1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: You're listening to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 1: Radio and Aaron Minkey listener discretion advised just a few 3 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:12,640 Speaker 1: years ago. In two thousand and seventeen, the esteemed British 4 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: auction house Christie's put up for sale a golden pendant 5 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: encrusted with diamonds with a tiny portrait of George the 6 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: Fourth inside. It was George the Fourth's bad luck to 7 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: have lived during the peak of British political cartooning. He 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: didn't actually become king until he was nearly sixty, and 9 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 1: in his years as a printon waiting and then as regent, 10 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:39,160 Speaker 1: satirical papers became ubiquitous, depicting him as a grotesquely overweight 11 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: and heavy drinking clown wearing a military costume that never 12 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,919 Speaker 1: actually saw a battlefield. But the portrait in the locket 13 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: that Christie's put up for auction looked very different. It 14 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: was unrecognizable from the buffoon that George would come to 15 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: be seen as this. George the Fourth is young and gallant, 16 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: almost nightlike. His light brown hair is swept across his forehead, 17 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 1: his lips are faintly red, and his blue eyes are 18 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: clear and bright. The locket had been passed down through 19 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: descendants of Maria fitz Herbert, the strikingly beautiful woman who 20 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: captivated George the Fourth so completely that, even though it 21 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: risked his position in the line of succession, he married 22 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: her in secret. It's ironic that the period of history 23 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: that bears George the Fourth's name, the Regency, is synonymous 24 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: with refinement and social constraint. When George himself was such 25 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: a figure of gluttony and excess. He was a drinker, 26 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 1: a gambler, a womanizer, and when he finally ate himself 27 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: to death by rupturing his stomach, his subjects had a 28 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: little sympathy for him. But it's his love story with 29 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: Maria fitz Herbert that maybe comes the closest to anything 30 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: in George's life to resembling a Jane Austen romance. The 31 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: problem with Jane Austen novels, though, as they end with 32 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: a wedding, they don't tell you about what happens afterward, 33 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: when Prince Charming's nation status and miserable fatal flaws forced 34 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: the star crossed couple apart to grow old alone with 35 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: loneliness and resentments. Now, when Maria fits Herbert is mentioned 36 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: in histories of George the fourth. It's usually a side note, 37 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: and rarely even by name. She's the quote divorced Catholic 38 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: that the rebellious prince legally married before his real marriage 39 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: to his cousin Caroline of Brunswick. Maria is less of 40 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: a person than just one of the many examples of 41 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:40,079 Speaker 1: Georgia's youthful peccadillos and early scandal that would soon be 42 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 1: buried under many, many more. The Christie's pendant sold for 43 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: three hundred and forty one thousand pounds, nearly three times 44 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 1: the auction house is highest estimate, but the piece was incomplete. 45 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: You see miniatures and lockets at the time, we're usually 46 00:02:56,280 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 1: produced in pairs, and this pendant was no exception. It's 47 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: mate was equally diamond and crested, featured inside a small 48 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: portrait of Maria fitz Herbert. But it would have been 49 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: impossible for Christie's to have sold the matching set. When 50 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: George the fourth died, he still had Maria fitz Herbert's 51 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: locket with him, and when the king was buried, it 52 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: was buried with him, held close beneath his crossed hands. 53 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 1: I'm Danis Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood. The love 54 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: story between George the Fourth and Maria fitz Herbert began 55 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: with him seeing her from afar and deciding instantly that 56 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: he was madly in love with her. He was eighteen 57 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: years old at the time and the Prince of Wales. 58 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: She was six years older and married. George was walking 59 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: down the street with a friend when the carriage containing 60 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: Maria and her husband, Thomas fitz Herbert, came ambling up 61 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: the avenue. Maria noticed the prince right away and pointed 62 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: him out to her husband, who seemed uninterested. But Maria 63 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: looked back again, and when she did, she saw that 64 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: Prince George had run into the middle of the street 65 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: to chase the carriage. He had fallen behind by then, 66 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: but he was still looking straight at her as he 67 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:19,160 Speaker 1: faded into the distance. Maria had not married for love, 68 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,279 Speaker 1: but who does. Thomas fitz Herbert was actually her second husband. 69 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: She had married for the first time when she was 70 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: just a teenager, to a man twice her age named 71 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 1: Edward Weld, a wealthy landowner who resided at Lulworth Castle. 72 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: Edward could afford Maria a life of comfort and stability, 73 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: or at least he could have if he hadn't fallen 74 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 1: off his horse three months after their wedding and died. 75 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,359 Speaker 1: In fact, he died so suddenly after their marriage that 76 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: he hadn't even managed to sign a new will to 77 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: provide for his young bride. All of his possessions were 78 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: instead transferred to his brother, and Maria was left with 79 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: absolutely nothing. If she was going to survive, she needed 80 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:10,280 Speaker 1: to marry again and quickly. Thomas fitz Herbert, her second husband, 81 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 1: was only ten years older than her. He was another landed, 82 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: wealthy Catholic, a tall, athletic, energetic man, but his health 83 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 1: was less robust than it seemed. A year into their marriage, 84 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: his coughing began. Two years into their marriage, he could 85 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: barely leave the house without heaving over in violent spasms 86 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: to try to get enough air. A year after that, 87 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 1: he was dead at twenty four years old. Maria fitz 88 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: Herbert was twice widowed, and that was when she met 89 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: George the Fourth face to face for the first time. 90 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: Maria had been persuaded by her family to leave her 91 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,720 Speaker 1: morning behind and go to the opera in London, just 92 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:55,600 Speaker 1: for one night. Her uncle, Lord Sefton, had urged her, 93 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: it's time you get back out into society. George could 94 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,600 Speaker 1: hardly believe his luck when he saw the woman from 95 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: the carriage sitting across from him at the opera house. 96 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: She had been so beautiful that day on the street 97 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 1: that he had half convinced himself that she was a dream. 98 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: While the opera was still going, he turned to his 99 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 1: companion and in his full voice, demanded an introduction to 100 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: her from that meeting, a deep curtsy, a kiss on 101 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,159 Speaker 1: the hand. George was a man completely obsessed. He wrote 102 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: letters to Maria and sent couriers to her apartments every day. 103 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:33,920 Speaker 1: He asked her to join him at dinners and parties. 104 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 1: The woman graciously deferred. Even as a young man, George 105 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 1: already had a reputation for his womanizing, but that wasn't 106 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: even really the problem here. The problem was that Maria 107 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: was Catholic, and there were no fewer than three laws 108 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: in England at the time that explicitly prevented the heir 109 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,040 Speaker 1: to the throne from marrying someone like her. For George, 110 00:06:56,360 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: that was unacceptable. He had not stopped thinking about this 111 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: woman since he saw her in the carriage, and he 112 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: had been in love with her from the moment he 113 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:07,159 Speaker 1: touched her hand. At the opera and brought it to 114 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: his lips, and so the impulsive young prince took one 115 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: of his daggers and stabbed it deep into his side. 116 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 1: A surgeon was rushed to the scene and instantly patched 117 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: the wound to prevent its continued bleeding. But that wasn't 118 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: what George wanted. Hey. He told the surgeon, go find 119 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: Mrs Maria fitz Herbert. Tell her I've stabbed myself. Also 120 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: tell her that if she does not come to my side, 121 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: I'm going to pull off my bandages. You can't pull 122 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: off your bandages, the surgeon said, you'll bleed to death. Exactly. 123 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: George said, Chop, chop, And so the surgeon got into 124 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: his carriage and went to Maria fitz Herbert's house at 125 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: the end of Park Street and delivered his message to 126 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: the bewildered widow. Maria knew that getting into a carriage 127 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: with the male surgeon to go visit the prince would 128 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: be enough to call a scandal, and so she agreed, 129 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: but only as long as they made a stop along 130 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: the way to pick up a friend of hers, the 131 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Cavendish. Georgiana would be something of 132 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: an escort to ensure that the visit was beyond reproach. 133 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: Marian the Surgeon caught Georgiana just as she was leaving 134 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: her home to go on another social visit, But as 135 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: soon as she heard the dramatic circumstances of why she 136 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: was being summoned, she immediately abandoned her plans and joined them. 137 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: When they made it to Prince George's palace, they discovered 138 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: that the stabbing wasn't just a made up story to 139 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,520 Speaker 1: entice Maria to his presence, as she had been half 140 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:41,480 Speaker 1: convinced it was. He had blood oozing out of his side, 141 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: dried streaks of it coming down his shirt, a small 142 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 1: pool at his feet. Say you'll marry me, the Prince said, 143 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: or I'll rip off my bandages and I'll bleed to death. 144 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: Georgiana and Maria looked at one another. George, grimacing, began 145 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 1: pulling the dressing out of his wound. Okay, Maria said, 146 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: on my are you. George's pain was instantly forgotten. He 147 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,640 Speaker 1: bounded down onto one knee and pressed a ring onto 148 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,760 Speaker 1: Maria's finger. But just as a reminder, Maria had agreed 149 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:14,080 Speaker 1: to that marriage under the threat of imminent suicide. As 150 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 1: soon as she and Georgiana were back in their carriage 151 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: on the way home, the two immediately agreed that a 152 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 1: proposal under those circumstances was definitely not binding. The Prince 153 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: wanted to marry her, Maria knew she couldn't marry him, 154 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: and so without leaving a forwarding address, Maria packed her 155 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: things and fled the country. If you thought a little 156 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: thing like Maria living across the English Channel in France 157 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,679 Speaker 1: was going to stop George the Fourth from pursuing her, 158 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: it feels like you might have forgotten the whole stab 159 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: himself to get her attention thing. George was a man obsessed, 160 00:09:53,679 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: although Maria had not given him any information as to 161 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: where she would be living or even what city she 162 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: would be in, the and sent countless envoys along to 163 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:05,200 Speaker 1: try to find her. As she traveled throughout France and Switzerland. 164 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: George sent so many couriers from England to France and 165 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: so often that the French government became suspicious. In fact, 166 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 1: couriers were arrested and imprisoned in France on three separate 167 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:23,160 Speaker 1: occasions on suspicion of espionage. But in truth, there's was 168 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:27,920 Speaker 1: just a mission of love. George sent letters, tokens, trinkets. 169 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: He promised marriage. He said his father's silly rule against 170 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:35,240 Speaker 1: Catholics didn't matter at all. All that mattered was being 171 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:39,439 Speaker 1: with the woman he loved. By this time, Maria had 172 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: lived abroad for a year. She was lonely, missing her 173 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: friends and her life in London. Besides, she was being 174 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: plagued by proposals from the French scoundrel Marquis de Belois, 175 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 1: a sort of regency Eira a Gustan from Beauty and 176 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: the Beast. For twelve months, George had sent her letters 177 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,320 Speaker 1: bearing his heart, telling her that he loved her so 178 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: truly that he would refuse any marriage as his father 179 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 1: set him up with. His promises were silly, but still 180 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:11,719 Speaker 1: he made his point. For Maria fitz Herbert, a year 181 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: in exile was long enough. Maria wrote to the Prince 182 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:17,720 Speaker 1: and said that she would consent to be with him 183 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: as long as they were married in secret, if not 184 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: under the eyes of the law, then at least under 185 00:11:22,679 --> 00:11:26,719 Speaker 1: the eyes of her God. Delirious with joy, George accepted. 186 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 1: The two were married at Maria's home on Park Street 187 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: in a small ceremony attended by Maria's brother and uncle. 188 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: No priest would be willing to officiate to marry George 189 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,360 Speaker 1: the Fourth against the orders of his father, the King 190 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:44,640 Speaker 1: was tantamount to treason, and so George found a clergyman 191 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: in Fleet Street prison and paid off his debts of 192 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: five hundred pounds in exchange for his willingness to perform 193 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:55,200 Speaker 1: the ceremony. For the next few years, the pair lived 194 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: in relative harmony together in Brighton, living in two separate 195 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: houses which share airing a view of the sea. The 196 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 1: pair became the center of high society, holding intimate small 197 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:10,200 Speaker 1: parties for only the most selective guest lists. Things were 198 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: relatively easy for them. With George's father still on the throne, 199 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: the Prince could more or less behave exactly as he 200 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 1: wanted to, and he did. He drank, gambled, he ate excess, 201 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:27,120 Speaker 1: and obviously that took its toll on him. Once, at 202 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: a masked ball, the Prince's friend, the dandy and famous 203 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: fashion plate Beau Brummel, didn't recognize George. Brummel turned to 204 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: their friend, Lord Avonlea and asked Alvin Lee, who's your 205 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:43,200 Speaker 1: fat friend. That's the sort of comment that's embarrassing under 206 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:46,439 Speaker 1: the best of circumstances, but when it's a royal you're insulting, 207 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: it tends to end in exile. George did love Maria, 208 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 1: but he loved gambling too, and less than a decade 209 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: into their marriage, the Prince was out in the humiliating 210 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: position of needing to ask his father to help him 211 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,760 Speaker 1: pay off his exorbitant debts. George owed an excess of 212 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:08,839 Speaker 1: six hundred thousand pounds what would be tens of millions today. 213 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:11,960 Speaker 1: His father, George the Third, agreed to pay off what 214 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: his son owed, but on one condition. The prince needed 215 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:20,000 Speaker 1: to get married properly, this time to a Protestant who 216 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:23,800 Speaker 1: could give England an heir to the throne. Parliament agreed 217 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 1: George the Fourth would marry his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, 218 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:32,559 Speaker 1: and in exchange, his debts would be paid. Almost exactly 219 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: ten years after she had wed the prince in secret, 220 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:39,439 Speaker 1: Maria fitz Herbert received a letter informing her in curt 221 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: cold language that her relationship with George was terminated. George's 222 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:49,439 Speaker 1: allies in Parliament gave passionate speeches claiming that the rumors 223 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:52,160 Speaker 1: that he had ever been married to a Catholic were 224 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: scandalous lies. The marriage disappeared like smoke on a cold day, 225 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:03,080 Speaker 1: evaporating into nothingness, and for the third time in her life, 226 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 1: Maria fitz Herbert was abandoned by the man she had married. 227 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:16,040 Speaker 1: George met his future bride, Caroline for the first time 228 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 1: on their wedding day. He was not impressed. He saw 229 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 1: her face and then turned to his manservant and said, 230 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,280 Speaker 1: I am not well. Pray get me a glass of brandy. 231 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 1: He spent their entire wedding ceremony drunk out of his mind, 232 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:33,480 Speaker 1: and their wedding night passed out in the great in 233 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:37,360 Speaker 1: front of a fireplace. The next morning, he roused himself, 234 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 1: brought himself to her bed, and consummated their marriage for 235 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: the first and only time. Nine months later, their daughter, 236 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: Princess Charlotte, was born, and from that time on, George 237 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,320 Speaker 1: the Fourth wanted nothing to do with his wife. He 238 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:54,400 Speaker 1: all but explicitly bribed her to leave England and go 239 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: travel the continent, which she did. They both acknowledged that 240 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:01,120 Speaker 1: their marriage would be forever list and that the best 241 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: they could do under the circumstances was to live separate lives. 242 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 1: Only days after his daughter was born and his wife 243 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: had left the country, George began dreaming yet again of 244 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: the woman he had lost, Maria fitz Herbert. He wrote 245 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 1: a new will, bequeathing all worldly property to my Maria 246 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:24,479 Speaker 1: fitz Herbert, my wife, the wife of my heart and soul. 247 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: Though she cannot avail herself publicly of that name, still 248 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: such she is in the eyes of Heaven, was is, 249 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 1: and ever will such be in mine. But Maria was 250 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 1: not entirely convinced. She had married him. Yes, but now 251 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: technically wasn't he married to someone else? And George had 252 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:48,160 Speaker 1: become famous for as many many mistresses, actresses and duchesses, 253 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 1: whose caricatures frequently joined his and the popular satirical cartoons 254 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 1: of the day, And so Maria turned to the highest 255 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: authority she could, the Pope. The Pope advised her to 256 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: reconcile with her husband, and he also made it clear 257 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,320 Speaker 1: to her that he and the Catholic Church still believed 258 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: her marriage to be legitimate, And so, with the Pope's blessing, 259 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: Maria and George came together once more for what you 260 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: would later describe as the happiest days of their lives. 261 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: But this was also the period in which George's father, 262 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: George the Third, was losing more and more of his faculties. 263 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: Though contemporaries called it madness, historians now believe he was 264 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 1: suffering from a nervous system disease called porforia. But whatever 265 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: you called it, the result was that George the Third 266 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: became blind and deaf, speaking nonsense, and suffering from increasingly 267 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: severe dementia until he completely lost track of reality. George 268 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: the Fourth had been acting as an unofficial regent for 269 00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 1: his father for many years, but the severity of his 270 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:04,600 Speaker 1: fathers decline led Parliament to making that role official. To 271 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,360 Speaker 1: celebrate his new position, George through a party at Carlton 272 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: House for the most esteemed guests in the country. Maria 273 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: entered the dining room to find that she had not 274 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,439 Speaker 1: been set a place at the table. Prompted by his 275 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 1: royal peers, the laughing George the Fourth called her Mrs 276 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 1: fitz Herbert and said that she would have to sit 277 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:28,800 Speaker 1: according to her rank. She had tolerated the affairs and 278 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: the drinking, the gambling and the excessive eating, but that 279 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,680 Speaker 1: night she had reached the point at which you could 280 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:40,439 Speaker 1: take no more humiliation. Maria fitz Herbert left the party 281 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:45,880 Speaker 1: and never returned to George the Fourth's home. Eventually, King 282 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 1: George the Third died and the Prince ascended to his 283 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:52,280 Speaker 1: throne in earnest. When he spoke of Maria, it was 284 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 1: with biting, malice and hatred, repeating the claims that had 285 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:58,679 Speaker 1: been made in front of Parliament that their marriage was 286 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:02,920 Speaker 1: just a sham, all along on his feelings for Caroline, though, were, 287 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: if anything, worse. When George was being coronated, Caroline had 288 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 1: traveled back from the continent in order to be crowned Queen, 289 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: only to have the doors of Westminster Abbey literally shut 290 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: in her face. The queen stood fuming against a line 291 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 1: of soldiers holding bayonets under her chin, refusing her entry. 292 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: Though the population tended to side with her in the 293 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:29,440 Speaker 1: press over her lush of a husband, The scene left 294 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:36,040 Speaker 1: them laughing and jeering. The uncrowned queen, humiliated, retreated, and 295 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:40,639 Speaker 1: died three weeks later. She was buried under the inscription 296 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 1: Here lies Caroline, the Injured Queen of England. For the 297 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:49,879 Speaker 1: rest of his life, George the Fourth lived alone with 298 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: his mistresses and his demons. His weight reached nearly three 299 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: hundred pounds, and he enlisted a thick corset to try 300 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,439 Speaker 1: to contain his fifty inch waist. When ever, he was 301 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:04,639 Speaker 1: getting his portrait taken, the king became addicted to laudanum 302 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 1: opium drops, an alcohol after it was prescribed for bladder pain. 303 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:11,400 Speaker 1: By the end of his life, George was taking over 304 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:13,960 Speaker 1: a hundred drops of laudanum per day in order to 305 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,800 Speaker 1: get through his state duties. He suffered from gout and dropsy, 306 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:21,159 Speaker 1: but he continued to eat, gorging himself on breakfast that 307 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,720 Speaker 1: consisted of a pigeon and beef steak pie, a bottle 308 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: of mozzelle, a glass of dry champagne, two glasses of port, 309 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,360 Speaker 1: and a glass of brandy, and then, of course came 310 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:36,200 Speaker 1: his doses of laudanum. In short, he was approaching the end, 311 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:39,119 Speaker 1: and that was when he wrote to Maria fitz Herbert 312 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:42,240 Speaker 1: with the same message he had sent so many years ago. 313 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:49,680 Speaker 1: Please come to me. Death is near. But in Maria's 314 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 1: life there had been far too many messages from George 315 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 1: threatening death. She didn't believe that the king was really dying, 316 00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 1: and so even though she wrote him a letter and 317 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,879 Speaker 1: treating him to get well soon, she was truth be 318 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,240 Speaker 1: told a little bit insulted that he hadn't bothered to 319 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:06,640 Speaker 1: write back. She didn't know that while the king had 320 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: been dying, he had her unanswered letter clutched under his pillow. 321 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:16,159 Speaker 1: King George the Fourth received an infamous obituary in the 322 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 1: Times of the Unpopular King. They wrote, there never was 323 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: an individual less regretted by his fellow creatures than this 324 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:28,200 Speaker 1: deceased king. What I has wept for him? What heart 325 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: has heaved one throb of unmercenary sorrow. If he ever 326 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: had a friend, a devoted friend, in any rank of life, 327 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:39,000 Speaker 1: we protest that the name of him or her never 328 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 1: reached us. But the Times was wrong when it came 329 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: to their claim that no one cried for him, unpopular 330 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:49,399 Speaker 1: as he was among his people. When the executor of 331 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 1: the king's will, the Duke of Wellington, informed Maria that 332 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:56,480 Speaker 1: the king requested he be buried with her miniature diamond 333 00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 1: portrait around his neck, she did what the Time had 334 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:11,160 Speaker 1: assumed was impossible. She wept. That's it for this episode 335 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 1: of Noble Blood, but stick around after a brief sponsor 336 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,160 Speaker 1: break to learn more about Maria fitz Herbert and George 337 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:28,919 Speaker 1: of the Fourth. There are a number of claims that 338 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,679 Speaker 1: George the Fourth and Maria fitz Herbert had a secret 339 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: child together, although the proof is scarce and circumstantial. The 340 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:38,720 Speaker 1: most compelling theory is that Maria Bora's son, who was 341 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: known as James Ord, born a year after Maria and 342 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,520 Speaker 1: George's wedding. Baby, James Ord never knew who his parents were. 343 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 1: As an infant, he was whisked away to Spain, where 344 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:53,879 Speaker 1: he was raised by the British ambassador, Maria's cousin John 345 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:56,680 Speaker 1: and the man he called his uncle. Later moved to America, 346 00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,120 Speaker 1: where he was brought under the wing of the Catholic 347 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: Archbishop of Baltimore, who also just happened to be a 348 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,439 Speaker 1: close friend of Maria's. James Ord got married to a 349 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,840 Speaker 1: woman named Rebecca, and they had a son, Edward Ord. 350 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: Edward was one of the heroes of the American Civil War. 351 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,680 Speaker 1: It was his corps of soldiers that led the march 352 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: down to the Appomattox Courthouse to force the surrender of 353 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:25,320 Speaker 1: Southern General Robert Italy. When ulysses Us Grant shook hands 354 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,159 Speaker 1: with Lee at the Mcleanhouse to end the war, Edward 355 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:32,439 Speaker 1: Ord was by his side for generations. The Ord family 356 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: has passed along the story of how they might be 357 00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:39,119 Speaker 1: the mysterious descendants of an illicit marriage between a future 358 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:43,720 Speaker 1: king and his Catholic wife. One such Ord, today, also 359 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: named James, is an ex Mormon lawyer living in Utah. 360 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:52,280 Speaker 1: Like his apocryphal great great ancestor, this modern Ord knew 361 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: what it meant to not be able to marry the 362 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: person he loved, but times and laws change for the better. 363 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:03,040 Speaker 1: The day that you Top began legally permitting same sex marriage, 364 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 1: James Ord and his partner, Steve Hempel were one of 365 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: the first couples in the state to legally become husbands. 366 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,679 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a co production of I Heart Radio 367 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,760 Speaker 1: and Aaron Minkey. The show was written and hosted by 368 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:26,680 Speaker 1: Dani Schwartz and produced by Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, 369 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:30,200 Speaker 1: and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social media at 370 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more about the 371 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: show over at Noble Blood Tales dot com. For more 372 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,160 Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 373 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.