7 Historically Secret Marriages
While there are some legitimate reasons and circumstances for having a secret wedding, many famous historical couples have chosen secret marriages for political or religious reasons. Here are seven historical marriages made by fairly famous people.
In 1785, George IV, then Prince of Wales married a window, Maria Anne Fitzherbert in a secret ceremony in her house. Legally the Prince was unable to marry a Roman Catholic, which Mrs. Fitzherbert was, and without the King's permission, which they did not have. The marriage was to remain secret until Geoge's death in 1830. Even after George IV had legally married Caroline of Brunswick, he continued his relationship with Mrs. Fitzherbert.
Everyone knows of Spain's Ferdinand and Isabella that famously sponsored Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. But did you know their marriage began in secret? According to Wikipedia, "Isabella managed to escape the court with the excuse of visiting her brother's tomb in Ãvila. Ferdinand, on the other hand, crossed Castile in secret disguised as a merchant. Finally, on 19 October 1469 they married in the Palacio de los Vivero in the city of Valladolid." The reason for the secret marriage was that the two were second cousins and needed a Papal Bull in order to marry. Henry IV, her older brother and guardian was opposed to the marriage as well, adding another obstacle to their marriage. But the two were in love and determined to marry. Pope Sixtus IV later granted them the coveted Papal Bull.
In 1578, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and for all practical purposes consort of Queen Elizabeth, secretly married Lady Lettice Essex secretly at his house in Wanstead. The queen was furious when she found out and tormented him publicly for months.
William Wycherley, a writer who is credited with coining the phrases "nincompoop" and "happy-go-lucky", secretly married Letitia Isabella Robartes in 1680. The reason the marriage was kept secret was financial, Wycherley thought he could keep the king's patronage and grants better as a bachelor.
Theodore Beza, a reformer and John Calvin's successor, secretly married Claudine Denosse in 1544 to keep himself pure from the "temptations" around him. He promised to publicly marry her as soon as his financial circumstances allowed. Nevertheless the two would live "together happily for forty years".
Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning was yet another marriage performed in secret. By most accounts this was because of Elizabeth's strict and exacting father who did not approve of a match between his daughter and a man six years younger than she.
Another famous, if odd, marriage was Mae West, an actress. A filing clerk discovered her marriage certificate after she had become a Hollywood star. She "was married on April 11, 1911, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Frank Szatkus, stage name Frank Wallace, a fellow vaudevillian whom she first met in 1909. She was 17, he was 21." The funny part about the marriage was the two had only lived together "several weeks" although they were legally married for thirty-two years. It is speculated that Mae West may also have secretly married Guido Deiro in the early 1900s.
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