James Wilson on a Victorian country house scandal
The world of scandal and intrigue in the English country house has long provided fodder for both fiction and non-fiction writers, as reflected in recent times by Sunday evening television schedules. Arguably the greatest real life saga was the Royal Baccarat Scandal of the 1890s, sub nom the Tranby Croft affair.
A royal mess
The dramatis personae included the-then Prince of Wales. As with his present-day counterpart, the future Edward VII had to wait many decades before becoming monarch, thanks to the longevity of his mother. Unlike Charles, however, one of his favourite pastimes was gambling on cards, despite (or maybe because of) his mother’s disapprobation and the fact that it was illegal.
The chief protagonist was not the Prince, however, but rather the Flashmanesque Colonel William Gordon-Cumming. Gordon-Cumming was known as a fearless hero of the colonial wars in Africa, a fearless hunter of tigers in India, and an equally fearless hunter of young wives back in Britain. He was the owner of three large if fairly unremunerative Scottish estates at the time
