Memoirs of Mrs Fitzherbert : With an Account of her Marriage with H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, Afterwards King George IV

Based on her own recollections, this 1856 account of the unlawful union of Maria Fitzherbert (1756–1837) and the future George IV defends both her marriage and her Roman Catholic faith. Her remarkable tale is recounted by Charles Langdale, one of the first Catholics elected to Parliament.

Maria Fitzherbert (1756–1837) was already twice widowed when the young Prince of Wales began his pursuit of her in 1784. Initially refusing his offer of marriage, she eventually accepted it and the couple were wed in secret the following year. Though legitimate in her eyes, the union was invalid under the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, and controversial because of her Catholicism. A posthumous attack on her faith and morals, penned by Lord Holland in his Memoirs of the Whig Party, provoked her close friend Charles Langdale (1787–1868) into publishing this defence in 1856. A champion of Catholic emancipation, Langdale was one of the first Catholics elected to Parliament. These memoirs are based on Maria Fitzherbert's own recollections, recounted to Langdale's brother, Lord Stourton. They reveal the values and beliefs of an exceptional woman who occupied a unique and precarious position within British high society.