Sex, drugs and jazz: the secret life of Prince George, Duke of Kent
When it comes to royal scandal, the Windsors have given the tabloids a lifetime supply. In fact, the current monarch is only wearing the crown thanks to his great-uncle’s controversial life choices. But Charles had another great-uncle who was so drenched in sex, secrets, and smoky jazz clubs that it makes the abdication crisis look tame. Prince George, Duke of Kent was the younger brother of Edward VIII and George VI and his life was like a Baz Luhrmann fever dream. There were rumours of bisexuality and illegitimate children, and his early death is shrouded in wartime conspiracy theories. And while Edward VIII's antics are royal folklore by now, George's story has been largely tucked away behind the palace curtains.
The well-bred rebel
George’s upbringing was steeped in the traditions and expectations of the British monarchy. The fifth child of George V and Mary of Teck, he followed the usual path of private school followed by naval college and active service. There was just one small problem…he got horrendously seasick and hated life at sea. Still, he did his duty and stuck it out for several years. Then came the first curveball. In a move that shocked both palace and public, George ditched tradition and became the first British royal to hold a regular job, joining the civil service at the Foreign Office and Home Office in the interwar years.
But the real drama was happening after hours. Britain was going through a seismic cultural shift. The aftermath of World War I had shaken the old order and the roaring twenties introduced new ideas around freedom, lifestyles, and social boundaries. The era was alive with possibility: jazz music spilled from bars, bright young things danced on tables until dawn, and a new generation of aristocrats were determined to taste every bit of life that had been denied to them during the dark days of war.
George and big bro Edward dived into everything the Jazz Age had to offer. The two men became good mates, despite the age gap between them, both handsome and perpetually up to no good. Edward later wrote “Although George was eight-and-a-half years my junior, I found in his character qualities that were akin to my own. We became more than brothers - we became close friends.” Their playboy reputations were such that George V is alleged to have grumbled about Edward: “After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in twelve months.”
The girl with the silver syringe
Edward’s personal dramas are well-documented yet George was arguably even wilder. Flitting between the likes of Café de Paris and the Embassy Club, always impeccably dressed, he charmed women and men alike. At the centre of this glittering world was Alice “Kiki” Preston. A cousin of the powerful Vanderbilt family and one of the infamous ‘Happy Valley Set’, Kiki was the quintessential flapper - restless, daring, and glamorous. She was already on her second marriage when she met George and the two fell wildly, hopelessly in love.
Beneath the elegant facade, however, Kiki was deeply troubled and hooked on heroin, cocaine and morphine. Her drug use was so prolific and so open that she became known as ‘the girl with the silver syringe’. She took George along for the ride as they fell headlong into a whirlwind of infatuation. The pair slept all day, partied all night, and spiralled through a drunken haze of sex and narcotics. They indulged all their appetites, even enjoying a threesome with the son of an Argentinian diplomat.