Scarlet Women by Ian Graham

Author:Ian Graham
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466868175
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

THE DANDY PRINCE

Like his grandfather and great-grandfather, George III wasn’t much of a ladies’ man. There were rumors that he secretly married a Quaker girl called Hannah Lightfoot, but there appears to be no evidence to support this. History records that he married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz on September 8, 1761. They met for the first time on the day they were married. Despite this, they enjoyed a happy marriage that produced fifteen children—nine sons and six daughters. Two of their sons became kings of the United Kingdom—George IV and William IV.

George IV was self-centered, flamboyant, and fashion conscious, something of a dandy. He had terrible relationships with both his father and his wife, Princess Caroline of Brunswick, who was also his first cousin. After the birth of their only child, Princess Charlotte, they lived apart for the next twenty-five years, leaving the field open to ambitious social climbers and gold diggers. Caroline left the country and lived abroad, but when George became king in 1820, she returned to Britain to claim her position as queen. George despised her and wanted rid of her. However, at that time, a married couple could divorce only if one of them was guilty of adultery. Neither George nor Caroline would admit to adultery, so George had a bill, called the Pains and Penalties Bill, presented to Parliament in an attempt to have the marriage dissolved. Its intention was to “deprive Her Majesty Queen Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of the Title, Prerogatives, Rights, Privileges, and Exemptions of Queen Consort of this Realm; and to dissolve the Marriage between His Majesty and the said Caroline Amelia Elizabeth.” The stated reason for dissolving the marriage was Caroline’s alleged adultery with “a foreigner of low station,” namely Bartolomeo Pergami, a member of staff she had hired in Italy.

The House of Lords, Parliament’s upper house, debated the bill, but this wasn’t a polite discussion between a bunch of stuffy lords in ermine. It was nothing less than a public trial of the queen. Witnesses were called to give evidence against her and then they were cross-examined by the queen’s legal team. Newspapers reveled in all the salacious details. When the vote was finally taken, the bill passed with a very narrow majority, but to become an Act of Parliament, it would also have to be passed by Parliament’s lower house, the House of Commons. However, when the Commons saw how narrowly it had passed in the Lords and learned that the public were siding with the queen, they withdrew the bill, condemning the king to an unwished-for marriage.

George had thrown himself into a series of affairs from his teens onward. Events usually followed the same course: When he discovered a new love interest, he bombarded the poor woman, who was usually older than he, with letters and gifts. If he didn’t receive the desired response, he feigned illness and even threatened suicide like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum until he got what he wanted. Having conquered his prey, he quickly tired of her and soon discovered the next object of his passion.

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