history
by Reg Reynolds
Celebrity Wedding:
the cardigans
Many celebrities have tied the knot on the Rock, John Lennon and Yoko Ono (famously), and Sean Connery (twice) are among the more notable of recent times but in the mid-19th Century the celebrity wedding one year was that of Lord Cardigan. The famed leader of the historic ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ sailed into Gibraltar harbour aboard his luxurious yacht Airedale and accompanied by his beautiful and much younger bride to be. On 28th September, 1858, 61-year-old James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan and 33-year-old Adeline de Horsey were married in the King’s Chapel, Gibraltar. Despite the fiasco of the Light Brigade charge — 156 killed, 122 wounded — commemorated in Tennyson’s inspiring poem, which includes the famous line “Into the valley of death rode the 600,” Cardigan escaped any blame and was welcomed back from the Crimean War as a hero. Cardigan was wealthy, cut a handsome figure, had a reputation for being a bit of a rouge and despite his age was considered a good catch. More than one woman was playing the waiting game as first wife Elizabeth lay bed-ridden with a fatal illness. During the final year of her life Cardigan and Adeline caused a scandal by
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2009
carrying on a very public affair. In her autobiography My Recollections Adeline wrote: “There was another and a stronger reason for the wagging tongues of slander, for they were prompted by jealousy. Lady Cardigan was then very ill, and every one knew that her death was only a question of a year or two. Once free, Lord Cardigan would be a prize well worth winning by match-making matrons with marriageable daughters, and his openly avowed affection for
Cardigan was wealthy, cut a handsome figure, had a reputation for being a bit of a rouge and despite his age was considered a good catch
me had put an end to these hopes.” Cardigan was a friend of Adeline’s father and he had had his eye on her long before they finally got together. She certainly was beautiful. In his book The Homicidal Earl, Saul David gives this description: “With her long dark hair, sparkling brown eyes, vivaciously pretty face and elegant figure, Adeline could not fail to provoke the admiration of a man twice her age.” Importantly for society of the time Adeline was an expert pianist, had a beautiful singing voice, could speak Greek, Spanish, Italian and French and could dance the cachuca with castanets. When Elizabeth finally passed on Cardigan rushed to Adeline’s house in Park Lane. She recalled the moment. “On the morning of 12th July, 1858, I was awakened by a loud knocking at the front door. I looked at my watch, and saw that it was not seven o’clock; I was, needless to say, very alarmed, as I wondered whether anything had happened to my father or my brothers.” Adeline only had time to slip on a dressinggown before Cardigan rushed in and exclaimed, “My dearest she’s dead... let’s get married at once.” “Then I knew that the trying period of our probation was over, and that we were free to be happy together at last.” But Adeline insisted that she did not want to insult the memory of the woman, “who had shown me so many kindnesses,” and refused to marry Cardigan, “…until some time had elapsed”. That time was precisely two months and sixteen days. In September she left London for Cowes where she boarded the Airedale to join Cardigan. There was a party with friends and family and then they sailed for Gibraltar. The voyage was uneventful but on arrival there was a terrific storm. Adeline described it as almost tropical in its violence: “Roofs were torn off houses and whirled, light as dead leaves, through the air, great trees were uprooted, heavy masonry fell everywhere, and the ships tossed about like cockle-shells in the harbour.” During the storm a French vessel was seen to be in distress and Adeline urged Cardigan to send the Airedale to try to save the crew. “He assented, and through this timely aid from our yacht, 14 men were rescued, and we also took a French poodle off a raft to which he was clinging, his owner doubtless having been drowned.” Adeline wore a white silk gown draped with a blue scarf for the wedding and a large hat adorned with many feathers. Cardigan’s friends the Pagets were in attendance along with Adeline’s brother Algernon de Horsey. A celebration on the yacht followed and the happy couple spent a “gay week” in Gibraltar before setting off on a long honeymoon that took them through the Med by boat to Turin and Genoa and then by train to Paris and finally back to London. Lord Cardigan died on Friday, 28th March, 1867, two days after being thrown from a young horse he had recently purchased. He was 70. Adeline remarried to Don Antonio Manuel de Lancastere Soldana, Conde de Lancastre and went by the title Countess of Cardigan and Lancastre. She died in 1915 aged 90. n
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