By George! The Love of His Life, Plus a Little Politicks

Poor Princess Caroline. She had no way to know how much Mrs. Fitzherbert meant to Prince George.

In June of 1800, Mrs. Fitzherbert held a formal dinner for the Prince to let society know that the two were an item again. It was to be a quiet, low-key affair, only four hundred of their very closest friends. The Times reported, “Our fashionable dames continue to endeavor to outvie each other in the expense, style or peculiarity of their entertainments. In the gardens (presumably of Carlton House) three marquees were erected for the accommodation of the company who met about two o’clock and dined at seven The entertainment did not conclude till past five o’clock yesterday morning.”

Mrs. Fitzherbert was back.

Said one historian; “Mrs. Fitzherbert settled down to what she described to Lord Storton as the happiest years of her connection with the Prince. They were, “extremely poor, but happy as crickets.” They spent the greater part of their time in each other’s company, visiting the country estates of their friends for long periods. They were nearly always together in London where the Prince would remain with her most of the evening until midnight when he returned to Carlton House.”

There are several interesting points in that quote. One Mrs. Fitzherbert’s characterization of the Prince and herself as “extremely poor.” Quite obviously, Maria Fitzherbert had never been exposed to real poverty. Extremely poor people did not spend “long periods of time” visiting the country estates of their friends.

Another point, the Prince went home to Carlton House at midnight. It would seem that Mrs. Fitzherbert was not ready to assume the full role of “wife.” Indeed, she told Lady Anne Lindsey, “All that was boyish and troublesome before is now respectful and considerate…we live like brother and sister. I find no resentment though plenty of regret that I will have it on this footing and no other, but he must conform to my stipulations or I will have nothing to say to him. I did not consent to make it up with the Prince to live with him either as his wife or his mistress.”

Given that statement, why did she deem it of the utmost importance to re-affirm the validity of the marriage as far as the Catholic Church was concerned? Of course, she knew full well that by the laws of England, she and the Prince were not married and never had been. She traveled to Wales to avoid the Prince and stayed there until she got word from Rome that the marriage was valid. THEN she returned to the Prince. Why bother with all that if she never intended to be anything but pals with him? Hmmmmmmm…

Now that Mrs. Fitzherbert was back in his arms, if not quite his bed, maybe, the Prince could concentrate on other matters. He continued to badger the King about becoming a general. To no avail. He had another go-around with the Duke of York. This time it was the Dukes treatment of brother Edward, the now Duke of Kent. After Edward’s recall from Gibraltar, where he had been most unprofessional, the Prince tried to defend him.

The Duke would have none of it. Edward’s actions were a disgrace. His conduct “from first to last as marked by cruelty and oppression.” Another reason for the Duke and the Prince to continue avoiding each other. The Prince felt that he wasn’t getting his way on ANY issue. Then he came up with an idea. It would be sort of a conciliation prize for not becoming a general.

Early in 1797, the Prince began aggressively floating the idea of becoming Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The Prince. In charge of Ireland. The mind boggles. The King did not see fit to publicly comment on his boy’s latest hare-brained scheme. Privately, however, he blew it out of the water.

His attempt at justifying his existence did have one long-term effect. It made him realize that he needed to re-establish his political ties with the Whig party, Mrs. Fitzherbert notwithstanding. As unpopular as he was, he would one day be king. And, if the Whigs hoped for a seat at the table, they had better be on his good side when he became Regent, which was bound to happen soon.

The Prince set about mending fences by throwing lavish dinner parties for Whig nabobs at Carlton House. Said one historian; “Some of these dinners went on until four o’clock in the morning with the Prince’s oratorical powers declining with each bottle of wine consumed.” It was well that he moved to be conciliatory with the Whigs at this time. Two events took place in early 1801 to potentially place His Highness in the catbird seat.

– Mr. Al

<em> By George! Is a regular guest post in which Mr. Al shares his view on the life and times of George the Fourth. For previous installments of this series, click on “History with Mr. Al”, “George IV; childhood”, or “George IV; pre-regency.”