George III & Hannah Lightfoot
George III is still Britain’s third-longest-reigning monarch, behind his granddaughter Queen Victoria and great-great-great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II.
But his 59-year rule is best remembered for….. the madness that required his son to step in as regent.
George III may have also secretly married a Quaker woman, Hannah Lightfoot, in 1759 when he was the Prince of Wales.
Hannah Lightfoot was born in 1730, into a Quaker family.
She was the daughter of a shoemaker in Wapping.
Three or so years after her birth her father died, and she was adopted by her uncle Henry Wheeler, a linen draper.
A very pretty young lady, Hannah would become known as “The Fair Quaker”
Hannah married Isaac Axford in the 1750s.
Hannah’s uncle Henry Wheeler’s merchandise was sold at St James’ Market, and it just so happens that the young 15 year old Prince of Wales, noticed Hannah there.
Not long after their affair began, Hannah went ‘missing’ ~ her husband then started calling himself a widower.
It was around this time, that the Prince of Wales, is said to have helped Hannah to disappear, and then secretly married her.
It is interesting to envision the young George having this affair.
It is even more perplexing to think that the affair is alleged to have resulted in a marriage between the already married Hannah, and the teenage George III.
The same man who later passed the Royal Marriage Act making it impossible for members of the royal family to marry without the king’s permission!
Three children were allegedly born of this union between George and Hannah.
Two of them were known as George Rex born and John Mackelcan.
There was also a daughter Mary, who may have died around three years old.
George Rex went to Africa, and later turned up in America…..
His family there, has a long history of his claims to be the son of Hannah Lightfoot and George III.
By December 1759 the gossips were saying that the Prince had kept a ‘beautiful Quaker woman’ for some years, and a marriage had taken place in the Curzon Street Chapel on 17th April 1759.
However, Hannah vanished, not only from history, but from the face of the earth.
Her own mother stated that she didn’t know if her daughter was living or dead, since she had not seen her for two years when she made her will in 1760.
There is no record of where or when Hannah died, there is an assumption that she was buried under an assumed name in the graveyard in Islington Church.
In 1761, George married Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, although they had a happy and loving marriage, George supposedly failed to dissolve his first marriage!
Was the marriage between George and Hannah even valid?
It would be likely to be bigamous on Hannah’s part, as she was already married.
If Hannah was still living and the marriage valid, did George really forget to dissolve his union with Hannah Lightfoot?
This is pretty important stuff, as it would make the marriage of George and Charlotte illegal!
Their descendants ~ including every monarch since Queen Victoria……. would be illegitimate
? Coronation portrait of George III, by Allan Ramsay c.1762
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