"entrusted his brother Charles with the task of publishing the truth about the royal marriage. Charles was unable to obtain the documents deposited in Coutts Bank, but he used his brother's memoir as the basis for his biography of Mrs. Fitzherbert, published in 1856. William Stourton, 18th Baron Stourton William Stourton, 18th Baron Stourton (1776–1846) was a Roman Catholic English peer. He is chiefly remembered for the private memoirs of his relative Maria Fitzherbert, the secret wife of King George IV, which she dictated to him, and which formed the basis for her first biography, published by his brother Charles"
"Park Street, Mayfair. The twice widowed Fitzherbert soon entered London high society. In spring, 1784, she was introduced to a youthful admirer: George, Prince of Wales, six years her junior. The prince became infatuated with her and pursued her endlessly until she agreed to marry him. Secretly, and – as both parties were well aware – against the law, they went through a form of marriage on 15 December 1785, in the drawing room of her house in Park Street, London. Her uncle, Henry Errington, and her brother, Jack Smythe, were the witnesses. This invalid marriage ceremony was performed by"
"the need to send the widow Maria Fitzherbert a token of his love. This gesture and the romance that went with it was frowned upon by the court, so a miniaturist was employed to paint only the eye and thereby preserve anonymity and decorum. The couple went through a form of marriage on 15 December 1785, though all present knew the marriage was invalid by the Royal Marriages Act, since George III had not approved. Reportedly Maria’s eye miniature was worn by George IV, hidden under his lapel. This is regarded as the event which led to lovers' eyes becoming"
"via agents Strutt & Parker. After the twice widowed Maria Fitzherbert entered London society, in spring 1784 she was introduced to George, Prince of Wales, six years her junior. Pursuing an affair, in part believed undertaken at Rookley Manor, on 15 December 1785 they illegally married under the Royal Marriages Act 1772 in the drawing room of her house in Park Street, Mayfair, London. Although George latter married his first cousin, Duchess Caroline of Brunswick who bore him a daughter Princess Charlotte of Wales, on 10 January 1796, George wrote his last will and testament, bequeathing all his ""worldly property"
"factors caused it to grow in the 1790s. Many refugees from the French Revolution settled in Brighton after escaping from France; and Maria Fitzherbert, a twice-widowed Catholic, began a relationship with the Prince Regent (and secretly married him in 1785 in a ceremony which was illegal according to the Act of Settlement 1701 and the Royal Marriages Act 1772). She accompanied the Prince Regent whenever he visited Brighton, and had her own house (Steine House on Old Steine). The first Catholic place of worship since the Reformation in Brighton was established above a shop in 1798; it was one of"
"doctor Richard Russell. The Prince's first visit to the town, in 1783 at the age of 21, lasted 11 days and attracted thousands of people eager to see both him and the sights which had attracted him. The following year, he stayed for ten weeks of the summer to take the water cure. He visited again in 1785—the same year as he met and fell in love with Maria Fitzherbert, a widowed Roman Catholic. They married (illegally, against the provisions of the Royal Marriages Act 1772) in December 1785, and she first visited Brighton the following year. At first, she"
"James Fox and other radically inclined politicians. Soon after he reached the age of 21, the prince became infatuated with Maria Fitzherbert. She was a commoner, six years his elder, twice widowed, and a Roman Catholic. Nevertheless, the prince was determined to marry her. This was in spite of the Act of Settlement 1701, which barred the spouse of a Catholic from succeeding to the throne, and the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which prohibited his marriage without the King's consent. Nevertheless, the couple went through a marriage ceremony on 15 December 1785 at her house in Park Street, Mayfair. Legally"
"Revolution settled in Brighton after escaping from France; and Maria Fitzherbert, a twice-widowed Catholic, began a relationship with the Prince Regent (and secretly married him in 1785 in a ceremony which was illegal according to the Act of Settlement 1701 and the Royal Marriages Act 1772). She accompanied the Prince Regent whenever he visited Brighton, and had her own house (Steine House on Old Steine). The first Catholic place of worship in Brighton was established above a shop in 1798; it was one of the earliest in Britain. In 1805 the priest in charge, a French émigré, started to raise"
"the union was void, as the King's consent was not granted (and never even requested). However, Fitzherbert believed that she was the prince'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 Fitzherbert promised not to reveal it. The prince was plunged into debt by his exorbitant lifestyle. His father refused to assist him, forcing him to quit Carlton House and live at Fitzherbert's residence. In 1787, the prince's political allies proposed to relieve his debts with a parliamentary grant. The prince's"
"lady who might well have been the wife of any king. This was Maria Anne Smythe, better known as Mrs. Fitzherbert, who met the six-years junior then-Prince of Wales in 1784. She had been married to Thomas Fitzherbert of Swynnerton until his death in 1781, which left her well provided for. Maria Fitzherbert's face was one which always displayed its best advantages. Her eyes were peculiarly languishing, and, as she had already been twice a widow, and was six years his senior, she had the advantage over a less experienced lover. Likewise, she was a Catholic, and so by another"
"for fifty years the foremost man among the Roman Catholic laity in England. Langdale had been a close friend of Maria Fitzherbert during their youth; there was a family connection through her first husband George Weld, whose niece married his eldest brother William. In the publication ""Memoirs of Lord Holland"", it was claimed that Fitzherbert, a Roman Catholic, never believed her marriage vows to George, Prince of Wales, to be in any way binding (the marriage was considered invalid under the Royal Marriages Act 1772 because it had not been approved by King George III and the Privy Council). With"
"one of the prince's Chaplains in Ordinary, the Reverend Robert Burt, whose debts (of £500) were paid by the prince to release him from the Fleet Prison. The marriage was not valid under English law because it had not received the prior approval of King George III and the Privy Council as required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Had approval been sought, it might not have been granted for many reasons including, for example, Fitzherbert's Roman Catholic allegiance. Had consent been given and the marriage been legal, the Prince of Wales would have been automatically removed from the succession"
"to the British throne under the provisions of the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement 1701 and replaced as heir-apparent by his brother, Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. His brother, Prince Augustus Frederick, contracted an invalid marriage with Lady Augusta Murray in 1793 without the King's consent and had two children with her. On 23 June 1794, Fitzherbert was informed by letter that her relationship with the Prince was over. George told his younger brother, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, that he and Fitzherbert were ""parted, but parted amicably"", conveying his intention to marry their"
"Sarah Fairbrother Sarah Fairbrother (calling herself ""Louisa"" and known from 1859 as ""Mrs FitzGeorge""; 31 October 1816 – 12 January 1890) was an English actress and the mistress of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, a male-line grandson of George III. As the couple married in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772, their marriage was not recognised under the law. Sarah Fairbrother was born in James Street, Westminster and baptised at St James, Westminster, 8 October 1817. Her parents were John Fairbrother, a servant in Westminster, and Mary Tucker whose maiden name may have been Phillips. The details of her"
"act of Parliament any marriage with her would be illegal. Yet just because of all these different objections the prince was doubly drawn to her, and was willing to sacrifice even the throne if he could but win her. Maria Fitzherbert died on 27 March 1837. Although the marriage was declared invalid under English civil law, Pope Pius VII declared the marriage legal. D&G Bus service number 14 calls at the church bus stop five times a day on its way to and from Hanley, Trentham, Barlaston, Stone and Eccleshall and Stafford. The village pub, the Fitzherbert Arms, has three"
"5th Earl of Thanet but James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth proposed himself instead although he was already married. Lady Wentworth's mother swiftly brought her back to Toddington, but Monmouth followed her there and moved in with her. When Monmouth was implicated in the 1683 Rye House plot to kill King Charles II (Monmouth's illegitimate father) and the king's brother, Lady Wentworth joined him in exile to Holland and was received by the Prince of Orange as Monmouth's mistress. When Monmouth's uncle James II acceded to the English throne in 1685, the duke launched a rebellion that was financed in"
"state explicitly, referring only to ""recrimination"", that George could come off worse because of the bill if his own infidelities (such as his secret marriage to Maria Fitzherbert) were revealed in the course of the debate. In private, the Queen also turned the tables on the King by saying she ""never committed adultery but once, and that was with Mrs Fitzherbert's husband"". The prosecution case, led by the Attorney General for England and Wales Sir Robert Gifford, began on Saturday 19 August. The Queen did not attend. Gifford claimed that Caroline and Pergami had lived as lovers for five years"
"leaving Paris they visited the major cities of Italy, including Rome and Florence, where Fitzherbert commissioned portraits of himself and his companion from Thomas Patch and Pompeo Batoni respectively. He served as Gentleman Usher to King George III and was rewarded with portraits of the king and queen. On 14 October 1777 he married Sarah Perrin in London and through her inherited five plantations in Jamaica. These were four sugar plantations of Blue Mountain, Forest, Grange Hill and Vere and the coffee plantation of Retrieve Mountain. Fitzherbert became a baronet on 22 January 1784 and retired to the family seat"
"children. She suffered further bouts of illness that may have been miscarriages in mid-1678, early 1679, and early 1680. Her childlessness would be the greatest source of unhappiness in her life. From May 1684, King Charles's illegitimate son, James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, lived in the Netherlands, where he was fêted by William and Mary. Monmouth was viewed as a rival to the Duke of York, and as a potential Protestant heir who could supplant the Duke in the line of succession. William, however, did not consider him a viable alternative and correctly assumed that Monmouth had insufficient support. Upon"
"as the Knights of Malta. Henry FitzJames Henry FitzJames (6 August 1673 – 16 December 1702), titular 1st Duke of Albemarle in the Jacobite peerage, was the illegitimate son of King James II of England and VII of Scotland by Arabella Churchill, sister of the first Duke of Marlborough. FitzJames was born in St. James's Square, Westminster, then in the county of Middlesex, England. He was the brother of James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, the French Marshal. On 20 July 1700, he married Marie Gabrielle d'Audibert de Lussan, daughter and heiress of Jean d'Audibert, Comte de Lussan. He had"
"reign. This comparative virtue was favored by the increasingly chaste moral standards of the time. However he was later rumoured to have secretly married Hannah Lightfoot prior to his public wedding to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. His son George IV, first Prince Regent during George III's periods of insanity and then King following his death, carried on an affair of twenty years with a widow, Maria Fitzherbert, with whom he lived and considered his true wife. He was reported to have even married her, even though he became increasingly unfaithful and accepted the paternity of several bastard children throughout this time"
"years older than Bessie). There is no known portrait of her in existence. As a young girl, she came to the King's Court as a maid-of-honour to the King's wife, Catherine of Aragon. It was there that the young teenager caught the eye of the King and became his mistress during 1514 or 1515, a relationship which continued for about eight years. Blount's relationship with Henry VIII lasted for some length of time, compared to his other affairs, which were generally short-lived and unacknowledged. On 15 June 1519, Blount bore the King an illegitimate son who was named Henry FitzRoy,"
"his lordships and estates to Mabel. Her mother married secondly Jean, Sire de Raimes. In June 1119, Mabel marriage to Robert of Caen,(also called FitzRoy and FitzEdith), an illegitimate son of King Henry I (not by his mistress Sybil Corbet - other sources say Robert's mother was of the Gai family of Oxfordshire) was solemnized. Their marriage may have been contracted as early as 1107 and is recorded by ""Orderic Vitalis"" who also names her parents. He would later become an important figure during the turbulent period in English history known as The Anarchy which occurred in the reign of"
"release him from the Fleet Prison, performed the illegal marriage ceremony between Prince George (afterwards King George IV) and Mrs Fitzherbert in 1785. A plaque commemorating this event remains hidden in the old church of St Mary. St Mary's Hall, also at St Mary Hoo, was built in the 17th century and added to in 1830. It was the home of the Victorian farm innovator Henry Pye between 1845 and 1909. Fenn Farm House was built in the 15th century. In 1760 it was re-faced during the reign of George II. It was listed as a Grade 2 historic building"
"of a conspiracy (this time a Catholic one against the Protestant succession) in Margaret Nicholson's attempt to assassinate George III in 1786 and Maria Fitzherbert's rumoured marriage to George, Prince of Wales. Some of her observations were more accurate, for example her praise of the Duchess of Devonshire's political skill, in 1787: ""As soon as ever any young man comes from abroad he is immediately invited to Devonshire House and to Chatsworth—and by that means he is to be of the [Whig] opposition"". She avidly collected political information, deploying it to protect herself, her friends and her family, and passing"
"1761 in North Street, Brighton in what was originally Selina, Countess of Huntingdon's garden. John Baptist Caryll, the last of the Caryll family, was penalised for his Catholic faith and was forced in 1754 to sell his Sussex homes including that at West Grinstead. He endowed the Priest's House to the Catholic Church via Lewes-born bishop Richard Challoner so that Catholic mass could be continued in the locality. When Challoner visited the West Grinstead Mission in 1741 he found 80 Catholics at Mass. Finally, history cannot forget the famous recusant, Maria Fitzherbert, who during this period secretly married the Prince"
"illegitimate son of King Charles II of England. Louisa was still a child when her parents died within a year of each other in 1750 and 1751. After this, Lady Louisa was brought up by her much older sister Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster, in Kildare. In 1758, aged 15, she married Thomas Conolly (1738-1803), grand-nephew of William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. Her husband, a wealthy land-owner and keen horseman, was also a successful politician who was elected to Parliament as early as 1759. The couple lived in the Palladian mansion Castletown House in County Kildare,"
"apparently without success. However, the story gained strength and much dubious detail with the publication of the anonymous ""An Historical Fragment Relative to Her late Majesty Queen Caroline"" (1824), the anonymous ""Authentic Records of the Court of England"" (1831–2) and the ""Secret History of the Court of England"" (1832) in which it was stated that a marriage between Prince George and Hannah Lightfoot had taken place in the Curzon Street Chapel on 17 April 1759. Such a marriage would have bastardised the children of George III and given any child of his brother the Duke of Cumberland a claim to"
"an illegitimate granddaughter of Sir Robert Walpole. He initially wished for active service in the military, but his health and intelligence both proved insufficient. Instead he was appointed colonel of the 13th Regiment of Foot in 1766. That same year he and Maria married in secret in his home on Pall Mall. This marriage only became known to the King after the passing of the Royal Marriages Act 1772. The Duke and Maria lived at St Leonard's Hill in Clewer, near Windsor and had three children, all of whom were styled ""Highness"" from birth and used the territorial designation of"
"estate of about 500 acres was sold at Garraway's Coffee House in the City of London by the Fitzherbert family. The Fitzherberts were relatives of Maria Fitzherbert, the illegal wife of the Prince Regent, later George IV (illegal because although George married Maria Fitzherbert, she was a Roman Catholic and banned by Act of Parliament from marrying into the Royal Family). The Bentworth Hall estate was purchased by Roger Staples Horman-Fisher for about £6000. Horman-Fisher started building the current Bentworth Hall on what was then open downland about to the south of the earlier Bentworth Hall at , access being"
"They had a son who predeceased his father without issue, and four daughters: It was claimed in Sir Robert Naunton's ""Fragmenta Regalia"" that Dorothy's father-in-law, Sir John Perrot, was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII by his mistress Mary Berkeley. The marriage gave great offence to the Queen, whose consent should have been asked, but would almost certainly have been refused. She distrusted Sir John Perrot, who was to end his life as a convicted traitor under sentence of death in the Tower of London, and detested Dorothy's mother Lettice, whom she blamed for arranging the marriage. Thomas was imprisoned"
"led to a falling out between Fitzalan and his uncle, Archbishop Thomas Arundel, who objected to the execution of a fellow prelate. King Henry's sister, Philippa of Lancaster, had married King John I of Portugal, and to further cement the alliance between England and Portugal, Fitzalan married Beatrice, the illegitimate daughter of King John. The wedding took place in London on 26 November 1405, with King Henry IV in attendance. In the following years Fitzalan again had to help suppress revolts in Wales and the Welsh Marches. Politically, Fitzalan allied himself with the King's half-brothers the Beauforts, and when Thomas"
"his ""wife"", Maria Fitzherbert, with whom he had undergone a form of marriage in a clandestine Church of England ceremony that all parties to it knew was invalid under the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Having encouraged the Prince of Wales to marry his first cousin, Caroline of Brunswick in 1794, Lady Jersey nevertheless set out to make Caroline's life difficult. However, the now Princess of Wales (Caroline) had very little regard for George IV, nor he for her, and after the birth of their child, they lived apart during their twenty-five year marriage, leaving a void Frances and other mistresses,"