The Mistresses Of King George Iv

The story of George IV's relationships with five women - the actress Mary Robinson, the Catholic Maria Fitzherbert, Lady Jersey, the arch-Tory Lady Hertford, and Lady Conyngham, the companion of his final years

The scandalous life of George IV is revealed in this account of his marriage to Princess Caroline and his secret union with a longtime mistress. In Georgian England, few men were more eligible than the Prince of Wales. The heir to George III’s throne would seem to be an excellent catch. Though the two women who married him might beg to differ. Maria Fitzherbert was a twice-widowed Roman Catholic with a natural aversion to trouble. When she married the prince in a secret ceremony, she opened the door on three decades of heartbreak. Cast aside by her husband one minute, pursued by him tirelessly the next, Maria’s clandestine marriage was anything but blissful. It was also the worst kept secret in England. Caroline of Brunswick was George’s official bride. Little did she know that her husband was marrying for money. When she arrived for the ceremony, she found him so drunk that he couldn’t even walk to the altar. Caroline might not have her husband’s love, but the public adored her. In a world where radicalism was stirring, it was a recipe for disaster. In The Wives of George IV, Maria and Caroline navigate the choppy waters of marriage to the capricious, womanizing king-in-waiting. With a queen on trial for adultery and the succession itself in the balance, Britain had never seen scandal like it.

A fictional portrait of Maria Fitzherbert chronicles the passionate love affair and secret wedding of King George IV with a beautiful Catholic woman whose marriage was recognized by the Roman Catholic Church but not by English law.

Although George IV's affair with Catholic widow Maria Fitzherbert is well known, few have heard of his last great love, Elizabeth Conyngham - his Vice Queen. Ambrose sets out to chart the course of this affair from its early beginnings in the overheated salons of the Brighton Pavilion to the King's declining years at Windsor.

Hibbert delivers a superbly detailed picture of the life and times of George IV including his exorbitant spending on his homes, his clothes, and his women; his patronage of the arts; his 'illegal' marriage to Catholic Mrs Fitzherbert, and lesser known facts such as his generous charity donations andhis witty one-liners, including one he uttered when he met his bride-to-be (Caroline of Brunswick) for the first time: 'Harris, I am not well, fetch me a brandy.' George IV was the son of George III (whowent insane and inspired 'The Madness of King George') and was the founder of the prestigiousKing's College in London.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Maria Fitzherbert became famous when in 1785 she secretly and illegally married the heir to the throne, later King George IV. Maria had already been twice widowed. Sympathetic biographers presented her as a much abused and almost saintly woman who was used, betrayed and taken up again by a fickle and mentally unstable Prince.

When George I arrived in England he found a kingdom in turmoil. Mistrustful of the new monarch from Hanover, his subjects met his coronation with riots. At George’s side was his mistress, Melusine von der Schulenberg, whilst his ex-wife languished in prison. Known as the Maypole thanks to her eye-catching figure, Melusine was the king’s confidante for decades. She was a mother to his children and a queen without a crown. George II never forgave his father for tearing him from his mother's arms and he was determined to marry for love, not duty. Though his wife, Caroline of Ansbach, proved to be a politically gifted queen, George II turned to another for affection. She was Henrietta Howard, the impoverished Countess of Suffolk, and she was desperate to escape her brutish husband. As the years passed, the royal affair became a powerplay between king and queen and the woman who was mistress to one and servant to another. Melusine and Henrietta's privileged position made them the envy of every courtier. It also made them a target of jealousy, plotting and ambition. In the tumultuous Georgian court, the bedroom and the throne room weren't so far apart.