Maria Fitzherbert: The Secret Wife of George IV

‘By far the most exhaustive account of its subject yet written. It sheds much new light on the nature of a woman whose ambition and pride almost altered the line of succession.’ Saul David, Daily Telegraph ‘The tangled history of the marriage is handled... with a surefooted knowledge of the period. Much new material... allows Mari Fitzherbert to emerge as a woman of interest in her own right... Munson’s description of her wider life gives real insights into the world of capable women at the end of the 18th century.’ Leslie Mitchell, Times Literary Supplement ‘In his fascinating book Munson is alive to the parallels with today’s royal family... but never overdoes the connection.’ Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday ‘Munson deserves credit for his energetic digging into archives to retrieve her life.’ Sarah Bradford, Spectator ‘This sparkling and scholarly biography. Dr Munson’s heroine is no soupy Victorian caricature, but a real and always interesting woman who leaps from the page as vividly as from a well written historical novel This is an important book, as interesting for its historical analysis as for its insight into the characters of this strange but illuminating story; it is also a fascinating and entertaining read.’ Catholic Herald ‘This bright and amusing book is a rollicking tale, written with great panache and enthusiasm.’ The Tablet Maria Fitzherbert became famous when in 1785 she secretly and illegally married the heir to the throne, later King George IV. Maria came from a Catholic landed family and had already been twice widowed. Sympathetic biographers, several of whom were fellow Catholics, presented her as a much abused and almost saintly woman who was used, betrayed and taken up again by a fickle and mentally unstable Prince. This biography, using for the first time diaries kept by her closest friends, shows that Maria was far from abused. She had a healthy, if not excessive, opinion of herself and it was her pride more than her religious convictions that demanded marriage before pleasure. She was sophisticated and cultured, if not highly educated, an acute businesswoman and strong willed. While this biography does not ‘debunk’ her it does give us, at last, a fully rounded portrait of a fascinating woman, her topsy-turvy marriage and the bizarre worlds of court and politics in which she lived and for a time, triumphed.