0 @FR44@ FAM
1 SOUR @SIR1@
1 HUSB @IR141@ George IV /Hanover/
1 WIFE @IB158@ Mary Anne (Maria) /Smythe/
1 MARR
2 DATE 15 Dec 1785
2 PLAC Mrs Fitzherbert's town House, Park Street, Park Lane, Eng.
2 NOTE OFFI Rev. Robert Burt (an Anglican minister).
3 CONC Henry Errington (brides uncle) gave her away
3 CONC and signed the marriage certificate as a witness.
3 CONC Her Brother Jack Smythe also acted as a witness.
3 CONC George, the Prince of Wales, wrote the marriage certificate in his own hand.
3 CONC This marriage was illegal under the English Royal Marriage Act of 1772 but
3 CONC was valid according to the Canon Law of both the Church of England
3 CONC and the Catholic Church. Mrs Fitzherbert retained her surname and promised
3 CONC never to publish the fact of the marriage during the lifetime of the Prince
3 CONC without his consent. The reason for the secrecy was that Maria was Catholic,
3 CONC and of course George was heir to the Throne and Head of the Church of England.
3 CONC Anit-Catholic laws were still on the Law books and anti-Catholic feeling was high.
3 CONC See "Mrs FitzHerbert and George IV" by W.H.Wilkins M.A. F.S.A. Pub. Mellifont Press Ltd.
3 CONC for a well written account of their story.
1 DIV Y
2 NOTE Prince George abandoned Maria (Jun 1794) and Married Princess Caroline of Brunswick. Pressure from
3 CONC the palace, his high level of debt, which King George III refused to pay unless he
3 CONC cooperated, the recent use of the Royal Marriage Act to annul his brothers marriage to Lady Augusta
3 CONC and clever manipulation by Lady Jersey, with whom he was infatuated, to discredit Maria, all
3 CONC contributed to his desertion from this marriage. Even so, it was believed that
3 CONC Maria could still have recovered the situation, but chose to remain silent. She is reported to
3 CONC have not believed initial reports that the prince had gone through with the marriage. The Prince
3 CONC was not happy in his new marriage and three days after the birth of his daughter, he wrote a
3 CONC will naming Maria as his heir and acknowledging her as his wife. He then appealed to her to let
3 CONC rejoin her and she, after much delay (4 years), agreed, given that the Pope agreed that she was in fact
3 CONC his wife. A Papal Brief pronounced her to be his wife according to the law of the Catholic Church.
3 CONC They spent the next 8 years together and separated again when George shifted his affections to
3 CONC Lady Hertford.
1 NOTE

Prince of Wales and Mrs Fitzherbert

The Prince was painted by Nathaniel Plimer (Size 2 27/32" by 2 9/32")

2 CONC Maria was painted by Richard Cosway, R.A. (Size 2 13/16" by 2 3/8")

Cainsborough

Mrs Fitzherbert and the Prince of Wales (later George IV)

2 CONC Also present are Miss Stevens, R.Brinsley Sheridan, Mrs Sheridan and
2 CONC Lord Radnor.

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