Maria Fitzherbert
Maria Fitzherbert: The Wife Who Wasn’t (But Totally Was)
Before there was Caroline of Brunswick… there was Maria Fitzherbert—aka the woman George IV was actually obsessed with.
In this Regency side quest, Nathan takes us through the wild, messy, and honestly kind of romantic (??) story of Maria—a twice-widowed Catholic woman who somehow became the secret, illegal wife of the future king. And yes, it’s as dramatic as that sounds.
We’ve got:
A prince who absolutely cannot take “no” for an answer
A secret marriage that could have cost him the throne
A prison priest wedding (because of course)
A toxic on-again/off-again royal situationship
And a woman who kept the receipts and made sure she got paid
Maria may not have gotten the crown, but she did secure her bag—and honestly? Respect.
If you thought George was messy with Caroline… buckle up.
Comments (5)
The dude bro ghost guy! 😂 What an accurate description of him! 😂🤣
Re: the convo at the top of the episode—There’s an awesome podcast series from Noiser AAAAALL about the Titanic. so so soooo good.
A museum related rabbit hole you guys might want to go down is the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum! It’s one of my favorites here in Boston. Isabella Stewart Gardner had the museum built to house her own personal collection of art. She was a wealthy socialite in 19/20th century Boston and was painted by John Singer Sargent. There’s also an infamous theft at the museum from the 90s!
Widowed twice before marrying a royal. Like a catholic Cathy Parr. Glad the previous marriages were amicable 😂
Listened to this to calm down from a panic attack and you guys are amazing. Please keep up the amazing work