Claim: Maria Fitzherbert married Edward Weld who died two months later and was left destitute.
Evidence: Weld died just three months later after a fall from his horse and having failed to sign his new will, his estate went to his younger brother Thomas, the father of fifteen children, including the future Cardinal Weld. At sixteen, Maria married Edward Weld, 16 years her senior, a rich Catholic widower and landowner of Lulworth Castle in July 1775.