2. King Edward VII Couldn’t Get Enough of Hookers
Queen Victoria was unable to remove Bertie from the line of succession, she did her best to make him wait: she often remarked that her longevity was due to her determination to outlive Bertie and prevent him from ever becoming king. Despite her best, Victoria finally died in 1901, after a 64-year reign, and Bertie became king at age 60. During his long wait, Bertie became notorious for his relentless quest to gratify his sexual appetites. He had a particular fondness for prostitutes, but he was willing to sample anything and anybody, whether cheap hookers or top-notch aristocratic ladies and courtesans. From discrete liaisons, to well-publicized affairs with famous actresses, to wife-swapping orgies, Bertie was down for anything.
He was a huge fan of Paris’ elite brothels, especially its most exclusive whorehouse, La Chabanais. Indeed, he built himself a private royal room in La Chabanais, decorated with his coat of arms and furnished to his specific tastes. Said tastes included a specially designed chair, named siege d’amour, which he had installed in his whorehouse room. By the 1890s, Bertie was fat, middle-aged, and out of shape, so he had the heavy-duty love chair custom-made to enable him to have sex without crushing his partners. The specialty chair also enabled him to position the prostitutes just right for royal access, with minimal exertion and contortions on his part.
