What was the Mordaunt Scandal

Q. A man noted for his, ahem, excesses

A. Got it in one. The Prince - heir to the greatest empire on Earth and known as Bertie - was an inveterate womaniser. As well as being married to the lovely Alexandra, he kept a string of mistresses including actress Sarah Bernhardt, society beauty Lillie Langtry and Alice Keppel.

Q. So how did he fall into such dissolute ways

A. Bertie as a young man was subjected to a strict educational regime, but never showed any intellectual flair: the only book he finished was the melodrama East Lynne. When he went to Cambridge University he rapidly developed a huge appetite for food, cigars, gambling... and women. In 1861 he joined the Army as a junior officer and was expected to rise through the ranks. He did not.

Q. And the women

A. Nellie Clifton, a local 'actress', spent the night in his quarters. His parents Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were outraged and Albert went to Cambridge to lecture Bertie. The Prince Consort caught a cold while walking around the city, nagging Bertie. Weeks later, Albert died and the Queen blamed Bertie. 'That boy - I never can or shall look at him without a shudder,' she later wrote.

Q. So who's Morduant

A. Lady Harriet Mordaunt.

Q. Aha! A real lady

A. A bit of a slapper, actually, if contemporary accounts are to be believed.

Q. Ooh! Sleaze! Write on.

A. Certainly. Harriet (sometimes Harriett), daughter of Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, married Sir Charles Mordaunt in 1866. She was a beauty and popular with the men but wed, at the age of 22, the rather dull Sir Charles for financial security. They lived at Walton, Warwickshire. Then came the white pony incident.

Q. Pardon

A. Sir Charles went on a fishing trip to Norway and when he returned unexpectedly he found the Bertie at his house - watching Harriet as she drove a carriage drawn by two white ponies. The horses were from the prince's own stable.

Q. Sir Charles thought the worst

A. Yes - this was appalling behaviour. Gents did not visit other men's wives when they were away. Sir Charles's revenge was horrible.

Q. What did he do

A. He forced Harriet to watch while the two white ponies were shot. Within two years she was said to be insane, having given birth to a daughter, Violet, apparently suffering the effects of gonorrhoea.

Q. Contracted from...

A. Her numerous adulterous affairs with aristocratic lovers, many of them in the 'fast' set of Bertie, Prince of Wales. Or so she said.

Q. So there's some doubt

A. Yes. It may be that she was mentally unstable, or that she was just a fantasist. Without prompting, she confessed to many adulterous affairs. She said she had been 'very wicked' with Lord Cole, Sir Frederic Johnstone and the Prince of Wales and 'with others, often'. Sir Charles initially believed she was lying, deranged by childbirth. Then he thought she was telling the truth. He came to this conclusion after questioning his staff and hearing from his brothers of 'inappropriate' behaviour.

Q. And then what happened

A. Divorce proceedings, complicated by Harriet's father. He wanted to keep the 2,000 a year Mordaunt agreed to pay him as part of Harriet's marriage dowry; he needed this to keep his wife and 13 other children. Co-respondents were named, including the prince. Harriet's parents, wishing to hush up the scandal - and hang on to their money - persuaded her to enter an asylum.

Q. Was she allowed out again

A. No. She died there 38 years later. Sir Charles, after his divorce, remarried and had five daughters.

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by Steve Cunningham