The Captive of Kensington Palace (14 page)

‘Lehzen. They could not lose her. Where would they find another like her?’

‘We don’t want another like her. She makes too much of the child. Victoria has too much sense of her own importance.’

‘Poor child, I fear it is a great responsibility for her. And she is so young.’

‘She is watched all the time. If it isn’t her mother, it’s Lehzen.’

‘I always believed Lehzen was devoted to the child.’

Sophia laughed. ‘You know there have always been complaints about the Germans surrounding the Princess. I think the people would like to see some English women there.’

‘So Späth is going because she is to be replaced by some Englishwoman?’

‘That I can’t say,’ replied Sophia, ‘but it may well be the case.’

She wondered whether Adelaide would hear the rumour about Sir John and the Duchess. At least she had given no hint of it.

‘We shall expect to see Victoria more often now,’ went on Adelaide. ‘It is time she came out of seclusion.’

‘Ha! You’ll have to see what her Mamma has to say about that.’ Sophia went on to ask after George Cambridge and Adelaide, always ready to talk of the children, settled down to a long discussion about them.

Then she went to see the Duchess of Kent.

The Duchess greeted the Queen not without some condescension. Adelaide might be the Queen, but she was only Queen Consort, whereas Victoria Duchess of Kent was the mother of the future Queen.

After the first pleasantries were exchanged Adelaide asked after Victoria and learned that she was very well.

‘That is good. She is always in such blooming health, and what vitality she has! Our little Victoria is a credit to you.’

The Duchess radiated momentary contentment. Victoria was indeed well, indeed she was a credit; and so she should be. Nothing had been spared in Victoria’s upbringing. When the time came she would make a perfect Queen.

‘The King and I have been saying that we should see more of her at Court.’

The Duchess’s eyes had narrowed slightly.

‘She is young yet.’

‘But she is eleven years old; soon she will be twelve. It is quite time that she made a few appearances. The people expect it. Have you forgotten that she is heiress presumptive to the throne?’

Heiress presumptive! What a horrible title. It reminded one so clearly that something could go wrong. And by wrong the Duchess meant Adelaide might have a child. What a dreadful possibility! This woman – this Queen – was not old; she could still bear a child; and the Duchess could be sure that she was making every attempt to do so. What if she did? She had had several attempts. It was true they had failed but what if there should be another attempt and that be successful? Heiress Presumptive! No, Heiress Apparent was so much better. And how much better still: the Queen. But this woman’s wretched husband had to die first and on no account must Adelaide be pregnant.

‘I have certainly not forgotten,’ said the Duchess coldly. ‘It is for this reason that I have had to
protect
my daughter for so long.’

‘Well, I trust now that she is growing up we shall see more of her. The King would like to see her at Bushy.’

‘If His Majesty wishes to see her, he knows what he must do!’

Adelaide was amazed that the Duchess could speak so of the King. No wonder William disliked her.

‘I … don’t fully understand,’ said Adelaide hesitantly.

‘His Majesty is surrounded by his bastards at Bushy. I think it would be extremely unsuitable for the … er … Heiress Presumptive … to mix with them.’

‘They are the King’s own children, and he as King has them living with him
en famille
.’

‘I should never allow Victoria to come into contact with these people.’

‘But the King wishes to see more of her and as he has no intention of dismissing his own family, it is almost certain that she will.’

‘I cannot allow it.’ The Duchess was imperious. Any observer would have thought that she was the Queen, Adelaide the Duchess. She began to walk about the apartment, her bracelets jingling, her impressive bosom heaving, so that the jewels with which she loved to adorn herself glittered in fiery defiance. ‘Nor,’ she went on, ‘do I think that I should be expected to live in these apartments which are entirely inadequate for the Heiress to the throne. I am living under the same roof as that Buggin woman. Oh, I know she has rented Niddry Lodge on Camden Hill there, but she is more often in the apartments of the Duke of Sussex. Buggin! My daughter is expected to live at close quarters with a woman named Buggin.’

‘She is hardly responsible for her name.’

‘She is entirely responsible. She married it! As the daughter of the Earl of Arran she should have known better.’

‘Augustus seems to be delighted with her.’

‘Augustus has no right to be.’

‘Perhaps he will marry her now that Augusta is dead. He swore that he couldn’t, you know, while he had a wife living, and although Augusta was not recognised as his wife he always regarded himself as married to her, even after they separated. I think it rather noble of him.’

The Duchess looked with scorn at Adelaide. How
mild
she was! She had no jealousy of herself which the Duchess could not understand when what Adelaide desired above all else was a child, and she, the Duchess, had her healthy Victoria, Heiress Presumptive to the throne.

‘Noble!’ snorted the Duchess. ‘Living with the Buggin woman, which is what he is doing. It’s most irregular. But what I find so disturbing is that he should be doing so under the same roof as Victoria.’

Oh dear, thought Adelaide. The Duchess of Kent was in a truculent mood. She had better leave her and decide later what should be done. She must be careful not to tell William too much. He was always annoyed with the Duchess; and indeed the woman did give herself airs. But if he knew she was going to set herself up in deliberate defiance he would become very excitable, which was just the state he must most carefully avoid.

When the Queen had gone the Duchess sat at her table and wrote to the Duke of Wellington.

Now that King George IV was dead and his brother had become King William IV, this meant that the Princess Victoria was heiress to the throne. (She would not use that
horrible
word Presumptive.) She believed that it was quite
unsuitable
for the heiress to the throne to be living in comparative
penury
. She believed that an income should immediately be settled on her, and that her mother should become the Dowager Princess of Wales.

When she had written the letter she took it to Sir John and showed it to him.

He smiled. His tempestuous Duchess was indeed a handful, but he liked her for it; and as long as he could guide her, he had no objection to her arrogance towards others.

The request was absurd, he knew. Her husband, the Duke of Kent, had never been the Prince of Wales and so it would be quite irregular to bestow a title on her to which she had no right.

He imagined the Duke’s face when he received such a demand.

Should he advise her to send it? Why not? It would estrange her farther than ever from the King, and Conroy’s one fear was that the Duchess would become friendly with her late husband’s family. If she did so, they might turn her from Sir John. It was bad enough to have Leopold as a rival, for while Leopold was so close to her, Conroy could never have the complete control he longed for. He always had to be wary of Leopold. But he was determined that no other members of the family should attempt to oust him from his position.

‘It is as well to let the King know through Wellington that you are conscious of your position,’ he said; so the note was sent.

When Wellington received the Duchess’s letter he said: ‘The insanity in the royal family has spread to the Duchess. She is certainly mad to think for one moment that such a possibility could be considered.’

‘Madam,’ he wrote, ‘your request is not admissible.’

When the Duchess received his cold reply she was furious. She went with it at once to Conroy.

‘This man Wellington gives himself airs. Because he won a battle he thinks he can rule the country. Who is he? Arthur Wellesley! He thinks because he
was present
at the Battle of Waterloo that entitles him to insult me. It was very likely Blucher who was responsible for that victory. And because of it, he thinks he can
command
us all. And what of his relationship with Mrs Arbuthnot? I have heard that he neglects his Duchess shamefully for that woman. The Duchess of Wellington may be a fool but it is nothing to his credit that he should treat her as though she does not exist. And this is the man who dares tell me I have no right to the title of Dowager Princess of Wales.’

Sir John let her run on. Let her start a feud with Wellington; the more trouble she had with other people, the more friendly she would be towards her dear Comptroller of her Household.

But in due course the Duchess admitted that there had been no hope of her receiving that title. Yet, Sir John assured her, it was as well to let them know that she was aware of the dignities of her position as mother to the Heiress of the throne. Presumptive? No! Apparent! Victoria was going to be Queen.

Very soon after the Duchess was in a state of elation. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst, presented a Bill in Parliament that should create the Duchess of Kent Regent in the event of the King’s dying and her daughter’s ascending the throne as a minor.

The Duchess was delighted. Wellington might have treated her without due respect; Lord Grey might have referred to her as a tiresome devil; but Lord Lyndhurst had put her case to Parliament and Parliament had seen the reason in it.

Nor was Lord Lyndhurst the only one, for the Bill was passed. The Duchess would be Regent of England; Parliament had added £10,000 to her income, to be used for the education and household of the Princess Victoria.

This was triumph.

The Duchess summoned Victoria to tell her what had happened.

‘We must never forget your position,’ she told Victoria. ‘The death of your Uncle George has brought you right up to the throne. And when your Uncle William dies, as you won’t be old enough to govern, I shall be the Regent.’