Fitzherbert, Maria Anne, 1756-1837; George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830
On May 14 the House went into Committee on the subject. Pitt pointed
out that fifty years previously the Prince's grandfather, as Prince of
Wales, had an annual income of £100,000. 'He, therefore, now proposed,
that the income of his Royal Highness should be £125,000, exclusive
of the Duchy of Cornwall, which was only £25,000 a year more than was
enjoyed 50 years ago. This being the only vote he had to propose, he
should merely state, in the nature of a notice, those regulations
which were intended to be made hereafter. The preparations for the
marriage would be stated at £27,000 for jewels and plate; and £25,000
for finishing Carlton House. The jointure of the Princess of Wales, he
proposed to be £50,000 a year, being no more than had been granted on a
similar occasion.'
The addition to the Prince's income was carried by 241 to 100.
In the course of the debate Pitt proposed that the revenues of the
Duchy of Cornwall and part of the income of £125,000 should be applied
to the payment of the interest of the debts, and to the gradual
discharge of the principal; that the sum so taken should be vested
in the hands of Commissioners. From the income of £125,000 a year
he should propose that £25,000 should be deducted annually for the
payment of the debts at 4 per cent., and that the revenues of the Duchy
of Cornwall should be appropriated as a sinking fund, at compound
interest, to discharge the principal of the debts, which they would do
in twenty-seven years.
Finally, by an Act which received the royal assent on June 27, 1795
(35 Geo. III., c. 129), £60,000 per annum was to be set apart and
vested with Commissioners from the Prince's income, as well as £13,000
per annum from the Duchy of Cornwall, to pay the Prince's debts, a
proceeding which found small favour in Florizel's sight.
Of the wretched marriage nothing need be said. Public appearances were
kept up until the birth of the Princess Charlotte, and the Prince and
his consort visited Brighton together, as we see from the following
extracts from the _Sussex Weekly Advertiser_:
_June 22, 1795._--'Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of
Wales arrived at Brighton between one and two o'clock on Thursday
morning last. They alighted at the house of Mr. Hamilton, on the
Steine, which is to be made the Royal residence, till the alterations
that are going forward at the Pavilion, can be completed.
'In the evening the whole town was illuminated, in honour of their
Royal Highnesses' arrival; but the effect of the illumination was
greatly lessened by the wetness of the night, as it prevented the lamps
with which the Castle, the Libraries, and other houses were decorated,
from burning.
'The Prince, we are informed, perambulated the town, in his great coat,
to view the different devices.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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