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‘Oh you are thinking that I am a little mad like my brother? Perhaps you are right.

Perhaps I lin. Oh no, no. I am very wise. I know that this is a
mariage de

convenance
. Are not all royal marriages? But this one particularly so. I would never have been brought over here if the Prince had not been in debt. I was the

victim of Mammon. The Prince of Wales’s debts must be paid and poor little I’s

person was the pretence.’

‘Your Highness!’ murmured Mrs. Harcourt, shocked.

‘Oh, Your Highness! Your Highness!’ mimicked Caroline. ‘You know the

truth of this as well as I do, Madam. Parliament would vote supplies only for the marriage of the heir-apparent. A Protestant Princess must be found so they fixed

on the Prince’s cousin. I hate it all. I tell you God’s truth, I hate it all!’ She threw back her head and beat her hands an her heavy breasts. But I had to oblige my

father. He wished it. My mother wished it. And what could I do?’

‘It is like so many royal marriages, Your Highness. But these are often happy.

The King and the Queen—’

‘Have fifteen children. Shall I? I think the Prince will be content with one—

for when he has one he no longer needs to sleep with me. I tell you, this is what he waits far. He wishes to say: "I have done my duty. Now, I need do no more. It is enough.’ And I shall be glad. I do not love him. Let him go to his Jersey

woman. The moment I saw that woman with my future husband I knew how it

was with them and I shrugged my shoulders and knew I did not care.’

Her eyes were glazed with a sudden emotion; she was thinking of Major von

Töbingen with the amethyst pin with which he had said he would never part while

he lived.

‘Oh mine God,’ she cried, ‘I could be the slave of the man I love. But one I

did not love and who did not love me that is a very different thing— that is

impossible.’

‘Your Highness should not talk in this way.’

‘Do not, I beg you, tell me how I should talk. I talk as I wish, Madam. And I

say this: Very few husbands love their wives and when a person is forced to

marry another it is enough to make them hateful to each other. If I had come over here just as a Princess on a visit— Do you know that that was what Mr. Pitt

wanted me to do? Oh, it was before there was talk of marriage; but I think Mr. Pitt wanted the Prince to marry and he thought that if I came over on a visit the Prince might have liked me a little. Do you think he would?’

‘I feel sure he would.’

‘Yes, he would have liked me— and perhaps I should have liked him. We

should have been good friends. It would have been very different— perhaps.’

She began to laugh. ‘But do not be sorry for me, my good Mrs. Harcourt. All

the Prince gives me in trouble shall be repaid. If he does not want me, believe me I do not want him. Once I am with child, once I have my baby, I shall be ready to say:
Go away. Your presence is offensive to me.
’ Her laughter was more wild.

‘Oh, you are shocked. Be shocked. It amuses me to shock people and if I am not

to have love, let me at least have amusement.’

The Princess of Wales was indeed very strange, thought Mrs. Harcourt.

————————

When they could no longer curb their hatred of each other, they allowed it to

break out and seemed to take a great delight in hurting each other.

The Prince would wrinkle his nose in disgust when he looked at her. Caroline,

deeply wounded, determined not to show her hurt, would give vent to mocking

laughter or sometimes she would try to discountenance him with her ribaldry. Her

intention was to show him that she did not care for him any more than he cared

for her and that the marriage had been forced on her no less than it had been

forced on him

One evening when there were guests at Kempshott and it was necessary that

they dine together with their guests, he looked distastefully at her. Her appearance was always too flamboyant; her clothes— no matter who was her dressmaker—

managed to look vulgar in his eyes as soon as she put them on. She was always

over-rouged, although her cheeks were naturally highly coloured; her dresses

never seemed to fit. Her bust which was magnificent— and he thought of Maria’s

fine bosom every time he looked at her— gave her a pear shaped look which he

found repulsive in the extreme. She loved finery and would wear too many jewels

of clashing colours in which she managed to look slovenly, and the greatest crime of all was that she refused to bath frequently.

The Prince shuddered and as he could not bear to look at her face, he fixed his

gaze on her feet.

‘Well, she cried truculently, ‘you seem to find my boots very interesting.’

‘I find them extremely clumsy.’

‘Oh, so you do? Well then you go and make me another pair. Yes, you go and

make me a pair of boots. And then bring them to me and perhaps if I consider

them good enough I. may wear them.’

The Prince turned away.

Although she might shout and mock she was bitterly wounded.

It was a comforting thought to know that the Prince had invited her old friend

Malmesbury to dinner that night. What joy it would be to see him!

She would never forget how he had tried to help her. He, who knew the Prince

so well, must have realized what would happen when she came to England. No

wonder he had been so anxious for her, so eager to help her— dear good

Malmesbury If only they had brought her over to marry him instead of the Prince,

how different it would have been believe, she thought, that I hate my husband.

Among the guests were Lady Jersey and Colonel Hanger. She hated them

both. Lady Jersey now made no secret of her contempt for Caroline.

She wanted everyone to know that she was the true mistress of the house.

What an insult to have his mistress as Lady of the Bedchamber when she had not

been allowed to bring her own friends from Brunswick. And Colonel Hanger was

a coarse man, a player of practical jokes, and she wondered that her fastidious

husband could have such a man for a friend.

But his tastes were not all that refined it seemed. He could gather together the

most vulgar companions at times. It was all very well to be so elegant and wear

such beautiful clothes and to bow in such a manner that it was the admiration of

all who saw it. But what about some of these vulgar friends of his like Colonel

Hanger, Sir John and Letty Lade, and the Barry brothers? They were always

playing their silly practical jokes and of course she was the butt for most of them; they invaded the house and it was made noisy by their horseplay. And how they

drank! They were almost always drunk and she would often find them sleeping on

the sofas with their boots on— snoring.

Not so elegant, she thought grimly.

At dinner the Prince was attentive to Lady Jersey and kept pressing her hand

and looking at her with great affection.

Still, she thought,
he doesn’t feel quite so affectionate to her as he pretends to
be. It’s all to anger me.

And the woman was wearing pearl bracelets. She knew those pearl bracelets.

They were hers
. They had been part of the jewellery which had come to her on her marriage. How dared he take them away from her collection to give to Lady

Jersey!

There is surely a limit to what I need stand,
she thought.

Malmesbury was looking sad, now and then catching her eye as though he

would warn her. Warn her! Shouldn’t he warn the Prince? Who had set the pace?

Had she or the Prince? When she had come here she had been ready to be a good

wife to him, to build up some family life, to give him some affection.

If only I could go home,
she thought. I
f I could explain to my father that this
life is so wretched that no good can come of it! But that is impossible
. Royalty must come before happiness. Royal people had no say in their destinies— royal

Princesses that was. The Prince was determined to have his way, and even though

he had been obliged to marry which was really because of his debts— he still

intended to keep on Lady Jersey.

The meal over, Colonel Hanger lighted the great pipe which he affected.

Everyone laughed at George Hanger who did the most eccentric things; and no

one dreamed of protesting even at that big ill-smelling pipe of his.

The Prince was smiling at Lady Jersey who was talking animatedly to him. He

took her glass and drank from it. It was a token of the state of affairs between

them.

In a sudden rage Caroline snatched the pipe from Colonel Hanger’s mouth

and putting it in her own, puffed smoke across the table into the Prince’s face.

There was a hushed silence about the table. She was aware of the Prince’s

blank stare, of the glitter of Lady Jersey’s snake-like eyes.

Caroline burst out laughing. She had to do something to put an end to that

awful silence.

Everyone was embarrassed; the Prince looked helpless; then ignoring her

completely he began to talk of the play which was running at Drury Lane.

Caroline knew nothing of the play. She could not join in.

She sat smiling to herself. She was not going to let any of them know how

unhappy she was.

The Prince had sent for the Earl of Malmesbury who came to him rather sadly

guessing that after that strange exhibition at the table the Prince was going to

criticize his consort and because Malmesbury had brought her over to blame him.

He saw at once that the Prince was really angry. ‘Well, Harris,’ he said, ‘you

have seen that extraordinary display of bad manners. How do you like this sort of thing?’

Malmesbury murmured that he did not like it at all, but he thought that the

Princess was in a strange country and was not yet sure of herself.

‘Not sure of herself!’ echoed the Prince. ‘My dear Harris, what antics do you

think she will perform when she is? Why on Earth did you not write to me from

Brunswick and tell me what sort of woman you were bring over?’

‘Your Highness, there was nothing of which to complain against the

Princess’s moral character.’

‘You could bring this— this woman over, knowing what you did. I do not

consider you served
me
very well.’

‘Your Highness, His Majesty sent me to Brunswick not on a discretionary

commission but with the most positive commands to ask the Princess Caroline in

marriage.’

‘I see, said the Prince bitterly. ‘You were obeying the King and you did not

see it as your duty to warn me.’

‘Your Highness, replied Malmesbury somewhat sharply, ‘while I knew that

the Princess had much to learn I did not conceive that Your Highness would make

up your mind so to dislike her.’

The Prince looked exasperated. ‘You see what she is like— Do you think she

will ever inspire respect in my friends?’

‘I think, with encouragement, she will improve.’

‘With encouragement, Harris, you are always so discreet and diplomatic, are

you not?’

‘It is my business, sir, to cultivate these qualities.’

‘You manage well, I do assure you. But that has not helped me very much I

fear. I see nothing but disaster through this marriage— nothing but disaster. This woman is— impossible. She revolts me. She is not even clean.’

Malmesbury looked hurt. He understood, of course. Had he not tried to instill

in her the importance of
freshness
; had he not warned her of the extra-

fastidiousness of the Prince?

And she had lightheartedly refused to consider his advice. He was exasperated

with her, but desperately sorry for her too.

And through her he had lost the confidence of the Prince who could never

quite forgive those whom he thought considered his father before himself.

‘And what do you think will be the outcome of this marriage which you,

Harris, have arranged?’

‘I think the outcome will depend on you, sir, and Her Highness. And I must

remind Your Highness that it was His Majesty who, with your consent, arranged

the marriage. My commission was merely to go to Brunswick and make a formal

offer. This, sir, I did to the best of my ability.’

The Prince shook his head mournfully. ‘I know, I know. But a word of

warning, Harris. One word of warning. What disaster might have been averted

then!’

Malmesbury could only look regretful; but as he left the Prince’s apartment he

knew that he was expected to take some share of the blame for the marriage and

the Prince would always remember it against him.

————————

He saw the Princess.

‘I would to God, my lord,’ she said, ‘that I had never Come to England.’

‘Your Highness will grow accustomed to your new life.’

‘I will never grow accustomed to life with him. Nor shall I have to. Because I

tell you this, my lord: As soon as I am with child he will never see me again. That is what he waits for. The best news I can give him is that I am with child.’

‘It is the best news you can give the nation.’

‘Oh, my dear Ambassador, who is always so correct— and therefore so

different from me. Yes, it will be good news. If I can provide the heir the nation will be pleased. But he will be pleased— not so much because I have give them

the heir but because he can then be rid of me.’

‘Your Highness, you remember when we were in Brunswick I implored you

to be discreet and calm.’

‘You implored me to do so much, you dear good kind man. But you could not