Prince Albert Victor
European royalty
Died when: 28 years 6 days (336 months)Star Sign: Capricorn
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (Albert Victor Christian Edward; 8 January 1864 – 14 January 1892) was the eldest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) and grandson of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria.
From the time of his birth, he was second in the line of succession to the British throne, but did not become king or Prince of Wales because he died before both his grandmother and his father.
Albert Victor was known to his family, and many later biographers, as "Eddy".When young, he travelled the world extensively as a naval cadet, and as an adult he joined the British Army but did not undertake any active military duties.
After two unsuccessful courtships, he became engaged to be married to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck in late 1891.A few weeks later, he died during a major pandemic.
Mary later married his younger brother, who eventually became King George V in 1910.Albert Victor's intellect, sexuality, and mental health have been the subject of speculation.
Rumours in his time linked him with the Cleveland Street scandal, which involved a homosexual brothel; however, there is no conclusive evidence that he ever went there, or was indeed homosexual.
Some authors have argued that he was the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, or that he was otherwise involved in the murders, but contemporaneous documents show that Albert Victor could not have been in London at the time of the murders, and the claim is widely dismissed.