Note 1389 — Chapter X · RISE OF CIVIL MARRIAGE

Jeaffreson, Brides and Bridals, II, 183, 174, 175, note. Royal marriages were not comprehended by the Hardwicke act; hence irregular marriages of royal persons were still legal. On September 6, 1766, in a mansion in Pall Mall, Maria, Countess-Dowager of Waldgrave, niece of Horace Walpole, contracted a clandestine marriage, without witnesses, banns, license, or record, with the Duke of Gloucester, brother of George III. Her private chaplain performed the ceremony; hence, except in form, this was not strictly a Fleet marriage. A few years later, on Oct. 2, 1771, another brother of the king, the Duke of Cumberland, formed a similar irregular alliance with Anne Horton; but in this case there were a witness and a memorandum. Both marriages were declared legal by a special commission: see the chapter of Jeaffreson, on "Two Royal Marriages," op. cit., II, 234-49.