page_title: Alice Keppel
section_title: Marriage
hierarchical_section_title: Alice Keppel / Marriage
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Alice Keppel mit ihrer Tochter Violet
context_page_description: Alice Frederica Keppel was a British society hostess and a long-time mistress and confidante of King Edward VII.
  Keppel grew up at Duntreath Castle, the family seat of the Edmonstone baronets in Scotland. She was the youngest child of Mary Elizabeth, née Parsons and Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet. In 1891, she married The Honourable George Keppel and they had two daughters. She became one of the best society hostesses of the Edwardian era. Her beauty, charm and discretion impressed London society and brought her to the attention of the future King Edward VII in 1898, whose mistress she remained till his death, lightening the dark moods of his later years, and allegedly held considerable influence.
  Through her younger daughter, Sonia Cubitt, Keppel is the great-grandmother of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, second wife of Edward's great-great-grandson Charles, Prince of Wales.
context_section_description: On 1 June 1891, at the age of 23, she married the Honourable George Keppel, son of the 7th Earl of Albemarle. Keppel was four years older than Alice and was serving as a soldier in the British Army at the time of their marriage. The Keppel family had a history of service to the British royal family as descendants of Arnold Joost van Keppel, who had accompanied King William III to Britain in 1688 and been granted the title Earl of Albemarle in 1696. The Hon. Mr and Mrs George Keppel had two daughters: Violet Trefusis (6 June 1894– 29 February 1972) and Sonia Rosemary Cubitt (24 May 1900 – 16 August 1986).
  Her husband's lack of money led Keppel to engage in affairs with richer men in order to keep the family up with the lifestyle of London society of those times. Keppel began her first affair with Ernest Beckett, 2nd Baron Grimthorpe; members of the Keppel family believed that Beckett was the biological father of Keppel's daughter Violet. Keppel also had an affair with Humphrey Sturt, 2nd Baron Alington.
  Keppel's husband once said of her: "I do not mind what she does as long as she comes back to me in the end." Her affairs were conducted with his knowledge, and despite a deep affection for his wife, he also had affairs. "Very fond of women himself, he raised no objection to the prince's friendship with his wife", stated historian Christopher Hibbert. Despite affairs on both sides, one of her daughters described her parents' marriage as a "marriage of companionship of love and laughter".
caption: The Honourable Mrs George Keppel with her daughter Violet in 1899
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