Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (1864–92) was a member of the British Royal Family. He was the eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and Alexandra, Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra), and the grandson of the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria. From the time of his birth, he was second in the line of succession to the throne, but he did not become king because he died before his father and his grandmother. He travelled the world extensively as a naval cadet and joined the army, but did not undertake any active military duties. After two unsuccessful courtships, he was engaged to be married to Mary of Teck in late 1891. Just a few weeks later, he died in an influenza pandemic. Mary later married his younger brother, George, who became King George V in 1910. Albert Victor's intellect, sexuality and sanity have been the subject of much speculation. Rumours in 1889 linked him with the Cleveland Street scandal, which involved a homosexual brothel, but there is no conclusive evidence verifying or disproving them. Some authors have argued that he was the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper but the claim is widely dismissed. Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Albert_Victor,_Duke_of_Clarence_and_Avondale> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1697: Scottish student Thomas Aikenhead became the last person in Britain to be executed for blasphemy. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aikenhead> 1790: George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address in New York City, then the provisional capital of the United States. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union_address> 1977: Three bombs attributed to Armenian nationalists exploded across Moscow, killing 37 people. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Moscow_bombings> 1981: A local farmer reported a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time". <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-en-Provence_Case> 2004: RMS Queen Mary 2 (pictured), at the time the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built, was christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Mary_2> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: factitious: 1. Created by humans; artificial. 2. Counterfeit, fabricated. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/factitious> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:   We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life. Disarmament cannot be achieved nor can the problem of war be resolved without being accompanied by profound changes in the economic order and the structure of society.   --A. J. Muste <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A._J._Muste>