114
A Collection of Medals to Members of the Nobility and the Royal Household
Description
The important group of five awarded to Alice, the Honourable Mrs. George Keppel, British Red Cross Society, the notorious Mistress of King Edward VII, an international Grande Dame, and the great-grandmother of H.R.H. the Duchess of Cornwall
1914 Star (Hon. A. F. Keppel, B.R.C.S. & O.St.J.J.); British War and Victory Medals (The Hon. A. F. Keppel, B.R.C.S. & O.St.J.J.); Coronation 1902, silver; Jubilee 1935, good very fine (5) £2000-3000
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Provenance: Sale of Objets de Vitrine from the Collection of Mrs. George Keppel, Sotheby’s, Geneva, 11 May 1989. Following the death of Mrs George Keppel in 1947 her personal objects, including her medals, were placed in a black strong box and deposited with Drummond’s Bank. It remained unopened until the death of her daughter, the Hon. Mrs Sonia Cubitt, in 1986, the contents being subsequently sold by Sotheby’s.
Alice Frederica, The Honourable Mrs. George Keppel was born Alice Frederica Edmonstone on 29 April 1868, the eighth daughter of Admiral Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet, of Dunreath Castle, Stirlingshire. Her childhood was spent at the family seat, where she was happiest striding across the moors, and was never above ‘joining the gillies in a wild game of cricket.’ In 1891, at the age of twenty-two, she married Lieutenant the Hon. George Keppel of the Gordon Highlanders. The third son of the seventh Earl of Albermarle, he was, according to the Duchess of Marlborough, ‘one of those tall handsome Englishmen who, immaculately dressed, proclaim the perfect gentleman’. They were ideally suited to each other, and although possessing relatively little money, the good looking and well connected Keppels quickly established themselves in society, through Alice’s ‘vivacity and wit, her knowledge of what went on in the narrow but fascinating world in which she lived and her equal capacity for recounting and listening to anecdotes.’ Indeed they were soon both in step with the mores of the racy Marlborough House Set, and it has been suggested that Alice’s first child was fathered not by George but by the wealthy Ernest Beckett, the future Lord Grimthorpe.
In 1898, Alice Keppel met Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, for the first time. She was twenty-nine and at the height of her attractiveness. He was fifty-seven, easily bored and accustomed to exercising a sort of droit de seigneur over the ladies of high society. Besides innumerable brief encounters, Edward had enjoyed two long term mistresses; Lillie Langtry and Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick. There appear to be several versions of the first meeting between Alice Keppel and Edward. One has it that she caught the eye of the Prince during an inspection of the Norfolk Yeomanry, of which he was Colonel-in-Chief, and George Keppel a serving officer. The Prince, it is said, immediately turned to Lord Leicester and asked him to present her. A few days later, the Prince spotted the ‘delectable Alice’ at Sandown races on the arm of Sir John Leslie who was summoned forthwith into the Royal presence. As Leslie made to present her, a look ‘blending shrewd appraisement and admiration’ crossed the Royal visage as the Prince again cast an eye over Mrs. Keppel. ‘A glance in Leslie’s direction indicated that his presence was no longer required.’ The Baroness de Stoeckl, however, maintained in her memoirs that it was she, who ‘knowing something of the Prince’s taste in women and thinking that he might be amused by the young Mrs. Keppel, brought them together at ‘a small luncheon party during the Prince’s annual spring holiday to the Riviera’.
Early that same year the Prince paid his first visit to the Keppels' London home. ‘Bertie was immediately attracted by his hostess’s wit and husky voice, her disarming manner and unselfconscious charm, and that evening led to a relationship which warmed with the speed of a bonfire and lasted unwaveringly to the end of his life.’ George Keppel, a gentleman to his fingertips, accepted the situation unquestioningly, and made his own arrangements elsewhere. Although it seemed to some members of Society that he was altogether too tolerant. ‘Had Keppel been put up for membership at some London clubs’, it was said, ‘the black balls would have come rolling out like caviar.’ His acquiescence was such that he even allowed himself to be given a job by the King’s sailing companion, Sir Thomas Lipton, which involved frequent and lengthy trips to the United States.
Like Lillie Langtry before her, Alice was obliged to move into a grander house befitting the role of royal mistress, and the Keppels left Wilton Crescent to take up residence at 30 Portman Square, where most of the royal affair was to be conducted. If an extraordinarily smart coupé with a coachman whose hat bore no cockade, stood outside the house, Alice’s friends knew better than to ring the doorbell. The King was usually accompanied on these visits by Caesar, his badly behaved fox terrier, and on occasion would entertain the Keppel children by allowing them to slide pieces of toast down his trousers, butter side down, whilst betting on which piece would arrive at the bottom first. The eldest of the Keppel children, Violet, later liked people to think that she was the King’s daughter, but she was not, ‘Les dates ne constataient’. She had in fact been born on 2 June 1894, and was to gain notoriety in 1918 through her turbulent affair with her life long friend Vita Sackville-West, although married to Royal Horse Guards major, Denys Trefusis. The Keppels' other daughter, Sonia, was born on 24 May 1900 and claimed that her mother had told her that two weeks earlier she had celebrated the Relief of Mafeking sitting astride a lion in Trafalgar Square.
The liaison was welcomed in several unexpected quarters. Alice became a prerequisite of a successful house-party in all but the stuffier households where the Prince was to be entertained. In fact, ‘Most hostesses were relieved when Mrs. Keppel was on hand to cope with Bertie.’ She always ‘knew the choicest scandal, the price of stocks, the latest political move. No one could better amuse the Prince during the tedium of long dinners’. However whenever she was barred from one of the great houses, she quite often triumphed over the embarrassment. On one such occasion, when that pillar of Victorian rectitude, Lord Salisbury, had invited the Prince and Princess of Wales to Hatfield, Alice accepted an invitation to stay at nearby Knebworth, the seat of Lord Lytton. On hearing that Alice was staying close by, the entire Hatfield party, to Salisbury’s chagrin, travelled over to Knebworth for tea.
Courtiers too had good reason to be thankful for the Keppels’ discretion. Twice before, the Prince’s less than ideal lifestyle had resulted in his appearance in court and rocked the Monarchy. Firstly in connection with the Tranby Croft affair which led to ‘Social Death’ for his old friend Lt-Col Sir William Gordon-Cumming, and secondly as a ‘witness’ in the Mordaunt divorce case. Whilst the Princess of Wales was unable to profess any liking for Alice Keppel, she was tolerant of the situation and most probably grateful that she improved her husband’s temper, and did not flaunt her position in the way that Daisy Warwick had once d...
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This lot description has been truncated. Please see the Dix Noonan Webb website for the full lot description.
1914 Star (Hon. A. F. Keppel, B.R.C.S. & O.St.J.J.); British War and Victory Medals (The Hon. A. F. Keppel, B.R.C.S. & O.St.J.J.); Coronation 1902, silver; Jubilee 1935, good very fine (5) £2000-3000
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Provenance: Sale of Objets de Vitrine from the Collection of Mrs. George Keppel, Sotheby’s, Geneva, 11 May 1989. Following the death of Mrs George Keppel in 1947 her personal objects, including her medals, were placed in a black strong box and deposited with Drummond’s Bank. It remained unopened until the death of her daughter, the Hon. Mrs Sonia Cubitt, in 1986, the contents being subsequently sold by Sotheby’s.
Alice Frederica, The Honourable Mrs. George Keppel was born Alice Frederica Edmonstone on 29 April 1868, the eighth daughter of Admiral Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet, of Dunreath Castle, Stirlingshire. Her childhood was spent at the family seat, where she was happiest striding across the moors, and was never above ‘joining the gillies in a wild game of cricket.’ In 1891, at the age of twenty-two, she married Lieutenant the Hon. George Keppel of the Gordon Highlanders. The third son of the seventh Earl of Albermarle, he was, according to the Duchess of Marlborough, ‘one of those tall handsome Englishmen who, immaculately dressed, proclaim the perfect gentleman’. They were ideally suited to each other, and although possessing relatively little money, the good looking and well connected Keppels quickly established themselves in society, through Alice’s ‘vivacity and wit, her knowledge of what went on in the narrow but fascinating world in which she lived and her equal capacity for recounting and listening to anecdotes.’ Indeed they were soon both in step with the mores of the racy Marlborough House Set, and it has been suggested that Alice’s first child was fathered not by George but by the wealthy Ernest Beckett, the future Lord Grimthorpe.
In 1898, Alice Keppel met Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, for the first time. She was twenty-nine and at the height of her attractiveness. He was fifty-seven, easily bored and accustomed to exercising a sort of droit de seigneur over the ladies of high society. Besides innumerable brief encounters, Edward had enjoyed two long term mistresses; Lillie Langtry and Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick. There appear to be several versions of the first meeting between Alice Keppel and Edward. One has it that she caught the eye of the Prince during an inspection of the Norfolk Yeomanry, of which he was Colonel-in-Chief, and George Keppel a serving officer. The Prince, it is said, immediately turned to Lord Leicester and asked him to present her. A few days later, the Prince spotted the ‘delectable Alice’ at Sandown races on the arm of Sir John Leslie who was summoned forthwith into the Royal presence. As Leslie made to present her, a look ‘blending shrewd appraisement and admiration’ crossed the Royal visage as the Prince again cast an eye over Mrs. Keppel. ‘A glance in Leslie’s direction indicated that his presence was no longer required.’ The Baroness de Stoeckl, however, maintained in her memoirs that it was she, who ‘knowing something of the Prince’s taste in women and thinking that he might be amused by the young Mrs. Keppel, brought them together at ‘a small luncheon party during the Prince’s annual spring holiday to the Riviera’.
Early that same year the Prince paid his first visit to the Keppels' London home. ‘Bertie was immediately attracted by his hostess’s wit and husky voice, her disarming manner and unselfconscious charm, and that evening led to a relationship which warmed with the speed of a bonfire and lasted unwaveringly to the end of his life.’ George Keppel, a gentleman to his fingertips, accepted the situation unquestioningly, and made his own arrangements elsewhere. Although it seemed to some members of Society that he was altogether too tolerant. ‘Had Keppel been put up for membership at some London clubs’, it was said, ‘the black balls would have come rolling out like caviar.’ His acquiescence was such that he even allowed himself to be given a job by the King’s sailing companion, Sir Thomas Lipton, which involved frequent and lengthy trips to the United States.
Like Lillie Langtry before her, Alice was obliged to move into a grander house befitting the role of royal mistress, and the Keppels left Wilton Crescent to take up residence at 30 Portman Square, where most of the royal affair was to be conducted. If an extraordinarily smart coupé with a coachman whose hat bore no cockade, stood outside the house, Alice’s friends knew better than to ring the doorbell. The King was usually accompanied on these visits by Caesar, his badly behaved fox terrier, and on occasion would entertain the Keppel children by allowing them to slide pieces of toast down his trousers, butter side down, whilst betting on which piece would arrive at the bottom first. The eldest of the Keppel children, Violet, later liked people to think that she was the King’s daughter, but she was not, ‘Les dates ne constataient’. She had in fact been born on 2 June 1894, and was to gain notoriety in 1918 through her turbulent affair with her life long friend Vita Sackville-West, although married to Royal Horse Guards major, Denys Trefusis. The Keppels' other daughter, Sonia, was born on 24 May 1900 and claimed that her mother had told her that two weeks earlier she had celebrated the Relief of Mafeking sitting astride a lion in Trafalgar Square.
The liaison was welcomed in several unexpected quarters. Alice became a prerequisite of a successful house-party in all but the stuffier households where the Prince was to be entertained. In fact, ‘Most hostesses were relieved when Mrs. Keppel was on hand to cope with Bertie.’ She always ‘knew the choicest scandal, the price of stocks, the latest political move. No one could better amuse the Prince during the tedium of long dinners’. However whenever she was barred from one of the great houses, she quite often triumphed over the embarrassment. On one such occasion, when that pillar of Victorian rectitude, Lord Salisbury, had invited the Prince and Princess of Wales to Hatfield, Alice accepted an invitation to stay at nearby Knebworth, the seat of Lord Lytton. On hearing that Alice was staying close by, the entire Hatfield party, to Salisbury’s chagrin, travelled over to Knebworth for tea.
Courtiers too had good reason to be thankful for the Keppels’ discretion. Twice before, the Prince’s less than ideal lifestyle had resulted in his appearance in court and rocked the Monarchy. Firstly in connection with the Tranby Croft affair which led to ‘Social Death’ for his old friend Lt-Col Sir William Gordon-Cumming, and secondly as a ‘witness’ in the Mordaunt divorce case. Whilst the Princess of Wales was unable to profess any liking for Alice Keppel, she was tolerant of the situation and most probably grateful that she improved her husband’s temper, and did not flaunt her position in the way that Daisy Warwick had once d...
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This lot description has been truncated. Please see the Dix Noonan Webb website for the full lot description.
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The important group of five awarded to Alice, the Honourable Mrs. George Keppel, British Red Cross Society, the notorious Mistress of King Edward VII, an international Grande Dame, and the great-grandmother of H.R.H. the Duchess of Cornwall
1914 Star (Hon. A. F. Keppel, B.R.C.S. & O.St.J.J.); British War and Victory Medals (The Hon. A. F. Keppel, B.R.C.S. & O.St.J.J.); Coronation 1902, silver; Jubilee 1935, good very fine (5) £2000-3000
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Provenance: Sale of Objets de Vitrine from the Collection of Mrs. George Keppel, Sotheby’s, Geneva, 11 May 1989. Following the death of Mrs George Keppel in 1947 her personal objects, including her medals, were placed in a black strong box and deposited with Drummond’s Bank. It remained unopened until the death of her daughter, the Hon. Mrs Sonia Cubitt, in 1986, the contents being subsequently sold by Sotheby’s.
Alice Frederica, The Honourable Mrs. George Keppel was born Alice Frederica Edmonstone on 29 April 1868, the eighth daughter of Admiral Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet, of Dunreath Castle, Stirlingshire. Her childhood was spent at the family seat, where she was happiest striding across the moors, and was never above ‘joining the gillies in a wild game of cricket.’ In 1891, at the age of twenty-two, she married Lieutenant the Hon. George Keppel of the Gordon Highlanders. The third son of the seventh Earl of Albermarle, he was, according to the Duchess of Marlborough, ‘one of those tall handsome Englishmen who, immaculately dressed, proclaim the perfect gentleman’. They were ideally suited to each other, and although possessing relatively little money, the good looking and well connected Keppels quickly established themselves in society, through Alice’s ‘vivacity and wit, her knowledge of what went on in the narrow but fascinating world in which she lived and her equal capacity for recounting and listening to anecdotes.’ Indeed they were soon both in step with the mores of the racy Marlborough House Set, and it has been suggested that Alice’s first child was fathered not by George but by the wealthy Ernest Beckett, the future Lord Grimthorpe.
In 1898, Alice Keppel met Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, for the first time. She was twenty-nine and at the height of her attractiveness. He was fifty-seven, easily bored and accustomed to exercising a sort of droit de seigneur over the ladies of high society. Besides innumerable brief encounters, Edward had enjoyed two long term mistresses; Lillie Langtry and Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick. There appear to be several versions of the first meeting between Alice Keppel and Edward. One has it that she caught the eye of the Prince during an inspection of the Norfolk Yeomanry, of which he was Colonel-in-Chief, and George Keppel a serving officer. The Prince, it is said, immediately turned to Lord Leicester and asked him to present her. A few days later, the Prince spotted the ‘delectable Alice’ at Sandown races on the arm of Sir John Leslie who was summoned forthwith into the Royal presence. As Leslie made to present her, a look ‘blending shrewd appraisement and admiration’ crossed the Royal visage as the Prince again cast an eye over Mrs. Keppel. ‘A glance in Leslie’s direction indicated that his presence was no longer required.’ The Baroness de Stoeckl, however, maintained in her memoirs that it was she, who ‘knowing something of the Prince’s taste in women and thinking that he might be amused by the young Mrs. Keppel, brought them together at ‘a small luncheon party during the Prince’s annual spring holiday to the Riviera’.
Early that same year the Prince paid his first visit to the Keppels' London home. ‘Bertie was immediately attracted by his hostess’s wit and husky voice, her disarming manner and unselfconscious charm, and that evening led to a relationship which warmed with the speed of a bonfire and lasted unwaveringly to the end of his life.’ George Keppel, a gentleman to his fingertips, accepted the situation unquestioningly, and made his own arrangements elsewhere. Although it seemed to some members of Society that he was altogether too tolerant. ‘Had Keppel been put up for membership at some London clubs’, it was said, ‘the black balls would have come rolling out like caviar.’ His acquiescence was such that he even allowed himself to be given a job by the King’s sailing companion, Sir Thomas Lipton, which involved frequent and lengthy trips to the United States.
Like Lillie Langtry before her, Alice was obliged to move into a grander house befitting the role of royal mistress, and the Keppels left Wilton Crescent to take up residence at 30 Portman Square, where most of the royal affair was to be conducted. If an extraordinarily smart coupé with a coachman whose hat bore no cockade, stood outside the house, Alice’s friends knew better than to ring the doorbell. The King was usually accompanied on these visits by Caesar, his badly behaved fox terrier, and on occasion would entertain the Keppel children by allowing them to slide pieces of toast down his trousers, butter side down, whilst betting on which piece would arrive at the bottom first. The eldest of the Keppel children, Violet, later liked people to think that she was the King’s daughter, but she was not, ‘Les dates ne constataient’. She had in fact been born on 2 June 1894, and was to gain notoriety in 1918 through her turbulent affair with her life long friend Vita Sackville-West, although married to Royal Horse Guards major, Denys Trefusis. The Keppels' other daughter, Sonia, was born on 24 May 1900 and claimed that her mother had told her that two weeks earlier she had celebrated the Relief of Mafeking sitting astride a lion in Trafalgar Square.
The liaison was welcomed in several unexpected quarters. Alice became a prerequisite of a successful house-party in all but the stuffier households where the Prince was to be entertained. In fact, ‘Most hostesses were relieved when Mrs. Keppel was on hand to cope with Bertie.’ She always ‘knew the choicest scandal, the price of stocks, the latest political move. No one could better amuse the Prince during the tedium of long dinners’. However whenever she was barred from one of the great houses, she quite often triumphed over the embarrassment. On one such occasion, when that pillar of Victorian rectitude, Lord Salisbury, had invited the Prince and Princess of Wales to Hatfield, Alice accepted an invitation to stay at nearby Knebworth, the seat of Lord Lytton. On hearing that Alice was staying close by, the entire Hatfield party, to Salisbury’s chagrin, travelled over to Knebworth for tea.
Courtiers too had good reason to be thankful for the Keppels’ discretion. Twice before, the Prince’s less than ideal lifestyle had resulted in his appearance in court and rocked the Monarchy. Firstly in connection with the Tranby Croft affair which led to ‘Social Death’ for his old friend Lt-Col Sir William Gordon-Cumming, and secondly as a ‘witness’ in the Mordaunt divorce case. Whilst the Princess of Wales was unable to profess any liking for Alice Keppel, she was tolerant of the situation and most probably grateful that she improved her husband’s temper, and did not flaunt her position in the way that Daisy Warwick had once d...
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This lot description has been truncated. Please see the Dix Noonan Webb website for the full lot description.
1914 Star (Hon. A. F. Keppel, B.R.C.S. & O.St.J.J.); British War and Victory Medals (The Hon. A. F. Keppel, B.R.C.S. & O.St.J.J.); Coronation 1902, silver; Jubilee 1935, good very fine (5) £2000-3000
---
Provenance: Sale of Objets de Vitrine from the Collection of Mrs. George Keppel, Sotheby’s, Geneva, 11 May 1989. Following the death of Mrs George Keppel in 1947 her personal objects, including her medals, were placed in a black strong box and deposited with Drummond’s Bank. It remained unopened until the death of her daughter, the Hon. Mrs Sonia Cubitt, in 1986, the contents being subsequently sold by Sotheby’s.
Alice Frederica, The Honourable Mrs. George Keppel was born Alice Frederica Edmonstone on 29 April 1868, the eighth daughter of Admiral Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet, of Dunreath Castle, Stirlingshire. Her childhood was spent at the family seat, where she was happiest striding across the moors, and was never above ‘joining the gillies in a wild game of cricket.’ In 1891, at the age of twenty-two, she married Lieutenant the Hon. George Keppel of the Gordon Highlanders. The third son of the seventh Earl of Albermarle, he was, according to the Duchess of Marlborough, ‘one of those tall handsome Englishmen who, immaculately dressed, proclaim the perfect gentleman’. They were ideally suited to each other, and although possessing relatively little money, the good looking and well connected Keppels quickly established themselves in society, through Alice’s ‘vivacity and wit, her knowledge of what went on in the narrow but fascinating world in which she lived and her equal capacity for recounting and listening to anecdotes.’ Indeed they were soon both in step with the mores of the racy Marlborough House Set, and it has been suggested that Alice’s first child was fathered not by George but by the wealthy Ernest Beckett, the future Lord Grimthorpe.
In 1898, Alice Keppel met Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, for the first time. She was twenty-nine and at the height of her attractiveness. He was fifty-seven, easily bored and accustomed to exercising a sort of droit de seigneur over the ladies of high society. Besides innumerable brief encounters, Edward had enjoyed two long term mistresses; Lillie Langtry and Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick. There appear to be several versions of the first meeting between Alice Keppel and Edward. One has it that she caught the eye of the Prince during an inspection of the Norfolk Yeomanry, of which he was Colonel-in-Chief, and George Keppel a serving officer. The Prince, it is said, immediately turned to Lord Leicester and asked him to present her. A few days later, the Prince spotted the ‘delectable Alice’ at Sandown races on the arm of Sir John Leslie who was summoned forthwith into the Royal presence. As Leslie made to present her, a look ‘blending shrewd appraisement and admiration’ crossed the Royal visage as the Prince again cast an eye over Mrs. Keppel. ‘A glance in Leslie’s direction indicated that his presence was no longer required.’ The Baroness de Stoeckl, however, maintained in her memoirs that it was she, who ‘knowing something of the Prince’s taste in women and thinking that he might be amused by the young Mrs. Keppel, brought them together at ‘a small luncheon party during the Prince’s annual spring holiday to the Riviera’.
Early that same year the Prince paid his first visit to the Keppels' London home. ‘Bertie was immediately attracted by his hostess’s wit and husky voice, her disarming manner and unselfconscious charm, and that evening led to a relationship which warmed with the speed of a bonfire and lasted unwaveringly to the end of his life.’ George Keppel, a gentleman to his fingertips, accepted the situation unquestioningly, and made his own arrangements elsewhere. Although it seemed to some members of Society that he was altogether too tolerant. ‘Had Keppel been put up for membership at some London clubs’, it was said, ‘the black balls would have come rolling out like caviar.’ His acquiescence was such that he even allowed himself to be given a job by the King’s sailing companion, Sir Thomas Lipton, which involved frequent and lengthy trips to the United States.
Like Lillie Langtry before her, Alice was obliged to move into a grander house befitting the role of royal mistress, and the Keppels left Wilton Crescent to take up residence at 30 Portman Square, where most of the royal affair was to be conducted. If an extraordinarily smart coupé with a coachman whose hat bore no cockade, stood outside the house, Alice’s friends knew better than to ring the doorbell. The King was usually accompanied on these visits by Caesar, his badly behaved fox terrier, and on occasion would entertain the Keppel children by allowing them to slide pieces of toast down his trousers, butter side down, whilst betting on which piece would arrive at the bottom first. The eldest of the Keppel children, Violet, later liked people to think that she was the King’s daughter, but she was not, ‘Les dates ne constataient’. She had in fact been born on 2 June 1894, and was to gain notoriety in 1918 through her turbulent affair with her life long friend Vita Sackville-West, although married to Royal Horse Guards major, Denys Trefusis. The Keppels' other daughter, Sonia, was born on 24 May 1900 and claimed that her mother had told her that two weeks earlier she had celebrated the Relief of Mafeking sitting astride a lion in Trafalgar Square.
The liaison was welcomed in several unexpected quarters. Alice became a prerequisite of a successful house-party in all but the stuffier households where the Prince was to be entertained. In fact, ‘Most hostesses were relieved when Mrs. Keppel was on hand to cope with Bertie.’ She always ‘knew the choicest scandal, the price of stocks, the latest political move. No one could better amuse the Prince during the tedium of long dinners’. However whenever she was barred from one of the great houses, she quite often triumphed over the embarrassment. On one such occasion, when that pillar of Victorian rectitude, Lord Salisbury, had invited the Prince and Princess of Wales to Hatfield, Alice accepted an invitation to stay at nearby Knebworth, the seat of Lord Lytton. On hearing that Alice was staying close by, the entire Hatfield party, to Salisbury’s chagrin, travelled over to Knebworth for tea.
Courtiers too had good reason to be thankful for the Keppels’ discretion. Twice before, the Prince’s less than ideal lifestyle had resulted in his appearance in court and rocked the Monarchy. Firstly in connection with the Tranby Croft affair which led to ‘Social Death’ for his old friend Lt-Col Sir William Gordon-Cumming, and secondly as a ‘witness’ in the Mordaunt divorce case. Whilst the Princess of Wales was unable to profess any liking for Alice Keppel, she was tolerant of the situation and most probably grateful that she improved her husband’s temper, and did not flaunt her position in the way that Daisy Warwick had once d...
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This lot description has been truncated. Please see the Dix Noonan Webb website for the full lot description.
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