Queen Victoria was furious with then-Prime Minister Lord Salisbury over his government’s failure to bring Jack the Ripper to justice during his infamous 1888 killing spree.
The revelation comes from TV historian Lucy Worsley, who made the bombshell discovery after unearthing a telegram sent by the monarch as she filmed for her new BBC series.
Contained within the telegram were Queen Victoria’s admonishments of Lord Salisbury over the inability to solve the Ripper case despite his repeated assurances.
Whilst exploring Kensington Palace, the childhood home of Queen Victoria, Worsley found the telegram which read: ‘This new, most ghastly murder shows the absolute necessity of some very decided action.
‘All these courts [the narrow streets of Whitechapel in East London] must be lit and our detectives improved. They are not what they should be.’
The TV historian also revealed that the telegram had been written in code to prevent others from reading her top-secret remarks.
Included in the code was a dressing-down of the Prime Minister in which the monarch said: ‘You promised when the first murder happened to consult with your colleagues. These things have not been done’.’
Reflecting on the disovery of the near-140-year-old telegram, Worsley shared her excitement and how she felt shivers.
TV historian Lucy Worsley (pictured) discovered the telegram sent by Queen Victoria to then-PM Lord Salisbury whilst filming for her new BBC series
A screengrab of the Jack the Ripper episode of Lucy Worsley’s new BBC series
Whilst some may be surprised to see a monarch taking such a hands on approach to affairs of the day, this was not uncommon for Queen Victoria, according to Worsley.
‘Queen Victoria is applying serious pressure on her Prime Minister to track down and capture the killer. She was appalled by these heinous crimes.
‘It’s actually very Queen Victoria to plunge into the detail of something that’s going on and have very firm views about it,’ she said.
Worsley also commented on the Queen’s sense of female solidarity in showing compassion for Jack the Ripper’s victims.
The gruesome saga also paved the way for a whole new sect of the media, where outlets fixate on a particular story in an attempt to have readers obsess over it. The tactic has now even been monikered ‘ripperology’.
More than a century later, the fascination with the case lives on with the killer still at large and the way the case was originally covered proving to be a prototype for covering crime stories to this day.
The show, Jack the Ripper: Lucy Worsley Investigates, will air on BBC2 at 9pm on January 3.