The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1899-06-15
MIGHT HAVE BEEN KINGS.
Observation-Disclosures Kings
Romance.

Africa of the death there of a man
named George Rex. He is stated tc
have been the morganatic grandson of
George Ill, but was more probably
that monarch's great-grandson. While
George Ill. was still prince OF Wales he
fell in love with Hannah Lightfoot, the
daughter of London tradesman, and
there is every reason to believe that he
married her and had children by her,
Two daughters and son are men
toned. One of the daughters is said to
have married man by the name of
Dalton, and her descendants are, OF
were until recently, living in England
and openly claimed their descent Han
nah Lightfoot was called The Beauti-
full Quaker" and u marriage was ar.
ranged between her and London APP
prentice. AS soon as she had married
the apprentice she was spirited away
and was unknown to the public after
wards. There seems every reason to
believe that she was under the protec-
ton of the government, for when heI
death became known to George, then
the king, he had d second marriage
performed with his queen, Charlotte OF
Meklenburg- Strelitz.
AS late as 1861 a pamphlet was pub
Gshed in England trying to prove that
Hannah Lightfoot was a myth. But
the evidently INSPIRED author proved
too much, and after reading the pub
location one is convinced that Hannah
Lightfoot was a reality, and that the
king did marry her. The author of the
pamphlet aimed especially to disprove
the claims of the Daltons, and reminded
them that there is family in South
Africa which has long claimed the de.
scent from the king and the beautiful
Quaker. In the early part of the CEN
fury a sailing vessel left England UNI
der sealed orders, bound for the then
new South African possessions which
had been won from the Dutch. On
board that vessel was a George Rex,
who was, there seems to be little doubt,
the son of George III. and Hannah
Lightfoot. He virtually was a prisoner
and must at that time have been about
40 years old He was landed at the
Cape of Good Hope and told that he
could have as large a grant of land as
he wanted and could select it himself.
He chose the Huysna, a beautiful,
wooded and well watered tract of land
rear Cape Town, and was made marshal
of the cape. At Huysna have lived ever
since the descendants of this involun-
tary emigrant and there, the other day,
died his grandson, George Rex.
A great many relics of George III.
are said to be in the possession of the
Rex family. When the duke of Sake
Coburg-Gotha, then Prince Alfred, Wis
tied Cape Colony he staid for awhile at
Huysna as a guest of George Rex. The
old man was very proud and maintained
q strict reticence regarding his descent.
a few years ago a man who had never
heard the romantic story of Hannah
Lightfoot was travelling in Germany
and while on visit to the castle of Nj
remberg came across a picture of
George Ill. How like my old friend,
George Rex, in South Africa he ex-
claimed. \ friend who was with him
and knew the story astonished the trav-
eler by telling him the cause of the
likeness.
1t was to his most intimate friends
only that George Rex ever told the
story of his descent. 1t is on record
that when George ". was seeking a
divorce from his queen, Caroline of
Brunswick, that unhappy woman de,
declared that she was neither wife nor
h., L.,
really the husband of Hannah Light.
foot when George ". was born and
that, therefore, he was not legitimate,
and that George ~. was really the hus-
band of Mrs. Fitzherbert, and there
fore she (Caroline) was not his wife.
George ". was married to Mrs. Fitz-
herbert in 1889. There was never any
question about the marriage, but it was
decided that as Mrs. Fitzherbert was
Catholic and the law of England for
babe the marriage of the heir to the
throne with person of that faith,
therefore the marriage was invalid.
But the Catholic church declared the
marriage valid and allowed Mrs Fitz-
herbert to live with the man she had
married. After his marriage with Caro-
line of Brunswick Mrs. Fitzherbert left
the king, but after he and his queen
had separated she lived with him again
at Brighton. His excuses, however,
compelled her to leave him again, and
she lived in retirement to a ripe old
age, supported by liberal pension
from the British government.
The father of the late Gen. Edward
Otto Cresap Ord, of the American army,
is supposed to have been the son of
Mrs. Fitzherbert and George ". Gen
Ord was a distinguished soldier in the
civil war. He was born in 1918 in Mary
land and died of yellow fever in Havana
i'll 1893. At the time of his death he was
returning from a visit to his daughter.
who was the wife of Gen. Trevino. the
Mexican secretary of war.
When the generals son, Jules Ga
reche Ord, died in leading a charge at
San Juan Hill last summer, the story OF
the descent of the Ords was revived and
published all over the world. Some OF
the British papers at the time pointed
out that after the death of Mrs Fit2-
harhprf in 1927 nnnn,iSSinr, ~ ,Nnr