A stalker for Queen Vic
Summary from The Polijam Times 02.02.11
Details surrounding the UK’s first ‘celebrity stalker’ have been revealed by historian Jan Bondeson.
Although the case of Queen Victoria’s stalker was at the time kept quiet, Bondeson, a lecturer at Cardiff University has been able to collect information for his book “Queen Victoria’s Stalker” from old newspaper stories.
Edward Jones, known to the police as Boy Jones, was obsessed with the young Queen. He was only 14 when he managed to break into her quarters and steal her underwear. The queen was 19 at the time.
Queen Victoria wrote in her journal: ‘Supposing he had come into the bedroom, how frightened I should have been.’
Jones managed on one occasion to sit on the throne and sleep in a palace bed. Bondeson remarks on how close he managed to get to the Queen.
He was once acquitted, but twice sentenced to imprisonment for his activities. Eventually, he was transported to Australia where he died from a fall under the influence of alcohol.
