I was researching a Chateau, and as often happens, I came across something completely different. Did everyone but me know that Queen Victoria's father lived openly for many years (in Canada and the West Indies) with a Catholic woman? Of course they couldn't marry (although there are some rumours about a morganatic marriage) because he might one day become the head of the Church of England--and his marrying a Catholic was against the Royal Marriage Act of 1688.
He finally went home and married Queen Victoria's mother. The interesting thing would be if there WAS a morganatic marriage, because bigamy rules would apply. That would have made Queen Victoria illegitimate!
The Duke of Kent (Victoria’s father) died in January 1820, when Victoria was eight months old. Her mother raised her in isolation from the Court (perhaps to avoid her hearing the whispers, hmmm?)
And yes, I looked it up. The Catholic mistress died unmarried and childless in Paris on August 8, 1830.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
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2 comments:
Queen Victoria was legitimate, but the premise is wonderful for a tightly plotted fiction story. Morganatic marriages were allowed without abdications when they didn't interfere in politics or church affaires such as near the end of a monarch's lifetime.
Timely post for me as I am looking into the pros and cons of morganatic marriages now. What some royals went through to love who they wanted to and not who was chosen for them, I find facinating and bitter sweet.
My novels are doomed.
Jennifer
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