Maria Fitzherbert

Maria Fitzherbert (Maria Anne Fitzherbert, née Smythe; 26 July 1756 – 27 March 1837), was the first woman with whom the future George IV undertook a wedding ceremony, and his companion for a large part of his adult life. However the marriage was invalid under English civil laws concerning royal marriages and she never became queen or acquired any other title.Maria Anne was the eldest child of Walter Smythe of Brambridge, Hampshire, and Mary Ann Errington. Her paternal grandparents were Sir John Smythe, 3rd Baronet, of Acton Burnell, Shropshire, and Constantia Blount. Her maternal grandparents were John Errington of Beaufront, Northumberland, and Maria Levery (Maria was also mother to Charles William Molyneux, 1st Earl of Sefton by her third marriage). She was educated in Paris.She was married to Edward Weld, 16 years her senior, a rich Catholic landowner of Lulworth Castle in July 1775. Maria Anne soon became a widow, as Weld died just three months later after falling from his horse.She was married a second time, three years later, to Thomas Fitzherbert of Swynnerton, Staffordshire. She was ten years younger than he. They had a son who died young. She became a widow for a second time on 7 May 1781, inheriting a residence in Mayfair and an annual income of £2,500.The young widow Mrs Fitzherbert soon entered London high society. In spring, 1784, Maria was introduced to a youthful admirer: George, Prince of Wales. She became the most notable royal mistress to the future George IV of the United Kingdom by marrying him on December 15, 1785, at Red Rice House, Red Rice.he marriage was considered invalid under the Royal Marriages Act 1772 because it had not been approved by George III of the United Kingdom and the Privy Council. Had permission been asked, it would probably not have been granted, as Mrs. Fitzherbert was a Roman Catholic. Had the marriage occurred validly under the Royal Marriages Act, the Prince of Wales would have been disqualified to inherit the Crown under the provisions of the English Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement. However, since the marriage was legally null and void, the disqualification did not apply.Maria and the Prince continued to see one another romantically even after the Prince's marriage to Caroline of Brunswick, and the prince returned to live with Maria in about 1800, but their relationship had ended permanently by 1811. During this time he was also romantically involved with royal courtesan Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey, but this affair apparently had no adverse effect on Maria's affair with him.Following the death of George on 26 June 1830, it was discovered that he had kept all her letters, and steps were taken to destroy them. The new king, William IV, offered to make her a duchess, a recompense for the difficulties she had suffered on his brother's behalf. Mrs Fitzherbert replied that ‘she had borne through life the name of Mrs Fitzherbert; that she had never disgraced it, and did not wish to change it’.She is buried in St John the Baptist's Church, Kemp Town, Brighton. An American geneology researcher named Bruce Shattuck alleges that a son was born to George IV and Maria Fitzherbert. According to Shattuck, this son, who went by the name James Henry Adolph Fitzherbert, was paid by William IV, in 1832, to go into exile in America.