Alice Frederica Keppel (née Edmonstone;[1] 29 April 1868 – 11 September 1947) was an aristocrat, British society hostess and a long-time mistress of King Edward VII.

Her beauty, charm and discretion impressed London society and brought her to the attention of the future King Edward VII in 1898, when he was still Prince of Wales, whose mistress she remained until his death, lightening the dark moods of his later years, and holding considerable influence.

Through her younger daughter, Sonia Cubitt, Alice Keppel is the great-grandmother of Queen Camilla, the former mistress and second wife of Edward VII's great-great-grandson King Charles III.

[3] Besides his position as a baronet, her father was a retired admiral in the Royal Navy, and her maternal grandfather Lieut.-Col. John Whitehill Parsons (1786–1848) had been a governor of the Ionian Islands.

[5] Alice grew up at Duntreath Castle,[3] the home since the 14th century of the Edmonstone family, who were direct descendants of the Royal House of Stuart.

[6] George and Alice Keppel had two daughters: Violet Trefusis (6 June 1894 – 29 February 1972) and Sonia Cubitt (24 May 1900 – 16 August 1986).

[7][8] Her husband's lack of money led Alice to engage in affairs with richer men in order to keep the family up with the lifestyle of London society of those times.

[11] "Very fond of women himself, he raised no objection to the prince's friendship with his wife", wrote the historian Christopher Hibbert.

She preferred Keppel to Edward's previous mistress, Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, whom she disliked for being indiscreet when she showed off her position.

[7] Millicent Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Warwick's half sister, stated that the prince was "a much pleasanter child since he changed mistresses".

[18] Instead of giving her money directly from the Privy Purse, the king gave Keppel shares in a rubber company; these later gained her £50,000, the equivalent of around £7.5 million today.

According to Christopher Hibbert, "George cheerfully went to work for Sir Thomas Lipton, who obligingly found him employment at the prince's instigation.

[21] Though Alice Keppel was known for her persuasiveness, her efforts to encourage the king to abandon his smoking and heavy eating were unsuccessful.

[22] King Edward's death made Keppel so grief-stricken that at his deathbed she had to be escorted out of his room by members of the Royal Household.

The new king and queen, George V and Mary of Teck, organised the court along more traditional lines, and Keppel was not invited to attend.

During the First World War, Keppel helped her friend Lady Sarah Wilson run a hospital for wounded soldiers in Boulogne.