English aristocrat Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, was BOTD in 1864. Born in Frogmore House in Windsor, he was the eldest son of Edward, Prince of Wales and the eldest grandson of Queen Victoria, making him second in line to the British throne. He and his brother Prince George were educated by a tutor, who later complained that Albert’s mind was “abnormally dormant”. In 1877, Albert and George were sent as naval cadets on a three-year world tour of the British Empire. On their return to England, Albert was sent to Cambridge University, where he formed a close, erotically-charged friendship with his tutor James Kenneth Stephen. Excused from attending lectures due to his rank, he left Cambridge in 1885 (though was later awarded an honorary degree) and joined the British Army, though again was excused from active service. In 1889, Albert’s equerry Lord Arthur Somerset was named as the client of a male brothel in Cleveland Street in central London. Rumours quickly circulated that Albert was also a regular client. After intervention from the Royal Family, police were pressured to drop investigations into Albert’s involvement, and his name was suppressed in English media coverage of the case. International newspapers were less discreet, with The New York Times describing Albert as “a stupid perverse boy” who would “never be allowed to ascend the British throne”. Albert was hastily despatched on a royal tour of British India to escape the scandal. On his return to England, he was created Duke of Clarence and Avondale and encouraged to marry. He formed an attachment to Princess Hélène of Orléans, though her Catholicism made their marriage impossible. He was then encouraged to marry his second cousin Princess Mary of Teck, and their engagement was announced in 1891. Later that year, he was involved in another scandal when his mistress, the chorus girl Lydia Miller, committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid. His name was again suppressed in British newspaper coverage of the inquest, though his name was reported in overseas publications. His affair with chorus girl Maude Richardson was also suppressed by the Royal Family, who attempted to buy her silence. By 1890, Albert was receiving treatment by doctors for what appears to be gonorrhoea. His status as a Royal public relations nightmare came to an abrupt end in 1892, when he died of pneumonia, a week after his 28th birthday. After a period of mourning, his brother his brother George married Mary, ascending the throne in 1910 as King George V and Queen Mary. Historians and biographers continue to debate Albert’s possible bisexuality and involvement in the Cleveland Street Scandal. He was at one time suspected of being the serial killer Jack the Ripper, a (now discredited) theory that inspired Alan Moore’s popular graphic novel From Hell. Alan Robert Clark‘s 2019 novel The Prince of Mirrors speculates on Albert’s life as a closeted bisexual man.