Pains and Penalties Bill 1820

The Pains and Penalties Bill of 1820 was a bill of the British Parliament. It was initiated by King George IV, in order to deny the rights of a queen his wife Caroline of Brunswick and dissolve the marriage with her.

From divorce proceedings his advisers had advised George IV. George not only had numerous lovers, what would have been in a public divorce process of language. He had married the crown prince also secretly Catholic and twice widowed Maria Fitzherbert. This was a violation of both the Act of Settlement and the Royal Marriages Act: Members of the British royal family members were not allowed a Catholic marry nor enter into marriage, without having the permission of the British Monarchens. Had Caroline of Brunswick brought this in a normal process of language, this might have cost George IV to the throne.