o b464705202491194 (11 page)

that was doubtless the main purpose in it, he did like to see those around him

enjoying theirs. Whereas with Papa— boredom was synonymous with goodness.

Oh dear, what a life we lead! And I am nearly thirty and see no hope of

escape.

‘Princess Royal, take the dog out.’ The Queen’s voice sounded severe. She

should have noticed, of course. ‘And Gouly, your voice sounds tired. I think Miss Planta might care to read now. You may take over her sewing.’

When the Princess Royal returned to the apartment it was to find that a

paroxysm of coughing had seized Amelia.

‘Pat her back,’ commanded the Queen, which Sophia who was nearest

immediately did. ‘There, is that better?’

Amelia said it was. But a little later she began to cough again. She had got

that nasty cough and it was a mild source of anxiety to the Queen. She would

grow out of it, she told herself; but what did terrify her was that if the King should hear the child’s coughing, it would upset him so.

Amelia was now herself— small and dainty and very pretty. The word
frail

came into her mother’s mind. Oh, no, Amelia was well enough. If she could

throw off that wretched cough— But she would and the most important thing of

all was that the King should not hear it. If he did he would begin to fret; he would make something out of it. Nothing must touch his darling Amelia and he would

remember that Octavius and Alfred had had unpleasant little coughs before they

died.

‘Are you better now, Amelia?’ asked the Queen sternly.

‘Yes, Mamma.’

‘Don’t cough when you are with Papa. He does not like coughs.’

Amelia would do her best. It was a breach of etiquette in any case to cough or

sneeze in the presence of royalty. The lady-in-waiting grew quite hilarious

explaining the methods employed to stop a sneeze. The favourite one was to place

the finger horizontally beneath the nose. That was if one felt it coming in time.

Coughing could be restrained more easily.

What silly rules!
thought Princess Royal.
How happy I should be if some
prince offered for my hand. I should not let them refuse for me— not in any

circumstances. Anything would be better than this boring life at Kew.

It was time now for the Queen to retire to her apartments so she rose. The

Princesses rose too and dropped their bows and curtsies as their mother passed out of the room.

She went to the King’s apartments and found him seated at his table poring

over State papers. This was something she would not have dared do before his

illness. Now she was in command for he recognized himself as a feeble old man

who had once suffered a bout of madness; and the fear of its return was never far away.

He consulted her now. She and Pitt were the powerful ones. Although some

would like to see the Prince and Fox in that position.

‘The Prince is now eager for the negotiations to go forward,’ said the King.

‘That is a good sign, eh; what?’

‘To Brunswick?’ said the Queen hastily.

‘To Brunswick. My sister will be pleased, I am sure.’

‘She should be. The daughter from an obscure little Court to become the wife

of the heir to the Throne of England. Very pleased indeed.’

Charlotte remembered the excitement in as small a Court when the news had

come to Mecklenburg-Strelitz that the Prince of Wales— now King of England

and this poor man seated there at his table— had asked for her hand.

‘Very pleased. Keeping it in the family, eh, what? I’m relieved he is thinking

of settling down at last. It’s not before it’s necessary either. Perhaps he’ll soon have children. That should sober him.’

‘If anything could sober him,’ retorted the Queen. ‘I am wondering if this

Caroline is the best choice—’

‘There is only a choice of two— my niece or yours. And he has made that

choice. It is to be mine.’

The Queen’s mouth tightened. He had done it to spite her. He had passed over

beautiful intelligent Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz for the sake of this creature from Brunswick. And there was nothing she could do about it.

‘I am writing to Malmesbury at Hanover,’ said the King. ‘The time has come

for him to go to Brunswick and there make the formal offer for the hand of

Princess Caroline.’

So,
thought the Queen,
it is too late then.

She remained with the King while the letter was written and sealed.

Then she left him and went to her own apartments. She thought of the

Princess who would be coming to the Court; she imagined how gauche she would

be, for had she herself not been exactly so on her arrival? The English Court was certain to be quite different from the poor little one of Brunswick. She herself had been very young— only seventeen and Caroline was twenty-seven, so she should

at least be more mature. But was that a point in her favor? A young girl would

have been easier to mould.

The Queen remembered those first weeks at her young husband’s court when

one of her biggest enemies had been. her sister-in-law the Princess Augusta who

had determined to make her life as unpleasant as possible. Waspish and angry,

doubtless because she was unmarried, she had tried to make trouble between the

new young Queen and her mother-in-law, the Dowager Princess of Wales, and the

latter had been nothing loath, for she had meant to keep her hold on the King and not have it slackened by the young bride, Queen though she might be.

I hated my sister-in-law Augusta
, thought the Queen now.
Arrogant mischief-maker. How pleased I was when she married and went off to Brunswick. And

once she had gone she was never welcomed back.

Nor shall her daughter be, Charlotte promised herself
. I already hate the

creature.

———————

The Prince of Wales looked up from his writing table and across St. James’s

Park.

He then sighed and read through what he had written.

And I don’t mean a word of it,
he said to himself, and taking his kerchief flicked it across his eyes. But it was a half-hearted gesture as there was no one there to witness it.

He quickly read through the letter. ‘Whichever way the Princess is to come, I

am clear it should be determined on instantly—’

Instantly
, he thought. That meant that in a few weeks she could be here.

‘The very thought of it makes me feel ill,’ he murmured. ‘Yet it has to be.

There is no other way out.’

When he was married an adequate allowance would be his. Even his father

and Pitt could not deny him that. And his creditors were clamouring for payment

now. He was so deeply in debt that he dared not calculate how deeply. He had

always had debts from the time he had been old enough to accumulate them but

never thought of them very seriously until the reckoning came. Parliament settled them. It was one of the duties of Parliament. How could they expect a Prince of

Wales to live like a pauper?

They realized this but they did come along with their damned conditions and

he had been obliged to give way and agree to marry this German woman; at one

time it had seemed the reasonable and only solution, but the closer he came to it the more the idea sickened him.

Frances kept assuring him that all would be well. He would still have Frances,

and she continued to fascinate him; but deep in his heart he wanted Maria— not

urgently but rather to know that she was there in the background of his life, to

return to again and again, to confess, to repent and to be forgiven. Only Maria

could fill that need in his life; and in his heart he knew that Maria was the woman he loved, the woman he regarded as his wife and that that ceremony which had

taken place ten years ago in Park Street was a true ceremony of marriage.

Maria was his wife— and now he proposed to marry a German Princess

because Parliament, the King and Mr. Pitt demanded it. They did not accept his

marriage to Maria because the King had passed a law saying that no member of

the royal family could marry without his consent. That was the law; and any

ceremony which ignored that law— even though a priest had officiated, even

though the marriage vows had been taken— was null and void. A court had

proved it with Augustus. So it was clear enough and Maria must understand that it was not his fault. He had been bludgeoned into this for the sake of the State.

Oh, what a burden it was to be heir to a Crown! He let his thoughts wander

back to the early days with Maria. His passion for her, that wild uncontrollable

Passion when he had believed that he would do anything— just anything— in

order to marry her.

‘I’d crowns resign

To call thee mine

he had sung, and meant it.

Oh yes he had meant it. And he would have given up everything then and left

England with her. They could have had a pleasant little house on the Continent, in France say. No, not France, that unhappy country, which had so bloodthirstily

rejected monarchy— not France, which had brought home to him how uneasily

crowns sat on royal heads; and this very precariousness had made them seem

infinitely desirable. Infinitely, yes— and he had reassured himself there was no

need to give up his crown for Maria, because he could have them both.

So the marriage had been denied by Fox in the House of Commons and it had

been shown to him that although he and Maria considered themselves husband

and wife, the State did not. So all was well, which it would not have been. If the marriage had been accepted by the State— for not only was Maria a commoner

but a Catholic. And on the grounds of the latter alone he could have lost his

crown.

I’d all resign,

Except my crown

might have been a more accurate expression of his feelings. Maria must

understand. She must.

Maria was unlike other women. Most would have stormed and raged— at

least made some attempt to get him back.. Ne remembered Perdita’s futile

endeavours for which he had despised her. But Maria made no such attempts.

Maria left England; she did not answer his letter but meekly accepted his decree

— as though she did not care.

But now she was back in England, how he would like to see her again. To

reason with her, to explain:
See my difficulties Maria. I have to marry this

German woman. I know I am going to dislike the poor thing. But I have to marry
her. We have to have heirs. I shall endeavour to do my duty and when it is done—

I need never go near her. Frances Jersey? She’s a siren. Irresistible. But I don’t
love
her— not as I love you— always have— always will—

Until death, Maria—

But Maria made no attempt to see him. And how could he return to her now?

One of the conditions of this horrible bargain had been that he must give her up.

Only while he behaved as though there had been no marriage with Maria could he

enter into one with Caroline of Brunswick. Although the State declared the

marriage with Maria was no marriage, the Church accepted it. And there would be

many people in the country who did.

What would the people think of a prince who, married to one woman, allowed

himself to be married to another?

It was quite clear— Frances aside— that he dared not return to Maria now.

But he did not want her to think he had forgotten her. He wanted her to know

how sad this situation had made him. He decided that he would go without delay

to see the King.

————————

The King received the Prince of Wales with a show of affection.

How the old man has changed!
thought the Prince.
By God, he looks as if he
could lose his reason again at any moment.

But there was one benefit from the change; he had grown more mellow; he

was more inclined to see reason.

The Prince’s manner was more gentle towards his father than it had been in

the past and this helped to subdue the animosity between them. The King was sad

rather than angry. How many sleepless nights this son of mine has given me, he

thought. But he was young and now he is beginning to realize his responsibilities.

He’ll do his duty now.

‘Your Majesty, I have today written to Malmesbury telling him to expedite

matters over there.’

The King looked pleased. No sign of truculence. After all these years of

resistance to doing his duty, the Prince was now prepared to take this step.

Excellent, eh, what?
thought the King.

‘I hope she proves as fertile as your mother.’

God forbid,
thought the Prince. Surely even his father realized that thirteen—

and there might have been fifteen— was more than enough with which to burden

the State.

‘I feel optimistic that we shall not disappoint Your Majesty.’

The King inclined his head and, determined to come to the point while he was

in this tolerant mood, the Prince said quickly, ‘There is one matter on which I

should like to consult Your Majesty.’

‘Yes, what is it, eh?’

‘Your Majesty will know that I had a connection with a certain lady which—

er— no longer exists.’

‘I am glad to hear it no longer exists. It must no longer exist, for if it did that could provide very grave consequences you understand, eh, what?’

The Prince kept his temper and went on, ‘I know this full well, Your Majesty.