George IV

George IV also took part in a putative marriage ceremony that was null and void: in 1785, aged 23, he married the Roman-Catholic widow Maria Anne Fitzherbert. Under the Royal-Marriages Act, however, the union was null and void as he did not have the permission of his father, the king, and he was under 25. (The king would certainly not have given him permission as that would have meant that under the Act of Settlement his son would have forfeited the throne.) One wonders, however, why the couple did not wait till George was 25 before getting married. Perhaps it was done for the sake of Mrs Fitzherbert. In fact, Rome pronounced that the marriage was valid. Since Mrs Fitzherbert did not die till 1837 this invalidated George's putative marriage in 1795 to Caroline of Brunswick, though he continued to 'see' Mrs Fitzherbert (and other women) after the ceremony anyway. Since George was drunk during the ceremony and marrying under compulsion from his father the putative marriage wouldn't have been valid anyway. Interestingly George later tried unsuccesfully to divorce Queen Caroline, but never seems to have argued that the marriage was null and void. The only child of the putative marriage, Princess Charlotte Augusta would thus be illegitimate (certainly in the eyes of Rome).