LOLOLOLOOOOOOL yes. :PP And remember our ever-reliable Wilhelmine's anecdote about FW trying to cheat on his wife at one point, but his intended mistress punching him in the face and giving him a bloody nose instead? Man, I hope that really happened. Wallop him a good one for all of us, Frau von Pannewitz!
If we're talking pseudo-royals, i.e., Stuarts in exile, it's been 15+ years since I read up on them, but I don't *remember* James Francis or Charles Edward being unfaithful to their spouses. I may just be forgetting, but what I remember is Charles being abusive*, and his wife having a lover and eventually leaving him. I can name two of his acknowledged mistresses, but both of them were before he married (which was a relatively short-lived marriage late in life). And James's life I knew much less well even when I was up on the Stuarts, so for all I know he had 10 mistresses I'm forgetting about, but I don't remember it.
* And possessive, including stringing bells up on chairs around their bed so he could tell if she was sneaking out at night.
At any rate, if I'm remembering correctly, Charles's is certainly another case where sexual fidelity =/= successful marriage.
Fritz himself, of course, may have met the "18th century monarch not cheating on his wife" criterion on a technicality, but only if he literally never had sex inside or outside of his marriage, which is unknowable (and doubtful, imo). :P
I agree all these examples illustrate the limitations of sexual fidelity as a signifier of a good marriage or lack thereof. ;)
Re: Charlotte and sisters?
If we're talking pseudo-royals, i.e., Stuarts in exile, it's been 15+ years since I read up on them, but I don't *remember* James Francis or Charles Edward being unfaithful to their spouses. I may just be forgetting, but what I remember is Charles being abusive*, and his wife having a lover and eventually leaving him. I can name two of his acknowledged mistresses, but both of them were before he married (which was a relatively short-lived marriage late in life). And James's life I knew much less well even when I was up on the Stuarts, so for all I know he had 10 mistresses I'm forgetting about, but I don't remember it.
* And possessive, including stringing bells up on chairs around their bed so he could tell if she was sneaking out at night.
At any rate, if I'm remembering correctly, Charles's is certainly another case where sexual fidelity =/= successful marriage.
Fritz himself, of course, may have met the "18th century monarch not cheating on his wife" criterion on a technicality, but only if he literally never had sex inside or outside of his marriage, which is unknowable (and doubtful, imo). :P
I agree all these examples illustrate the limitations of sexual fidelity as a signifier of a good marriage or lack thereof. ;)