Dashing and popular, Queen Victoria’s eldest son was known for his love of beautiful women.
But this particular penchant put the Prince of Wales, Bertie – the future King Edward VII – in an awkward place as the first royal in living memory to testify in court.
Prince Harry is expected to appear before the Supreme Court in the coming days as he testifies in the case he is bringing against another newspaper group.
It’s a highly unusual departure for a British Royal. But isn’t it unique.
In 1871, the Prince of Wales was called upon to explain the nature of his relationship with close friend Harriet Mordaunt, who confessed to her husband Sir Charles that she had committed adultery with the Prince – as well as other high-flying men.
Dashing and popular, Queen Victoria’s eldest son was known for his love of beautiful women. But as the Prince of Wales, Bertie – the future King Edward VII (pictured above in his 29th year in 1870) – became the first royal in living memory to testify in court
His evidence, given in 1871, dealt with the nature of his relationship with close friend Harriet Mordaunt (above), who confessed to her husband that she had committed adultery with the Prince – as well as other high-flying men
Enraged at the apparent betrayal, he filed for divorce, prompting Harriet’s father to stop the action in court by claiming his daughter was insane.
The Prince’s subsequent insistence on the witness stand that there had been no impropriety contributed to a verdict of insanity, meaning Harriet was confined to an asylum for the rest of her life.
There is no shortage of legal controversy surrounding the royal family.
Princess Anne became the first member of the current royal family to be convicted of a criminal offense after one of her dogs bit two children in 2002.
She pleaded guilty to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
Her three-year-old English bull terrier named Dotty attacked the children in Windsor Great Park.
She was fined £500 and ordered to pay £250 in damages and £148 in costs.
The Princess Royal was also convicted of speeding in her Bentley after admitting to driving at 150km/h in a 110km/h zone in Gloucestershire.
But the saga with Edward VII was much more dramatic. It is told in the 1999 book The Warwickshire Scandal, by author Elizabeth Hamilton.
Harriet, only 17 years old, was invited to join the Prince and Princess of Wales – the future Queen Alexandra – at Sandringham in 1865.
When the visit turned out to be a great success, Harriet wrote to the Prince and became a member of his circle.
At the time, Bertie’s interest in women other than his wife was well known.
As a wedding present after she married Mordaunt in 1866, the Prince gave her a diamond and emerald horseshoe ring.
When her husband commented on her flirting with many male admirers, she insisted that “everyone was doing it.”
Because Mordaunt was often away, Harriet attended balls, receptions, and social visits.
And when Mordaunt left London to go salmon fishing in Norway, Harriet regularly saw the prince at mutual friends’ houses, even though her husband had forbidden her to see him.
Harriet was married to Member of Parliament Charles Mordaunt (pictured on his horse), who forbade his wife from seeing the Prince of Wales
The couple lived at Mordaunt’s stately home, Walton Hall in Warwickshire (above)
Court documents held by the National Archives reveal details of the case involving Harriet
He also saw her alone at her home several times, with Mordaunt unaware of the visits.
She met another of her admirers, Captain Arthur Farquhar, in a London hotel.
With her servants suspicious of her apparent infidelity, they began keeping diaries to document any misdeeds.
She had been married to Mordaunt for 18 months when he returned home early from a fishing trip to find the Prince on the doorstep of his stately home, Walton House in Warwickshire.
He watched as Harriet enjoyed a ride in a carriage pulled by two ponies he had bought for her.
Mordaunt demanded that the prince leave, then ordered the animals led to the lawn, where he shot them in front of his wife.
The drama continued when Harriet gave birth eight months later.
An infection in her baby’s eye convinced Harriet that she had contracted syphilis and passed it on to her daughter.
Albert, the Prince of Wales, is seen with his new wife Princess Alexandra after their wedding
King Edward VII is seen aboard the royal yacht ‘Osborne’ during Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight in 1884 when he was the Prince of Wales
Distraught, she confessed to her husband that she had committed adultery with men, including the prince.
The others she said she had fun with were fellow Irishman Viscount Cole and racehorse owner Sir Frederick John William Johnstone.
Harriet told her husband that she had been “bad” and “done wrong” with the men, as well as with “others, often and on open days.”
Mordaunt, enraged by his wife’s confession, began divorce proceedings for her adultery.
18 letters from the prince were found in Harriet’s desk, in addition to a lock of hair, pressed flowers and even a Valentine’s poem.
Harriet’s father, the respected Sir Thomas Moncrieffe, declared his daughter insane to try to prevent the divorce from being granted, which would have shamed his family and meant he would have had to support her financially.
Bertie gave evidence at a pre-trial hearing in 1871, where he claimed there had been no impropriety between them.
Harriet was examined by several doctors, some of whom were known to be loyal to Bertie.
And as her behavior grew weirder amid the stress of the accusations, she was declared insane and Mordaunt lost his case.
It meant that he was forbidden to divorce his wife until she came to her senses.
Two years later, after she failed to recover, she was declared definitively insane and sent to an asylum.
In 1875, Mordaunt was granted a divorce on the grounds that Harriet would not recover.
Harriet spent the rest of her life – 33 years – incarcerated and died in 1906.
The Prince of Wales had to reappear in court at the age of 49 in 1890 when a man he had gambled with was caught cheating.
Bertie had been at Tranby Croft in Yorkshire for the Doncaster Races when Lieutenant Colonel William Gordon-Cumming tried to cheat in a game of baccarat.
When the Prince supported the accusers, Gordon-Cumming signed a document promising never to play cards again, provided no one present discussed the scandal.
But gossip still spread and there were calls in Gordon-Cumming’s regiment to resign.
To try to preserve his career, Gordon-Cumming charged those making the claims with defamation.
When called to the witness stand, Bertie admitted that he had seen no deception, but still believed the allegations because they “seemed so united.”
The jury found the five guests not guilty and Gordon-Cumming was discharged from the army.
Edward became king in 1901, after the death of Queen Victoria.
He reigned for just nine years before dying at the age of 68 after suffering from health problems caused by smoking.