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Maria Fitzherbert, ca 1790 |
Fact or Fiction? The Two Wives of George IV
Imagine
if you found out a high-standing member of your community had a secret wife.
Now imagine you are an English subject and that the high-standing person is
your King! This was precisely the case during the reign of George IV--though most
of English society knew about the first wife of George even while he was still
Prince of Wales and then Prince Regent.
How
Did it Happen?
The
prince married Maria Fitzherbert because he was in love
with her, and had long sought her hand. But his doing so was illegal on three
counts, all of which he--and Maria--were well aware of. For this reason, they
held a private and secret ceremony. Maria was a twice-widowed devout Catholic
who had held off the prince for quite some time. She finally agreed to a
wedding on the condition that a priest would officiate. The legal obstacles to
the marriage were as follows:
1. The Prince of Wales could not marry a commoner. This was
law.
2. The Act of Settlement of 1701 prohibited the protestant Prince from marrying a Catholic, at cost of his title and claim to the throne.
3. The Royal Marriages Act expressly forbade the Prince to marry without the King’s consent if he was younger than twenty-five. (He was 23.)
2. The Act of Settlement of 1701 prohibited the protestant Prince from marrying a Catholic, at cost of his title and claim to the throne.
3. The Royal Marriages Act expressly forbade the Prince to marry without the King’s consent if he was younger than twenty-five. (He was 23.)
These
were the legal impediments. There were also ethical and moral ones.
Maria was a deeply religious woman. She would not consent to being the Prince’s mistress. He went so far as to stage a “suicide,” stabbing himself and promising to bleed to death if she did not come to him. He did this knowing all the while that a marriage to her could never be valid in the eyes of the law. Maria consented to a wedding under duress, but then fled his attentions by fleeing to Europe. Yet the Prince hounded Maria, swearing his lifelong love and devotion to her at every turn.
Maria was a deeply religious woman. She would not consent to being the Prince’s mistress. He went so far as to stage a “suicide,” stabbing himself and promising to bleed to death if she did not come to him. He did this knowing all the while that a marriage to her could never be valid in the eyes of the law. Maria consented to a wedding under duress, but then fled his attentions by fleeing to Europe. Yet the Prince hounded Maria, swearing his lifelong love and devotion to her at every turn.
The King (ie.,
Parliament) is estimated to have paid off what would be nearly £18,000,000 in
today's money in order to coax the Prince to this legal
marriage. In short, the country
wanted a legal heir and was willing to pay for it. Moreover, they wanted a
royal marriage that wasn't a scandal. Unfortunately, the ensuing legal marriage to Caroline of Brunswick Wolfenbüttel was an unmitigated
disaster. The couple spent enough time together to have one child--the popular
but doomed Princess Charlotte--and then separated for good.
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Princess Caroline of Brunswick |
George,
however, never divorced his Catholic wife. The fact that the government didn't recognize the union as legal enabled him to marry again, but Maria
considered herself married to George until his death. She had vowed to always
believe him her husband and she never remarried or took up with another man.
(She had even written to the Pope, who confirmed that the marriage was valid in
the eyes of Rome.)
To
his credit (and there is very little to his credit regarding his marriages)
George never forgot Maria. At his death, he was found wearing a miniature
portrait of her around his neck, nearest his heart. He had also saved all her
letters.
VERDICT:
The two wives of George IV was: FACT
For
more information:
For a good post on how George pursued Maria, see this post on "History and Other Thoughts."
What would you have done if you were Maria? Would you have married the Prince, the most eligible male in the Kingdom?
For a good post on how George pursued Maria, see this post on "History and Other Thoughts."
What would you have done if you were Maria? Would you have married the Prince, the most eligible male in the Kingdom?

That's a fascinating story, Linore. What a tangled web they wove!
ReplyDeleteWow! What an incredible story. I love the Fact or Fiction approach.
ReplyDeleteFascinating post. But poor Maria! Rebecca phrased it perfectly. What a tangled web!
ReplyDeleteThanks, ladies. And yes, poor Maria, indeed! I have yet to read a biography of her, but I intend to. She was really an anomaly to the world of court politics and intrigues, being involved despite herself by the Prince's ceaseless pursuit of her. But even her enemies had nothing bad to say of her. She was truly a sweet saint--I'd love to meet her one day in heaven. :)
ReplyDeletePoor Maria, indeed! Thanks for the delightful post, Linore, it's very enlightening. I've seen Maria Fitzherbert: The Secret Wife of George IV by James Munson mentioned in the Quizzing Glass Blog, but haven't seen it reviewed.
ReplyDeleteI haven't looked at the reviews yet, either. I don't want something that's mostly fictional--she did write many letters to various people, so there should be a good basis for a bio--I would hope some of the letters would be transcribed in the book. You'd get a good feel for what she was like, I think. (Then again, my letters wouldn't be very accurate a picture; but we don't write letters today the way they used to, with precision and care and much thought.) Thanks for stopping by. :)
ReplyDelete