The notorious love affair between George IV and Maria Fitzherbert is one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of the Royal family. It is the story of a young Catholic widow who became the secret wife of the heir to the throne because she had refused to become his mistress. This account reveals a genuine love story between the spoilt, egocentric prince and the older woman who brought peace and order to his life of restlessness and excess, resulting in a marriage that defied English law and broke all the rules of the monarchy.

Maria Fitzherbert: the secret wife of George IV

Biographies & Memoirs

MUNSON, James

Community & Culture

Constable

This book comprises of a selection of accounts of the First World War and its effects on English life, condensed from a 92 volume diary by Reverend Andrew Clark, Rector of Great Leighs, in Essex at the time. In his record, Clark described how the news of war and its ramifications invaded his village. As the months wore on the pace of life quickened and people's horizons broadened, no community could stand aside from the conflict. Through his writings he contrasted the quiet, slow, ordered life of rural England with the battlefields of Europe and the horrors of twentieth-century warfare. This title acts as a testimony to surviving traditions and changing perspectives, giving a personal view of how the war altered people's lives and outlook.

Echoes of the Great War: The Diary of the Reverend Andrew Clark 1914-1919 (Oxford Paperbacks - Oxford Letters and Memoirs)

Briggs, Asa

Clark, Rev Andrew

Oxford University Press

"I remember being much amused last year, when landing at Calais," wrote Mrs. Frances Trollope in her 1835 book, Paris and the Parisians, "at the answer made by an old traveler to a novice . . . making his first voyage. 'What a dreadful smell!' said the uninitiated stranger . . . 'It is the smell of the continent, sir!' replied the man of experience. And so it was." Historians James Munson and Richard Mullen examine just what it was about the smell of the continent that so attracted British travelers in the hundred years from the fall of Napoleon to the outbreak of the First World War. It was the first time in history that the British, en masse, set out to discover Europe. Drawing on contemporary accounts, diaries, and letters, Munson and Mullen offer a compelling portrait of the Victorians abroad, many of them convinced that their country was not only vastly superior but also the envy of the world. Their attitudes to foreign food, modes of transport, and habits were often as uncharitable then as now and complaints about "beastly abroad" abound. But there were also those intrepid souls who were genuinely interested in other countries what they could learn from them. The Smell of the Continent vividly reveals that the gulf between the "traveler" and the "tourist" was as wide in our great-grandparents' time as it is today.

The Smell of the Continent

History

MULLEN, Richard

Europe

Macmillan, UK

"I remember being much amused last year, when landing at Calais," wrote Mrs. Frances Trollope in her 1835 book, Paris and the Parisians, "at the answer made by an old traveler to a novice . . . making his first voyage. 'What a dreadful smell!' said the uninitiated stranger . . . 'It is the smell of the continent, sir!' replied the man of experience. And so it was." Historians James Munson and Richard Mullen examine just what it was about the smell of the continent that so attracted British travelers in the hundred years from the fall of Napoleon to the outbreak of the First World War. It was the first time in history that the British, en masse, set out to discover Europe. Drawing on contemporary accounts, diaries, and letters, Munson and Mullen offer a compelling portrait of the Victorians abroad, many of them convinced that their country was not only vastly superior but also the envy of the world. Their attitudes to foreign food, modes of transport and habits were often as uncharitable then as now and complaints about "beastly abroad" abound. But there were also those intrepid souls who were genuinely interested in other countries what they could learn from them. The Smell of the Continent vividly reveals that the gulf between the "traveler" and the "tourist" was as wide in our great-grandparents' time as it is today.

Travel

Travel Writing

Pan/Macmillan

Victoria Portrait of a Queen

Bbc Pubns

Maria Fitzherbert: The Secret Wife of George IV

For more than a century Buckingham Palace suppressed the facts about the illicit marriage between the twice-widowed Catholic Maria Fitzherbert and the Prince of Wales, the future George IV. Rumor and scandal began immediately when she met the accomplished if already slightly dissolute Prince of Wales, and even in her obituary, the Times of London pronounced the marriage "either a cruel imposition to silence the scruples of a virtuous though weakminded woman, or an hypocritical pretext adopted by the lady herself to cover her shame." The Maria that emerges in the pages of biographer James Munson's pages is neither the unprincipled temptress of her critics nor the romantic heroine of her advocates but rather a complex woman of strong principles, remarkable practicality, iron will, and genuine virtue. For as resolutely as the prince pursued her, Maria steadfastly refused to become his mistress. However much he might want her or she him, she wanted marriage more. Thus was Maria thrust into the political intrigues that underlay the Regency crisis and reign of George IV as well as into one of the most bizarre chapters in the history of the English monarchy. Eight pages of black-and-white photographs add to this "... excellent, entertaining biography-cum-history of this bizarre episode in the history of the English monarchy."—Booklist (starred) "By far the most exhaustive account of its subject yet written...."—The Sunday Telegraph "Relevant and engaging ... Fitzherbert and her prince make for a lively tale."—Rocky Mountain News "A life given lively treatment here."—Publishers Weekly

Historical

Da Capo Press

The Electrifying Demise

Munson, Joy

Literature & Fiction

Matchstick Literary

I've had this story in my mind for 40 years and tried to find some one to write it for me since my handwriting is illegible. Then I decided to learn to type but I'm not a good student and that didn't work out, so one day I decided to punch it out, hunt and peck style on the computer, which worked better because I think faster than I type; therefore, I didn't have to go back and change too many ideas. What I learned was, "writing" is fun and it amazed me how I would introduce a character in one place and they would show up later as an integral part of the story. If you have a desire to write just sit at your word processor and start. The story will flow out by itself. At least that's the way it happened to me. My wife asked me who wrote the book because the grammar and descriptions didn't sound like they came from me. The story is set in The Dalles Oregon. I had an uncle who lived there. His ranch was west of town with an enormous pine tree in the front yard. In the early 40s my dad and I (I was 14 at the time) spanned the tree. As I recall it took us 4 or 5 times to go around that tree. We started at a chalk mark stretched finger tip to finger tip until we reached the original chalk mark.

‘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.

Thistle Publishing

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