The Victorian-era scandal behind the last time a royal was questioned in court

Prince of Wales entered the dock in 1890 in what became known as the royal baccarat disgrace.

-  Tara Cobham

A royal scandal in the Victorian era involving gambling, an illegal card game, and accusations of cheating set the scene for the last time a prince stepped into the witness box in a British court.

Royal fans have to look back 130 years to find accounts of an “extremely nervous” and pale-faced future King Edward VII giving evidence in a slander case after a spectacular falling out with his best friend in 1890.

Centred on the illicit card game of baccarat, the furore – dubbed “the royal baccarat scandal” or “the Tranby Croft affair” – proved an unedifying moment for all involved, and distinctly damaging for the crown.

After the Prince of Wales’s former close friend, Lieutenant Colonel Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet, of the Scots Guards, was accused of cheating in the game, Lt Col Gordon-Cumming took his accusers to court and the prince acted as a key witness for the defence.

The “poor showing” of the nervous Prince of Wales in particular proved “disastrous” for the royal family, according to royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.

As a result of his appearance, it was agreed that “royals don’t appear in court”, Mr Fitzwilliams said, citing the adage: “Never complain, never explain.”

Therefore, it is “very momentous”, said Mr Fitzwilliams, that Edward VII’s great-great-great-grandson Prince Harry is set to testify at the High Court in his lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mirror this week over alleged unlawful information-gathering.