It is notorious that two of his sons, and very
generally believed that one of his daughters, married subjects; the
Prince of Wales having chosen a wife who was not only inferior in rank
and social position to Lady Waldegrave or Mrs. Horton, but was moreover
a Roman Catholic; and that another of his sons petitioned more than once
for permission to marry an English heiress of ancient family. And our
present sovereign may be thought to have pronounced her opinion that the
act goes too far, when she gave one of her younger daughters in marriage
to a nobleman who, however high in rank, has no royal blood in his
veins. The political inconvenience which might arise from the
circumstance of the reigning sovereign being connected by near and
intimate relationship with a family of his British subjects will,
probably, always be thought to render it desirable that some restriction
should be placed on the marriage of the heir-apparent; but where the
sovereign is blessed with a numerous offspring, there seems no
sufficient reason for sending the younger branches of the royal house to
seek wives or husbands in foreign countries. And as the precedent set in
the case of the Princess Louise has been generally approved, it is
probable that in similar circumstances it may be followed, and that such
occasional relaxation of the act of 1772 will be regarded as justified
by and consistent with the requirements of public policy as well as by
the laws of nature.
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