Hanging the Ripper.

[Suzi]

Which- Mr Q we know to have been the case- having read The Ripper and the Royals':-))))) Case closed!

Apart from that.......

Come on let's be honest if our 'Man in the Street' 'Jack' had been caught and convicted he'd have 'swung' big time to great public acclaim and immense press coverage! Case would have been closed I guess and not taught badly at Yr 9 level to this day as an example of bad Victorian Policing

- -------and none of us would be here rattling away!!....which would be a shame!

Suzi xx

[Graham]

As was Prince John, eldest son of King George V and an epileptic. At least he was spared an asylum but was kept well away from the public gaze and died young.

Apparently PAV wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer and his old man (later King Edward VII) did indeed consider having him 'put away', but PAV also conveniently died young (unless, of course, he was locked away in Glamis Castle, in the room without a window.....)

Graham

[Suzi]

As was Prince John, eldest son of King George V and an epileptic. At least he was spared an asylum but was kept well away from the public gaze and died young.

Apparently PAV wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer and his old man (later King Edward VII) did indeed consider having him 'put away', but PAV also conveniently died young (unless, of course, he was locked away in Glamis Castle, in the room without a window.....)

Graham

He he great images there Graham! Isn't there a grandchild or something of 'Our Own Dear Queen' who has a wonky eye or somesuch and either can't be photographed or if so only from 'the right side' Blesser!

I lose track of the 'random royals' me!

[Suzi]

As was Prince John, eldest son of King George V and an epileptic. At least he was spared an asylum but was kept well away from the public gaze and died young.

Apparently PAV wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer and his old man (later King Edward VII) did indeed consider having him 'put away', but PAV also conveniently died young (unless, of course, he was locked away in Glamis Castle, in the room without a window.....)

Graham

Heeeee a rather dull unattractive potato peeler in that drawer IMHO hehe and about as much use!
The Prince John series on BBC1 ages ago was sensational the boy Boris was wonderful ...but brighter!!! LOL

[Graham]

Dunno about that, Suze, but I think there should be a moratorium on photographing the whole flippin' lot of 'em!

Another little snippet about PAV is that when he was a cadet in the Royal Navy he claimed to have seen the ghostly Flying Dutchman in the vicinity of Cape Horn. Maybe he was a space cadet....or missed his turn in the barrel.
No wonder his old man thought he was a bottle short of a crate.

Graham

[Suzi]

Dunno about that, Suze, but I think there should be a moratorium on photographing the whole flippin' lot of 'em!

Another little snippet about PAV is that when he was a cadet in the Royal Navy he claimed to have seen the ghostly Flying Dutchman in the vicinity of Cape Horn. Maybe he was a space cadet....or missed his turn in the barrel.
No wonder his old man thought he was a bottle short of a crate.

Graham

Blimey!!! No surprises are there to be honest...even the bull terrier's got a club foot as Viv Stanshall would have said!! (or did say 'cept it was bulldog!)

[protohistorian]

Which- Mr Q we know to have been the case- having read The Ripper and the Royals':-))))) Case closed!

Apart from that.......

Come on let's be honest if our 'Man in the Street' 'Jack' had been caught and convicted he'd have 'swung' big time to great public acclaim and immense press coverage! Case would have been closed I guess and not taught badly at Yr 9 level to this day as an example of bad Victorian Policing

- -------and none of us would be here rattling away!!....which would be a shame!

Suzi xx

I will go even farther Suzi. They could have put anyone on the scaffold and called him the ripper, and nary a word would have been said. It is in a way a triumph of the British legal system that such a thing did not happen. Dave

[Suzi]

I will go even farther Suzi. They could have put anyone on the scaffold and called him the ripper, and nary a word would have been said. It is in a way a triumph of the British legal system that such a thing did not happen. Dave

And he'd have said 'I am Jack the aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh' maybe LOL x

[Robert]

They could have hung more than one, to be extra sure. Then you might have got the line "I am Jack the Ripper. He is the economy pack." (With thanks to 'The Prisoner')

[Suzi]

They could have hung more than one, to be extra sure. Then you might have got the line "I am Jack the Ripper. He is the economy pack." (With thanks to 'The Prisoner')

Heeeeeeeeeeee I'm not a number I'm some 'Erbert that nobody knows...Hmmmmmm doesn't have the same ring tho maybe.........

[tnb]

I can see Kirk Douglas now. 'I'm Jack the Ripper...'

[Phil H]

If the Ripper had been Prince Eddy, would he have been hanged..mad or not ?

I doubt anyone knows.

The nearest parallel I can cite would be Eddy's nephew (later briefly Edward VIII and then Duke of Windsor).

Edward appears to have been widely deemed unsuitable to be King by the establishment (including his own father). In the 30s he proved pro-fascist, capable of moving the role of monarch to one more akin to the then often praised dictators. Finally, as the last straw, he wanted to marry a gold-digging American divorcee who seemed to be deeply involved with the Nazis!!

(The above is exaggerated for effect and humour just in case anyone thinks that's my strict view.)

After his abdication he again flirted with the Nazi's and visited Hitler, then appears to have tried to get himself back on the throne as a puppet-King if Hitler invaded Britain.

His punishment? being sent to govern some small islands as far away from the war as possible, and being ostracised from his family and his country.

On that basis, I think that if Eddy had been suspected of being JtR (he wan't of course) or caught in flagrante, he would probably have been made to abdicate his place in the succession in favour of his brother George, and gone into either exile or secluded retreat (on the Balmoral or Sandringham estate maybe).

I doubt he would have been brought to trial or executed because that would not have been deemed in the national interest. Neither do I think he would have been quietly killed.

I have seen throw-away comments on Casebook (not sure where) to the effect that the Royal Family are "quite capable" of killing their own. I can think of no example of this in modern - or almost any - times in British history. george V's natural death was hastened by an injection of morphia for somewhat cynical reasons, but he was already dying. Edward VIII's brother Prince John, who was epileptic, was kept in seclusion at Sandringham until his natural death, but he was not killed because he was considered an embarrassment.

In case anyone thinks what I have said makes a mockery of justice in the UK, I would simply say that similar things have happened elsewhere - President Nixon, in the USA, as pardoned by his successor. I doubt that a modern British Government would ever agree to letting Tony Blair be tried as a war criminal. In 1918-20, the British government ignored strong popular pressure for the ex-Kaisar to be put on trial.

Thus was it always.

The best I can offer, by way on answer.

Phil

[protohistorian]

Hello Phil. I think that depends on who knew. Certainly containment of such info would have happened. If the public found out, maybe? I do not think love of Victoria would be enough to cover the loathing and fear of the ripper. To take no action risks revolt, to take special actions says "above the law". It would be a real pickle that is for sure. Dave

[Phil H]

I tried to give an answer based on other examples - and I don't think I anywhere suggested that loyalty to (love for - to use your word) the throne either as an institution or a person was involved.

A year later than the "autumn of terror" Lord Euston was "let go" abroad (as Wilde would have been in his day had he sought to do so). Eddy's involvement - if any - was discretely ignored.

Such things were done, I think, because business had to go on.

As for revolt - the peak of republicanism in the reign was in the 60s/70s (20 years gone by the time of which we are talking) so I doubt that revolt - if you mean by that popular action on the streets - would have been caused by any "cover-up" however monor or major.

Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) appeared as a witness in cases where his life-style was, to an extent, on trial - gambling and womanising - so the establishment did not keep even senior members of the royal family out of court.

A sensational murder trial though? I doubt it.

But it was never remotely necessary. There was no conspiracy and no involvement by the Prince on even the fringes of the Whitechapel case. That doesn't, of course, say he wasn't a problem. I suspect that he Prince's lack of focus, energy and evident intelligence was less the issue than his involvement with women who were unsuitable - not because they were drabs but for other reasons -such as Helene d'Orleans (a catholic). Hence marrying him to the dutiful and strong-willed May of Teck.

They had time to decide what to do for the long term (if all else had remained as is, in 1888 it was still 22 years before he would have ascend to the throne). With Edward VIII he was even proclaimed king before final action was taken to remove him - I suspect Eddy would never have ascended the throne, even had he lived. But who can say.

We do not know how Nicholas II would have dealt with the Tsarevitch's heamophilia (? spelling) which was a state secret. Crown Prince Rudolf (syphilitic?) shot himself at Mayerling; while his successor as heir to the throne of the Dual Monarchy was assassinated, and no one much mourned. Both would have probably been disastrous as heads of state. The conclusion, in the early C20th, monarchs and their advisers seem to have avoided making decisions and waited to see how events would play out. maybe that's what would have been done with Prince Albert Victor.

For all his problems, his family seem genuinely to have mourned him. The enormous and elaborate tomb in the Albert Chapel at Windsor bears testament to something! Queen Alexandra spent the day of her son george's coronation muttering to herself, "It should have been Eddy".

Incidentally, if you want to see what Eddy might have been like in life, Charles Dance as a young actor did a remarkable performance in the 70s TV series Edward VII. Quite disturbing, and the reactions assigned to family members, especially the Queen, interesting.

Phil

[protohistorian]

Thank You Phil! My yank comes out. Bear with me,I will learn. Dave