Isabella, Lady Bolingbroke by Brian Carne

Isabella von Hompesch was introduced to George Richard St.John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke, by her brothers Charles and Ferdinand. They had met him in Heidelberg and invited him to the family castle at Dusseldorf. The seventeen years old Isabella was seduced by the English aristocrat who persuaded her to marry him in a secret ceremony. George failed to mention that he already had a wife and children in England.

The couple returned to England, living briefly in London where her son George Frederick was born. Soon after they moved to Wales, where George attempted to stay hidden. Isabella seems to have completely trusted her husband, unaware that he was stopping the letters she sent home to Germany, and not questioning why she did not meet any of his family. Upon being spotted in Wales George took his family to America, with Isabella still in ignorance of their bigamous marriage. When George's wife Charlotte died in 1803 he finally told her the truth, by which time they had six children. The couple were legally married 1 August 1804 in New York, and her subsequent children were legitimate. Despite everything she remained loyal to George her affection for him still apparent in her letter.