By George! He’s Found the Perfect Girl

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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 husband she chose to move to London. She had inherited, along with a tidy sum of money, the lease on a nice house on Park Street. She took up residence there and lived a quiet and sedate life.

What little socializing she did do was mostly with other Catholic families in London. It came as a surprise to her that she had caught the Prince’s eye while attending the opera. It came as an even greater surprise when the Prince began courting her with the usual multi-volume letters and small gifts. Her surprise turned to shock when he began declaring his undying love for her.

She let him know, in no uncertain terms, that she would never consent to be his mistress. She was a good Catholic girl, end of conversation. And as he had every reason to know, marriage was totally out of the question. The Royal Marriage Act had been passed to prevent just such a union. The Act said that no member of the royal family under the age of 25 could marry without the Kings consent.

As if that weren’t enough, another law, the Act of Settlement, had been passed specifically to prevent the Prince, or anyone else in the line of succession, from marrying a Roman Catholic upon pain of forever renouncing his claim to the throne. Let’s see, the Prince couldn’t marry a Catholic, couldn’t marry at all without dad’s permission and the Catholic lady he loved wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole because she was such a good Catholic lady.

What to do? What he usually did to win the hearts of recalcitrant ladies. He started behaving like a loonie. Fits of swearing his undying love, bursting into tears at the mention of her name, threatening to kill himself, he probably managed to cough up a bit of blood as well.

He swore to anyone who would listen that he intended to give up the throne, his allowance, his family, everything he held dear, if only Maria would be his. He proposed to her over and over again. His beloved Maria was so entranced by the Princes declarations that she decided to return to France. Without telling him. She probably meant to, but what with packing and all, it slipped her mind.

The Prince got wind of her plans and decided that he had, perhaps, been too subtle. Yes, that was it! He had been too low-key! She didn’t think he was serious! Well, he had a plan to take care of that!

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Oh dear.  Funny how often Prince Goerge makes me say that.

Thank you Mr. Al.