George Keppel

Lieutenant-Colonel George Keppel, MVO (14 October 1865–22 November 1947) was a British soldier and the husband of Alice Keppel, the mistress of King Edward VII.

Keppel was a younger son of William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle and his wife, Sophia. He graduated from the Royal Military College in 1885 and soon after joined the Gordon Highlanders. He resigned his commission in 1892, but joined the Norfolk Artillery in 1894. He became a Captain in 1908 and was appointed a MVO a year later after being attached to The King during the latter's visit to Norwich that year.

On 1 June 1891, Keppel had married Alice Frederica Edmonstone (a daughter of Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet) and they had two daughters: Violet (1894-1970) and Sonia Rosemary (1900-1986). In 1898, Mrs Keppel became a mistress to The Prince of Wales (as he then was) and continued as such until the latter's death in 1910. Keppel knew of the affair and dutifully made himself scarce when The King was with Alice.

Through his daughter, Sonia, Keppel was the great-grandfather of another royal mistress Camilla Parker-Bowles.

References

*cite news
author=
title=Playing by the Rules
date=
work=New York Times
url=http://partners.nytimes.com/books/97/08/17/reviews/970817.17frasert.html
accessdate=2008-08-14
* [http://www.burkes-peerage.net/ Burke's Peerage & Gentry, 107th edition]