The Third George: (Georgian Series) (35 page)

And there was trouble. Chatham a sick man; and these other ministers? ‘Poof!’ said Augusta and thought how much better Lord Bute would have filled the role of Prime Minister. He had given up – but that was because everyone was against him, she assured herself. She would not believe that he could not have been as competent – perhaps far more – than Chatham … if he had had a chance.

Trouble everywhere and now Henry, this silly son of hers, had to make matters worse by being involved in this most unsavoury case.

They were laughing at him in the streets. They were prying into his intimate life. He had betrayed the secrets of his bedchamber. It was disgusting.

And of course the people revelled in it; and as they laughed over Cumberland and Lady Grosvenor they would remember the Dowager Princess and Lord Bute. There would be more jackboots and petticoats to be seen in the streets, she knew.

But it was so petty, so humiliating, so revolting.

But the pain was beginning to nag again; and she knew from experience that it could quickly become so overwhelming that it submerged all else.

She groped for her bed and lay down. The pain was claiming her; there was nothing but the pain. The past dissolved, taking ambition with it.

The Princess Dowager knew that the pain was driving her from the scene of action and that whatever happened in the future she would have no part in it.

*

Henry came to see the King again. He was very dejected because the court had given judgment against him.

‘Well?’ said the King. ‘What is it?’

‘Ten thousand pounds damages for Grosvenor.’

‘What!’

‘And three thousand costs. Thirteen thousand in all.’

‘Well, you’ll have to pay it. What?’

‘George, I haven’t the money.’

‘Haven’t the money? Should have thought of that before you started this … this … frolic. Thirteen thousand pounds!’ The King seemed to be struck speechless with the distress of it.

‘It’ll have to be paid,’ said Cumberland. ‘Otherwise there will be a mighty scandal.’

‘You should have thought of it before you started on this frolic. You should have considered it, you idiot. You young fool. Where are we going to find this money, eh, what? You tell me. Do you think I am going to find it for you, eh? Get out, and don’t let me hear any more of this matter. You hear, me eh?’

There was nothing Cumberland could do but retire, but he returned shortly after with his brother William Duke of Gloucester. Gloucester was sympathetic with Cumberland. He could hardly be anything else. His own amatory adventures were
inflammable enough to burst at any moment into a roaring scandal. He would go with his brother, he said, and together they would try to persuade the King that he must help pay Grosvenor’s damages or the family would be in disrepute.

George saw the point of this. He was weary of the affair. It was no use arguing. He wanted to talk it over with someone, but he would not do so with Charlotte. He had no wish to sully his wife’s ears with stories of this sort. It was quite disgusting.

No, he must decide this matter alone, and after much thought he came to the conclusion that the best way out of this indelicate situation was to pay the damages as quickly as possible. In fact, although he did not care to admit this, the loss of the money hurt him even more than the scandal. Wantonly to throw away thirteen thousand pounds for the pleasure of sleeping with one woman seemed to him not only criminal but criminal folly.

What about the folly of marrying Hannah Lightfoot? asked his conscience, always at his elbow these days.

At least I was respectable. I married her.

Ha, ha! said his conscience. What Cumberland has done is not half as shocking or perhaps as callous as what you did to Hannah Lightfoot. And what of Sarah Lennox? You publicly jilted that girl because you hadn’t the courage to insist on marrying her in the face of opposition from Bute and your mother.

One must not blame young men and women too much, he conceded; and wondered how he could procure the thirteen thousand pounds which clearly must be found.

He decided to consult Lord North.

North came to see him at once and was not surprised that the King wished to consult him about Cumberland’s misdemeanour.

Dear Fred North! thought the King; he had not changed very much. There he sat opposite the King, for George would have no formality between himself and such an old friend, particularly on an occasion like this, and he looked so like George that it was almost like gazing into a mirror.

North’s bulging eyes rolled shortsightedly about the room.

‘My two brothers have been to see me,’ said the King. ‘You know about this distressing law-suit and that they have found for Grosvenor. The money has to be paid in a week and I do not see how so large a sum as thirteen thousand pounds can be
provided in so short a time. I pray you, my dear North, tell me what can be done about it.’

North’s eyes seemed to focus on the King, but he could not see him clearly. He shook his head and the flesh on his cheeks waggled in a manner which might have seemed comical to some, but the King did not notice it.

‘The money must be found,’ he said at last.

‘Or,’ added the King, ‘it will bring more dishonour on the family, eh?’

‘That would be so, sir. I believe His Highness is no longer the lady’s lover.’

‘I’m not surprised,’ stuttered the King. ‘This is enough to put anyone off. What? Bringing a case … dragging the family, the royal family, sir, through the law courts. And have the verdict go against a royal duke! Sometimes I think they enjoy plaguing us, eh? What do you think. What?’

North said that the Duke’s reputation was not good. He already had a new mistress; he hadn’t even waited for the case to be settled. ‘Mrs Horton, widow of a Derbyshire squire. A very fascinating woman, sir, so I’ve heard. Walpole says her eyelashes are a yard long and she has the most amorous eyes in the world.’

‘Then God help him.’

‘That scandalmonger Walpole says she could have turned the Duke’s head if her lashes had only been three-quarters of a yard long.’ North tittered. ‘Gossip,’ he went on. ‘So much gossip. Not good at all for the family, sir. We must settle this affair without delay for the sooner it’s settled the sooner it’s forgotten. And Your Majesty will doubtless feel inclined to speak to His Highness, to point out his duty to the State, sir, from which he must not be allowed to diverge so far again … not, I’m sure Your Majesty will agree with me, for eyelashes two yards long.’

‘It’s true, North. Absolutely true. I’ll speak to the young idiot. And the money, eh, what?’

‘From the Civil List. There’s no other way.’

The King sighed with relief.

‘Thirteen thousand pounds!’ he murmured. ‘But as you say, North, there’s no other way.’

*

Family scandals were in the air and by an odd quirk of fate one followed quickly on another.

There was very disturbing news from Denmark.

When George read the letters he could scarcely believe them; he set out with all haste to his mother, for he felt that it was to her only that he could talk of this terrible disaster to the family.

When she heard that the King wished to see her, the Princess Dowager hastily arose from her bed. She did not call her women but herself painted her face to take away the strained look and sallow tinge of her skin which was growing more and more apparent every day. When she received the King she was relieved to see that her changing looks went unnoticed. Perhaps this was because he was himself in a state of extreme agitation.

‘Mother,’ he cried, embracing her, ‘there is terrible news from Denmark.’

The Princess Dowager felt her throat begin to throb, but she said calmly: ‘News, George? What is it?’

‘They have arrested Caroline Matilda.’

‘Arrested the Queen! On what charges?’

‘Treason and adultery!’

‘It’s impossible!’

‘No, mother. I have proof of it. It’s in these letters. There is one from Caroline Matilda herself. She is a prisoner near Elsinore, and she fears for her life.’

‘They wouldn’t dare.’

‘She is far away. And you know what Christian is.’

‘The villainous little pervert,’ cried Augusta, her voice harsh with fear. What was happening to her family? That horrible case only just over and here was Caroline Matilda accused of adultery … and treason.

‘They say they have found evidence of a plot against the King between Caroline Matilda and a man named Struensee. They are saying foul things against Caroline Matilda and Struensee. They have both been arrested. They say it will be the traitor’s death for Struensee and possibly Caroline Matilda. What should we do, eh, what?’

‘It’s barbarous,’ whispered the Princess Dowager.

‘She is in their hands … a prisoner. My little sister! We should never have allowed her to go. Better far if she had stayed
here … and never married at all. There is Augusta in Brunswick … I shudder to think what is happening there. But this … this is monstrous, eh?’

‘We cannot allow her to remain a prisoner, George. It’s an insult to our family.’

‘That’s true. We’ll have to stop it. How dare they! My sister’s life is in danger so they tell me. They will take her out and execute her … barbarously! What can we do, eh? What can we do what, what, what … Sometimes I feel as though I’m going mad.’

‘George! For God’s sake, don’t say that.’

For a second or so they looked at each other in horror and then the Princess Dowager said very quietly: ‘We must find a way to save Caroline Matilda. I think George that this is a matter which you will have to lay before your ministers.’

George nodded. He had had to call in North and use the Civil List to extricate Henry from his scandal, but this was a matter between nations. This was a far more serious and dangerous affair.

Scandal Abroad

FROM THE WINDOW
of her prison on the Sound near Elsinore, Caroline Matilda could see the lights of Copenhagen. The city was
en fête
to celebrate her downfall, so she had been told. So much was she hated.

And not more than I hate them … all of them, she thought. But George will come and take me away. They will have to remember that I am the sister of the King of England and he is a good king; he loves his family; he would never desert his little sister.

Oh please, George, send quickly.

She closed her eyes to shut out the sight of those garish illuminations and thought of home. Kew and Richmond; Hampton and. Kensington; Buckingham House of which Charlotte was so proud. Lucky Charlotte, who had been married to a stranger just as she had, but that stranger was George – the dearest and kindest of men.

Oh, George, send quickly. Take me away from here. Bring me home.

Everything had gone wrong since she left home; everything would be right once she was back. Her mother would scold her; she would blame her; but she would answer back. What of you, Mother, you and Lord Bute. Why shouldn’t I have a lover too?
I had to do something; and I hated the King and Struensee was so clever, so handsome, so skilful, everything that Christian was not.

When her mother had come to see her two years ago she knew that the Princess Dowager was prepared to remonstrate with her. But she had given her no opportunity. John Frederick Struensee had been constantly in her company then and they had taken a mischievous delight in never allowing the Princess Dowager to have a word alone with her daughter. Even when the Princess asked it, she, Caroline Matilda had given orders that they were-to be constantly interrupted.

‘For if,’ she had said to John Frederick, ‘she begins to scold me for my friendship with you, I shall not be able to prevent myself asking about hers with Bute. Far better for family relations if the subject of our extra-marital relationships are not allowed to be brought up.’

That was in the carefree days; the Princess Dowager had gone home dissatisfied and Caroline Matilda and her lover had continued to enjoy life.

How had it all started? Oh, God, she thought, those awful days when I arrived and saw this thing they had given me for a husband. What can they expect of a girl of fifteen, taken from her home to a strange land, handed to a strange man who is little more than a lunatic, even parted from the few attendants she had brought with her and surrounded by others whose language she does not fully understand! How could I have dealt with the situation I found? Christian has been compared with the Emperor Caligula and I don’t find the description wildly exaggerated. And waiting for me was Juliana Maria, my husband’s stepmother, who had a son of her own, Frederick, and naturally she would feel some resentment towards me and she must hope that I would be barren so that her son would inherit the throne. And as if that were not enough there was Sophia Magdalena the Queen Dowager, widow of Christian’s grandfather, quiet and dull, watching everything with those old brooding eyes of hers.

What a situation for a young inexperienced girl to find herself in!

And when Christian had taken Count von Holck to be his constant companion, day and night, appointing him Marshal of the Court so that he could be in constant attendance, she had felt
outraged. How dared they marry her to such a man!

But they had managed to have a child. She had her little Frederick who was some consolation; but she was too young to be shut away and merely play the mother in a hostile Court.

Those two women Juliana Maria and Sophia Magdalena had put their heads together and clucked over the decadent behaviour of Christian and insisted on his taking a mistress. But it was von Holck who had all the influence with Christian and he tried to run not only Christian’s household but hers. He had succeeded in having dismissed old Frau von Plessen who had been her Mistress of the Robes. She had not felt any great affection for Frau von Plessen who had been most severe in her criticism, but now she realized how important that criticism, and the advice which went with it, were; and that had Frau von Plessen stayed with her, she might not be where she was today.

How she had raged when Christian had gone on his travels and not taken her with him. The idea of him in England had tormented her; a wave of terrible homesickness came over her at that time and she hated her husband, hated her life and vowed that she would not be treated in this way.