In Georgian England, few men were more fashionable or more eligible than George, Prince of Wales. Wild, glamorous, and with a penchant for beautiful women, the heir to George III’s throne was a very good catch -or so it seemed. The two women who married him might beg to differ. Maria Fitzherbert was a twice-widowed Roman Catholic with a natural aversion to trouble. When she married the prince in a secret ceremony conducted in her Mayfair sitting room, she opened the door on three decades of heartbreak. Cast aside by her husband one minute, pursued tirelessly by him the next, Maria’s clandestine marriage was anything but blissful. It was also the worst kept secret in England. Caroline of Brunswick was George’s official bride. Little did she know that her husband was marrying for money and when she reached her new home in England, she found him so drunk that he couldn’t even walk to the altar. Caroline might not have her husband’s love, but the public adored her. In a world where radicalism was stirring, it was a recipe for disaster. In The Wives of George IV: The Secret Bride & the Scorned Princess, Maria and Caroline navigate the choppy waters of marriage to a capricious, womanising king-in-waiting. With a queen on trial for adultery and the succession itself in the balance, Britain had never seen scandal like it. AUTHOR: Catherine Curzon is a historian of Georgian royalty. Her work has been featured on HistoryExtra.com, the official website of BBC History Magazine, and in publications such as ‘All About History’, ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, and ‘Jane Austen’s Regency World’. She has spoken at venues including Kenwood House, Wellington College, the Royal Pavilion, the National Maritime Museum, and Dr Johnson’s House. Her first play, ‘Being Mr Wickham’, premiered to sell-out audiences in 2019. Catherine holds a Master’s degree in Film and when not dodging the furies of the guillotine, can be found cheering on the mighty Terriers. Her previous romps through the palaces of the 18th century are all available from Pen and Sword Books. She lives in Yorkshire atop a ludicrously steep hill.
32 b/w illustrations