Daisy Greville, Lady Beresford, and royal intervention

While Beresford was serving with the Mediterranean Fleet, Lady Beresford obtained a letter exposing his affair with Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick. She lodged it with solicitor George Lewis and threatened disclosure unless the relationship ended. The Prince of Wales tried to have Lewis destroy the letter, but Lewis refused because it was his client's property and the monarchy could not order him to dispose of it. The prince then excluded Lady Beresford from his social circle, prompting Beresford to demand a written apology for the treatment of the wife he himself had betrayed. Royal and aristocratic networks shaped the crisis without nullifying the legal limits on the prince's power.