When Catherine Elizabeth Middleton walked down the aisle at Westminster
Abbey and married Prince William, she became first non-aristocratic commoner to
marry an heir to the British throne since Anne Hyde married James, Duke of York
(the future James II). While Lady Diana Spencer and the Queen Mother were
commoners, they were both aristocrats. Diana was the daughter of Earl Spencer
while the Queen Mother was the daughter of the Earl of Strathmore and
Kinghorne. What’s that you say, what about Camilla? Well, she is descended from
George Keppel, brother of the Earl of Albemarle, so she doesn’t count either.
Our story begins in 1638, when Anne was born at Cranbourne Manor in Windsor
Park, owned by her grandfather Sir Thomas Aylesbury, then Master of Request.
Her father Edward Hyde was Charles II’s principal advisor while he was in exile
so Anne didn’t see much of her father while growing up. At the age of 15, she
was appointed a maid of honor to Mary, Princess Royal who was the widow of the
Prince of Orange much to the annoyance of the Queen Mother Henrietta Maria, who
despised Hyde and his influence over her eldest son. Anne was a big hit at
court; she was a particular favorite of the Princess Royal’s aunt, Elizabeth,
the Queen of Bohemia for her gaiety.
In 1656, Anne accompanied the Princess Royal on her visit to Paris to visit
the Queen Mother. It was there that she met the Duke of York. Although their acquaintance
was brief, she must have made quite the impression on him, because when they
met 3 years later not only did James seduce Anne but he also allegedly entered
into a secret engagement with her. Although Anna was plump and considered plain
by some, she was also witty, gay and well-educated, qualities that James
himself decidedly lacked. James himself later wrote of his future wife that
‘besides her person, she possessed all the qualities proper to inflame a heart
less susceptible than his, with the fire of love.’ In 1659, marrying Anne
probably didn’t seem like such a big deal, the Restoration seemed like a pipe
dream not a reality. Apparently, it was also the only way that James could get
Anne into bed.
When Charles II was restored to the throne in May 1660, Anne returned to
England with her family. Of course the inevitable happened, she soon became
pregnant. At first James stood loyally by her, telling the King that he had
promised to marry her, and he planned on keeping his word. If Charles didn’t
give his permission; James would leave England, and live abroad. Charles wasn’t
too keen on the match; it would mean that Hyde would now be a member of his
family not just one of his ministers. It also killed any chance of James
helping to shore up the monarchy by marrying a foreign princess who might bring
prestige not to mention money to the union. James was also the heir presumptive
to the throne until Charles himself married and sired a legitimate son. On the
other hand, Charles genuinely liked Anne, and thought she might be the making
of his brother. He reasoned that he was thirty, plenty of time for him to get
married. After much debate, Charles gave his consent.
There was no engagement announcement, no speculation about what the bride
might wear as she waddled up the aisle. Instead, the shot-gun wedding took
place in secret on September 3, 1660 at Worcester House, on the Strand,
sometime between 11 at night and 2 in the morning. The ceremony was performed
by the Duke’s chaplain and only witnessed by two people, including Anne’s maid.
When Anne’s father found out, instead of rushing to offer congratulation, he
was more worried that enemies might think that he had encouraged the match to
further his own ambitions. He actually told the King that Anne should be thrown
in the Tower of London to await execution. Hyde wasn't the only person the
newlyweds had to worry about, Jame's mother and sisters were not too happy
either when they heard the happy news. Both women raced across the channel hell
bent on preventing ‘so great a stain and dishonor on the Crown.’ Princess Mary
declared that she would not accept as her sister-in-law someone who had once
‘stood as a servant behind her chair.’ Faced with the wrath of his female
relatives, James began to have buyer’s remorse. It didn’t help that the heavily
pregnant Anne wasn’t quite as attractive once compared to the other beauties at
court.
At this point, his friends helped out by claiming that all five of them
could be the father of Anne’s child. Harry Killigrew said that, ‘he had found
the critical minute in a certain closet built over water for a purpose very
different from that of giving ease to the pains of love.’ Um, TMI! Another
alleged lover Sir Charles Berkeley offered to marry Anne to save the Prince
from a wife who was “so wholly unworthy of him.” Although the marriage wouldn’t
be announced officially until the end of December in 1660, word soon went
around the court, setting tongues awag at the juicy news. The idea of a royal
prince marrying a commoner was absurd, especially one as dumpy as Anne. Samuel
Pepys wrote in his diary a remark made by the Earl of Sandwich when he heard
the news, “that he doth get a wench with child and marries her afterward, it is
as if a man should shit in his hat and then wear it.”
In October 1660, Anne gave birth to son, who later died in infancy,
insisting even during labor that not only was the Duke of York the father of
her child but he was also her lawful husband. Finally Charles decided to step
in. He informed his brother that ‘He must drink as he had brewed and live with
her whom he had made his wife.’ Subsequently Berkeley and the others withdrew
their claims. Three days after the official announcement, the Princess Royal
died of smallpox lamenting the horrible things she had said about her former
maid of honor. Only the Queen Mother was a hold-out but finally even she
grudgingly agreed to receive Anne, claiming that she ‘always liked her from the
beginning.’ Hypocrite much?
Although the marriage could be said to have been a love match, the
relationship soon withered as The Duke of York chased after everything in a
skirt. Unhappy, Anne consoled herself with food, growing incredibly obese.
However she did manage the Duke’s money for him, and advised him on patronages
in the arts and in political affairs. In fact it was Pepys' opinion that
"the Duke, in all things but his amours, was led by the nose by his wife.”
Anne naturally resented James' numerous affairs, but received little sympathy
at Court. Whether out of insecurity or because she’d had to fight so hard for
her position, Anne became more royal than the royal family which made her
unpopular. In 1670, Anne secretly converted to Catholicism. Of her eight
children, Mary and Anne alone survived her. She died in 1671, a few weeks after
giving birth to her final child. Of course, when the Duke of York remarried,
Charles II made sure this time that his brother married someone more
appropriate.
But in the end, it would be Anne’s daughters, first Mary and then Anne who
sat on the throne of England.
Sources:
John Miller: James II (Yale English Monarchs), Yale University Press, New
Haven 1978
Jock Haswell: James II, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1972
Anne Somerset: Ladies in Waiting, From the Tudors to the Present Day,
Phoenix 1984
