Note 31 — Chapter XVI · THE ILLNESS OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.

It may be worth while to note the precedents for marriage between English Princesses and subjects:—Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I., and widow of the King of Bohemia, was supposed to have privately married Lord Craven. Princess Mary, sister of Henry VIII., married Charles Brandon, who was sent to escort her from France, when her husband Louis XII. died. Three of the daughters of Edward IV. married the heads of the families of Howard, Courtenay, and Welles; but though Henry VI. recognised these alliances, he did not quite recognise the title of Edward IV. Of the House of Hanover, William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, in 1766 married the widow of Earl Waldegrave, who was the illegitimate daughter of Sir Robert Walpole, a match which infuriated King George III. Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, in 1771 married Lady Anne Luttrell, daughter of Earl Carhampton, and widow of Mr. Charles Horton, of Catton Hall, Derbyshire. The Royal Marriage Act was passed in 1772, after which time there have been some Royal marriages with subjects in spite of the law: (1), The Duke of Sussex married first Lady Augusta Murray, daughter of the Earl of Dunmore. After she died, his Royal Highness married his second wife, Lady Cecilia Letitia Buggin, daughter of Arthur, Earl of Arran, and afterwards Duchess of Inverness. (2), George IV., while Prince of Wales, married Mrs. FitzHerbert. (3), The present Duke of Cambridge married some years ago Mrs. FitzGeorge.