Other Women (9 page)

In December 1785 Maria returned to England and married the Prince of Wales in a secret ceremony held in her own house, with her uncle and brother as witnesses. The clergyman who married them was easily persuaded to do so. He asked a fee of £500, and to be appointed as one of the prince’s chaplains, to be upgraded to that of bishop when the prince ascended the throne.

The happy couple honeymooned at Richmond. Although the affair was kept very secret, something was leaked to the press and again the papers were rife with speculation. Maria was most afraid of being labelled the prince’s mistress, although she didn’t want to be put into prison either. She sent queries to Cardinal Weld, the Pope’s emissary, as to whether or not what she had done constituted a proper marriage in the eyes of God. The answer was affirmative.

When things got difficult for the prince in Parliament, Maria, faithful to her husband, hid all documentary evidence of the marriage. She removed the signatures of her relatives so there would be no recriminations against them and had the marriage certificate buried in the vault of her bank. The crisis was removed but in the process Maria found that her lover was not prepared to declare his marriage to her openly for fear of being disinherited. Maria went along with it so that he would not be ruined but she was very hurt by his actions and refused to have anything to do with him for two months.

Because she sincerely loved the prince, he was able to worm his way back into Maria’s affections. She knew they were married but she let herself be publicly acknowledged as his mistress; in 1786 they moved to Brighton where it was hoped they could live more economically and reduce some of the prince’s debts. Even though the prince’s debts had been paid off after his promise to his father to make a politically correct marriage, they had mounted up again. The prince had magnanimously allocated an entertainment allowance to Maria so that she could preside over dinners and gatherings for him and his friends. It was little more than a gesture and ended with Maria having to pay for it all herself. She rented a house in Brighton that was to be her official residence, while the prince bought himself a rundown old farmhouse on which he would spend huge amounts of money doing it up.

Although Maria had to pay for her own upkeep and for entertaining the prince’s friends, the time she spent in Brighton with her husband was some of the happiest. They went bathing in the sea out of the bathing machines, little wooden huts on wheels that were drawn into the surf by horses. Steps at the back went down into the water and men and women could immerse themselves in the water in private. They went for walks, had dinner parties and were able to enjoy each other’s company more or less without restriction. It was noticed that the prince was in better health and that he had lessened his gambling and drinking. Maria was so entranced by Brighton that she had a house built there.

Like all things, good ones come to an end too. They both returned to London. The prince had official business to attend to and Maria had a house in the city to maintain. While back in London the prince dined with his parents; the king suddenly got up in the middle of dinner, went around to his son and began attacking him. He tried to throttle him with his bare hands. After being subdued by his attendants the king was then put to bed. It appeared to everyone that the king might be losing his sanity and that the prince would have to step in as regent. Yet it wasn’t quite the time for that, the king got better and was able to resume business as usual. Maria returned to Brighton, followed soon after by the prince.

It was a tumultuous time. The French had executed their royal house and French aristocrats were seeking refuge in England. Many of them brought jewellery and heirlooms with them to be converted into cash. The prince was in his element buying up French artworks and getting further and further into debt yet again. England was preparing for war with France and was not able to overlook the prince’s extravagant ways. The king issued an ultimatum to his son: marry one of two German Protestant princesses, both of whom were his cousins, or else.

Lady Jersey, one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting, at her mistress’s command made the choice for him. Caroline of Brunswick was chosen. She was said to have been averse to washing regularly, was overly plump and not at all pretty. The prince needed to be prised away from his darling Maria, so the same Lady Jersey could use her seductive ways to lure him into her own bed. The prince had had other lovers besides Maria all through their relationship so this was nothing new.

With the prince under the thumb of Lady Jersey he was persuaded, again for large sums of money, to give up Maria altogether and marry his cousin. The prince sent Maria a letter informing her of his intended marriage and that it meant he would never see her again. To say that Maria was stunned and heartbroken would be an understatement, although she probably knew deep down that it was bound to happen.

The prince met his bride-to-be not long before the wedding day. Neither party was impressed. The prince, always fastidious about personal hygiene, was genuinely revolted by Caroline’s lack of it; on her part, she told one of her gentlemen in attendance that the Prince was fat and not as handsome as he was supposed to be.

On the morning of the wedding the Prince sent a love letter to Maria, but she was unimpressed and ignored it. The wedding was endured by all and the marriage consummated (at least it was thought to have been because nine months later baby Charlotte was born). The Prince was in a terrible state and drowned his sorrows regularly. In one such drunken fit he wrote a note leaving everything he owned to Maria, which probably in truth amounted to a huge debt.

Maria, as in the past, took the Prince back into her life, but determined that she would be the boss this time. It was to be a platonic relationship only. Maria, although she loved him, still held her Catholic beliefs above all else. She had by this time received a direct missive from the Pope assuring her of the validity of her marriage to the Prince. The marriage between him and Caroline had been a total disaster from the start and once she had produced an heir for him then she was nothing more than a nuisance. Caroline had a mind of her own and was not afraid to use it. She had already got rid of the nauseating Lady Jersey who had done nothing but try to stir up trouble for her. Although by law the couple could not divorce, Caroline was finally paid off to go and live in Italy, which she did quite happily.

The Prince, sulky because Maria would no longer sleep with him, turned his attentions to someone else. Lady Isabella Herford was his choice; or rather she engineered it to be his choice. Maria was furious and extremely jealous. The last straw came at a dinner given by the Prince. Unusually Maria was not asked to arrange it, although she was invited to it. When she got there she found her place beside the Prince had been usurped by Lady Herford who was openly flirting and playing with the Prince, feeding him from her fork – and he was revelling in it. Maria, absolutely disgusted, got up from the table and walked out. She would never see her Prince again.

Maria settled down in her house in Brighton and lived there until her death in 1837. She was loved by the population there, as she had been instrumental in turning around the economics of the town. It had been poor and shabby, nothing more than a fishing village until she and the Prince took notice of it. It became a busy and prosperous place where the wealthy came to take the invigorating sea air and to bathe in the cold ocean waters. It never looked back.

Edward VIII, Prince of Wales

We all know the outcome of the famous love affair between Edward David, the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII), and the infamously divorced Wallis Simpson. Because it caused such a scandal, resulting in the abdication of the king, perhaps it has overshadowed some of the prince’s earlier affairs. One of the first of these serious liaisons was with a married woman, Freda (Winifred) Dudley Ward (
née
Birkin).

Winifred Birkin (1891–1983)was born into a well-to-do family. Her father, a colonel, owned a lace manufacturing business. His daughter had been given independence through a generous allowance, which meant that she was able to sustain a lavish lifestyle. When she was 18 she had married William Dudley Ward, age 34. Within the next five years their two girls were born. Ward was establishing his political career, which may have been one of the reasons that the couple decided not to divorce.

So, Freda was 23 and a mother of two daughters when she first met Prince Edward. They met entirely by accident during an air raid in February 1918. Freda was married but she and her husband, having realised they were not compatible, had settled on an amicable solution where they lived quite separate lives. Freda had money and domestic staff to run her home and look after her children when she felt like socialising. After the marriage failed, she had not been slow to begin enjoying herself again; she had already had a couple of minor affairs.

On the night she met the prince, Freda had been out dancing with a young man, Beau Dominguez. They were strolling through the streets when the air-raid siren went off. They immediately looked for shelter and rushed over to a nearby house. By chance it belonged to Mrs Maude Kerr-Smiley, who also just happened to be the older sister of Ernest Simpson. Although Wallis was not yet on the scene, she was already making an appearance; Ernest was her first husband.

Mrs Kerr-Smiley ushered them into the house and straight down the stairs to the cellar where her own guests were sheltering until the German airships had gone. Freda and her beau soon realised the company they were in and Freda took no time in placing herself next to Edward. The two chatted away very cheerfully after their initial introduction and it turned out that they had a lot in common. They parted, each keen to see the other again soon.

Freda Dudley Ward

Friendship gave way to an affair without much delay. The prince took to Freda’s domestic situation with great enthusiasm. He played with the girls, had picnics and let Freda treat him as if he were just one of the children. Edward wrote to her frequently and the two of them had pet names for each other. Freda, however, knew of her position. It is likely that she had never wanted to be his wife but she knew it was impossible anyway, as he would have to renounce his claim to the throne if he married a divorcée, which she wasn’t anyway – she was still married.

After the war Edward was forced to go on a tour of Canada, followed by America. In Alberta he bought a ranch with some expectation of discovering oil on it. He wrote to Freda telling her that all he wanted was to live there with her. Of course it was pure fantasy, they both knew that. Throughout the tour the prince wrote constantly to his lover, not only telling her of his daily doings but always declaring his passion for her and how much he missed her. More than 260 letters from Edward to Freda were discovered in the 1980s by a stamp collector. When they came to auction they realised an enormous sum. The letters are very revealing of the nature of the affair and how the prince referred to Freda as ‘Little Mummy’ and he was her ‘Little David’. Correspondence from Freda to the prince has not come to light, probably having been destroyed.