Categotry Archives: Research
By George! Prince George and His Sticky Wicket
When we left off George the 4th had just declared his ever lasting devotion to Mrs. Fitzherbert, right down to giving her a ring and begging her hand in marriage. In response the promptly decamped for the continent. And now I return you to the gentle mercies of Mr. Al’s take on history. **** Taking to heart the old adage about rolling stones and moss, Mrs. Fitzherbert traveled to Aix-la-Chapelle. From there she traveled to Holland, then Antwerp, then […]
By George! The Mrs. Prince of Wales. Maybe.
When we left of our beloved if instable Prince George IV had discovered the latest girl of his dreams – the widow Mrs. Maria Fitzherbert. As soon as she saw the direction of his affections, the packed her bags. ***** Four members of the Prince’s household showed up on Maria’s doorstep before she had a chance to blow town. These worthies had some bad, bad news. The Prince, in a fit of despair, had stabbed himself. The only thing […]
By George! He’s Found the Perfect Girl
You all knew Mrs. Fitzherbert was going to be of interest to Prince George. Can you guess how he reacted to her lovely image? ***** Mrs Maria Fitzherbert was the widow of Thomas Fitzherbert. The Fitzherberts were an old Roman Catholic family. By the time the Prince met her she had been married and widowed twice. She had also spent most of her life in France; all of her adolescence in a convent. After the death of her second […]
By George! “Now, about my allowance….”
When we left off Prince George had just moved into Carlton House. Can you imagine what would be on his mind? ***** The Prince was wishing on moonbeams if he thought he would get 100,000 pounds. Negotiations dragged on. In the end Fox convinced the Prince to accept the 50,000 from the civil list and the Cornwall revenues with the understanding that a capital sum of 60,000 pounds would be provided separately, by Parliament. When would that happen? Um…later. […]
By George! The Fox, the Prince, and the King
When we left off Mr. Al was telling us how rudderless the prince could be without Charles Fox. He was living the high life, and still not out of his teens yet. Can you imagine him living on his own? Take it away, Mr. Al. ***** Parliament of the Georgian period was not for the faint of heart or the quite thinker. It was the age of the orator, and Charles James Fox was, and still is, considered one […]
By George! How to be a Thorn in a King’s Side
In last week’s blog, Mr. Al pointed out how profound the consequences would be for England to place as flighty a ruler and George IV on the throne. **** For one thing, it meant that he could be easily persuaded by those closest to him. If he were hanging out with the usual rakehells, the result would likely go up in the next day’s papers and cause some more embarrassment. If, however, those closest to him happened to be […]
By George! What Manner of Person Are You, My Dear?
When Mr. Al left off last Wednesday, Prince George had been accidentally maligned with the truth. The tabloids saw his uncle’s carriage in front of a particular house and surmised the prince was carrying on an affair with the Countess Hardenburg, which he was. **** Those tabloids! You can’t count on them to get anything right. The carriage did indeed belong to the Duke; but it was parked in front of the house of a certain POLISH countess. Unfortunately for […]
By George! The Wages of Discretion
I took liberties with Mr. Al’s blog last week. He intended to end with the sentence that I moved to the beginning of this week’s history lesson. I preferred to end with “Discretion wasn’t in his vocabulary. He couldn’t behave discreetly if his life depended on it. But… he was the Prince of Wales. Which for him and him alone was a license to behave badly. And behave badly he did.” Now I return you to Mr. Al’s take on […]
By George! Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous
We continue our saga of the life and times of George the IV with more youthful hijinks of the Oh-My-God variety. When we left off George had inadvertently settled an outlandish amount of money on his first mistress. **** The king’s orders and admonishments were so many snowflakes in July as far as the Prince was concerned. He continued to slip out of the palace and have it off with all manner of loose women and fast friends. […]
By George! What a Naughty Little Prince Can Do
When we left off, Mr. Al hinted that George’s next “true love” would not be a goody-two shoes like Miss Hamilton. Boy was he right. Take it away, Mr. Al. **** The lucky lady was Mrs. Mary Robinson. She was the beautiful daughter of an American whaling ship captain and an Irish actress. Dad abandoned the family when Mary was quite young to set up a whaling station in Canada and live with the Eskimos.Mom took Mary to London […]
By George! – A Proper Education
If you thought the way George the III kept his heir in baby clothes until well past the point where he could speak was bad enough, wait until you hear about the way he was raised from then on. Take it away, Mr. Al. *** It didn’t help matters that dad considered children other than his brother to be totally unsuitable companions. Any adults around the Prince also had to be carefully screened for moral suitability. The outside world was […]
By George! The Prince Regent’s Childhood.
We have seen a little of George the 4th’s background. Now Mr. Al gives us a look at the way he was raised. *** King George III had a royal fear of his son becoming a lollygagger. To avert this the Prince and his brother lived a closely regimented life. Every waking moment had to be accounted for. Supervision was constant to make sure that only suitable activities were engaged in. What dad wanted his son to learn first and […]
A Case of the Georges
Mr. Al is back!! He kept me on tenterhooks long enough. I had to pry this out of his fingers last night. I’m so glad I did. **** Early one morning in the year of our Lord 1760, George Augustus, King George the Second of England, went to the bathroom. Nature was not kind to him on this fateful morning. Exerting himself above and beyond, he suffered a stroke and died on a rather different type of throne. . […]
Tudor Follies: Arm Chair Theologians
When we left off Katherine was behaving the same way so many of Henry’s other wives did when finding out how blood thirsty Henry could be. She had a royal hissy fit. Let’s see if she fairs any better than the others.*** So sayeth the doctor to Katherine; “First, don’t say anything to anybody else about the warrant! When you talk to Henry, tell him that you could sense that he was upset about something. That after much soul searching […]
And even more Tudor stuff
We’re back for another installment of Mr. Al’s take on Henry the VIII. Warning, there is some rough language in this one. *** One of the things I love about history are those moments when I put down a history book and exclaim, “What the hell was he thinking? How could he be that stupid?” Katherine’s story takes just such a turn. Soon after his conversation with Henry, Gardiner ordered the arrest of three of Katherine’s most important ladies-in-waiting; Lady […]
