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Maria Fitzherbert

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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.

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George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death. He had earlier served as The Prince Regent when his father, George III, suffered from a relapse into insanity from an illness that is now suspected to have been porphyria.The Regency, George's nine-year tenure as Prince Regent, which commenced in 1811 and ended with George III's death in 1820, was marked by victory in the Napoleonic Wars in Europe.George was a stubborn monarch, often interfering in politics, especially in the matter of Catholic emancipation, though not as much as his father. For most of George's regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the government as Prime Minister.George is remembered largely for the extravagant lifestyle that he maintained as prince and monarch. By 1797 his weight had reached 17 stone 7 pounds (111 kg or 245 lb), and by 1824 his corset was made for a waist of 50 inches (127 cm). He had a poor relationship with both his father and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, whom he even forbade to attend his coronation. He was a patron of new forms of leisure, style and taste. He commissioned architect John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and rebuild Windsor Castle. He was largely instrumental in the foundation of the National Gallery, London and King's College London.Soon after he reached the age of 21, the Prince of Wales fell in love with a Roman Catholic, Maria Anne Fitzherbert, who was a widow twice over; her first husband, Edward Weld, died in 1775, and her second husband, Thomas Fitzherbert, in 1781. A marriage between the two was prohibited by the Act of Settlement 1701, which declared those who married Roman Catholics ineligible to succeed to the Throne. In addition, under the Royal Marriages Act 1772 the Prince of Wales could not marry without the consent of the King, which would have never been granted.Nevertheless, the couple contracted a marriage on 15 December 1785 at her house in Park Lane, Mayfair. Legally the union was void as the King's assent was never requested. However, Mrs Fitzherbert believed that she was the Prince of Wales's canonical and true wife, holding the law of the Church to be superior to the law of the State. For political reasons, the union remained secret and Mrs Fitzherbert promised not to publish any evidence relating to it.The Prince of Wales's debts continued to climb, and his father refused to aid him unless he married his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick.In 1795, the Prince of Wales acquiesced, and they were married on April 8, 1795 at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. The marriage, however, was disastrous; each party was unsuited to the other.The two were formally separated after the birth of their only child, Princess Charlotte, in 1796, and remained separated for the rest of their lives. The Prince of Wales remained attached to Mrs Fitzherbert for the rest of his life, despite several periods of estrangement.

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Mrs. Maria Anne Fitzherbert unlike the Prince's other connections was respectable. Born Maria Anne Smythe on 26 July 1756 the eldest daughter of Walter Smythe of Brambridge in Hampshire. Her paternal...
Posted by on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:19:00 GMT