The Regent's Daughter

The battle for Miss Knight

MRS GAGARIN LAY in bed gazing sadly at Charlotte who was seated beside her, an expression of great sadness in her eyes. Dear Gagy, thought Charlotte, it was clear that she was growing more and more wan every day. Louisa had told her sadly that she did not think she would be with them this time next year.

‘You must take more care,’ said Charlotte severely.

Mrs Gagarin smiled and held out her hand. ‘It’s my dearest Highness I’m concerned about.’

‘You were always foolish about me. I’m old enough now to take care of myself. You know there is talk of Cliffy’s resigning.’

‘Yes. Louisa told me. And then …?’

‘And then I shall be free. I’ll never have another governess. I’m quite determined.’ Charlotte hesitated. Better not to mention those important men she had met at her mother’s house. Poor Gagy would start to worry if she did; and that would be no good for her in her present state.

Louisa Lewis who was hovering near the bed said: ‘Don’t tire yourself. You should be sleeping.’

‘So you should,’ added Charlotte, ‘and I am keeping you awake. Oh, darling Gagy, do get well.’ She knelt by the bed and taking Mrs Gagarin’s hand kissed it fervently. Louisa laid a hand on her shoulder and Charlotte rose and leaning over gently kissed Mrs Gagarin’s forehead. Then she tiptoed away with Louisa into the adjoining room.

‘Is she dying, Louisa?’ she asked.

‘Fading away,’ replied Louisa. ‘But she’ll be with us a little longer.’

‘I used to think she would always be there. When I became Queen I was going to give her a house of her own – and you were to share it, Louisa.’

‘I know, my dearest, but things don’t always work out as we plan. There are changes.’

‘Changes,’ agreed Charlotte. ‘Changes everywhere. Where is Mrs Udney? I have not seen her for days.’

Louisa pressed her lips tightly together. ‘So,’ said Charlotte, ‘she has gone. I suppose this is my grandmother’s doing. Louisa, I am afraid that she will try to force another governess on me. I won’t have it. I shall stand firm.’

Louisa was silent, wondering how Charlotte would successfully oppose such forces as the Queen and the Prince Regent. There was certainly a new determination about the Princess. She was growing up and she had always known that it was very likely that one day she would be Queen.

‘I suppose changes come about all the time,’ she mused. ‘It makes one a little sad. Mrs Udney … gone. I’m sure she has. But they didn’t tell me. They should have told me. She was of my household. Actually I’m not sure whether I’m glad or sorry. I didn’t really like her but she made life exciting in a way with all the gossip and the cartoons and things like that. And now she has gone without saying goodbye. And my mother says I’m too old to have a governess, and there are people like Brougham and Whitbread who will help me to get my independence and what is due to me. Louisa, I’ll tell you something: Mercer is coming to see me.’

‘But your father forbade her to.’

‘I know, but I am growing up and I really don’t see why my friends should be chosen for me.’

‘Oh, my dearest, take care.’

‘That is exactly what I intend to do … take care that I am no longer treated as a child.’

‘Mercer!’ The friends embraced. ‘How wonderful to see you! Your letters have been such a comfort – and how brave of you to come here.’

Mercer shrugged aside the compliment. ‘I don’t think the Regent would be very harsh on us if he knew. He is kind at heart and I expect he is sometimes sorry that he stopped our meetings.’

Charlotte glowed with pleasure as she always did when his virtues were referred to. ‘He is,’ she agreed warmly. ‘He really is kind at heart.’

‘Now,’ said Mercer practically, ‘it is certain that Lady de Clifford is going. She has had her congé and although I daresay she is hoping you’ll make a scene and beg her to stay, in certain quarters it has been decided that the matter is settled.’

‘How clever of you to find out!’

‘I have heard it from several sources and that they are thinking of appointing the Duchess of Leeds to take her place as your governess.’

‘The Duchess of Leeds!’

‘She is a meek creature and would give you little trouble.’

‘But as governess! I have sworn I’ll never have another.’

‘They are going to insist on it.’

‘They? You mean the Queen. I suppose she is behind this.’

‘Your only chance would be to appeal to your father.’

‘Of course. I’ll write to him. You’ll help me to compose a letter, Mercer?’

Mercer inclined her head like a wise mandarin. That was in fact what she had intended to suggest.

Mercer said: ‘A letter such as this is of the utmost importance. Your affairs are, after all, the concern of the State. A copy of this should be sent to Lord Liverpool.’

‘Lord Liverpool!’

‘Certainly. He’s the Prime Minister, is he not?’

For comfort Lady de Clifford took a larger pinch of snuff than usual. After all these years, she was thinking, to be dismissed more or less, for that was what in her heart she felt it to be. All the years I have looked after the Princess … and then to be thrust aside.

Seeing her governess so dejected, Charlotte tried to cheer her and smiled at her brightly.

‘My dear Princess Charlotte, it does me so much good to see you,’ sighed Lady de Clifford. ‘A privilege I fear I shall soon have to do without.’

Charlotte nodded with an almost ready resignation.

‘Of course,’ went on Lady de Clifford, ‘it is a great wrench for me.’

‘These separations are inevitable.’

‘And very sad.’

Charlotte could not honestly concede that. ‘You’ll be happier without me,’ she consoled. ‘Think of the trial I was to you. All the wicked things I did.’

‘One expects waywardness from children.’

‘All my unsuitable friendships,’ continued Charlotte. ‘My lack of dignity. It may well be what is known as a happy release.’

Lady de Clifford was shocked. She had expected a pleasantly tearful scene with Charlotte imploring her not to go. This was very different. So ungrateful! thought Lady de Clifford. And how typical of royalty!

Guessing her thoughts Charlotte tried to placate her without pretending. ‘You see, Cliffy, I am too old for governesses. It is not just you. It’s that I want to be free. I’m too old to have a governess and that’s a fact.’

It was the right angle. Poor Cliffy brightened considerably. If the Princess were too old to have a governess there would be no slight implied by her dismissal. It was only if another was appointed that people would say she had failed.

‘Your Highness is right, of course. You are no longer of an age to have a governess. If I might offer a word of advice I would say that should they try to inflict one on you you should refuse.’

‘That’s the sort of advice I can accept because it accords entirely with my intentions,’ replied Charlotte; and wondered what poor ineffectual Cliffy would say if she knew that letters were on the way to the Regent and the Prime Minister.

That day Charlotte was visited by her Aunt Mary and she could not resist the opportunity to speak of that matter which was uppermost in her mind. Mary was shocked. Charlotte had not been officially told. How, she wanted to know, had Charlotte learned of this.

‘Cliffy herself told me she’d resigned and that her resignation was accepted. I think she was hoping I would implore her to stay and was hurt when I did not.’

‘You don’t regret her leaving you, then?’

‘Dear Aunt, I am not a child any more and I have done with governesses. Nothing will induce me to accept another.’

The Princess Mary felt it her duty to inform the Queen of this conversation. Mary was enjoying a certain amount of independence, largely because of the Regent’s action in settling an income on her and her sisters, but the habit of a lifetime was strong and the Queen had trained her daughters to report immediately anything that might be of the slightest interest to her. Matters which concerned the Princess Charlotte were of vital importance to her and her immediate action was to send for Charlotte and Lady de Clifford.

When they arrived at Windsor where the Queen impatiently awaited them, they were received coldly, and scarcely glancing at Lady de Clifford the Queen expressed her surprise that a governess should have felt the necessity of telling Charlotte she had resigned.

‘A matter,’ she added, ‘which the Princess should have heard from myself or the Prince Regent.’

‘But what does it matter from what source I heard it?’ demanded Charlotte. ‘Besides, I knew about it. Everyone is talking about it.’

‘Everyone, Charlotte? I beg of you, do not exaggerate. This is a most distressing affair and made unnecessarily so, I fear.’

‘It is inevitable,’ retorted Charlotte. ‘I am too old for governesses.’

The Queen said: ‘I am surprised that you feel so little regret at the prospect of Lady de Clifford’s departure. She has been with you so many years. I’m afraid this shows a most unfeeling nature.’

‘It doesn’t,’ contradicted Charlotte. ‘It’s merely that the time has come for me to do without a governess.’

‘That,’ replied the Queen shortly, ‘is not a matter for you to decide. Your father will doubtless convey his decision to you in due course.’

‘His decision! I hope Your Majesty does not mean that he has another governess in mind for me!’

‘A father is in no way bound to explain his decision to a daughter and a daughter has only to concern herself with obedience.’

Charlotte was angry but, as always in the presence of the Queen, was unable to explain her feelings.

But those letters which she and Mercer had composed would, by now – or very nearly – be in the hands of her father and his Prime Minister. Then the trouble would begin.

The Regent read his daughter’s letter with an astonishment which quickly turned to fury. So she would lay down instructions to him! She would plague him! Was it not enough that he should have to tolerate the wife an unkind fate had given him! Must he be cursed as well with a disobedient troublemaking daughter!

She would soon discover that it was not her prerogative to order him, and as soon as a new governess was appointed and her present household completely reorganized the better.

He sent for his Lord Chancellor, Lord Eldon, and gave him Charlotte’s letter to read.

‘Well?’ demanded the Prince.

Eldon grunted. ‘Her Highness will need very firm treatment,’ he said.

The Regent nodded. He could trust the wily lawyer to stand by him in this matter which was an important one when there were such rival factions at work. Charlotte might be a minor just now but she was an heiress to the throne – and this was doubtless the reason for her defiance, for she was fully aware of her position. But ‘Bags’ – his nickname for Eldon – could be relied on. He was the best sort of henchman, perhaps because his roots were in trade rather than the aristocracy, and he had had to rely on his own abilities to reach his present position. His father had been ‘in coal’ at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, whatever that meant. The Regent thought of it vaguely as ‘Trade’. However, he was not one to look closely into a man’s origins. Old Bags was his Chancellor and his man.

‘We shall go at once to Windsor to see my daughter,’ announced the Prince.

‘And explain to her doubtless that it is not for her to dictate to Your Highness.’

‘Precisely.’

‘And that Your Highness sees clearly how much she is in need of a governess?’

‘It is obvious, is it not?’

‘Your Highness has chosen?’

‘I am considering the Duchess of Leeds.’

Eldon inclined his head. ‘And the rest of her household?’

‘I think a clean sweep, don’t you, Bags? We have already dismissed some of them.’

‘Your Highness shows your usual insight. My daughter …’

‘Would like a place in Charlotte’s household? I don’t see why not.’

Bags was well satisfied.

Charlotte stood before her father, cowering a little in the face of his fury which he was showing with great dramatic effect – not entirely assumed for he really was annoyed with her. The Queen, snuffling from a cold (and no wonder, thought Charlotte, when one considered those horrible draughty corridors at Windsor. ‘Enough to drive a man o’ war,’ someone had said) sat watching her granddaughter with baleful satisfaction.

Lord Eldon stood close by the Regent as though to support him. (Silly old man. As if the powerful Regent needed protecting from his daughter!)

‘This letter,’ the Prince was saying, ‘which you have had the effrontery to send to me and worse still to my Lord Liverpool is the most foolish, ineffectual, disloyal and ridiculous document it has ever been my misfortune to read.’

‘It … it is what I mean,’ stammered Charlotte.

‘What you mean! What exactly do you mean? You will have no more governesses, you say. Let me tell you, that is not a matter for you to decide. Lady de Clifford is resigning and may I say it is time, too, since she seems unable to induce you to behave with the dignity due to your rank. Your conduct shocks us all. Her Majesty …’ The Queen nodded sharply and looked malevolently at Charlotte … ‘My lord Chancellor …’ Lord Eldon raised his eyes to the ceiling and Charlotte would have liked to throw something at him. ‘Myself …’ The Prince held a lace kerchief to his eyes to wipe away an imaginary tear … ‘We are all deeply wounded by your thoughtless and indeed callous behaviour.’

‘Papa, Your Highness, I am nearly seventeen …’

‘We are fully aware of your age and that makes your conduct all the more to be deplored. I should have thought you were old enough to realize the pain you are causing us all …’

‘It causes me pain that I should be treated as a child.’

There were shocked looks from the Queen and Eldon because she had interrupted the Prince Regent.

‘It is clear,’ commented the Queen grimly, ‘that you have not yet finished with governesses. You are in sore need of correction.’

‘Exactly so,’ agreed the Regent. ‘You are headstrong and perverse. So pray let us hear no more of your folly.’

Charlotte stamped her foot. She had to stand firm now or they would keep her shackled for years. Mercer had said she must put her case clearly. Her mother had told her to defy the Regent and the old Begum. They would have to realize that there were powerful men ready to help her.

‘But,’ she began. ‘I … I will never submit to another governess. A … lady companion I might consider, but never a governess.’

‘There you are wrong,’ corrected the Regent, ‘for a governess you shall have. Pray do not attempt to go against my wishes. I may tell you that I know of certain very unfortunate scenes which have passed between you and certain young men, and for this alone I could have you shut up for life if I felt so inclined.’

‘S … shut up for life!’

‘I am referring to Hesse and Fitzclarence and certain meetings in Windsor Forest. Utterly disgraceful. Utterly unworthy of a princess of your rank. There has been correspondence with people whom I have forbidden you to know. Can you deny this?

Charlotte was silent and the Regent went on triumphantly: ‘There! You see! You show your guilt.’

‘If you … shut me up like a prisoner, what can you expect?’

‘My lord Eldon,’ cried the Regent, ‘what would you do if you had such a daughter?’

‘Your Highness,’ replied Eldon, ‘I should lock her up.’

Charlotte looked at Eldon in silence for some seconds then turning to her father asked if she might retire.

‘You may if you have come to your senses.’

She made a somewhat clumsy curtsey in his direction and another to the Queen and left them.

In her apartment she threw herself on to her bed and burst into tears.

Lady de Clifford, eager to know what had taken place, came hurrying in.

‘What is it, my dearest Princess? What has happened to upset you?’

Charlotte sat up and stared fiercely before her. ‘That coal heaver said I should be locked up. Let him wait until I’m Queen. I’ll make him wish he had died before he had said that.’

‘Lock you up!’ tittered Lady de Clifford. ‘Rather unseemly words for a coal heaver to use when referring to the future Queen of England.’

Charlotte pummelled her pillow as though it were the offending Eldon’s head. But she was really thinking that she had lost her battle. She was no match for them and they had decided to saddle her with another governess no matter what she said.

It was now not a question of Shall I have another governess? but Who will it be?

The Regent had made his decision. It was to be the Duchess of Leeds.

‘Her daughter,’ said the Queen, ‘will be a companion for Charlotte She is exactly fifteen – a little younger than my granddaughter, but I do not care for her to make friendships with older women. They can be most unsuitable.’

The Princess Charlotte sullenly received the news.

‘The Duchess of Leeds!’ she cried to Louisa. ‘She’s a foolish woman.’

Mercer, who was calling now and then at Warwick House as secretly as could be contrived, reminded the Princess that the Duchess, while a stupid woman, was also a meek one and that could be to her advantage.

‘You may well find that you can flout her as easily as you did Lady de Clifford. I am sure she will have no spirit whatsoever. She is certainly stupid – and a Tory. I do not think though that we need fear a great deal of trouble from her.’

‘They have suggested that her daughter, that silly little Catherine Osborne, might be a suitable companion for me. That’s an insult.’

‘You will ignore the child, of course.’

‘Of course. But what I will not have in my household, although they are trying to force her on me, is Lord Eldon’s daughter. My mother says I am being treated shamefully and should not endure it. And at least if I have to accept the Leeds woman I shall refuse that Scott girl.’

Mercer thought she should certainly insist on that and to Charlotte’s surprise the Regent conceded this request.

Old Bags would have to be disappointed, for this matter of Charlotte’s household was arousing public interest and the people egged on by the press were taking sides – and naturally they were on Charlotte’s.

She should have the Duchess of Leeds and her daughter, but he was well aware that what she needed was a sensible woman whom he could trust. He had spoken to his sisters about this and they, who had always adored him, now that he had given them some measure of independence, if it came to a tussle between him and their mother, could be relied upon to give him their support. And he might need it for his choice had fallen on Miss Cornelia Knight.

Miss Knight was in her mid-fifties, a strong-minded and intelligent woman – even a much-travelled one. She and her mother, for reasons of economy, had lived abroad for some years after the death of her father Admiral Sir Joseph Knight; she was of a literary turn of mind and had even published her writings, some of which were of an erudite nature. During her prime she had been a friend of some of the leading literary and artistic figures, among them Dr Johnson and Joshua Reynolds; and there had even been a friendship with Lord Nelson and the Hamiltons while Cornelia was in Naples. Altogether a woman with whom Charlotte could improve her mind. Moreover, Charlotte was not prejudiced against her and even had an affection for her. Mercer Elphinstone admired Miss Knight, not only because there was a similarity in their characters but because Cornelia had been a friend of Admiral Keith, Mercer’s father.

There was, however, an obstacle to the appointment. For more than six years Cornelia had been a member of the Queen’s household – somewhat in the role played some years earlier by Fanny Burney, and the Queen decided that if she lost Miss Knight she would miss her very much. It was not that she had any specified duties. Like other ladies she received her £300 a year, lodging and the services of a maid; but to have such a discreet, sensible, much-travelled woman about her greatly pleased the Queen who was certainly not going to relinquish her lightly.

The Regent told his sister Mary of his decision to appoint Miss Knight to Charlotte’s household.

‘It’s an excellent idea!’ declared Mary. ‘How like you to select the person she most needs.’

‘And the Queen?’

‘Mamma has heard of this.’

‘It’s astonishing how nothing can be kept secret in this place.’

‘It’s true,’ sighed Mary. ‘I was saying so to William only yesterday.’

William, her cousin, thought the Regent, whom she hoped to marry. Poor thing! He would see what could be arranged one day, but that would be an even greater battle with the Queen than this for Cornelia Knight – and after all, Mary and her cousin should fight their own battles. If they were really bent on marriage, they should agitate and he would most certainly come down on their side; but at the moment he was too concerned with more pressing affairs and if Meek Mary and Silly Billy would make no move for themselves they must wait. Meanwhile there was this matter of his own wayward daughter.

‘And what does the Queen say?’

‘She declares that she has no intention of relinquishing Miss Knight.’

‘And Miss Knight herself?’

‘Well, secretly she would be delighted to go to Charlotte. You know how exacting Mamma can be and really she has only begun to show her appreciation of Cornelia now there is a prospect of losing her.’

‘I think we need Miss Knight. Charlotte must have a steadying influence and the Duchess will require her help. I will speak to her.’

Miss Knight received the Regent’s command with an inner satisfaction and an outward equanimity. She was a wise woman and she had found waiting on the Queen stultifying. The Princess Charlotte – a lively young girl and heiress to the throne in her own right – was so obviously a more exciting project and the task before her appealed to Cornelia’s adventurous spirit. Immediately it was offered she knew she was going to take it. The Queen might be annoyed but Miss Knight felt strengthened in her decision. It was a matter of displeasing either the Queen or the Regent.

There was, however, an unpleasant scene with Her Majesty to be endured.

‘I am surprised, Miss Knight,’ said the Queen, taking a pinch of snuff as though to fortify herself against the sorrows inspired by ingratitude, ‘that you have decided to give up a post which you have filled to my satisfaction for so many years. It is an astonishing thing to me that you should have come to this decision, knowing my wishes.’

There was a pause – an indication that Miss Knight might speak.

‘Your Majesty, when I received a command from His Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, I believed I had no alternative but to obey it. It did not occur to me that Your Majesty was not in complete agreement with His Highness, and although I have always striven to perform my duties to the best of my ability, I was not aware that my poor performance had been worthy of Your Majesty’s special notice.’

Clever creature! thought the Queen. She reminds me of Miss Burney and although she was not well versed in Court ways when she first came to us and often behaved quite oddly, I have missed her and regret her departure. She was sensitive and feeling, and Miss Knight has a similar quality; and now my son has taken her from me I have no power to keep her. Unless she wishes to remain, I have lost her.

There was a last hope. Suppose Miss Knight wished to remain with her.

‘His Highness is eager for you to join the Princess Charlotte’s household, I know,’ she said, ‘but I am sure, Miss Knight, that if you wished to stay in mine and made this clear to His Highness, and I added my wishes to yours, this decision could be reversed.’

‘Your Majesty is most gracious,’ replied Miss Knight, ‘but His Highness made his wishes so clear to me, and having given my word, I am sure Your Majesty will understand that I could not break that now.’

The Queen nodded. One did not plead with one’s subjects. It was not the first time that she and her eldest son had been at variance. She must be grateful now that they were in closer harmony and a small matter like this must not be allowed to ruffle the smoothness of their relationship.

She contented herself with a warning. ‘You will not find your new post a comfortable one. The Princess Charlotte can be a great concern to her household. I am sure poor Lady de Clifford had a most trying time attempting to control her. The poor creature was almost driven out of her wits. The Duchess of Leeds does not seem to me to be a very determined woman and a great deal of responsibility might fall on your shoulders.’

The intrepid Miss Knight perceptibly squared that part of her frame and a confident smile touched her lips. She who had travelled widely, had been the friend of Lord Nelson and his Emma, who had enjoyed many an animated discussion with Dr Johnson, was not going to be beaten by young Princess Charlotte. She could look to the future with confidence.

The Queen knew that she had lost Miss Knight to the Regent.

In any case, she consoled herself, the tiresome matter of Charlotte’s household could now be settled with the Duchess of Leeds and the able Miss Knight in control and many of the old household replaced – so the Queen hoped – by wiser women. Poor Mrs Gagarin was very ill and would soon no longer be with them. As for Louisa Lewis she was too insignificant to cause anxiety.

The matter was over. Charlotte who had declared she would not have another governess had been made to realize she must submit to her father’s wishes. The Queen trusted her granddaughter had learned a lesson. If that were so, she told herself virtuously, she would be fully compensated for the loss of Miss Knight.