Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
NameAlice Frederica Edmonstone 
[353, Ancestry of Camilla Parker-Bowles, No 15], [3, Her birth, Q2 of 1868, Grenwich dist, vol 1d, p. 820]
[353, Ancestry of Camilla Parker-Bowles, No 15], [3, Her birth, Q2 of 1868, Grenwich dist, vol 1d, p. 820]Birth29 Apr 1868, Woolwich district, London
Death11 Sep 1947, Villa Bellosguardo, Nr Florence, Italy
GeneralMistress of Ed VII.
Spouses
Marriageca May 1891, St George, Hanover Sq district, London [3, Their marriage, Q2 of 1891, St Geo Han Sq dist, vol 1a, p. 723]
ChildrenSonia Rosemary (1900-1986)
Notes for Alice Frederica Edmonstone
Her father was the eventual 4th bart Edmonstone.
DNB Main notes for Alice Frederica Edmonstone
Keppel, Alice Frederica 1868-1947
Name: Keppel, Alice Frederica
Dates: 1868-1947
Active Date: 1908
Gender: Female
Field of Interest: Royalty and Society
Occupation: Mistress of King Edward VII
Place of
Birth: Woolwich
Death: Villa dell’Ombrellino
Spouse: George Keppel
Sources: Wilfrid Scawen Blunt’s unpublished diary, Fitzwilliam Museum...
Contributor: Theo Aronson
Article
Keppel, Alice Frederica 1868-1947, mistress of King Edward VII, was born in Woolwich 29 April 1868, the youngest in the family of eight daughters and one son of William Edmonstone, later fourth baronet, of Duntreath Castle, Stirlingshire, and his wife Mary Elizabeth Parsons. Educated at home, Alice early on showed evidence of the beauty, tact, and vivacity for which she was to become renowned. In 1891 she married George Keppel, third son of William Coutts Keppel, seventh Earl of Albemarle [q.v.]. There were two children: Violet, born in 1894, who was later to win notoriety for her turbulent love affair with Victoria (‘Vita’) Sackville-West [q.v.], and Sonia, born in 1900.
In 1898 the twenty-nine-year-old Alice met and soon became the mistress of the fifty-six-year-old Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. His accession to the throne in 1901, as King Edward VII, in no way diminished her role. For not only did Mrs Keppel maintain her position as maîtresse en titre but she became one of the leading personalities of the Edwardian court. Throughout the ten years of Edward VII’s reign, Alice was an accepted, respected, and highly visible member of the royal entourage. She remained, in the widely used phrase, ‘La Favorita’. Her ability to keep the notoriously impatient monarch amused was greatly appreciated in royal circles. Financially astute, Alice cultivated people like the financier, Sir Ernest Cassel [q.v.], and is said to have realized a considerable sum by the sale of certain rubber shares presented to her by her royal lover.
The widely believed story that as King Edward VII lay dying, his wife Queen Alexandra magnanimously sent for Mrs Keppel to take leave of him, is inaccurate. Much against the queen’s will, Alice Keppel insisted on seeing the dying king; on being asked to leave the death chamber, she made an embarrassing scene and had to be escorted out. Alice afterwards/in an effort to safeguard her position/claimed that it was the queen who had summoned her and who had promised to look after her in the future.
During World War I Alice divided her time between entertaining in her home in Grosvenor Street and helping her friend, Lady Sarah Wilson, run a hospital for wounded soldiers in Boulogne. In 1927 the Keppels sold their London house and bought the Villa dell’Ombrellino, above Florence. Celebrated as the ex-mistress of Edward VII, as an international grande dame, and as a matchless hostess, Alice Keppel reigned like a queen over Florentine society. During World War II the Keppels established themselves at the Ritz Hotel in London. At the end of the war they returned to the Villa dell’Ombrellino where, 11 September 1947, at the age of seventy-nine, Alice died.
Sources
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt’s unpublished diary, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Sonia Keppel, Edwardian Daughter, 1958; James Lees-Milne, The Enigmatic Edwardian, 1986; Philip Magnus, King Edward VII, 1964; Violet Trefusis, Don’t Look Round, 1952.
Contributor: Theo Aronson
published 1993
Name: Keppel, Alice Frederica
Dates: 1868-1947
Active Date: 1908
Gender: Female
Field of Interest: Royalty and Society
Occupation: Mistress of King Edward VII
Place of
Birth: Woolwich
Death: Villa dell’Ombrellino
Spouse: George Keppel
Sources: Wilfrid Scawen Blunt’s unpublished diary, Fitzwilliam Museum...
Contributor: Theo Aronson
Article
Keppel, Alice Frederica 1868-1947, mistress of King Edward VII, was born in Woolwich 29 April 1868, the youngest in the family of eight daughters and one son of William Edmonstone, later fourth baronet, of Duntreath Castle, Stirlingshire, and his wife Mary Elizabeth Parsons. Educated at home, Alice early on showed evidence of the beauty, tact, and vivacity for which she was to become renowned. In 1891 she married George Keppel, third son of William Coutts Keppel, seventh Earl of Albemarle [q.v.]. There were two children: Violet, born in 1894, who was later to win notoriety for her turbulent love affair with Victoria (‘Vita’) Sackville-West [q.v.], and Sonia, born in 1900.
In 1898 the twenty-nine-year-old Alice met and soon became the mistress of the fifty-six-year-old Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. His accession to the throne in 1901, as King Edward VII, in no way diminished her role. For not only did Mrs Keppel maintain her position as maîtresse en titre but she became one of the leading personalities of the Edwardian court. Throughout the ten years of Edward VII’s reign, Alice was an accepted, respected, and highly visible member of the royal entourage. She remained, in the widely used phrase, ‘La Favorita’. Her ability to keep the notoriously impatient monarch amused was greatly appreciated in royal circles. Financially astute, Alice cultivated people like the financier, Sir Ernest Cassel [q.v.], and is said to have realized a considerable sum by the sale of certain rubber shares presented to her by her royal lover.
The widely believed story that as King Edward VII lay dying, his wife Queen Alexandra magnanimously sent for Mrs Keppel to take leave of him, is inaccurate. Much against the queen’s will, Alice Keppel insisted on seeing the dying king; on being asked to leave the death chamber, she made an embarrassing scene and had to be escorted out. Alice afterwards/in an effort to safeguard her position/claimed that it was the queen who had summoned her and who had promised to look after her in the future.
During World War I Alice divided her time between entertaining in her home in Grosvenor Street and helping her friend, Lady Sarah Wilson, run a hospital for wounded soldiers in Boulogne. In 1927 the Keppels sold their London house and bought the Villa dell’Ombrellino, above Florence. Celebrated as the ex-mistress of Edward VII, as an international grande dame, and as a matchless hostess, Alice Keppel reigned like a queen over Florentine society. During World War II the Keppels established themselves at the Ritz Hotel in London. At the end of the war they returned to the Villa dell’Ombrellino where, 11 September 1947, at the age of seventy-nine, Alice died.
Sources
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt’s unpublished diary, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Sonia Keppel, Edwardian Daughter, 1958; James Lees-Milne, The Enigmatic Edwardian, 1986; Philip Magnus, King Edward VII, 1964; Violet Trefusis, Don’t Look Round, 1952.
Contributor: Theo Aronson
published 1993