The Regent's Daughter: (Georgian Series) (10 page)

‘It has been our duty and our pleasure,’ said Lady Hertford.

‘It cannot fail,’ added Lord Hertford.

‘My thanks … my warmest thanks!’ The Prince looked momentarily melancholy. ‘One thing occurs to me. This matter has brought us close together. We have discovered friendship. I hope that now it is over that friendship will continue.’

He was looking at Lord Hertford but he was thinking of his wife.

‘We are honoured,’ said Lord Hertford.

‘Honoured indeed,’ echoed Lady Hertford.

The Prince was delighted. He took his leave and went at once to Maria.

‘Maria, my dearest love, I have the best news in the world. But perhaps I won’t give it to you yet. Or shall I? Let me say this. Minney is ours … for ever.’

‘The case is not over.’

‘That’s the secret part, but I promise you that Minney is yours. You need never have another qualm. I have settled this matter.’

‘But they are meeting tomorrow.’

‘Let them. You will see.’

‘You have made some arrangement?’

He was nodding delightedly. It was at such moments when her love for him was almost unbearable. He was a like a boy who has provided some rich treat which he is going to enjoy as much as those for whom it was intended, and if he meant that the anxiety about losing Minney was over then she was the happiest woman in the world.

‘You must tell me, please,’ she cried. ‘I cannot endure the suspense. I must feel sure before I can be completely at ease.’

So he put his arm through hers and they walked up and down her drawing room while he told her. ‘As head of the family, Hertford is going to claim Minney and he has sworn to me that as soon as he has done that he will proclaim you her guardian.’

She clasped her hands together. It was rarely she wept but she did so then. These were tears of joy.

‘You have done this …
you
… my darling.’

He admitted it. ‘Have I not told you that I would do anything in the world for you?’

For a moment those unpleasant thoughts came into her
mind. Anything? Had he not betrayed her … once when he had let Fox deny his marriage to her in the House of Commons and a second time when he had left her for Lady Jersey? Had he not been guilty of many infidelities? But the present dilemma had appealed to his chivalry; he loved Minney even as she did, and the loss of the child whom she regarded as her own would have been a greater tragedy than anything that could have befallen her then or now. She was sure of that. With such an unaccountable lover perhaps a woman turned naturally to her children – and Minney was her child.

But he had done this for her. He had thrown himself into the fight for Minney with all that youthful sentiment of which he was capable, and at such times he was at his most lovable.

This must be the happiest time of her life; she had him and Minney as well.

‘We should tell them,’ she said. ‘Minney and Pigot. They are as anxious as we are.’

‘We will tell them now,’ he said. ‘Send for them.’

And so they came and he embraced them both. He always laughed at his dear Pig who wanted to curtsey and grew fiery red when he seized her as she was about to do so. Of course he loved that sort of adoration; and there was Minney. ‘Prinney, darling, what are you doing here now? This is not your
time
.’

And he, with his sense of the dramatic, took the little girl by the hand and led her to Maria.

‘Here is your mother, Minney. I give you to her. Love each other always.’

Minney looked from one to the other and understood what he meant, for her days had been haunted by the fear that one day a carriage would draw up and a wicked aunt would come to take her away; at night sometimes she would awake crying because she thought they had come by stealth to take her. But there he was, looking like a plump benevolent god. Their fears were over. He – being a god – had worked the miracle.

Minney threw herself into Maria’s arms and clung to her for some seconds; then she turned to him. He was her dear, dear Prinney, the best Prinney in the world.

And they were all laughing and weeping together, with Miss Pigot standing by crying and laughing too.

The weeks that followed were indeed happy ones for Maria,
for everything worked out as the Hertfords had said it would. Lord Hertford made his announcement in the Lords and as a result was, by a unanimous vote, granted the guardianship of his brother’s daughter which he would share with his wife. No sooner was this given him than he declared that he appointed Mrs Maria Fitzherbert to continue to act as a mother to his niece.

It was wonderful. After three years of uncertainty they were safe.

Miss Pigot was continually pointing out how His Highness had worked to give Maria her heart’s desire; and Maria agreed with her. As for the Prince, he went about beaming his pleasure, playing games with Minney and being very gracious to young George Keppel. Even his manner towards his daughter had changed and although he could not feel at ease with her as he did with Minney and George, there was a new warmth in his manner. Maria noticed this and was delighted that he had listened to her.

She intended to add Charlotte to her little family circle and since she was the Prince’s daughter to try and be a mother to her and bring a little security into her life.

Minney would be eight years old in November of the year and Maria planned to give a very special party to celebrate this event.

When she discussed this with the Prince he cried: ‘Certainly. Let it be ball and a supper. It shall take place in the Pavilion. You must start arrangements at once, my dearest love.’

Minney was delighted at the prospect of such a ball and she and Maria set about making the plans.

The Prince meanwhile went to London. There he called on the Hertfords and was entertained by them. It was beginning to be noticed that he was a constant visitor there; and if Lady Hertford had not been known to be a lady of great frigidity and one whose concern for her reputation was known to be greater than her desire for royal patronage, there would have been a new scandal and people would have been asking each other whether Maria Fitzherbert was not heading for more troublous times.

Minney, planning for her ball, believed now that they were all going to live happily ever after. The bogey had been removed,
for wicked Aunt Waldegrave had been defeated by the all-powerful Prince.

Prinney had said her birthday should be celebrated at the Pavilion – that exciting Palace which never failed to enchant her. She was to make up her lists of young guests and she would receive them in the gallery among the dragons and pagodas and the lanterns. It was like a fantastic dream of fairyland. Mamma would dress her in her first ball gown of blue silk with a wide white sash; and then she would go through the secret passage – always a delight – from Mamma’s house on the Steyne to the Pavilion.

When her guests were assembled she would take them into the banqueting hall – the most elaborate of all the rooms. She had always been fascinated by the banqueting hall since she first remembered seeing it, when she had gazed up in amazement at the great palm tree painted on the ceiling and the fear-some dragon from whose claws appeared to swing the massive chandelier.

Minney loved Brighton especially in the summer when the streets were crowded with fashionable people strolling for the benefit of the sea air, or riding in their carriages. She liked to sit on Mamma’s balcony and look over the Steyne; and it was pleasant when they rode together in the carriage. There was always gaiety round the Pavilion. The Prince’s band played in the mornings in the gardens there and people came just to listen to it – perhaps hoping to get a glimpse of the Prince and Mamma, and herself too, because since the case she had become quite notorious.

It was a great treat – although a frequent one – to visit the Pavilion and to sit on the lawns and watch Prinney playing cricket which he liked to do; and when he scored she always applauded more loudly than for anyone else which made Mamma laugh. There were musical evenings which were held in the music room which was dominated by those fascinating gold and green dragons, for Prinney loved music, but of course Minney did not attend these. She supposed she would when she was a little older.

And now she was to have her first birthday ball and this was an indication that she was growing up.

In the gallery she received her guests – all the young people of
Mamma’s circle whose parents had been very eager to get them invitations.

Minney had become an important little person since the Prince treated her as though she were his daughter.

Gravely she received her guests as she had seen Maria do and the party was a great success. George Keppel and George Fitzclarence were at her side all the time, both determined to look after her. Everyone, thought Minney, wants to look after me. I’m different from Charlotte, who always seems to be so capable of looking after herself.

Then she sighed and said: ‘I wish Charlotte could have been here.’

‘She’s at Windsor,’ said George Keppel. He shuddered. ‘I hate Windsor. London’s more fun.’

‘Poor Charlotte!’ sighed Minney. ‘I don’t suppose she likes it there at all.’

George Fitzclarence who was the eldest son of the Duke of Clarence – Charlotte’s Uncle William – and the actress Dorothy Jordan, said that Charlotte would have to stay there he believed for a long time, because it was hardly likely that they would let her see her mother.

Minney’s expression clouded. She had forgotten that although her troubles were over, those of others might persist.

‘Poor Charlotte,’ she repeated.

The two Georges laughed.

‘She wouldn’t like to hear you call her that.’

Minney joined in the laughter. ‘No. She would pinch my ear … hard.’

And thinking of Charlotte in a bellicose mood made it impossible to be sorry for her. So they gave themselves up to enjoying Minney’s party.

The old girls and the Begum

‘
NOBODY EVER HAD
a stranger set of relations than I,’ Charlotte told Louisa Lewis and Mrs Gagarin. ‘Really, they do the oddest things. Do you think they are all a little mad? Grandpapa is, I know. Pray don’t look so shocked, dear Louisa, because you know it to be so. Did he not have to live in retirement not
so long ago? My father was then hoping for the Regency but the old Begum put a stop to that. Oh, you poor dears, I am in a mood to shock you today.’

The two women exchanged glances which Charlotte intercepted. ‘Pray don’t make secret signs,’ she cried imperiously. ‘I know you talk about them when I’m not there. Don’t deny it. I don’t blame you. Everybody talks and why should they not? Conversation is one of the most amusing pastimes I know. And who could help talking about such a family as ours? There is my father with his affairs; there is Uncle Augustus who once made such a fuss about marrying his Goosey and now has left her. There is Uncle William who lives with that actress Dorothy Jordan as though she is his wife and there are all those little Fitzclarences to prove it. George Fitz is rather fond of Minney Seymour. I do declare everyone is fond of Minney Seymour. She is such a good little girl … not like wicked Princess Charlotte.’

‘My dear Princess, you should not say such things. There are many who are fond of you.’

She turned to them and gave them each one of her rough embraces.

‘You two, of course,’ she said. ‘But you are rather f … foolish to think so highly of me. I’m not a very pleasant character sometimes, I fear. Although I am not bad at others. I have my moments. Oh dear, and I have to attend my grandmother’s Drawing Room. I think I shall go for a walk instead and then when it is time I shall not be found and Grandmamma will say what an ill-mannered creature I am – just like my mother, and she will think up some new and exquisite torture for me.’

‘You know Her Majesty would never dream of torturing you.’

‘But sometimes I think she would like to. She watches me with that big mouth of hers shut so tightly …’ Charlotte had transformed herself into the Queen; she seemed to grow small and malevolent.

‘Oh, do give over, dear Princess Charlotte, do,’ said Mrs Gagarin.

‘I shall go for a walk first and then I shall come back and be prepared in good time to present myself to the Begum and the Old Girls.’

She grinned with delight to see the shocked horror these
names always aroused when she used them. Perhaps that was why she did. It was a sort of revenge.

She snatched up her cloak and ran out. She heard Louisa calling her but she paid no heed. She was not supposed to walk out unaccompanied. What nonsense! Anyone would think she was as fragile as Minney Seymour. ‘And I’m not …’ she said. ‘Nor as precious.’

She was saddened for a while. He was kinder now, so Mrs Fitzherbert had spoken to him. She sensed that he was trying to make an effort, but there was always a barrier between them. It was her mother, of course. And what was happening about her mother? What was the Delicate Investigation going to reveal?

She knew now more than they thought. They were trying to prove her mother immoral; they were trying to show that that frightful infant Willie Austin was her mother’s own baby and that her mother had performed an act of treason, for if Willie were indeed her mother’s child and her mother insisted that the Prince was his father …

Impossible, for then she, Princess Charlotte, would not long be an heiress to the throne. At least she would have to take a step backwards.

Willie Austin – that horrid, vulgar little brat! She had always hated him – in common with everyone else except her mother. Perhaps she had been a little jealous to see her mother petting him, kissing him, making the great fuss of him she always did.

Indeed she had a very strange family.

The castle loomed before her. Why did she hate living at Windsor when it was such a wonderful place? So much had happened here in the past – the home of her ancestors.

When I am queen, she thought, there shall be feasting here. It will be quite different then. I shall give balls and there will be fun and laughter. It will not be the grim old place Grandpapa and the Begum have made it.