Marriage
On 1 June 1891, at the age of 22, Keppel married The Honourable George Keppel, son of the 7th Earl of Albemarle and four years her senior. The Keppel family had a history of service to the British royal family, being descendants of Arnold Joost van Keppel, who had accompanied king William III of England to Britain in 1688 and been given the title of Earl of Albemarle in 1696. The Hon. Mr and Mrs George Keppel had two daughters: Violet Trefusis (1894-1972) and Sonia Cubitt, Baroness Ashcombe (1900-1986).
Her husband's comparative lack of money led Keppel to engage in affairs with richer men in order for the family to keep up with the lifestyle of London society in those times. Keppel began her first affair with Ernest Beckett; 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 his attachment to his wife, he also engaged in his own affairs. "Very fond of women himself, he raised no objection to the prince's friendship with his wife", wrote 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".
Read more about this topic: Alice Keppel
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“Marriage is the clue to human life, but there is no marriage apart from the wheeling sun and the nodding earth, from the straying of the planets and the magnificence of the fixed stars.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“We hope the day will soon come when every girl will be a member of a great Union of Unmarried Women, pledged to refuse an offer of marriage from any man who is not an advocate of their emancipation.”
—Tennessee Claflin (1846–1923)
“Why don’t you go home to your wife? I’ll tell you what. I’ll go home to your wife and outside of the improvements, you’ll never know the difference. Pull over to the side of the road there and let me see your marriage license.”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Horsefeathers, a wisecrack made to Huxley College’s outgoing president (1932)