Edward VII's debauchery stemmed from parental neglect

Perhaps no Prince of Wales in history has been less trusted — or more spied upon — than the boy everyone knew as Bertie. When he attended a military summer camp, at age 19, the future King Edward VII was surrounded by minders: two stern Grenadier officers, a colonel and a general. He even had to share a general’s quarters.

Happily, however, they had not thought to lock Bertie’s bedroom window. So, one night, the heir to the throne wriggled out, made a beeline for the camp prostitute — one Nellie Clifden — and triumphantly lost his virginity.

Moreover, as I discovered from his engagement diary for September 1861, there was a ‘2nd time’ and a ‘3rd time’ with the luscious ‘NC’, proving he lacked in neither courage or enthusiasm....