On the trail of Edward VII’s sex chair for threesomes

Edward VII’s seat of love is still in active use. Sean Thomas is given a lesson in oral history

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I am loitering in a sex museum in Prague. Amidst the chastity belts and pre-war dildos stands this... thing. It looks like an instrument of medieval torture; or a commode for an incontinent Chinese warlord.

Yet it turns out to be something way more bizarre than this - what I am ogling is the fauteuil d'amour, the famous "armchair of love". It's a chair specifically designed by a top French furniture-maker, so an English King could have sex with two or more prostitutes. Looking at the surreal object, it's hard to work out how.

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is the author of three novels: Absent Fathers, Kissing England and The Cheek Perforation Dance. His most recent book, Millions of Women are Waiting to Meet You - a memoir of his chequered lovelife - is published by Bloomsbury Books.