Historian: Queen Victoria had stalker

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LONDON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- A 14-year-old London lad of the 19th century was so obsessed with the young Queen Victoria he broke into her bedroom and stole her underwear, a historian says.

Jan Bondeson, a lecturer at Cardiff University in Wales, calls Edward Jones, well known to the police of his time as Boy Jones, as "the first known celebrity stalker in history," The Sun reported. Bondeson said the story was kept under wraps as much as possible, but he was able to gather information for his book, "Queen Victoria's Stalker," from old newspaper stories.

Victoria was 18 when she became queen in 1837 and 19 when Jones was first caught burglarizing the palace.

"Supposing he had come into the bedroom, how frightened I should have been," Victoria wrote in her journal.

Jones was acquitted once and sentenced to prison twice for break-ins. Then he was transported to Australia, where he died from a drunken fall in 1893.

Bondeson said Jones, in addition to grabbing Victoria's knickers on one occasion sat on the throne and also slept in a palace bed. He was tried twice in secret.

"The amazing thing is how close he got to the queen and the extraordinary lengths taken to get rid of him," Bondeson said.