away on campaign and thus Lady Charles became aware of the affair. The letter became a point of dispute and was the reason Daisy acquired the epithet "Babbling Brooke." Others who read the letter, including Charles's brother, Lord Marcus Beresford, agreed it "ought to have never seen the light of day". Lady Charles handed the letter to Sir George Lewis, 1st Baronet, a solicitor who acted for many society figures, for safekeeping. Lady Warwick attempted to pull rank and appealed to the Prince of Wales. Arguably, the incident effectively cemented Lady Warwick's superior social standing, as the Prince acquired the Countess as his own semi-official mistress. The Prince hoped to convince Lady Charles to give up the letter for its destruction, but she gave Lady Warwick an ultimatum: stay away from London that season and the letter would be returned. Lady Warwick refused, and the Prince of Wales made the situation worse by hinting to Lady Charles that the position she and her husband held in society would be endangered. This angered Lord Charles enough to push the Prince of Wales against a sofa. The Prince forgave Lord Charles for his actions, but the scandal placed a strain on the friendship of the two men. The quarrel lasted until Prime Minister Lord Salisbury intervened and both parties reached an agreement. Nevertheless, the relations between Edward VII and Lord Charles remained weak for the remainder of their lives. For almost a decade Daisy was a special favourite of the Prince of Wales. She nevertheless formed her own passionate attachments elsewhere. She fell hopelessly in love with a faithless millionaire bachelor, Joseph Laycock. When she became pregnant with Laycock's child, the Prince of Wales, although still fond of her, insisted that a distance be kept between them. However, Laycock was also in an affair with Kitty, the Marchioness of Downshire. When the Marquess of Downshire threatened divorce over her affair, this menage-à-trois set society's pens ablaze with letters deploring, snickering at and gossiping about such scandalous conduct. Laycock married Lady Downshire after her divorce. At this time Daisy threw herself into the schemes which she had begun to address social inequality, including the education and feeding of the children of the poor and the education and employment of women. She formally joined the Social Democratic Federation and campaigned in support of candidates from both the SDF and the Independent Labour Party. Nevertheless,