Channel 4 in the UK last night screened an excellent, and largely sympathetic, documentary on the much maligned Prince Eddy, later Duke of Clarence. In his short life (he died at 28) he was heir to the throne, accused of homosexuality by default, and even of being Jack the Ripper, or the cause of Jack’s crimes.

The story is a confused one, not least because his personal records were destroyed by unknown hands. Prince Albert Victor was born in 1864 and died of pneumonia in 1892.

Historian Andrew Cook has unearthed letters sent by Eddy to his friends and they reveal a very different character to the one generally portrayed. He’s very taken with a number of young princesses and eager to find a wife, for example.

The scandal at a homosexual brothel concerned a member of the aristocratic Somerset family ~ and not the one named. Somerset’s artful lawyer tried to deflect attention by hinting that a more illustrious figure was involved, and a cover-up ensued. Eddy was touring India at the time, so was an easy target for innuendo.

As for his being Jack the Ripper, Cook proves conclusively from the Court Circulars that Eddy was out of London on the days of each of the murders.

Eddy’s younger brother became King George V on his death, and the course of the Royal Family was changed forever.