They called him ‘Edward the Caresser’ and with good reason. In his lifetime he bedded over 100 women, and probably many more.

His most famous mistress was Queen Camilla’s great-grandmother Alice Keppel, but she was only the last in a very long line of bedfellows. Bertie, as King Edward VII was known, had a hunger for women which was matched only by his voracious hunger for food.

They could be showgirls, servant girls, aristocrats or foreign princesses – even the wives of his close friends. He didn’t care as long as they said yes.

So outrageous was Bertie’s private life that a French furniture-maker got to hear of it and designed a love-chair especially for him. It was crafted to accommodate his increasing waistline – another nickname was ‘Tum-Tum’ – and also his enjoyment of more than one lady at a time.

Distinguished historian Anthony Camp has been able to name at least 65 of the king’s girlfriends – short and long-term – but there were many more one-night stands, especially when the king-emperor travelled abroad.

Why was he so sex-mad? According to his biographer Jane Ridley, Bertie seethed with anger over being trapped into an early marriage at the age of 21 with Princess Alexandra of Denmark – a match connived by his mother Queen Victoria and his sister Vicky, in an attempt to get him to settle down.

‘He was driven by an impulse to revenge himself against his mother,’ Professor Ridley writes. ‘It was an impulse that never died.’

Bertie seethed with anger over being trapped into an early marriage at the age of 21 with Princess Alexandra of Denmark ¿ a match connived by his mother Queen Victoria and his sister Vicky, in an attempt to get him to settle down

Bertie seethed with anger over being trapped into an early marriage at the age of 21 with Princess Alexandra of Denmark – a match connived by his mother Queen Victoria and his sister Vicky, in an attempt to get him to settle down

The long suffering Princess Alexandra of Denmark and the Queen Consort of King Edward VII

The long suffering Princess Alexandra of Denmark and the Queen Consort of King Edward VII

Queen Victoria blamed her son for Albert's premature death at the age of just 42

Queen Victoria blamed her son for Albert’s premature death at the age of just 42

Most historians name his first conquest as Nellie Clifden, an actress transported by friends from England to Ireland where Bertie was enjoying a summer camp with the Grenadier Guards.

He was 19, and it’s likely he’d already tasted the pleasures of the flesh – but his father Prince Albert got to hear of the assignation and, when Bertie returned to Cambridge where he was an undergraduate, took him out for a walk in the rain where he proceeded to tear him off a strip.

Prince Albert died soon after – and Queen Victoria blamed her son for Albert’s premature death at the age of just 42.

Not a year into his marriage to saintly Alexandra, Bertie dived into a life of adultery which would continue to his death. His first cheat was with British-born Baroness Leonora de Rothschild, followed swiftly by a French princess, Jeanne de Sagan.

He then turned to the wife of one of his friends, the politician Sir Edmund Filmer, ‘I had a very pleasant tête à tête with her,’ he recorded triumphantly in his diary after a shooting party.

This breach of politesse – never bed your friend’s wife – did not go unnoticed in high society. ‘Much talk about the P of Wales and his disreputable ways of going on,’ noted Lord Stanley disparagingly.

‘He is seen at the theatre paying attention to the lowest class of women, and visits them at their houses.’

It wasn’t just tarts. ‘The women of the royal household must sometimes have felt that he considered them to be his personal harem,’ noted Jane Ridley.

Bertie was particularly taken with Harriet Mordaunt, the 20-year-old wife of an MP. Once or twice a week, at 4pm, he’d visit her Belgravia house where she’d obligingly ensured the servants had taken the afternoon off.

French princess, Jeanne de Sagan was Edward's second conquest

 French princess, Jeanne de Sagan was Edward’s second conquest 

Lillie Langtry, only daughter of the Dean of Jersey, she was called the Jersey Lily had many extra-marital lovers amongst them were Prince Louis of Battenberg and Edward VII

Lillie Langtry, only daughter of the Dean of Jersey, she was called the Jersey Lily had many extra-marital lovers amongst them were Prince Louis of Battenberg and Edward VII

French actress, Sarah Bernhardt was another of Edward's conquests

French actress, Sarah Bernhardt was another of Edward’s conquests

Patsy Cornwallis-West was the 'aristocratic tart' who seduced Edward when she was just 16

Patsy Cornwallis-West was the ‘aristocratic tart’ who seduced Edward when she was just 16

But soon her husband discovered the affair. Returning home unexpectedly, he ordered the two ponies Bertie had given Harriet as a love-token to be brought out and shot dead in front her.

More misery followed when Lady Susan Vane-Tempest, daughter of the Duke of Newcastle, told Bertie that she was pregnant by him.

Bertie ruthlessly cut her out of his life and recommended she went to see a dodgy doctor called Clayton. No record remains of their child being born, but Lady Susan was later discovered to have blackmailed the prince for ‘at least £250’ over the pregnancy.

The list of famous names associated with Bertie during his 68-year life is long – actress Lillie Langtry, and Patsy Cornwallis-West – the ‘aristocratic tart’ who seduced him when she was just 16 – were perhaps the two most high-profile.

The actress Sarah Bernhardt and Lady Randolph Churchill – mother of wartime leader Winston Churchill – can be added to the list as well as Daisy, Countess of Warwick and Georgiana, Countess of Dudley before his final romance with Alice Keppel, daughter of a Scottish landowner and great-grandmother of our present Queen.

But these names are just the tip of the iceberg.

And of course there was a price to be paid for Bertie’s promiscuity. ‘If he expected he could use women for sex and then discard them, he was to be disillusioned,’ commented Jane Ridley. ‘Many of the women with whom he began relationships refused to go quietly – blackmail, pregnancy, even a court case were to return to haunt him.’

His final romance was with Alice Keppel, daughter of a Scottish landowner and great-grandmother of our present Queen

His final romance was with Alice Keppel, daughter of a Scottish landowner and great-grandmother of our present Queen

Lady Randolph Churchill, daughter of Leonard Jerome of New York - wife of Lord Randolph Churchill and mother of Sir Winston Churchill

Lady Randolph Churchill, daughter of Leonard Jerome of New York – wife of Lord Randolph Churchill and mother of Sir Winston Churchill

There was a price to be paid for Bertie's promiscuity

There was a price to be paid for Bertie’s promiscuity

As the king advanced in age and girth, his sexual appetite did not diminish - but his ability to perform did. And so an enterprising furniture-maker called Soubrier designed a special love-chair which Bertie could use in the company of one ¿ and sometimes two ¿ companions

As the king advanced in age and girth, his sexual appetite did not diminish – but his ability to perform did. And so an enterprising furniture-maker called Soubrier designed a special love-chair which Bertie could use in the company of one – and sometimes two – companions

Edward saved his most outrageous excesses for his favourite city, Paris, where he had his pick of prostitutes and chorus-girls with his favourite haunt being the Moulin Rouge music hall

Edward saved his most outrageous excesses for his favourite city, Paris, where he had his pick of prostitutes and chorus-girls with his favourite haunt being the Moulin Rouge music hall

Even so he carried on his merry way, saving his most outrageous excesses for his favourite city, Paris, where he had his pick of prostitutes and chorus-girls.

His favourite haunt was the Moulin Rouge music hall, where his nickname was ‘Kingy’.

Louise Weber, the dancer known as ‘La Goulue’ (The Glutton) often yelled to him from the stage, ‘Ello, Wales! Are you going to pay for my champagne?!’

As the king advanced in age and girth, his sexual appetite did not diminish – but his ability to perform did. And so an enterprising furniture-maker called Soubrier designed a special love-chair which Bertie could use in the company of one – and sometimes two – companions.

There’s an entertaining post from Katie Kennedy @thehistorygossip on TikTok which demonstrates just how Edward VII’s love-chair could be used.

And for a saucy ride through Bertie’s astonishing love-life, you can’t do better than take a look at Professor Jane Ridley’s Bertie: A Life of Edward VII (Vintage).

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