done would suffice to deodorize him of the unpleasant aroma
Speaker 1: which this case has left upon him and his surroundings,
Speaker 1: But nothing else would be sufficient end quote. Prince Albert
Speaker 1: did not follow the Prime Minister's advice. He did write
Speaker 1: a private letter to the Archbishop a couple of months
Speaker 1: later proclaiming his horror of gambling, but he undercut his
Speaker 1: repentance by admitting that he thought a measly game of
Speaker 1: cards or a day at the horse races barely counted
Speaker 1: as gambling in the first place. He had plenty of
Speaker 1: ire for the press in the letter, which had been
Speaker 1: very severe and cruel, because they know I cannot defend myself.
Speaker 1: Most of all, Albert was angry at Gordon Cumming himself.
Speaker 1: He wrote that Gordon Cumming was a damned blaggard with
Speaker 1: no sense of wrong or right, who had done his
Speaker 1: utmost to mix his Albert's name up in the matter
Speaker 1: in endeavoring to cloak his iniquities. According to Gordon Cumming's daughter,
Speaker 1: the Prince completely ostracized him from his social circle, saying
Speaker 1: that anyone who spoke to him would never be asked
Speaker 1: to Marlborough House again. Also, no army or navy officer
Speaker 1: was to accept invitations to shoot at Gordon Cumming's country estates.
Speaker 1: Gordon Cumming was dismissed from the army, he resigned from
Speaker 1: his social clubs, and none of his close friends ever
Speaker 1: spoke to him again. But not letting the scandal stop
Speaker 1: him in entirely, Gordon Cumming actually got married the day
Speaker 1: after the verdict to a woman named Florence Josephine Garner
Speaker 1: nicknamed Flip Flip, was an orphaned American heiress to a
Speaker 1: textile fortune, and much to her family's chagrin, she had
Speaker 1: refused to break off the engagement in the wake of
Speaker 1: the scandal. Only about six people attended the wedding at
Speaker 1: Holy Trinity Church. When Gordon Cumming returned to Scotland with
Speaker 1: his wife, he was greeted with an address from the
Speaker 1: Provost and quote great rejoicings. Even though he had lost
Speaker 1: his social circle, he at least had his wife's annual
Speaker 1: income of eighty thousand dollars a year to live off of.
Speaker 1: Despite the public scrutiny, the trial didn't really seem to
Speaker 1: affect Albert's behavior in the long run. He still gambled,
Speaker 1: but more discreetly. This time. He did give up backer
Speaker 1: at though choosing to play whist and instead. That's the
Speaker 1: story of the tranby Croft affair, but stick around to
Speaker 1: hear about how Albert's relationship with his mistress, Daisy Babbling
Speaker 1: Brooke leaked to the press. Not long after the backrat
Speaker 1: case died down, Prince Albert was beset with yet another
Speaker 1: public scandal. Lord and Lady Beresford, to other aristocrats, had
Speaker 1: been cast out of Prince Albert's social circle, much to
Speaker 1: their dismay, while Daisy Brooke, Lady Beresford's sworn enemy, was
Speaker 1: publicly welcomed at Marlborough House. Humiliated and seeking revenge and
Speaker 1: hoping to capitalize on the Prince's bad reputation, Lord Beresford
Speaker 1: wrote a letter to the Prince threatening to go public
Speaker 1: with the Prince's affair with Daisy Brook if he didn't
Speaker 1: accept Lady Beresford back into Marrowsborough House. Lord Beresford gave
Speaker 1: the letter to another friend of Albert and instructed him
Speaker 1: to pass it along to the Prime Minister, warning of
Speaker 1: grave events in store. The friend refused and tried to
Speaker 1: convince the Beresfords to back down if he could convince
Speaker 1: the Prince to privately apologize, but it was too late.
Speaker 1: Another society woman published a pamphlet that detailed the Prince's
Speaker 1: affair with Lady Brook and their beef with Lord and
Speaker 1: Lady Beresford. This pamphlet caused a stir. According to a
Speaker 1: report from Truth magazine, hostesses who managed to get hold
Speaker 1: of a copy held readings only to quote find their
Speaker 1: drawing rooms more crowded than if a dozen prima donnas
Speaker 1: were on the bill of fare. The Duchess of Manchester
Speaker 1: hosted one of these readings, and the Prince was so
Speaker 1: incensed that he refused to speak to her for over
Speaker 1: a decade. The Prime Minister finally stepped in and convinced
Speaker 1: Lady Brooke to withdraw from court to protect her reputation.
Speaker 1: He then drafted letters to try to repair the relationship
Speaker 1: between Albert and the Beresfords for them both to sign.
Speaker 1: Lord Beresford admitted that circumstances had occurred, which led Lady
Speaker 1: Charles Beresford and her friends to believe it was his
Speaker 1: Royal Highness's intention publicly to wound her feelings, while the
Speaker 1: Prince signed a document that denied he ever had such
Speaker 1: an intention. It's incredible how adult men and some of
Speaker 1: the most powerful people in the country can behave so
Speaker 1: much like high schoolers. Noble Blood is a production of
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble
Speaker 1: Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing
Speaker 1: and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit
Speaker 1: and Julia Milani. The show is edited and produced by
Speaker 1: Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima il KLi and executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Mankey, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.