Indiscretions of the Queen

Return to England

SINCE the death of her daughter Caroline had lived a little more soberly. She often reproached herself for not being in England at the time of Charlotte’s confinement.

‘A mother should be with her daughter,’ she told Lady Anne Hamilton who had joined her and was proving to be one of her most faithful attendants.

‘It was not easy in Your Highness’s place,’ Lady Anne reminded her.

‘I wonder whether I should have stayed.’

She was not at all sure and it was a question no one could answer.

She had heard, long after the events, of the marriages in the family and of the Clarences’ disappointments and the birth of the Kents’ little girl.

‘That is our trouble, my dear,’ she said. ‘Everything is political. My brothers- in-law married because they must, not because they wished to. They were happier with their mistresses. Sometimes I think it is a mistake that royalty should marry royalty, for royalty often hate each other. My father hated my mother because there was a woman he loved and whom he would have preferred to marry. As for the Prince of Wales, he was already married to Maria Fitzherbert and would have been a happier man if, he had stayed married to her. But royalty demanded that he marry me— and you see what a merry pickle we have got ourselves into.’

Messengers arrived from England and Caroline, eager for news, had them brought to her at once ‘A letter from Brougham?’ She turned pale. That must mean that something very important was happening in England.

She read it through and said ‘Oh, my God—’

She gazed at Anne and went on: ‘He tells me that the King is very ill and not expected to live, it may even be that at this moment our Prince Regent is King of England.’

Lady Anne looked startled and Caroline could see that she was thinking that she was talking to the Queen of England. She laughed.

‘Oh, yes,’ she said, ‘it may well be that I am your Queen, my dear. That poor man! How he suffered! And he was so kind to me. No one else was. He was a good man. You see I say was for something tells me he has gone. It is not bad— for him at least. He will go to Heaven to meet his old Begum— if she arrived there, which I much doubt. She could be a wicked old woman at times. Oh dear, but think what this means to us who are left. I— the Queen of England! That is why Brougham writes to me. He will be in communication he says. You can be sure he will! He has my interests close to his heart. Only because they are your own, my dear Brougham! You have never deceived me. Ah, my dear, I can see that our travels will soon be over.’

‘You would return to England?’

‘My dear, if I am Queen of England is not my place in that country? You doubt it? Let me tell you this, when the Prince Regent becomes George IV he will have to understand that he has a Queen. I shall certainly go back to England for I am indeed the Queen.’

Brougham knew a great deal more than Caroline. He knew that the new King was going to do everything in his power to obtain a divorce. He was a very ambitious man and one of his great stumbling blocks to advancement was the Lord Chancellor Lord Eldon who refused him a silk gown Brougham saw that if he became the Queen’s attorney he would automatically take silk and there would be other advantages too. He was therefore determined to act as Caroline’s legal adviser and to be in at the start.

While she was aware of his ambitions, Caroline was not blind to his talents.

He was a brilliant man and it was purely the animosity of the Chancellor which was preventing his rising in his career. While she knew that he would be working for Brougham rather than her, she realized the advantage of such a man’s advice and was ready to appoint him.

She had learned of the King’s death through Brougham; she realized that she would never have been officially told which was an indication of what treatment she might expect when she reached England.

All the same, she insisted, I shall go. The King was happier than he had been for a long time, because he was in love. He had found the perfect woman in the Marchioness of Conyngham. Fair, fat and fifty, mother of five grown-up children, easy going, gentle, adoring— she was exactly what he had been looking for. She was completely uncritical and content only to listen and admire.

He was behaving as he had in his youth. He would sit and gaze at her in wonderment. He might have been a boy of seventeen. That this was a rather ridiculous attitude for an extremely plump and ageing monarch was left in no doubt, for the cartoonists and lampoonists were soon busy. She never argued, only agreed; she looked pretty; her blue eyes were still beautiful and her brow had never been wrinkled in concentration. How different from the waspish Lady Jersey, the frigid Lady Hertford and the hot-tempered Maria with her obsession about her religion and right and wrong.

Yes, he was happy. And the Marquis of Conyngham was the most complaisant of husbands. He raised no objections. He accepted the honours handed lavishly to him and his children as graciously and gratefully as his wife accepted the jewels, which the King delighted to give her.

He begged her to make full use of his palaces, his carriages, his horses. They were all at her disposal.

‘Do everything you please,’ he entreated her, ‘and then you will please me.’

And Lady Conyngham replied as he would have expected her to that only if she pleased him could she be pleased.

He wept. She did so much to make him happy in the most trying circumstances, he told her.

And the trying circumstances were across the Channel threatening to arrive and break his peace at any moment.

Queen! Why should that woman have that proud title? How much better it would suit dear Lady Conyngham. And yet even she could not give him children.

He struck Caroline’s name from the Liturgy and he reiterated to his ministers: I must have a divorce. A divorce, thought Brougham. That would involve a case— a costly case, a case in which he would defend the Queen and as he reckoned himself to be the ablest lawyer in England, he would win. What fame that would bring! He could laugh at Eldon then for denying him silk.

A case for divorce. It was a situation greatly to be desired.

Meanwhile Caroline had appointed him her attorney-general which meant that he was now called to the Bar. This was the first step forward. Lord Liverpool who was Prime Minister promptly called on Brougham and told him that the King was very anxious that the Queen should not return to England.

‘As her attorney you should advise her to remain abroad.’

Accusations had been brought against Her Majesty, pointed out Brougham.

Did the Prime Minister suggest that she should make no attempt to clear her name?

‘The accusations do not appear to be without some foundation,’ was the grim reply.

‘They are of such a grave nature,’ was Brougham’s answer, ‘that it is unwise to speak of them. It might be that it will be necessary to have Her Majesty’s name cleared publicly.’

Lord Liverpool understood. That was what Brougham wanted. Clearly he was visualizing a cause célèbre with himself in the centre of it— a chance to show the world what a brilliant lawyer he was.

‘Do you realize that if it came to that point it would be the Queen versus the King?’

‘I do not see what else it could be.’

‘It is not easy to stand against kings.’

‘Not easy, I agree,’ said Brougham.

‘I bring a proposition to you. You may offer her £50,000 if she will live abroad.’

‘£50,000!’ said Brougham lifting his eyebrows.

‘A comfortable sum of money.’

‘Very comfortable.’

‘If she is wise she will take it. I look forward to hearing her comments.’

When Liverpool had left Brougham thought: £50,000 and no case. That did not suit him at all. He decided he would not pass on this information to his royal client.

Caroline was making her preparations to return to England. There had been a subtle change in the treatment which had been accorded her by those who had hitherto been her friends. She guessed what had happened. It had been suggested to them that their hospitality and friendship for her meant that they were behaving in an unfriendly manner to the King of England. How he hates me! she thought.

How he hounds me! And what was he doing at home? Rumours came to her and she did not really need to be told. He was preparing a case against her because he was going to attempt to divorce her. ‘Let him,’ she cried. ‘He’ll not succeed.’

She laughed in her usual wild way with Lady Anne Hamilton. Dear creature, she thought, she had served her well in England and when she knew that her English attendants had made excuses to desert her had come out to be with her.

Lady Charlotte Campbell had married a Mr. Edward Bury two years before and she could not expect her to desert her new husband to serve an old mistress. But she was delighted with Lady Anne, for in her she found a true friend.

She discussed her thoughts freely.

‘He will try to divorce me, dear Lady Anne. He’s going to try to prove adultery and he’ll fail. I’ll tell you a secret. I did commit adultery once. Shall I tell with whom?’

Lady Anne looked startled and Caroline burst into loud laughter. ‘It was with Mrs. Fitzherbert’s husband.’

Lady Anne was relieved. Like everyone else in the Princess’s suite she had feared that her indiscretions meant she had at least taken Pergami as her lover.

If she is innocent, Lady Anne reassured herself, they will be able to prove nothing against her.

She felt very relieved.

Caroline’s party had left Italy and were travelling through Burgundy when Sir Matthew Wood arrived. She received him with great pleasure for he had been a friend of Sir Samuel Whitbread and since Sir Samuel’s suicide had written to her frequently.

Here was a man whom she knew she could trust. He had sent his son William Page Wood to her some weeks before because young William was a linguist and Sir Matthew guessed that while some of her Italian staff stayed with her, she would not bring Pergami to England with her, and that she would therefore need an interpreter.

Caroline was well aware that the scandals which had been circulating about her mainly concerned Pergami and she realized that to bring him to England would be construed as an admission that he was her lover, for in England she would naturally have no need for an Italian chamberlain. Pergami was well aware of this and was reconciled to the parting. He had planned to accompany her to Calais and then return to Italy.

Therefore the services of young Wood were very desirable, particularly as he was a charming boy who had been told by his father to serve her to the best of his ability.

So now it was doubly pleasant to greet Sir Matthew.

He had come, he said, to escort her back to England.

‘My dear, dear friend. I know I can rely on you.’

He was a little shocked by her appearance. She looked as rakish as ever but even the lavish application of rouge could not hide the change in her. Sir Matthew believed that the reports she must have heard were giving her sleepless nights.

She was even more talkative than usual; she laughed louder. She was aware of this. It was because of the pain which was recurring more frequently.

Sir Matthew told her a case was being prepared against her and she would have to answer it when she returned to England.

‘I’m ready,’ she replied.

‘The people will be on your side,’ he reassured her. ‘I am certain of that. The Crown has not brought His Majesty popularity.’

‘That’s strange. They like me better than they like him. And what he wants more than anything is to be loved. That’s what we all wish, I suppose. But he more than most.’

And she thought : I might have loved him. He might have loved me. Why was it we never had a chance? And now it can never be. We have come to a sad pass when he so wishes to be rid of me that he will take up the fight against me in public. Brougham had arrived in St. Omer. It now seemed to him imperative that the Queen should not return to England— yet. They were unprepared. He wanted time. Moreover the King’s Ministers had now made an offer of £50,000 a year and for this there were conditions.

He could no longer hide them from Caroline and set them before her.

‘The conditions,’ he told the Queen, ‘are that you are no longer named Queen of England and that you have no title which belongs to the royal family. You shall not live in any part of England. You shall not even visit England.’

There was a note in this letter which was ominous: ‘If the Queen sets foot in England, proceedings will immediately be taken against her.’

When Caroline heard this she was furious. How dared they! They had always treated her unfairly but this was insulting. Did they think to frighten her?

Brougham who now wished her not to hurry back to England yet, tried to persuade her not to be rash.

But her anger was aroused. She was going to return to England. She was going to claim her rights.

She sat down and wrote a somewhat peremptory note to Lord Liverpool.

I now take the opportunity of communicating to Lord Liverpool my intention of arriving in London next Saturday the 3rd June. And I desire that Lord Liverpool will give proper orders that one of the royal yachts should be in readiness at Calais to convey me to Dover; and likewise he would be pleased to signify to me His Majesty’s intentions as to what residence is to be allotted to me either for a temporary or a permanent habitation.