Maria Anne Fitzherbert

English aristocrat

• Born: July 26, 1756
• Birthplace: Unknown
• Died: March 27, 1837
• Place of death: Brighton, East Sussex, England

Based upon her wealth, social skills, and “secret” marriage to the prince of Wales (later King George IV), Fitzherbert maintained a respected and influential position in late Georgian society. Their marriage, technically illegal and punishable under English law, was both tacitly recognized and used as a threat in the politics of the era. Despite Fitzherbert’s ambiguous public status, she managed to maintain her moral and religious integrity in a profligate era.

Early Life

Maria Anne Fitzherbert was born into the country gentry of Shropshire. Her father, Walter Smythe, the second son of Sir John Smythe, inherited both money and land. His 1755 marriage to Mary Ann Errington increased the family’s holdings. Maria Anne was born the next year. She apparently had a happy childhood, growing up in a spacious country house, Bambridge, with younger siblings.

Still under legal disabilities and popular suspicion, English Catholics like the Smythes moved within a social world largely of their coreligionists. Twelve-year-old Maria Anne attended a French convent school in Dunkirk. At age eighteen she married Edward Weld, a thirty-two-year-old widower with large landholdings. A brief three months after the wedding, Edward died, leaving Maria Anne with an annual income of œ1,800.

In 1778 she married Thomas Fitzherbert, heir to a great Catholic family. The marriage seemed harmonious, with rounds of visiting and party-giving interspersed with country life. Thomas, however, was tubercular, and in 1781 he died in Nice. At age twenty-six, Maria Anne was a widow twice over. Financially, her second husband left her an even better income than she already received from Edward Weld’s estate. Thomas also left her the house they had shared on fashionable Park Street in London, making it relatively easy for her to ease slowly into the social scene during her obligatory two years of mourning.

Life’s Work

Eighteenth century women of Maria Anne Fitzherbert’s class did not follow a profession, but their interests were not limited to domestic matters. Her marriages had already provided for her financial security and an assured place in English society. By moving back to London and joining the lively, highly placed subculture soon to be called “the ton,” Fitzherbert entered a setting where the social world intertwined with political power and political developments. A major player in “the ton’s” round of parties, racetrack visits, and other entertainments was the prince of Wales, the future King George IV (r. 1820-1830), who was quite unlike his dour father, King George III.

The prince claimed he immediately fell in love with Fitzherbert upon seeing her at the opera. He soon courted her relentlessly. For her part, Fitzherbert had mixed feelings toward him. Six years older than George and with more life experience, she recognized the potential pitfalls for herself and the political pitfalls for the monarchy should they marry. Unwilling to become a royal mistress, Fitzherbert was deeply aware that the 1701 Act of Settlement and subsequent laws forbade a royal heir to marry a Roman Catholic. Still, she could not help but be flattered by the attentions of “the most accomplished prince of his age” and be swayed by his charm. George even staged a suicide attempt, and Fitzherbert had been called. Under duress, she accepted a ring borrowed from the duchess of Devonshire as a pledge to marry him.

Afterward, sobered by the implications of her engagement, Fitzherbert fled to the Continent with her friend Lady Anne Lindsay. For a year the two traveled in France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, while Fitzherbert tried to ignore George’s passionate letters, which reached her by courier. Eventually, worn down by his pleas, she agreed to return to England and marry him.

The wedding had to be held in secret because there would be severe penalties for participating in such a ceremony. George had trouble finding a clergyman to perform the wedding, but he eventually persuaded John Burt, an Anglican cleric imprisoned for debt, to do so in exchange for paying off his debts. Fitzherbert’s uncle and brother were witnesses; an armed guard stood at the door during the furtive ceremony, and the only official record kept was a statement written by George, and then signed by him, Fitzherbert, and the witnesses.

The ceremony, valid in the eyes of both Anglicans and Catholics, satisfied Fitzherbert’s worries about morality. For obvious reasons the couple could not live together, although between 1785 and 1794 they managed to live in nearby houses, give parties together, and be accepted as a couple by most of society’s arbiters. They spent much time in Brighton, where the prince’s presence spurred the town’s transformation from a decrepit fishing village into a fashionable resort.

Fitzherbert was welcomed by most nobles, and even the royal family was kind to her, especially George’s brothers Clarence (later King William IV) and Frederick. Her personality—gracious, witty, and soft-spoken—no doubt made her more acceptable. With so much at stake, some in the political realm were eager to flog a scandal. The marriage mystery nearly faced examination in the House of Commons in 1787, when debts from the prince’s extravagance had been discussed. George acted far from honorably on this occasion. First, to his supporter Charles James Fox, George had denied that he was married to Fitzherbert. Then, when Fox repeated George’s denial, he let Fox take the blame for impugning Fitzherbert. Finally, George gave a younger member, Charles Grey, the impossible task of refuting Fox without actually saying a marriage existed. This triple betrayal had political consequences, causing the first rift between George and his erstwhile champions, the Whigs.

Pressured to make a state marriage and mollify the king, George left Fitzherbert in 1794. His marriage to Caroline of Brunswick was disastrous, but not until 1800 did he and Fitzherbert resume their relationship. In the meantime, Fitzherbert led a largely private life. In later years she recalled the eight years after the reconciliation as the happiest of her life. Again, the couple created a fair imitation of domestic bliss, while overseeing projects such as George’s Royal Pavilion at Brighton.

George refused to resist the charms of other women, however. Eventually the strain wore on Fitzherbert. When, in 1811, the king’s incapacity appeared permanent, a regency for the prince appeared imminent. His domestic situation now took on a different light, aggravated by Fitzherbert’s lack of rank. At a state reception for exiled Louis XVIII, Fitzherbert was to be seated “below the salt.” Defending her dignity against this slight, she wrote a letter of protest to the prince, but to no avail. Although they exchanged some letters later, the end of their personal relationship had arrived.

Fitzherbert had always led a partially independent life, and this stood her in good stead in these later years. She was not a naturally vindictive person but she found some balm for her injured pride by remaining in Brighton and entertaining lavishly while the embarrassed prince hovered in his pavilion. She mothered her two adopted children, Minney and Marianne, traveled, did charitable works, and became notably more devout.

Fitzherbert outlived George, who finally inherited the throne at age sixty. She died of a fever in March, 1837, still officially Maria Anne Fitzherbert, a woman who sustained her unique position graciously through wit and will.

Significance

Maria Anne Fitzherbert had no pretensions to feminism, but her insistence on living by her own standards set a strong example of female integrity. For most of her adult life she had her own household, managed her own financial interests, and treasured her own web of friendships. In an era when women were believed to need a man’s “protection,” she pioneered an independent manner.

George IV lived in the midst of a slow shift in Britain from a directly ruling monarchy to parliamentary government. He was an admirable patron of the arts and a brilliant man-about-town, but his political instincts were not particularly good. Neither of his marriages served him well politically. Although Fitzherbert took no direct part in politics, the very existence of her bond with the prince had major impact upon the nation. In youth, George IV was viewed as a Whig sympathizer. He supported the American colonists’ cause, and progressives saw in him a future king who would enact peaceful reforms. That did not happen. The reasons were numerous, but some date back to the alienation between George IV and the Whig Party stemming from his relationship with Fitzherbert. His behavior made liberals realize they had to work directly for democratic reforms instead.

Whether Fitzherbert’s role helped loosen the strictures against Catholics is uncertain. In fact, when George IV came to power, he decided that abolishing the strictures would be too “upsetting.” Nonetheless, anti-Catholic laws soon were modified. If Fitzherbert played any part, it was surely just by force of example. She was an amiable and tolerant woman, a far cry from the scary “Papist” stereotype of popular fears.

Fitzherbert’s life has fascinated the public and historians alike in subsequent years. She was the only woman George ever loved. Until the early twentieth century no evidence was known of their actual marriage, so the lure of mystery burnished the romanticism. Fitzherbert remains a unique kind of romantic heroine, brave and self-assured in her own way, her story falling midway between fortunate and tragic.

Bibliography

Leslie, Shane. Mrs. Fitzherbert: A Life Chiefly from Unpublished Letters. London: Burns, Oates, 1939. A favorable biography that draws on previously unavailable letters.

Munson, James. Maria Fitzherbert: The Secret Wife of George IV. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2001. A detailed biography that also explores the social setting and influences in Fitzherbert’s life.

Smith, E. C. George IV. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999. A personal and political account of the prince’s life that explores Fitzherbert’s impact in some depth.