25 Days of Claire-mas Day 3: Who is Claire Fraser married to?
If only answering this question was simple. During Claire-mas Day 3, we’re looking at the many husbands of Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser.
Henry VIII had six wives. Taylor Jenkins Reid created a character called Evelyn Hugo, who has seven husbands. Today, we’re looking at the husbands of Claire Beauchamp. After all, it’s not as simple as just looking at Jamie Fraser.
Claire was legally married twice. There is a third “husband,” but on a technicality, he doesn’t remain a husband. Let’s get into the details of the three marriages Claire has been through.
Claire-mas: Where it all began
Claire initially marries Frank Randall during the 1930s. I think the marriage date is put as 1937 off the top of my head, which means they were married for around two years before the outbreak of the Second World War.
The two were reunited after the war, when they went to Scotland for their second honeymoon. If Claire had not fallen through the stones, they might have been happy. However, after being separated for another two years after she went through the stones, Claire and Frank didn’t have the relationship they once had.
Frank did take Claire back though. That was despite her being pregnant by another man, and at the time, he probably didn’t quite believe the story of time travel. The two were married for another 20 years or so before Frank’s death.
Marriages in the past
When Claire went through the stones the first time, she made up a story about having to get to her family in France. Well, her husband’s family. And she made it clear that her husband was dead. After all, for Claire, her husband wasn’t even alive at this point, but she did want to get to the stones to get back to her own time.
Instead, she landed herself in a bit of trouble. She needed to marry a Scot to protect herself from Black Jack Randall, and that marriage was to James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.
At first, Claire still wanted to get to her own time, but her love for Jamie won. After 20 years back in her own time after Culloden, Claire did get back to the past to be with Jamie.
There was a temporary third husband, though. Book spoilers if you’ve not read Book 7!
Claire and Jamie go to Scotland after living in the Colonies for some time. Claire then returns to the Colonies before Jamie does. As Jamie is coming back, she finds out that his ship has gone down. Believing Jamie to be dead and believing she needs protection, Claire and Lord John Grey get married.
It turns out Jamie wasn’t on the ship that sank. He got a different ship and was still alive, making Claire’s marriage to Lord John Grey invalid due to bigotry. It would have been annulled, so technically and legally, it never happened.
So, Claire does only have two husbands, but she did marry three times.
Next. A focus on Claire's children in Outlander. dark