Maria Fitzherbert's old house on Old Steine opens for a coffee morning

Steine House, the Old Steine home Maria Fitzherbert lived in for more than 30 years, is opening to 50 guests for a Regency coffee morning on Friday 20 November, from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Tickets are £12, and the money goes to YMCA Brighton and Brighton & Hove Soirée Rotary Club. The event was first reported by the Argus².

The building is rarely open to the public. YMCA Brighton has owned it since 1884 and uses it today as its registered office and as housing for formerly homeless people.

Father Patrick Fludder of Monks in the City will give a talk on Fitzherbert and her story. Zac Pinsent, the Regency gentleman from Pinsent Tailoring, will be there to meet guests, and the organisers promise a surprise guest. There will be homemade cakes, Regency-inspired music and a raffle.

Fitzherbert married the future Prince Regent, later George IV, in 1785, in a marriage that broke the Royal Marriages Act. In 1804 she had the Prince’s favourite architect, William Porden, design her a house on the west side of Old Steine. She lived there until she died in 1837.

Not much of her house is left to see. A 1927 rebuild for the YMCA hostel stripped out the verandahs and nearly all the original interiors. What survives includes part of her oval private chapel on the first floor and a petal-shaped coving in the second-floor lounge. The building is Grade II listed for its history rather than its architecture.

Marie Claire Macintosh of YMCA Brighton told the Argus the money raised would be split between the two organisations. “We cannot wait to open the doors to Steine House and welcome guests,” she said.

Tickets are on Eventbrite. Refunds are available up to seven days before the event.