The Prince and the Quakeress:

Georgian Saga #4

by Jean Plaidy

Young and idealistic, the Prince of Wales develops a deep affection for a beautiful quakeress, Hannah Lightfoot, who catches his eye as he is riding through the streets. A first meeting is arranged, leading to several more, and eventually they discreetly marry in a secluded house where they live as man and wife. She is prepared to betray her beliefs for him, just as he is willing to defy the desires of various courtiers for her. Eventually, his mother's lover Lord Bute uncovers the affair and Hannah mysteriously disappears.

The novel explores the lasting question, did the future George III contradict royal protocol and marry a commoner? Shortly after his affair with Hannah, he becomes King George III. After a potential engagement to Sarah Lennox falls through, he marries Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, 18th Century, 19th Century, British Literature

308 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Eleanor Alice Burford, Mrs. George Percival Hibbert was a British author of about 200 historical novels, most of them under the pen name Jean Plaidy which had sold 14 million copies by the time of her death. She chose to use various names because of the differences in subject matter between her books; the best-known, apart from Plaidy, are Victoria Holt (56 million) and Philippa Carr (3 million). Lesser known were the novels Hibbert published under her maiden name Eleanor Burford, or the pseudonyms of Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow and Ellalice Tate. Many of her readers under one penname never suspected her other identities.
-Wikipedia

Reviews

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

After three months of almost straight reading to goal I need some very light reading. GIVE ME A BREAK!

[Kate Sherrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes a charming and well-debunked legend,. that when he was a teenager the future King George III not only fell in love with but secretly married a commoner and had children with her, and runs away with it. It takes many liberties with history, in other words, but it's all in service of showing us a different side of the Mad King: once upon a time he was young, innocent, shy, maybe not too bright, and a romantic at heart. It's worth the read just for that. A very sweet book.

[Fonch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ladies and gentlemen with your worships' permission. We are going to try to write two reviews (which in the end were three). This will be the first one. Last week was very positive because my reading block was broken and four books were read. The first of these being "The Prince and, the Maiden" although I will call it "The Prince and, the Quaker" Spanishizing the original title (nothing to do with the "The Prince and, the Chorus Girl" although the fairer title would be "The Prince and, the Quaker". This novel written by Victoria Holt under the pseudonym Jean Plaidy (this writer was read two very interesting novels) here we are dealing with a historical novel. An apocryphal legend tells of the hypothetical marriage of the future George III (the king of the famous film "The Madness of King George" by Nicholas Hytchner based on a play by Alan Bennett https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... ), from which the King had many attacks, the definitive one being that of 1810 from which he did not recover due to Porphyria, a hereditary disease, although it is now suspected that it may have been due to the high concentration of arsenic. Apart from that, the operation was paid for by Huguenot gold, as historian Christopher Dawson confessed in "The Gods of the Revolution" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... @edicionesencuentro. Before the events that Victoria Holt recounts, two things must be known about how the Hanoverians became kings of England. By means of two illegalities. It is already questionable to dethrone a king, but once Mary II dies. The husband prevents the other sister from ruling and remains with all the hard face in the world on the throne until his death (something that the Catholic Philip II of Spain was not allowed to do when the other Mary died) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8... . Something that he saved by the use of force he never had the right to, but he was allowed to do so because he was a Calvinist (perpetrating savagery such as the siege of the Boyne or the massacre of Glencoe and, causing the indebtedness of the most disadvantaged already, he established the headquarters of the Stock Exchange in London) then when Queen Anne was finally able to reign she wanted to leave the throne to the Stuarts but, Parliament opposed it and, breaking all the rules of law, excluded 50 candidates who had more rights than Sophia Dorothea, and the crown, in Leibniz's words, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... passed to the most anti-Catholic family in Europe. That was his only requirement. Not even Edmund Burke in his lucid essay "Reflections on the French Revolution" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... He justified this usurpation under the protection of John Locke https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... (with his mild democratic totalitarianism). Thus, for the interests of the elites and the plutocracy, the same ones who wanted to retain the riches of the seized monasteries. It placed unpopular and hated foreigners who were kept in power through the use of German and Danish mercenaries. The first George never spoke English, he was a drunkard, and he also had lovers. Just like George II, although he did learn English. Here, the novelist tells us, did something very similar to what Tolstoy did https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... He recounted his extramarital affairs in a diary and then had his wife Carolina read them. Of course, this family, the people, laughed at her and entertained themselves with family troubles, because until the time of George III the members of this royal house got along terribly. George I could not see his son, George II could not see his father either (even destroying his father's will) and he got on very badly with his son Frederick who, according to my father, was a real degenerate. In fact, King George II had more affection for the Duke of Cumberland (Bill) than he did in Henry Fielding's novel "Tom Jones" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9... . George II and it is said that for cinephages he appeared in the novel "Barry Lyndon" by William Makepeace https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9... which was adapted into a film by Stanley Kubrick with Ryan O'Neal (I saw it on Friday morning and, it had nothing to envy Robert Redford in handsomeness). This Bill Duke of Cumberland became famous for the repressions suffered by the Jacobites after the Battle of Culloden. The novel begins with Augusta's reflections on Frederick (who is taken to kill with his father and has lovers). We see that the one who takes care of the family is Lord Bute (here he implies that he was the lover of Frederick's wife, Augusta, but in the story it is not clear). From here we move on to the protagonist who is Jorge. A bad student, short of understanding, but willful and, with a good heart who has an excellent relationship with his father where they perform plays. Frederick lives in exile in a mini-court waiting for the ogre (his father) to pass away and receives his father's ministers. Mainly two key figures in the reign of George III, Bute, and North (the first Tory to come to power in 50 years and, of bad memory for Americans). Both Augusta and Frederick, although they treat their children well, think that Edward would be a better King than George, although they value George's willfulness and good heart. Everything is cut short when Frederick dies very suddenly, suddenly, and foolishly. George then becomes the heir to the throne. George II accepts Augusta's pleas and decides that she should remain under his tutelage and that of Lord Bute. But at the instigation of Newcastle, he tries to influence his education, but instead of filling his gaps and correcting his shortcomings. . What he's looking for are receivers who control him like Bishop Hayter. See the scene when they try to take a book away from him where James II is put on good trying to neutralize the perceivers of Augusta (Stone and, Scott, the second is Scottish like Lord Bute). I suppose the user will think that George II is horrible (and he is) but, with the excuse of overprotection, Augusta and Lord Bute are no better. They have neglected his education, and what they seek is to exercise a soft dictatorship so that both his mother and Lord Bute can control him. Lord Bute passes for a friend and benefactor of George, but he is an ambitious and unscrupulous person. Reminiscent of Machiavelli https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... more than anything else. I think Victoria Holt has exaggerated here, because after the Seven Years' War, Lord Bute passed without pain or glory, due to his great unpopularity, he left power to devote himself to botany. At least he didn't have to eat like Lord North the American War of Independence that buried him Greenville, and Rockingham (the battles of Saratoga and Yorktown under the command of Burgoyne and Lord Cronwallis and, with the decisive collaboration of France and Spain, this subject will be discussed when I write my review of "From Coronado to Oñate - Looking for the passage to China" by José Antonio Crespo-Francés https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... whose, book "White Slaves" highly recommended). All of this goes up in the air when Jorge falls in love with a girl (the existence of Hannah Lightfoot is an urban legend since it is not known if she existed or not). Here's the magic of fiction. An ambitious, epicurean and unscrupulous maid Elizabeth Chudleigh takes advantage of the opportunity to act as a pimp and make meetings between George III and the Quaker. Without being enthusiastic about this too suffocating and inhuman religion that eliminates all that is truly fun in life (as if everything that gives us pleasure were a sin against this, G.K. Chesterton e, Hilaire Belloc https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... speak very well of this). But in this case, Uncle Mathew Wheeler is right. What is the future of this relationship? The King is not a libertine, in fact, George distanced himself from his two predecessors and had no mistresses. But the reader already knows that this relationship has no future. Therefore, although he is anti-romantic, I see well what Wheeler does of trying to marry his niece to a member of his community, Isaac Ashford, the problem is that he does it through a law in limbo. Both Wheeler and Jorge do something wrong and incur invalid marriages. One because it was not consummated, and the other was the kidnapping. What's great about this novel is that Victoria Holt writes very well and reads it easily. Now we are going to talk about the negative part of it. The main problem for me is that the romantic part, which is the weakest part of the novel, is very negative in a romance novel. I've been more interested in the historical part. The depiction of characters as George II is presented here as a choleric man given to violence and very foul-mouthed, and a hypocrite who mourns the death of his wife Caroline and his minister Robert Walpole (father of the author of the "Castle of Otranto" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... Horace Walpole had a very low opinion of George II, one of the first commoners to rule and a highly corrupt man while still supporting his mistresses such as the Duchess of Yarmouth Amelia Walmoden. Although she had others like Henriette Howard, but this German was the main one. Holt picks up on the dark side of the King as an unpleasant monarch dominated by his wife and his ministers. I don't think it's entirely fair, this man was the last English monarch to fight on the Dettingen battlefield against the French, and he fought a series of wars such as the German succession and the Seven Years' War, winning both. Particularly admirable is the year 1759 which was key to the victory. Yet the hatred of his people was alienated, for he thought more of Hanover than of England. Here it is told how the Duke of Cumberland falls into disgrace after losing Hanover (and is forced to resign his office on his own initiative). This man was surrounded by great men, among them the Whig William Pitt, the Elder, who was the author of the imperial idea (before Benjamin Disraeli https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and who convinced the King to bet on Generals Wolfe, Amherst and Clive who gave him victory in Canada and India. This William Pitt people will know from an episode of The Simpsons https://www.goodreads.com/series/1724... in which Barney Gamble, the village drunkard, argues with a rocker who is the best English prime minister. You'd think they'd say Disraeli, Gladstone, Winston Churchill or, Pitt the Younger. Barney says Lord Palmerstone and, the other, William Pitt the Elder. Solving it with fists (in the end Lord Palmerstone won). Here the rocker sees why he supported William Pitt. His son was in the Tory party, and George III's best decade was his. Although his last years were overshadowed despite Trafalgar by his defeats to Napoleon https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and, despite the criticisms of G.K. Chesterton Pitt, the young man was the one who proposed the emancipation of the Catholics by giving them some right and some freedom, but he was opposed by George III and the whole Parliament, and he could not carry out that project. G.K. Chesterton reprimands him for siding with the rich and powerful and stifling the claims of the weaker Cobbett https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... although he did support Wilberforce to end slavery but at the cost of making the English people live in misery. If he recommends a book of @patriciolons about Peterloo (a book by the brilliant Hispanist Patricio Lons will soon be reviewed https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... which I'll buy on November 4th). Returning to the novel, the fights between Pitt the Elder and the Scottish careerist Lord Bute are very well told, and how the latter despises him because Pitt the Elder (who was favorable to the American colonists and opposed the stamp law) did not want to count on Bute because he saw how mediocre he was as a politician. The problem with the novel, in addition to the fact that the story is weak, is that except for Elizabeth, the King's sister, we will not like any character because none of them do what is right, seeming like a vulgar Game of Thrones https://www.goodreads.com/series/4379... bloodless. The two lovers, George and Hannah, are too selfish, Hannah loses her faith in the Quakers (also known as The Friendship Society) and, if she marries the King, it is because of conscientious scruples. Bute here looks like Ganelon or, Wrymtongue from “the Lord of the Rings” https://www.goodreads.com/series/6617.... What he does more than for the King seems to do for his convenience. It leaves that Lockean tolerance a little bit in tatters. It is very nice to make a law of religious tolerance from which atheists, Catholics and Muslims are excluded, but then the King cannot marry a Quaker (snobbery also weighs heavily). What this proves is that tolerance pays lip service and, in the end, it's a tolerance that is a matter of tolerance. If the matter is so scandalous that George abdicates in favour of his brother Edward. England had already deprived a King of his crown just because he was a Catholic, it would have cost him nothing to force George to renounce his rights of succession. But, I suppose it was easier to manipulate George than Edward, and that's why Lord Bute and his mother prefer him because he's easier to manipulate. But the most disgusting character in the novel is Elizabeth Chudleigh, the despicable, amoral, libertine who plays pimp, careerist and blackmailer. It is incomprehensible that this character is not killed or receives any punishment according to his actions. Jean La Motte gets punished for far less than the Chudleigh does. This is what I disliked most about the novel. The funny thing is that Hannah, just like in that wonderful film by John Houston "The Barbarian and the Gheisa" inspired by the life of Ambassador Townsend in Japan, does the same thing as the Gheisha, sacrifices herself so that she can fulfill her destiny and George III can enter history, but not leave Hannah's heart. It is not known what his fate was. But in the end his sacrifice will make the future King (for George II dies in 1760). Do the right thing and accept a random marriage with a German princess (Charlotte of Mecklenburg) and, not with the interested Sarah Lennox who really existed and was a descendant of the loves of Charles II and, the Keroaulle https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... (watching the novel it seems that he was going more for the crown than for George III and, despite Fox's fury, his true love is Newbattle). It could have been better, my grade is (2.5/5). At least it's made for an interesting review.

[Christine Cazeneuve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 4th book in the series and focuses on King George III, primarily during his time as Prince of Wales, until he is crowned King. This actual story is based on an old legend but it does show how sweet and innocent George truly was. I have said it many times - Jean Plaidy is my favorite author and I marvel when I see when the books are written and realizing I was 8, 10, etc., and what a joy they bring to me at my age now (60's!). These long series of hers are my favorite because you get so personally connected to all the characters as they carry on from book to the other - cradle to grave. You will never be disappointed by anything she writes. On to book 5.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prince George fell in love with a quiet girl, a Quakeress. They started a romance and married. But his future didn't allow it. It's interesting to experience the king before the revolutionary war.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The real-life Hannah Lightfoot ran away from a marriage and disappeared. Today, cops would be ripping up her husband's floorboards looking for foul play. A couple centuries ago, they came up with a fantastic rumor that George III (when he was Prince of Wales) had secretly married and had children with her. The book starts with the author stating she believes this tale to be true because why let a lack of any evidence spoil a good story.
The biggest weakness of the book is that the characters are fairly one dimensional. George started getting interesting only in the last few chapters. It's a bit of romantic fluff with no sex which was in line with what I expected of the book.

[Mbuye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jean Plaidy's Georgian series includes this romance of the young George III and Hannah Lightfoot, the Quakeress. While this romance plays out as the main story, in the background Augusta the Dowager Princess of Wales and Lord Bute, their affair and the subsequent rise of Bute to displace the Duke of Newcastle and William Pitt and become Prime Minister constitutes the rest. How much is fact is anybody's guess. An overblown style, always hinting at something, never quite coming out with it.

[Arleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of the young George III, when he was not yet considered significant—only the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, Frederick, and grandson of King George II. If you’re not familiar with England’s King Georges’, you may find parts of the story hard to follow, as it alludes to characters from the previous books in the Georgian series, Queen in Waiting and Caroline the Queen.

Old King George II is in his winter years, bad tempered and constantly lamenting his deceased wife, Queen Caroline, whom he reveres more in death than he did in life. At the forefront is Frederick, Prince of Wales, his wife Augusta, and their “good friend” Lord Bute, a Scottish peer who sees his way up with this particular friendship.

Young George is malleable, honest and earnestly wishes to do well by his people. Lord Bute takes him under his wing, and begins to implant his designs in the young Prince, which are not considerably harmful to England, but are against the foreign policy and empire expansion ideas of the leading man, William Pitt. As the story plays out politically, these events are touched on, while George’s love life is more closely focused on.

George’s loves include an extended affair with a beautiful Quaker girl, a flirtation with a silly society belle (and descendant of Charles II through his mistress, Louise de Kerouaille), and a proposed marriage with the German Princess his mother chose for him. As these three relationships form and shift, George’s own personality changes gradually, and by the end of the book he seems a great protagonist and ready to become an ideal King of England.

I found the mystery of the Quaker girl, as explained in the author’s note, to be one of the most interesting facets of the story, and a satisfying explanation as to the later depiction of George in the next in the series, The Third George.

“The story of George III and Hannah Lightfoot is admittedly one of the mysteries of history. No one can be absolutely certain of what took place. There are even some who declare that Hannah Lightfoot never existed. There is, in my opinion, too much evidence from various directions for this to be likely. I believe that Hannah Lightfoot not only lived but was the mistress of George III, as Prince of Wales. There is even a report that Queen Charlotte at one time believed that the King had made a previous marriage and insisted that a second marriage ceremony should take place between her and the King, and that this was done 'under the colour of an evening's entertainment'. There is also the Reynolds portrait at Knole. I have based my findings on the available evidence and the character of the King; and I think my version has a good chance of being the true one as any other. J.P.”

With Plaidy's signature style of including back stories on the supporting characters, this is one of her more intriguing novels. The Quaker mystery has a romantic suspense feel--very much like the author's Victoria Holt titles. I greatly enjoyed this look at one of my favorite eras!

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Story

George III's alleged secret marriage to Hannah Lightfoot, the niece of a Quaker linen-draper.



The Good

An amusing frolic through a highly dubious historical footnote.



The Bad

It's more the story of George III as he grows from sheltered child to adult capable of assuming his kingly responsibilities than the story of a relationship. Hannah has little personality and disappears halfway through the book, never to be seen or heard from again.



Historical Accuracy


This is the big one.
Although Plaidy cites several sources,this book struck me as being a fictionalized version of just one: John Lindsey's The Lovely Quaker. The evidence for the marriage is pretty thin, but it's too long to go into here. Suffice it to say that Plaidy uses most of Lindsey's conjectures in her novel.

[Ashleigh Oldfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet simple George of Wales (later King George III of England) lives to please his mother, and would never intentionally do anything to hurt her. He understands that he must marry and produce heirs to the throne, but he can't seem to grasp the concept of marrying a member of the aristocracy. Surely his beloved mother would want him to marry for love? So when he meets a beautiful young puritan, he sees nothing wrong with courting her.

I enjoyed this story, but I feel the character of George is very weak, as is the Quakeress. It is extremely well written, with an air of mystery about it. Perhaps it is just difficult subject matter?

[Lynn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really enjoyable historical biography written in a fictionalised way that makes this very accessible to a first time reader and as a re-read of a monarch and his times who is not as well known apart from the loss of America, the Regency Crisis through his mental illness and his interest in farming.

[Gaile · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Emery's comment on the Georgians I remembered I had read this account somewhere before and then investigating the titles I realized I read this after my first son was born in 1969!

[Mell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read a bunch of Jean Plaidy/Victoria Holt novels as a teen. They fed my historical fiction obsession.