Van wie was Dorothea Jordan?

Dorothea Jordan, pseudoniem van Dorothea Bland (nabij Waterford, 21 november 1761 – Saint-Cloud, 5 juli 1816) was een Iers actrice, die bekend werd als maîtresse van de latere koning Willem IV van het Verenigd Koninkrijk. Ze was de zus van acteur George Bland en schoonzuster van zangeres Maria Bland.

Jordan maakte in 1777 te Dublin haar debuut, als Phebe in As You Like It. Ze werd al snel succesvol, en speelde vanaf 1782 in Yorkshire en vanaf 1785 in Londen. Ze gold in haar tijd als de beste komedie-actrice na Kitty Clive. Ze noemde zich "Mrs. Jordan" omdat een getrouwde vrouw als actrice meer geaccepteerd was, maar is in werkelijkheid haar hele leven ongetrouwd gebleven.

Ze had al vijf onwettige kinderen uit eerdere relaties, toen ze in 1790 een relatie begon met de Hertog van Clarence (de latere Britse koning Willem IV). De hertog verwekte tien onwettige kinderen bij haar, die de achternaam FitzClarence kregen. Nadat de relatie in 1811 was geëindigd ontving Jordan een financiële schikking, plus de voogdij over haar dochters, onder de voorwaarde dat ze nooit meer toneel zou spelen. Toen ze dat echter toch deed, kreeg de Hertog van Clarence ook de voogdij over de dochters.

In 1814 of 1815 vertrok Jordan naar Frankrijk, naar verluidt om een schuld te ontvluchten. Ze stierf waarschijnlijk in Saint-Cloud, nabij Parijs, al wordt ook beweerd dat ze in werkelijkheid nog zeven jaar onder een valse naam in Engeland leefde.

William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of the United Kingdom's House of Hanover.

William served in the Royal Navy in his youth, spending time in British North America and the Caribbean, and was later nicknamed the "Sailor King". In 1789, he was created Duke of Clarence and St Andrews. Between 1791 and 1811, he cohabited with the actress Dorothea Jordan, with whom he had ten children. In 1818, he married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. In 1827, he was appointed Britain's Lord High Admiral, the first since 1709.

As his two elder brothers died without leaving legitimate issue, William inherited the throne when he was 64 years old. His reign saw several reforms: the Poor Law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all of the British Empire, and the electoral system refashioned by the Reform Act 1832. Although William did not engage in politics as much as his brother or his father, he was the last British monarch to appoint a prime minister contrary to the will of Parliament. He granted his German kingdom a short-lived liberal constitution. William had no surviving legitimate children at the time of his death, so he was succeeded by his niece Victoria in the United Kingdom and his brother Ernest Augustus in Hanover, ending the 123-year personal union between the two countries.

Sir Richard Ford (1758 – 3 May 1806) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1789 to 1791.

Ford was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of East Grinstead in Sussex at an unopposed by-election in February 1789. He held that seat until the general election in 1790, when he was returned unopposed for the borough of Appleby in Westmorland.

He served less than a year as an MP for Appleby, until he resigned from the Commons in early 1791 by accepting the post of Steward of East Hendred. (The by-election for his successor was held in May 1791.)

After serving the Undersecretary of State at the Home Office, Richard Ford was for many years chief police magistrate of London, for which services he was knighted. Ford lived for some years with actress Dorothea Jordan, who had three children by him, one of whom died. She left him when his promises of marriage to her were not fulfilled; his father wished him not to marry her. Ford later married Benjamin Booth's daughter, an heiress. His eldest son from this marriage – also named Richard Ford – was known for his art collection and his travel writings about Spain.