Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey his "wife", Maria Fitzherbert, with whom he had undergone a form of marriage in a clandestine Church of England ceremony that all parties to it knew was invalid under the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Having encouraged the Prince of Wales to marry his first cousin, Caroline of Brunswick in 1794, Lady Jersey nevertheless set out to make Caroline's life difficult. However, the now Princess of Wales (Caroline) had very little regard for George IV, nor he for her, and after the birth of their child, they lived apart during their twenty-five year marriage, leaving a void Frances and other mistresses,
Frances Coke, Viscountess Purbeck (at age 14) to Sir John Villiers, 1st Viscount Purbeck, the elder brother of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, the favourite of King James VI and I. The match was an apparent bid by Sir Edward Coke to win back royal favour, following his dismissal as Lord Chief Justice and from the Privy Council. Both Frances and her mother opposed the marriage. Lady Hatton sent Frances away from Hatton House on 10 July, without informing her father. Lady Hatton's plans involved a rented house and her extended family of cousins. She placed her daughter first with Lady Withipole; she