Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court (57 page)
Read Courtiers: The Secret History of the Georgian Court Online
Authors: Lucy Worsley
Tags: #England, #History, #Royalty
In 1911, tourists climbing the King’s Grand Staircase found a novel sight in the State Apartments: the ‘London Museum’ was in residence, and the rooms were full of display cases. Throughout the twentieth century, Kent’s paintings continued to be tweaked and refreshed by professional conservators. Then, in the 1980s, the State Apartments were restored to the appearance that William Kent himself would have recognised. The project, the work of the Historic Royal Palaces Agency, employed historical detective work, conservation techniques and artefacts from the Royal Collection.
After the death of the palace’s most celebrated resident, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, the State Apartments at Kensington became flooded with more curious visitors than ever before. Nevertheless, George II’s ghost is still said to haunt the tower in Clock Court, and can be seen on stormy nights ‘shaking his fist at cruel fate’.
25
And you too, if you like, can still visit Kensington Palace today and climb the King’s Grand Staircase, meeting the eyes of Peter the Wild Boy, Mustapha, Elizabeth Butler, Mohammed, Dr Arbuthnot, William Kent … You’ll almost hear them whispering about you and wondering who you are. They remain at their posts, watching over and welcoming the very latest arrivals to their lost world.
1
. Walpole,
Reminiscences
(1818 edn), p. 9.
2
. Jesse (1843), Vol. 2, p. 327.
3
. Davies (1938); Owen (1973), pp. 113–34; Newman (1988); Black (2007).
4
. William Thackeray,
The Four Georges
(London, 1848), p. 48; Smith (2006), p. 7.
5
. Anon.,
George the Third
(1820), p. 3.
6
. Burford (1988), p. 31.
7
. Home, Vol. 1 (1889), ‘Memoir by Lady Louisa Stuart’, p. lxxxvii.
8
. Princess Marie Louise, writing about her grandmother, in
My Memories of Six
Reigns
(London, 1956), p. 142.
9
. Harcourt MSS, Princess Elizabeth to Elizabeth, Lady Harcourt (8 July 1793), quoted in Flora Fraser,
Princesses, the Six Daughters of George III
(London, 2004), p. 147.
10
. Brown (1700), p. 11.
11
. Matthews (1939), p. 76 (15 August 1715); Llanover (1861), Vol. 1, p. 556 (1736); Lord Berkeley of Stratton quoted in Aston (2008), p. 188.
12
. Brooke (1985), Vol. 1, p. 122.
13
. BL Egerton MS 1710, f. 7, Princess Amelia to Countess of Portland (4 October n.y.).
14
. Lewis (1937–83), Vol. 22, p. 544 (31 July 1767).
15
.
Ibid.
, Vol. 35, p. 321 (29 July 1767).
16
. Quoted in Borman (2007), p. 285.
17
. SRO 941/48/1, p. 437, Mary Hervey to the Reverend Edmund Morris (22 June 1768).
18
. Lady Louisa Stuart quoted in Stuart (1936), p. 182.
19
. Lewis (1937–83), Vol. 23, p. 59 (22 September 1768).
20
. Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, quoted in Hervey (1931), Vol. 1, p. xviii.
21
. Maria Edgeworth,
Practical Education
(London, 1798), p. 64.
22
.
Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser
, issue 11, 808 (8 January 1767).
23
.
Notes and Queries
, sixth series (11 October 1884), p. 294; Anon.,
The annual reg
ister, or a view of the history, politics, and literature for the years 1784 and 1785
(London, 1787), p. 45, ‘a particular Account of Peter the Wild Boy; extracted from the Parish Register of North Church, in the County of Hertford’.
24
. Conversation with parishioners at St Mary, Northchurch (25 May 2007).
25
. Andrew Morton,
Inside Kensington Palace
(London, 1987), p. 8.
Firstly, I would like to single out a group of eighteenth-century historians – Jeremy Black, Tracy Borman, John Brewer, Bob Bucholz, Clarissa Campbell Orr, Isobel Grundy, Joanna Marschner, Lucy Moore and Stella Tillyard – whose books have given me so much information and inspiration. Above all, Hannah Smith’s
Georgian Monarchy
seems to me to be the most rigorous and refreshing re-examination of early Georgian court life of recent years.
Documents from the Royal Archives are quoted by the kind permission of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Miss Allison Derrett, Assistant Registrar, was exceptionally helpful, as was my friend Lucy Whitaker of the Royal Collection.
My fellow curators at Historic Royal Palaces are inspiring, often infuriating, but incomparable colleagues. Many of them are named below. Additionally, I could not have completed this project without the support – both now and over the last ten years – of my director, John Barnes. I’d also like to say hurrah for Alison Heald, the cheerful and competent person who really runs Apartment 25 at Hampton Court. She makes going to work a pleasure.
Other kind people who have provided me with encouragement or information include: Nigel Arch, Beatrice Behlen, Brett Dolman, Olivia Fryman, Esther Godfrey (whose research into slavery for Historic Royal Palaces was invaluable), John Harris, Maurice Howard, Alison Knowles (the present resident of Broadway Farm), Angelika Marks, Dr Randle McRoberts (my medical guru), Konrad Ottenheym, Julia Parker, David Pearce (editor of the
Old Berkhamstedian
), Lee Prosser (who first suggested that ‘The Mysterious Quaker’ could be Dr Arbuthnot), Robert Sackville-West, Jane Spooner, Tina Graham and the Georgian Group. I owe special thanks to Andrew Thompson, Stephen Taylor, Robin Eagles, Matthew Kilburn, Hannah Smith and the History of Parliament Trust for their seminar on Frederick and subsequent help. I have been honoured with stalwart draft readers including: David Adshead, Stephen Clarke, Clair Corbey, Lynne Darwood, Susanne Groom, Holger Hoock, Katherine Ibbett, Joanna Marschner, Harvey Murray Smith, Michael Turner, Kate Retford and Stephen Taylor. Sincere thanks to every single one of them.
I owe a huge debt to the irrepressible Felicity Bryan in the UK, as well as to Zoe Pagnamenta in the US, to Rebecca Pearson, Susan Holmes, Anne Owen, Ian Bahrami and all the nice people at Faber, and to George Gibson and Margaret Maloney at Bloomsbury USA. Regarding my editor Julian Loose, I would gladly gnaw off my own foot to win a word of his praise.
Lastly, I dedicate my work to Mark Hines, my very own kind and handsome prince
In 1752, Britain’s calendar changed from the Julian to the Gregorian system and the start of the New Year was moved to 1 January, instead of 25 March. (Our tax years still follow the old system.) Unless otherwise stated, dates in this book have been silently corrected so that the months of January, February and March pre-1752 are given the year that we would use today.
Page 1: (top)
The View of Kensington House from the South
, c.1713–14 © The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Library Service; (bottom)
Tea Party at Lord Harrington’s House, St James’s
by Charles Phillips, Yale Center for British Art reference 147965 © Bridgeman/Yale Center for British Art. Pages 2–3: Chris Puddephatt. Page 4: (top left)
King George I
, studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller, NPG 544 © National Portrait Gallery, London; (top right)
Self-Portrait of Sir James Thornhill
, James Thornhill © The Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral; (bottom left) The Cupola Room, Kensington Palace, photographed by Chris Puddephatt; (bottom right) Chris Puddephatt. Page 5: (top left and right, bottom left) Lucy Worsley; (bottom right) Detail from
The Royal Hunting Party at Göhrde
, 1725 © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Page 6: (top left and right)
King George II, when
Prince of Wales
and
Caroline of Anspach, when Princess of Wales
by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1716 © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; (bottom)
Frederick Prince of Wales and His Sisters
by Philip Mercier, NPG 1556 © The National Portrait Gallery, London. Page 7: (top)
A Performance of ‘The Indian Emperor’ or ‘The
Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards’
, William Hogarth, 1732–5, Private Collection; (bottom left)
John, Lord Hervey, Holding Purse
of Office as Lord Privy Seal
, by J. B. Van Loo, 1741, Ickworth House (The National Trust) © NTPL/Angelo Hornak; (centre right) SRO 941/47/4, showing how the first thirteen pages have been removed. © Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmund’s; (bottom right) Berkhamsted School/photo Lucy Worsley. Page 8: (top left)
Queen Caroline of Ansbach
by Joseph Highmore, c.1735 © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; (top right)
Henrietta Howard,
Countess of Suffolk
, c.1724, by Charles Jervas © English Heritage; (bottom left)
George II
by Robert Edge Pine, 1759 © English Heritage.
Pages xviii–xx, 9, 11, 14, 16, 28, 77, 79, 83, 88, 100, 107, 115, 148, 189, 284, 289: Mark Hines. Pages 18, 65, 156: Lucy Worsley. Pages 30, 95, 323: © All Rights Reserved. The British Library Board. Licence Number: PRIIND17 (shelfmarks: p. 30, Maps.*3518. (9); p. 95, 1201. a.30; p. 323, 10602 h.15). Pages 48, 73, 281: Historic Royal Palaces (p. 48, print of court occasion at St James’s Palace; p. 73, William Kent’s design for drawing room ceiling at Kensington Palace; p. 281, the Rockingham mantua from the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection). Pages 58, 250: Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth. Reproduced by permission of the Chatsworth Settlement Trustees; photograph, the Courtauld Institute of Art (sketches of William Kent, p. 58, and Queen Caroline, p. 250, by Lady Burlington). Page 74: © www.CartoonStock.com (detail from William Hogarth, ‘The Bad Taste of the Town (‘Masquerades and Operas’) 1724’). Pages 96, 199, 333:private collection. Page 118: The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Libraries Service (print of Kensington Palace from the east, 1736). Pages 151, 153, 232, 264:copyright The British Museum (p. 151, British Museum reference number 1868,0808,3588; p. 153, Crace IX; p. 232, William Hunter, an unborn child (1750s); p. 264, satirical print of ‘Solomon in his Glory’). Page 157: © V& A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London (V& A item reference E.903-1928). Pages 223, 224:by courtesy of the Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum (William Kent’s design for Queen Caroline’s library at St James’s Palace, Sir John Soane’s Museum Vol. 147/197). Page 294: © National Portrait Gallery, London (George II sketched by George Townshend, NPG 4855(2)).
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