Edward II

Edward II born 25 April 1287 (d. 1327)

Edward II of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until deposed in January 1327. His tendency to ignore his nobility in favour of low-born favourites led to constant political unrest and his eventual deposition.

Edward lacked the drive and ambition of his overbearing father, who was a notable military leader. His main interest was in entertainment, though he also took pleasure in athletics and mechanical crafts. He had been so dominated by his father that he had little confidence in himself, and was often in the hands of a court favourite with a stronger will than his own.

Edward is perhaps best remembered for his murder - the details of which are unsubstantiated by contemporary accounts - and his 'alleged' homosexuality and relationship with his 'favourite', a Gascon knight named Piers Gaveston. Edward also managed to produce an heir - Edward III - another son and two daughters with his wife, Isabella of France, and even produced an illegitimate son.

Edward II was the first monarch to establish colleges in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; he founded Cambridge's King's Hall in 1317 and gave Oxford's Oriel College its royal charter in 1326.

The most famous fictional account of Edward II's reign is Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II. Edward has long been regarded as something of a gay martyr, and Derek Jarman's cinematic version of the play utlilised 20th century clothing and gay rights marches as an aspect of the story.

Philippe I, Duke of Orléans

Philippe I, Duke of Orléans born 12 September 1640 (d. 1701)

Philippe I, Duc d'Orléans was the second son of Louis XIII of France and Anne of Austria, and thus the younger brother of Louis XIV of France. He was known as Monsieur at the French court, Monsieur becoming the traditional name of the King's eldest brother from 1660. He was born at St Germain-en-Laye.

In 1661, he was made Duke of Orléans, and married his first cousin Henrietta Anne Stuart, sister of Charles II of England, also known as 'Minette'.

Traditionally, in the French court, a king's younger son was not given significant responsibility, and Philippe was no exception. His mother discouraged him from traditionally male pursuits such as arms and politics, and encouraged him to wear dresses, make-up, and to enjoy traditionally feminine pursuits. This was part of Queen Anne's effort to distract Philippe from challenging his older brother's rule and position.

As an adult, Monsieur continued to enjoy wearing feminine clothing and fragrances, but also proved to be a brave and competent commander in the field. He fought with distinction in the 1667 promenade militaire against Flanders during the War of Devolution, though he hastened back to his life at court immediately after victory was assured. Monsieur resumed military command in 1672, and in 1677 won a great victory at the Battle of Cassel and took St Omer. Louis XIV, it was said, was jealous of his brother's success, therefore Monsieur never commanded an army again.

Monsieur's favorites, invariably handsome young men, dominated contemporary and historical commentary about his role at court, particularly one man who shared his princely rank and much of his life: Philip of Lorraine-Armagnac was three years younger than Philip of Orléans. Handsome, brutal and devoid of scruples, he was the great love of Monsieur's life. He was also the worst enemy of Monsieur's two wives...

As greedy as a vulture, this cadet of the French branch of the house of Lorraine had, by the end of the 1650s, hooked Monsieur as though harpooning a whale. The young prince loved him with a passion that worried Madame Henrietta and the court bishop, Cosnac, but the King understood that, thanks to the attractive face and sharp mind of the good-looking cavalier, he would have his way with his brother.

Under these circumstances it is no surprise that Monsieur's first marriage was unhappy. In January 1670 his wife prevailed upon the King to imprison the chevalier, first near Lyon, then in the Chateau d'If, and finally banish him to Rome. But by February Monsieur's protests and pleas persuaded the King to restore him to his brother's entourage. The death of the Duchess in the following June was popularly attributed to poison, although there was little evidence for Monsieur to have perpetrated such a deed, whereas some of his mignons had earned her enmity and she theirs — and were suspected.

Subsequently, Monsieur's confidante the Princess Palatine Anna Gonzaga arranged his second marriage to her husband's niece, Elisabeth Charlotte, daughter of Charles Louis, Elector Palatine of the Rhine [pictured]. 'Liselotte' converted to Roman Catholicism before entering France in November 1671.

Whereas Monsieur's first wife had been known for beauty, charm and wit, no one accused Liselotte of those graces, and some said that this lack explained why she fared better with Monsieur (who personally took charge of her toilette for public occasions) than did his first wife. She gave him his only surviving son. She also became known for her brusque candour, upright character, lack of vanity, and prolific foreign correspondence about the daily routine and frequent scandals of Versailles. Her letters record how willingly she gave up sharing Monsieur's bed at his request after their children's births, and how unwillingly she endured the presence of his mignons in their household, which caused the couple to quarrel. But she frequently acknowledged that Monsieur's treatment of her was less offensive than the importunities his entourage made at her expense, and the lack of protection he afforded her and their children against the hostile intrigues she believed were directed at her by spiteful courtiers.

Monsieur failed to stand up to Louis XIV's insistence on marrying his daughter Françoise Marie de Bourbon (Mademoiselle de Blois) to Monsieur's son and heir, Philippe d'Orléans in February 1692. But when, years later, the King rebuked him for his son's indifference toward her, Monsieur defended his son with such vehemence that a footman felt obliged to enter the King's chamber to warn the royal brothers that their argument was being overheard by the entire court. Monsieur is the only man known to have raised his voice to the adult Louis XIV, though he did not live to see the King again.

Monsieur was an art collector and perhaps also a shrewd investor. Monsieur enjoyed court life, gambling, chasing young men, and ceremony. Despite the fact that his debts and dalliances often cost the King, the brothers spent much time together. Orléans' loyalty was never in question; he raised the standard of fraternal fidelity in a dynasty in which the Frondes had established princely rebellion as a tradition. His unabashed effeminacy probably deprived him of the credit he deserved among his countrymen and in history. Louis XIV, however, seems to have fully appreciated their relationship, as he treated Monsieur, publicly and privately, with respect and leniency.

He died at Saint-Cloud in 1701 of an apoplectic fit brought on by his heated argument with the King.

King James I

King James I born 19 June 1566 (d. 1625)

King James VI of Scotland/King James I of England and Ireland. The first true King of Great Britain, the first Stuart King after the Tudor line died with Elizabeth.

His father was Henry Stuart, Duke of Albany, generally known as Lord Darnley - husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a bisexual. James I was well-known at the time to have had homosexual lovers - the most important of whom was George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham.

There are many nay sayers who deny that James was a homosexual, usually using the argument that there is no evidence (there is) and that the accusation is a slander intended to discredit the definitive version of the Bible that bears his name... At the time, the following epigram was in circulation... Rex fuit Elizabeth: nunc est regina Jacobus—"Elizabeth was King: now James is Queen."

Draw your own conclusions. And read this.
Portrait left: George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham

Prince George, Duke of Kent

Prince George, Duke of Kent born 20 December 1902 (d. 1942)

The Prince George, Duke of Kent (George Edward Alexander Edmund) was a member of the British Royal Family, the fourth son of King George V. He held the title of Duke of Kent from 1934 to his death in 1942.

Prince George is remembered for having had a rather more interesting personal life than is the norm in the twentieth century Royal Family, as well as the circumstances of his death at the height of World War II.

Prince George received his early education from a tutor and then prep school. At age thirteen, like his brothers Prince Edward (later Edward VIII) and Prince Albert (later George VI) before him, he went to naval college, first at Osborne and later at Dartmouth. He remained in the Royal Navy, which he hated, until 1929, serving on the Iron Duke and later the Nelson. After leaving the navy, he briefly held posts at the Foreign Office and later the Home Office, becoming the first member of the British Royal Family to work as a civil servant.

Handsome and glamorous, the Duke of Kent was unarguably the most interesting, intelligent and cultivated member of his generation of the Royal Family. He took a strong interest in the arts, theatre, and in interior decoration, an interest he shared with Queen Mary but no other member of the family. He had a long string of affairs with men and women before and during his marriage. The better known of his partners were cabaret singer Florence Mills, banking heiress Poppy Baring, Ethel Margaret Whigham (later Duchess of Argyll), musical star Jessie Matthews and actor Noel Coward, with whom he carried on a 19-year affair. Love letters from the Duke to Coward are believed to have been stolen from Coward's house in 1942

The Duke of Kent is also said to have been addicted to drugs (notably morphine and cocaine) — a weakness which his brother the Prince of Wales (not an otherwise notably respectable member of the family) was reputed to cure him of during the latter part of the 1920s — and reportedly was blackmailed by a male prostitute to whom he wrote intimate letters. Another of his reported homosexual affairs was with his distant cousin Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia; homosexual spy and art historian Anthony Blunt was reputedly another lover. The Duke was known to have attempted to court Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (mother of the current Queen Beatrix).

In addition to his legitimate children, the Duke is said to have had a son by Kiki Preston (née Alice Gwynne), an American socialite known as 'the girl with the silver syringe', whom he reportedly shared in a ménage à trois with Jorge Ferrara, the bisexual son of the Argentine ambassador to the Court of St. James's.

On 29 November 1934, the Duke of Kent married Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. It was the last marriage between a son of a British Sovereign and a member of a foreign royal house to date. The marriage was not however arranged - he met the intelligent, cultivated and elegant Marina through his circle of friends and she proved to be an ideal and suitable match.

At the start of World War II, he returned to nominally active military service at the rank of Rear Admiral, briefly serving on the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty. In April, 1940, he transferred to the Royal Air Force. He temporarily relinquished his rank as Air Vice-Marshal (the equivalent of Rear Admiral) to assume the post of Staff Officer in the RAF Training Command at the rank of Air Commodore.

The Duke was killed in a plane crash on active service in World War II at Eagles Rock near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland on August 25, 1942. The Short Sunderland he was flying in was officially heading to Iceland where the Duke was to meet senior members of the US military. However the Duke's death at the height of World War II has led to various conspiracy theories surrounding the plane crash. Some theories state that the Duke was actually heading to Sweden for secret peace talks with the Germans. Related to this are claims that the Duke was travelling with Rudolf Hess, the deputy to Adolf Hitler; a reported additional, unexplained body at the scene of the crash has been attributed as Hess's, with the man later tried at Nuremberg allegedly an impostor. Other claims state the Duke was at the controls of the plane, and his inexperience may have caused the plane to crash.

In 2003, Channel 4 broadcast an alternative theory. This stated that the Duke was involved in the events surrounding the capture of Rudolf Hess. This theory however, states that the Duke was working with British Intelligence as part of a plot to fool the Nazis into thinking that the Duke was plotting with other senior figures to overthrow Winston Churchill.

Prince George's three children are still active members of the royal family - Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and Prince Michael of Kent.

Gustaf V of Sweden

King Gustaf V born 16 June 1858 (d. 1950)

Gustaf V (Oscar Gustaf Adolf) was King of Sweden from 1907 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway and Sophia of Nassau.

Gustaf V was born in Drottningholm Palace and at birth was created Duke of Värmland. On December 8, 1907 he succeeded his father on the Swedish throne, which had been separated from the Norwegian throne two years earlier.

Gustaf V was the last Swedish king to intervene directly in the politics of the country, in 1914 on the disputes over defence budgets. He was a conservative man, who did not approve of the democratic movement and the demands for workers' rights. Gustaf V was also the last Swedish king to be Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Armed Forces (between 1907 and 1939).

Gustaf V was considered to have German sympathies during World War I. His political stance during WWI was highly influenced by his domineering wife, who felt a strong connection to her German homeland. On the 18th December 1914 he sponsored a meeting with the other two kings of Scandinavia to demonstrate unity within and between the Scandinavian countries. Another of Gustaf V's objectives with this, three-king conference was to dispell suspicions that he wanted to bring Sweden into the war on Germany´s side.

Both the king and his grandson Prince Gustaf Adolf, had socialised with certain Nazis leaders before World War II, though arguably for diplomatic purposes. Gustaf V attempted to convince Hitler during a visit to Berlin to soften his persecution of the Jews, according to historian Jörgen Weibull. He was also noted for appealing to the leader of Hungary to save its Jews "in the name of humanity." At the behest of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gustaf V appealed to Hitler for peace negotiations in 1938, "in the interest of peace".

Gustaf V was also a devoted tennis player, appearing under the pseudonym Mr G. As a player and promotor of the sport, Gustaf was elected in to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1980. Gustaf learned the sport during a visit in Britain in 1876 and founded Sweden's first tennis club on his return home. In 1936 he founded the King's Club. During his reign, Gustaf was often seen playing on the Riviera. During a visit in Berlin, Gustaf went straight from a meeting with Hitler to a tennis match with the Jewish player Daniel Prenn.

All very interesting but what is he doing here? The answer to that is the Haijby Affair...

The Haijby affair was a political scandal in Sweden in the 1950s, involving the conviction and imprisonment of Kurt Haijby, a petty criminal who had been blackmailing the royal court.

Haijby was born in 1897 as Kurt Johansson. In 1912 he and another boy scout were granted an audience with King Gustaf V. When Johansson grew older he lived a life in crime and was convicted several times for theft and fraud. While trying to escape prison he shot a police officer dead. After being released he changed his name and tried to open a restaurant. As he was a convicted criminal he could not get a licence to sell liquor. He then applied to the king and was granted a second audience in 1932 to put forward his case. This did not help. Instead Haijby started blackmailing the royal court, claiming that he had been seduced by the king in 1912 and that they had resumed a sexual relationship in 1932.

Haijby claimed that he had been a lover of the king in the years between 1936 and 1947. The court paid Haijby 170.000 Swedish kronor for his silence. However, in 1938 Haijby was arrested for pedophilia and put in custody at the asylum of Beckomberga. The royal court then approached him and offered 400 kronor a month if he left the country and kept quiet about his accusations. Haijby accepted the deal.

Breaching the agreement, Haijby returned to Sweden in 1940 and in 1947 published a roman à clef. The entire first printing was then bought by the court and destroyed. But the cover-up effort proved to be in vain. The novel was reprinted and distributed twice, in 1952 and 1979.

Haijby was pronounced insane and sent to an asylum.

In the meantime, another scandal, the Kejne affair, had broken in the press where Vilhelm Moberg was busy writing lengthy articles about homosexual conspiracies among the Swedish officials.

Haijby reported his forced detention in the asylum at Beckomberga to the Attorney General of Sweden. These papers were smuggled out of the Attorney General's office by Vilhelm Moberg, and the whole affair thus came to public attention. The actions of officials to suppress the claims caused acrimonious debate in parliament and the media. As a consequence, the court was forced to charge Haijby for acts of blackmail.

In 1952 Haijby was sentenced to eight years hard labour for blackmail, which in 1953 was lowered to six years by a court of appeals. Haijby committed suicide in 1965.

Haijby had reported the treatment he had received to the Swedish Chancellor of Justice. The results of the investigations, the bulk of which were classified until 1981, acquitted to Royalty. It did state that it was not impossible for the incident to have taken place, but that it could not have occurred in the way described by Haijby — at none of the two audiences was Haijby ever alone with the king, and the other boy scout stated that nothing strange happened at the audience in 1912.

However, the fact that the Swedish court was prepared to pay Haijby such large sums to suppress his accusations has by some been taken as evidence that they were either fundamentally true, or if not, that they were suppressed so as not to expose rumours of Gustaf V's homosexuality.