Historian and actress Gillian Smith was Tuesday Rostrum’s May guest speaker and she presented a talk on King George V and Queen Mary of England, who reigned from 1910 to 1936. Her talk was historically accurate and she brought all her skills as an actress to entertain the ‘thinking women’s club’ with what really went on behind closed doors.
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She spoke amusingly but frankly about how murder, homosexuality, child abuse and alcoholism had lain close to the throne, referring in part to the eldest son of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, ‘Eddy’.
“Prince Albert Victor Christian Edward, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who was born on January 8, 1864 and died on January 14, 1892, was known to his family as ‘Eddy’. Eddy’s intellect, sexuality and mental health were the subjects of speculation. Rumours in his time linked him with the Cleveland Street scandal, which involved a homosexual brothel, but there was no conclusive evidence that he ever went there or was homosexual,” said Gillian.
She added that she did not believe that ‘Eddy’ was gay. “Just because he just did not have a strong character doesn’t mean he was gay, but I am convinced that he was the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. It’s just that he was never caught so the claim was widely dismissed,” she explained.
Gillian also spoke about the unnamed nanny employed by King George V who repeatedly abused Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David (later Edward VIII) in plain sight and wanted him all to herself.
“Every night, as the child was presented to his parents in the drawing room, the nanny pinched him to make him cry. King George V and Queen Mary were disturbed by the sight and sound of a screaming infant and they ordered him to be taken back to the nursery immediately, which was exactly what the nanny wanted,” explained Gillian.
The guest speaker also touched on how ‘Bertie’, Albert Frederick Arthur George (later George VI, father of the present queen) was deprived of food and love as a child, which later contributed to his drinking problem.
“As much as Queen Mary was a strong advocate for her husband and succeeded as a monarch, she failed dismally as a mother,” concluded Gillian.
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