Walton Hall During our UK holiday we stayed at Walton Hall, near the village of Wellsbourne, four miles South of Stratford -on-Avon. Walton Hall is a Victorian manor house built in the 1860’s on the site of an earlier Jacobean house in the Walton valley four miles South of Stratford-on-Avon. It has been the setting for a TV programme entitled “The Warwickshire Scandal”. The owner, Sir John Mordaunt, was in need of a bride to produce a successor for the estate. He met and proposed to one Harriet Moncrief, the daughter of a Scottish family. Harriet’s father was delighted with the match. He had a large family. The solution to his financial problems included getting his daughters married off in the best matches they could make. Harriet’s betrothal to Sir John certainly met with her father’s approval. Harriet and her sisters had been members of a party-going social set which included HRH the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne who later became King Edward VII. The wedding took place in Warwickshire and all went well for a while. So well that Sir John was able to go on a fishing trip to Norway leaving his young bride in charge at Walton Hall. This turned out to be somewhat ill advised as Harriet entertained several male visitors during her husband’s absence. One of the visitors had been the Prince of Wales. Servants later gave evidence that the Prince spent an hour or so alone with Harriet after she had given strict instructions to the servants that they were not to be disturbed. On his return, Sir John became aware of the royal visitor at least. The Prince had presented the young bride with two white ponies. Sir John forbade his wife from having anything further to do with the heir to the throne. He had the two white ponies brought onto the front lawn and shot in full view of Harriet. Presently it became apparent that Harriet was pregnant. As the time for her delivery approached Harriet became more and more agitated. The child was born. A daughter. Harriet was particularly concerned whether the child was normal. Apart from some conjunctivitis of the eyes, the child seemed normal. Within a week or two after the birth Harriet made a confession to her husband that the child was not his. It had been conceived during his absence in Norway. Sir John was deeply upset and commenced divorce proceedings. A divorce was not what Harriet’s father wanted. It would exacerbate his financial problems. He did not want Harriet and her child on his hands. He consulted is lawyers and they advised that if Harriet could be certified insane the divorce action would fail. Harriet was taken to the most eminent psychiatrists of the day who produced the result that they were paid for. The divorce case proceeded with HRH being cited as corespondent. HRH was called to give evidence and was asked about his relationship with Harriet. He testified to the effect that no impropriety took place in that relationship. When counsel for the husband was invited to cross examine HRH, he decline. The heir to the throne would not be called to answer for his perjury. It took several years before Sir John could get his divorce and re-marry. Even then he failed to produce a male heir. Harriet was placed in an asylum where she was confined for the rest of her life. She might have been silly but she was certainly not insane. Subsequent events may have driven her insane. It was a sad episode of an eighteen year-old being manipulated by scheming adults for their own ends. The only good thing that came out of the whole affair was that Harriet’s daughter married well and became the Marchioness of Bath. We have stayed several times at Walton Hall and walked in the footsteps of Harriet and HRH.