# A real-life Victorian novelette: the royal baccarat scandal

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-victorian-novelette-the-royal-baccarat-scandal/970031>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 21, 2022, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-victorian-novelette-the-royal-baccarat-scandal/970031 "2022-08-21T13:14:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-victorian-novelette-the-royal-baccarat-scandal/970031/1 "2022-08-21T13:14:58Z")

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I just read the Wikipedia article on [the baccarat scandal of 1890](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_baccarat_scandal).

You read about Victorian society in books, you see movies. But it all seems a bit remote, legendary, and you think it’s all a bit exaggerated, these people placing honour above all else while having extramarital affairs, high-ranking officers having formal dinners wearing their swords, discussing the dreadful uprisings in India last month, and then attending the races to see who’s who; that surely these people had an everyday life like we do and just put on a show for the public.

But here we have an account of a real-life event that reads like one of those novels. A guy having his military career ruined because people in a posh mansion saw him cheat at a game of cards where the Prince of Wales acted as banker, and because he subsequently signed under pressure a letter that didn’t admit any guilt, and then sued his accusers for slander and lost his case – though he was never himself on trial for cheating, as far as I can tell. And the Prince’s reputation was somehow at stake because of his handling of this alleged cheater, and not because it was well-known that the Prince had a mistress.

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-victorian-novelette-the-royal-baccarat-scandal/970031/2 "2022-08-21T13:57:44Z")

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Did this case inspire Conan Doyle’s _The Adventure of the Empty House_ (featuring a murder to prevent exposure of a card-cheating military rogue)?

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-victorian-novelette-the-royal-baccarat-scandal/970031/3 "2022-08-21T13:59:07Z")

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Interesting read

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-real-life-victorian-novelette-the-royal-baccarat-scandal/970031/4 "2022-08-21T17:45:30Z")

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George MacDonald Fraser covered Harry Flashman’s involvement with the whole affair in _Flashman and the Tiger_. More specifically in the story “The Subtleties of Baccarat.”