Caroline the Queen

by Виктория Холт

  Amelia listened to this and thought: The quarrel grows fiercer. But one day Frederick is going to be King of England and I and Caroline will be dependent on his bounty; a pleasant state of affairs that will be, for how will he feel about his sisters who have to be supported although they had never been very good friends of his?

  Amelia went to call on her brother. He looked at her with suspicion which she quickly tried to disperse.

  ‘I want you to know that I’m on your side,’ she said.

  ‘What! ‘ demanded Frederick.

  ‘I think the King treats you badly. We all know how mean he is. He loathes spending money on us. He likes to spend it on show for himself, of course. Naturally you should have the same income at least that our father had when he was Prince of Wales.’

  ‘Who sent you to talk to me?’

  ‘No one. Do you think they would send me? They want to keep you away from Court. I want you to come there and ... stand up for yourself. There would be plenty to support you.’

  ‘The friends who support me don’t support Walpole ... so should I be welcome?’

  ‘You must be clever, Frederick. You must hide your rancour. You must get what you want through soft words not angry ones. Look at our mother. She always agrees with the King and gets him to do exactly what she wants.’

  ‘I tell you this,’ said Frederick. ‘I will never come to my mother’s drawing room because there is always one at her side whom I hate beyond all men.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Lord Fanny, of course.’

  ‘Oh ... Lord Hervey.’

  ‘I loathe that man. I don’t trust him. He deceived me once. He would deceive me again. No, I’ll never come to my mother’s drawing room while she keeps him at her side like a tame pet.’

  ‘He is her pet ... but scarcely tame. Don’t talk to our sister Caroline in that way. She adores him. She’s in love with him, you know.’

  ‘The folly of women.’

  ‘Yes, it is a little foolish. What hope is there for her, poor Caroline!’

  ‘Oh, to the devil with Lord Fanny and the whole Court. I have other things to do.’

  ‘Visit Miss Vane?’ asked Amelia slyly.

  ‘Well, her drawing room is more amusing than my mother’s.’

  They parted—Amelia to go back to her apartments and Frederick to the house he had found for Miss Vane in Soho Square.

  Lord Hervey met the Princess Amelia when she was returning from her brother. His large languid eyes fluttered as he looked at her.

  I believe, thought Amelia, that he sees everything. He is a spy watching all so that he can write down what he sees and gloat over it afterwards.

  ‘How was His Highness?’ he asked.

  ‘My Lord Hervey is God,’ said Amelia, ‘all seeing. And surely all knowing. In which case is there any need to ask?’

  ‘No need at all,’ he replied. ‘For His Highness is in his usual state of bucolic appreciation of his own dazzling personality.’

  ‘Absolutely right, of course.’

  ‘And grateful to his kind sister, I hope.’

  ‘You hope nothing of the sort, my lord. For you know Fred would never be grateful to anyone ... except perhaps Miss Vane who has given him such a fine sturdy proof of his manhood. Or is it his manhood?’

  ‘I do not think Her Majesty would wish you to discuss such matters.’

  ‘I hope she would be as tolerant of me as of you, my lord. I could hope for no greater leniency.’

  Hervey liked Amelia least of all the Princesses and he knew that his dislike was returned.

  Her Majesty is gracious.’

  ‘I am sure she will lose none of her graciousness towards you when I tell her that one of the reasons why Frederick refuses to come to her drawing rooms—and causes such gossip by staying away—is because you, my lord, are constantly in attendance on the Queen.’

  ‘I am sure I have never done anything more deserving of Her Majesty’s gratitude.’

  Amelia could think of no retort to that, so swept past him.

  * * *

  Henrietta suddenly had her wish.

  It happened in an unexpected way. Lord Chesterfield had asked the Queen if she would speak to the King on his behalf. It was such a small favour he asked that it slipped Caroline’s memory.

  Chesterfield, who had always believed that a man’s mistress must carry more weight with him than his wife, being on very good terms with Henrietta, asked her if she had the opportunity to mention the matter to the King.

  This Henrietta did and thought no more of it.

  It was shortly after the favour had been granted when Caroline, seeing Chesterfield at one of her drawing rooms, remembered his request and called him to her.

  ‘I am sorry, my lord,’ she said, ‘that I failed to mention your little matter to His Majesty. Rest assured that I shall do so at the first opportunity.’

  ‘Your Majesty is gracious,’ replied Chesterfield, ‘but there is now no need as Lady Suffolk has already put my request to the King.’

  The King had come up as they were speaking and when he heard that remark his eyes bulged in the familiar fashion. He said nothing, but he was angry, for he hated it to be thought that his mistress interfered in any manner whatsoever with Court matters.

  He was cool to Chesterfield who hastily retired and when Henrietta appeared, he ignored her.

  He continued to ignore her and made unpleasant comments about her; and so uncomfortable was she that she begged leave to spend a little time in Bath for her health’s sake.

  * * *

  When Henrietta returned from Bath she made up her mind that she would speak to the Queen without delay and begged a private audience.

  ‘Your Majesty,’ she cried, ‘I have come to ask your leave to retire.’

  ‘Retire! ‘ cried Caroline. ‘My dear Lady Suffolk, why should you wish to do that?’

  ‘The King is irritated with me. He no longer wishes me to be here and, Madam, to tell the truth I no longer wish to stay! ‘

  ‘This is nonsense. The King is not irritated with you. As for myself, have I ever shown that I am?’

  ‘No, Your Majesty. If you had treated me in the same way as His Majesty has, I would never have dared appear in your presence again.’

  ‘You are very heated, Lady Suffolk. You should be calm and think clearly about this. Have you asked yourself how different your life would be if you left Court?’

  ‘Yes, Madam; and it is what I wish. I have served Your Majesties to the best of my ability for twenty years and now it is as though I have committed some crime in His Majesty’s eyes.’

  ‘Oh, fie, Lady Suffolk. You commit a crime! This is nonsense.’

  ‘The King could not behave so to me if I had not done something to displease him.’

  ‘Have a little patience and the King will treat you as he does the other ladies. You know the King leaves domestic matters in my hands and if you will wait a while I can assure you that you will be treated no differently from the other ladies.’

  ‘Madam, I do not see how I can be forgiven for an offence I have not committed.’

  ‘Fie again, Lady Suffolk, you talk like someone from a romance. Now you are too warm and not very respectful.

  You will be sorry for this, I know. But I shall not give you permission to go, and if you leave it will be without my consent.’

  ‘Madam, I must go.’

  ‘Well, Lady Suffolk, will you refuse me this? Stay a week longer and we will talk of it again when you are less ... warm.’

  Henrietta left the Queen in dismay. It was clear that Caroline was going to do everything in her power to make her stay.

  * * *

  When the week was over Henrietta told the Queen that she could not stay on as her position was far too uncomfortable.

  ‘You are the best servant in the world,’ said the Queen, ‘and it will grieve me to lose you.’

  ‘But Your Majesty has so many good servants,’ replied Henrietta. ‘And I know
that Mrs Clayton will see that I am not missed.’

  Henrietta vaguely noticed that at the mention of Charlotte Clayton’s name a shadow passed across the Queen’s face and she felt then, as she had felt so many times before, that there was some secret bond between them. But already her thoughts were far away at Marble Hill.

  I shall go, she was thinking. Nothing on Earth will prevent me now.

  ‘Is your mind then made up?’ asked the Queen. ‘Yes, Your Majesty.’

  Caroline was sad. She knew that this was more than the loss of a good servant. She would miss Henrietta, but what right had any person to command another to a life they did not wish for?

  He is getting old, she thought. He will have done with mistresses. It will not matter. What has she been to him? A habit, nothing more. There will be little flirtations. Let him enjoy them. There is nothing to fear.

  ‘If you must go, my dear,’ she said sadly, ‘then my blessing goes with you.’

  ‘I must, Your Majesty. And I thank you for your goodness.’

  She knelt and kissed the Queen’s hand.

  And that very day Henrietta Howard left Court and went to stay at the house of her brother, Lord Hobart, in his house in St James’s Square until she could make her preparations to leave for Marble Hill.

  Court Scandals

  THE whole Court was talking about Carlton House in Pall Mall which the Prince of Wales had bought from Lord Chesterfield. The cost was six thousand pounds, which of course the Prince could not pay, so he borrowed the money from his Treasurer giving his promise to repay it within a certain time.

  The point was, of course, that when the time came he could not find the money so he had to borrow it from Dodington.

  There was nothing unusual in this but for the fact that Frederick who, in the more refined company of Chesterfield had begun to tire of Dodington, boasted that he had wheedled the money out of Dodington who would never, very likely, see it again, as though in deceiving his onetime friend he had done something very clever.

  ‘A very odious young gentleman,’ commented Lord Hervey to Sir Robert Walpole when the latter came to the Palace to spend his usual session with the Queen.

  To which Sir Robert replied, ‘You see into what honest and just hands the care and government of this country is likely one day to be committed!’

  Lord Hervey agreed with him and asked himself how he could ever have looked upon that odious young gentleman as a friend.

  His increased rancour towards the Prince made him think of Miss Vane and wonder how that ménage was faring. Thus when he occasionally saw the young woman he would look her way and she would look at him.

  Her beauty had not diminished; in fact being the Prince’s acknowledged mistress had given her a new poise which was very becoming.

  Lord Hervey noticed that she no longer gave him cold looks, but was warm, even inviting; and the prospect of what this could lead to was irresistible.

  He had heard that she often took a walk in St James’s Park for her health’s sake and he contrived to be walking there at the same time.

  They saw each other, but as Anne had a companion with her, did not speak. But on the next day Anne sent her companion back to her house for a glove which she said she had left behind and this gave her the opportunity to speak to Lord Hervey.

  ‘What a handsome woman!’ he said as he approached her.

  ‘What a handsome man! ‘ she retorted.

  ‘But I thought,’ Anne remarked with a laugh, ‘that they hated each other.’

  ‘You know they could never do that.’

  ‘It was jealousy,’ said Anne.

  Hervey agreed, adding: ‘But we must waste no more time.’

  ‘I shall be joined by my companion soon. She has gone back for my glove. She’ll be here at any moment. She must not see us together. I no longer trust anyone and if it should get to Fred’s ears ...’

  ‘There is a coffee house,’ said Hervey, ‘behind Buckingham House. Let us meet there tomorrow afternoon and make ... plans.’

  * * *

  It was more than plans they made in the coffee house. They were both intrigued by the adventure. Anne admitted that she had always preferred Lord Hervey to any of her other lovers. He did not explain that his desire to revenge himself on the Prince of Wales was part of her attraction for him; in any case she was a very personable young woman; and her years with the Prince of Wales, being courted, meeting his friends, men of far greater intellect than his, had had their effect on her.

  But she was ready for adventure, too. She had never meant to settle down, which was more or less what she had done since the birth of little FitzFrederick, and living in an establishment set up for her by the Prince of Wales had meant that she could not easily take other lovers.

  It was amusing to arrive at the coffee house adequately disguised and mount to one of the rooms which the coffeehouse keeper kept for occasions such as these, to lock the door and laugh together at the success of their adventure.

  And when they had made love she would tell him all the latest exploits of the Prince of Wales—how he was growing more and more tired of Bubb Dodington; how Bolingbroke was constantly with him, advising him this way and that; and how Lord Chesterfield was beginning to take the place which Dodington once had held, only of course the Prince could never despise him as he had poor Bubb. And the amusing thing was that it was Bubb who had introduced him to Mr Lyttleton who was becoming such a close friend and who was working hand in glove with Lord Chesterfield.

  ‘Poor Bubb!’ said Anne. ‘I don’t think he is going to last much longer.’

  Then she would try to remember everything the Prince had said and done because her lover found that all so interesting; and as she was more devoted to Lord Hervey than to any lover she had ever had she wanted to keep him; therefore it was pleasant to have not only her considerable charms to offer but information which amused him so.

  Every time they left the coffee house they made arrangements to meet again.

  As they walked in the gardens the King talked to the Queen about the war in Europe.

  This was the war of the Polish Succession. Louis XV had a Polish wife and he wanted to secure the throne for her father, Stanislaus Leczinski; Russia, Austria, and the German Princes backed the claims of the Saxon Elector, Augustus III, and when Louis had put his father-in-law on the throne the Russians had driven him from it and made Augustus King. The French, therefore, always with new territorial claims in view, instead of declaring war on Russia which was too far away, turned on Austria as the best way of helping Stanislaus Leczinski. But the real aim of the French was to oust the Habsburgs and secure French supremacy in Europe.

  The Emperor naturally looked to his two allies, Holland and England.

  The Princess Anne’s new husband went off to fight and the King was eager to do the same; and this was the theme of his conversation as he walked in the gardens with the Queen.

  ‘We must tell the fat man (his name for Walpole) that I am determined to go to war.’

  ‘Walpole is against England’s going into the war.’

  ‘Then he must change his mind. It is England’s duty to be in this war. Why should I stand by and see other generals win the laurels which by rights belong to me!’

  ‘We must persuade him,’ said the Queen. ‘We must make him see that it is our wish.’

  ‘Send for him! Send for him as soon as we return to the Palace.’

  ‘Shall we return now?’

  The King hesitated and looked at his watch. Not even for the sake of the war would he interrupt a habit.

  ‘Fifteen minutes more,’ he said.

  Caroline sighed inwardly. Her legs ached. They were becoming more and more swollen and the pain was increasing. She was beginning to dread these walks; she was terrified that she would betray the fact that they were too much for her.

  ‘We shall soon have Anne back with us,’ she said.

  It was an unfortunate remark because it reminded the King that A
nne’s husband, the Prince of Orange, had gone to the wars and that was why she would be able to pay a visit to her parents so soon after her marriage.

  ‘That baboon! He can go to war. He can win distinction in battle while I ...’

  ‘We will talk to the fat man,’ said the Queen.

  He glowered at her, venting on her the anger he felt towards a fate which denied him battle honours.

  ‘And who are you to laugh at the fat man? We should call you the fat woman. The way you stuff away at your chocolate is the cause.’

  She was silent, hoping no one had heard, for he had raised his voice and their attendants always kept a respectful though not too remote distance as they walked.

  Why did she not retort: And you, you silly little man, have scarcely a thought in your head that doesn’t spring from your own vanity.

  Then she fell to wondering why it was that in spite of all his faults she was fond of him and could not imagine her life without him; and she knew that in spite of the way in which she constantly irritated him he admired and loved her more than any other person on Earth. If anyone else had attempted to criticize her he would have fallen into a passion of rage. She was his, entirely his, and to him only belonged the right to abuse.

  She sighed and gave her mind up to the persuasion she would use with Walpole, for this was one of the rare occasions when she and the King were on one side against the Prime Minister.

  * * *

  Walpole faced them in the King’s closet. He was as determined as they were. England was not going to war. Usually he could rely on the Queen, but this time she was against him.

  Germans! thought Walpole. Both of them, and in an issue like this it comes out. But England is not going to be sacrificed for the sake of Germany for a hundred Kings and Queens.

  ‘Your Majesties, the English people want peace. They have no heart for this fight.’

  The King’s eyes bulged with fury. ‘We have our duty to think of.’

  ‘I know Your Majesty will agree with me that our first duty is to the people of this country.’