Royal Romances: Sex, Scandal, and Monarchy in Print, 1780–1821

261 Pages·2010·2.475 MB·English

by  Kristin Flieger Samuelian (auth.)

Nineteenth-Century Major Lives and Letters
Series Editor: Marilyn Gaull
This series presents original biographical, critical, and scholarly studies of literary
works and public figures in Great Britain, North America, and continental Europe
during the nineteenth century. The volumes in Nineteenth-Century Major Lives and
Letters evoke the energies, achievements, contributions, cultural traditions, and indi-
viduals who reflected and generated them during the Romantic and Victorian period.
The topics: critical, textual, and historical scholarship, literary and book history, biog-
raphy, cultural and comparative studies, critical theory, art, architecture, science, pol-
itics, religion, music, language, philosophy, aesthetics, law, publication, translation,
domestic and public life, popular culture, and anything that influenced, impinges
upon, expresses or contributes to an understanding of the authors, works, and events
of the nineteenth century. The authors consist of political figures, artists, scientists,
and cultural icons including William Blake, Thomas Hardy, Charles Darwin, William
Wordsworth, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Taylor, and their contemporaries.
The series editor is Marilyn Gaull, PhD (Indiana University), FEA. She has taught
at William and Mary, Temple University, New York University, and is Research
Professor at the Editorial Institute at Boston University. She is the founder and ed-
itor of The Wordsworth Circle and the author of English Romanticism: The Human
Context, and editions, essays, and reviews in journals. She lectures internationally on
British Romanticism, folklore, and narrative theory, intellectual history, publishing
procedures, and history of science.
PUBLISHED BY PALGRAVE:
Shelley’s German Afterlives, by Susanne Schmid
Coleridge, the Bible, and Religion, by Jeffrey W. Barbeau
Romantic Literature, Race, and Colonial Encounter, by Peter J. Kitson
Byron, edited by Cheryl A. Wilson
Romantic Migrations, by Michael Wiley
The Long and Winding Road from Blake to the Beatles, by Matthew Schneider
British Periodicals and Romantic Identity, by Mark Schoenfield
Women Writers and Nineteenth-Century Medievalism, by Clare Broome Saunders
British Victorian Women’s Periodicals, by Kathryn Ledbetter
Romantic Diasporas, by Toby R. Benis
Romantic Literary Families, by Scott Krawczyk
Victorian Christmas in Print, by Tara Moore
Culinary Aesthetics and Practices in Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Edited
by Monika Elbert and Marie Drews
Reading Popular Culture in Victorian Print, by Alberto Gabriele
Romanticism and the Object, Edited by Larry H. Peer
Poetics en passant, by Anne Jamison
From Song to Print, by Terence Hoagwood
Gothic Romanticism, by Tom Duggett
Victorian Medicine and Social Reform, by Louise Penner
Populism, Gender, and Sympathy in the Romantic Novel, by James P. Carson
Byron and the Rhetoric of Italian Nationalism, by Arnold A. Schmidt
Poetry and Public Discourse in Nineteenth-Century America, by Shira Wolosky
The Discourses of Food in Nineteenth-Century British Fiction, by Annette Cozzi
Romanticism and Pleasure, Edited by Thomas H. Schmid and Michelle Faubert
Royal Romances, by Kristin Flieger Samuelian
Trauma, Transcendence, and Trust, by Thomas J. Brennan, S.J.
FORTHCOMING TITLES:
The Business of Literary Circles in Nineteenth-Century America, by David Dowling
Popular Medievalism in Romantic-Era Britain, by Clare A. Simmons
Beyond Romantic Ecocriticism, by B. Ashton Nichols
The Poetry of Mary Robinson, by Daniel Robinson
Romanticism and the City, by Larry H. Peer
Coleridge and the Daemonic Imagination, by Gregory Leadbetter
Romantic Dharma, by Mark Lussier
Regions of Sara Coleridge’s Thought, by Peter Swaab
Royal Romances
Sex, Scandal, and Monarchy
in Print, 1780–1821
Kristin Flieger Samuelian
ROYAL ROMANCES
Copyright © Kristin Flieger Samuelian, 2010.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-61630-1
All rights reserved.
First published in 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-37984-2 ISBN 978-0-230-11748-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230117488
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Samuelian, Kristin Flieger, 1961–
Royal romances : sex, scandal, and monarchy in print, 1780–1821 /
Kristin Flieger Samuelian.
p. cm.—(Nineteenth-century major lives and letters)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Monarchy—Great Britain—Public opinion—History—18th century.
2. Monarchy—Great Britain—Public opinion—History—19th century.
3. George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762–1830—In literature. 4. George
III, King of Great Britain, 1738–1820—In literature. 5. Monarchy in
literature. 6. Press—Great Britain—Influence—History—18th century.
7. Press—Great Britain—Influence—History—19th century. 8. Press and
politics—Great Britain—History—18th century. 9. Press and politics—
Great Britain—History—19th century. 10. Politics and literature—Great
Britain—History—18th century. I. Title.
DA520.S26 2010
941.07′30922—dc22 2010013628
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: December 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Nicholas and Maia, with love

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Royal Character in the Public Imagination 1
1 Chronicles of Florizel and Perdita 15
2 Wandering Royals 59
3 The Novel, the Regency, and the Domestication
of Royalty 91
4 Body Doubles in the New Monarchy 131
Conclusion: The Late Queen and the Progress of Royalty 167
Notes 179
Works Cited 225
Index 235

Acknowledgments
M
any of my colleagues in the English department at George Mason
University offered encouragement and advice, read drafts, and supplied
timely suggestions. These include Eric Eisner, Robert Matz, Erika
Lin, Zofia Burr, Keith Clark, Deborah Kaplan, and Denise Albanese.
Conversations with Teresa Michals and Alok Yadav sustained and
directed the writing of this book through every stage. Outside of
my home institution, I am indebted to a community of scholars and
friends whose interest, insight, and goodwill have guided the pro-
ject from its earliest beginnings. Included here are Laura George,
Deborah Denenholz Morse, Mary Jean Corbett, Theresa Mangum,
Christine Kreuger, Silvana Colella, Jennifer Phegley, and the INCS
community. Clare Simmons’s knowledge and wisdom, as always, have
been invaluable. I do not know what this book would have been like
without Mark Schoenfield’s tireless, intelligent advice and friendship.
I am grateful for the support and good humor of a long list of col-
leagues and friends, including but not limited to Sara King, Steven
Weinberger, Lisa Koch, Tamara Harvey, Katharina Fuerst, Harald
Grieshammer, Patricia Lopez, and Arlene Bubak. Priscilla Tolkein
provided delightful dinners and more delightful conversation in
Oxford during the early stages of research. The generous support of
my parents, Verlyn and Kenneth Flieger, and of Vaughn Howland,
made this book possible, as did two travel grants from the George
Mason University English department. To Marilyn Gaull’s insight as
a reader and editor I owe more than I can say. And finally to my hus-
band Steve and my children Nicholas and Maia, for their love and
support, my undying love and gratitude. A portion of Chapter two
originally appeared as “Managing Propriety for the Regency: Jane
Austen Reads the Book” (Studies in Romanticism 48: 279–299). I
am grateful to the Trustees of Boston University for their permission
to reprint it here.
1. Print: King Henry VIII (Lewis Marks, 1820), ms page 237, all
permissions; credit to The City of London, London Metropolitan
Archives.