By George! She's Had Enough.

Even a Saint has her limits. Let’s see where Mrs. Fitzherberts are and what she does about it.

While Mrs. Fitzherbert had been willing to look the other way on most of the Prince’s affairs, indeed, his romp with Mrs. Crouch and entourage was treated “with ridicule”; one affair caused her to seriously reconsider the whole relationship. The Countess of Jersey was the daughter of an Anglican bishop; himself descended from a long line of famous churchmen. She was married to an elderly gentleman of  “courtly manners and fastidious dress.” And the mother of two sons and seven daughters.

She was nine years the Prince’s senior and according to one observer, “clever, unprincipled, but beautiful and fascinating.” Said one historian; ” The Prince- on whom her allurements were exercised with the practiced care of an ambitious, experienced, sensual, though controlled and rather heartless woman- was captivated.” I bet he was!

The two had known one another for years, but true to his tastes, he didn’t really take an interest in her till she was in her early forties. In fact, he became so interested he forgot to pay attention to his wife. Actually, he went just a weensie-bit further. Under the direction of Lady Jersey herself he wrote Mrs. Fitzherbert a “Dear Jane” letter ending their relationship.

Mrs. Fitzherbert was stunned. She would have been more than stunned had she known what Lady Jersey was telling the Prince. That Mrs. Fitzherbert was the source of all his unpopularity; that she never really cared for him as a man, she loved his money and title; the King wouldn’t give him more money because of her; she was having it off with handsome royal refugees from the French revolution. The Prince may have been easily led, but he wasn’t stupid.

He had to fake stabbing himself to get her to agree to marry him. And even then, she ran away to Europe for a year to avoid him. Hardly the actions of a gold digging strumpet. No doubt the Prince agreed with everything Lady Jersey said. As long as he was in her presence. The Facts however point to one conclusion. The Prince wanted both women. Each had something to offer that the other did not.

In Lady Jerseys case, it was the excitement of the new, among other things. Mrs. Fitzherbert offered the comfort of the familiar with the seemingly inexhaustible ability to forgive and forget. Seemingly. The Prince’s infatuation with Lady Jersey was the tipping point. Actually, no other royal paramour had ever tried to come between the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert. Lady Jersey on the other hand, wanted Mrs. Fitzherbert gone and was not going to let up on the Prince until he had dumped her.

While paying court almost exclusively to Lady Jersey, the Prince found time to send pathetic letters to Mrs. Fitzherbert begging forgiveness. “Stuff it.” Mrs. Fitzherbert replied. He tried again. And again. Eventually, after receiving “messages of peace in numbers,” she began to relent, but only so far. They were friends once more. But when they were together, they would fight. Mrs. Fitzherberts temper on these occasions was described as “violent.” So violent that the Duke of York wrote to the Prince “not to bear with it any longer.” And that he would be better off “out of her shackles.” Yeah, why should a fine fellow like the Prince have to put up with a clingy sorta-wife like Mrs. Fitzherbert?

Lady Jersey wasn’t the only problem Mrs. Fitzherbert faced with her marriage. The Court of Privileges had ruled in early 1794 that Prince Augustus’s marriage to Lady Augusta Murray was null and void. Lady Murray was Protestant, a blood descendant of King Henry VII of England and Charles the VII of France. Also of James the II of Scotland. And…the eleventh century Marquis of Este! Mrs. Fitzherbert was an Irish Catholic from a long line of Irish Catholics. If Lady Murray was treated thus, the outcome of Mrs Fitzherbert’s case was a foregone conclusion.

Her chances of having the marriage declared legal were reduced further by the fact that no one who witnessed the wedding wanted to risk going to prison by admitting to having done so. Mrs. Fitzherberts predicament suited the Prince. He could look himself in the mirror and say “Mrs. Fitzherbert? Who’s that?” Legally, the Prince was a free man.

On the same day, in June 1794, that he sent a note to Mrs. Fitzherbert explaining that he had to leave Brighton for a conference with the King in Weymouth, a note full of ” my dearest sweetie-pie” and “forever thine” he sent her a subsequent letter, to be delivered AFTER he left town, explaining that she could find herself a new boyfriend. They were not married, never had been and never would be. He had big plans for the rest of his life and they did not include her.

Mrs. Fitzherbert wrote in the margin of this letter, “Lady Jerseys influence” She then packed her bags and split. No forwarding address. After a time, the Prince regretted his rash act and tried to find her. No one knew where she had gone. Some believed to Europe. Either way, the Prince viewed her leaving as the final piece of evidence that the cold-hearted bitch never loved him in the first place.

There was only one thing the poor, broken-hearted Prince to do. Pry a lot of money out of the King by announcing to him that Mrs. Fitzherbert was now nothing more than a bad memory and he was ready to settle down and get married.
But to whom?