(Edward VIII Prince of Wales Royal Visit Kenya.) A snapshot ...

Estimate

£40 - £60

(Edward VIII Prince of Wales Royal Visit Kenya.) A snapshot photograph album containing 60 monochrome photographs of Kenya, 1928, including some images of Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, during his Royal Tour to East Africa, along with his younger brother Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, images include Royal party in motor car; troops and spectators lining streets; native chiefs come to welcome Royal visit; image of Prince of Wales on racehorse, alongside the Kenyan aviator, racehorse trainer and adventurer and author Beryl Markham (1902-1986), captioned beneath "Beryl Markham leading in H.R.H. and Cambrian"; other horse racing images of the Household Brigade Race October 4 1928 and the winning racehorse Thermopylae, including large group image at end of several jockeys and others posing, including the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Gloucester, approx. size 15 x 23.5cm, m/s names of those in photo beneath, plus numerous other photographs of British residents in Kenya, views of estates and topographical views of the country, including Kitimuru Estate at Thika, Murang'a District; views near Gilgil; Muthaiga Club, Nairobi; other photos Mombasa, Likoni, "The Truman's House at Molo", etc, images mainly approx. 9 x 11cm, many with m/s captions beneath, contemporary oblong cloth album. Beryl Markham was the first person to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic from Britain to North America, and coached by Tom Campbell Black, was one of the first bush pilots, spotting game animals from the air and signalling their locations to safaris on the ground. She entered into an affair with Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester – known informally as Harry – the son of George V, who became besotted with her during his trip to Kenya. It is said that Beryl also simultaneously had an affair with Harry's older brother, Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) during this time. Prince Henry's solicitors paid out a regular hush money annuity to Beryl Markham until her death in 1985, in order to avert a public scandal, after Markham's husband threatened to disclose Prince Henry's private letters to his wife if he did not "take care of Beryl". The Muthaiga Country Club is described in Beryl Markham's 1942 memoir West with the Night. The club had a reputation during colonial times as "the Moulin Rouge of Africa", where the elite "drank champagne and pink gin for breakfast, played cards, danced through the night, and generally woke up with someone else's spouse in the morning."