Queen in Waiting - Plaidy Jean (электронную книгу бесплатно без регистрации TXT) 📗

"Now that all is orderly there is no need for me to be here. I can take a little respite. After all I have Hanover to consider. I must pay my brother a visit and see how he is faring."

Walpole and Townsend exchanged glances. If he went the affairs of the nation would be left in their hands, and what could please them better than that? In any case George had

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never meddled extensively. He was not sufficiently interested in his realm to want to govern it.

"I can see no reason why Your Majesty should not pay a visit to Hanover," said Walpole.

"And does Your Majesty intend that the Prince and Princess shall accompany you?"

George was thoughtful.

"The Prince should surely remain in England as Regent," suggested Stanhope.

"RegentI" cried the King. "Never shall this be. You know the Prince. He will be wearing the crown by the time I return."

The ministers were thoughtful. "It is the usual procedure. Your Majesty. The Prince is of age "

"I care not. He shall not be Regent. The Prince is a fool."

"Then what does Your Majesty suggest?"

"I suggest that he is not Regent. That he has no power to govern."

"The people would think it strange."

"The people!" cried the King. "Why one of them tried to shoot him the other night."

"Proved to be a madman. Your Majesty. And the Prince's action in the theatre has made him very popular."

"What action?" growled the King.

"He was very calm; and they are saying that his behaviour— and that of the Princess—prevented a riot. He is very popular at the moment. And the Princess has been ever since she came."

"She is cleverer than he is. He is a fool; she is a she-devil."

The ministers looked uncomfortable; and the King for once was roused from his usual indifference.

"Oh yes, she must be watched. She is the clever one."

Walpole was inclined to agree. He would either have to be the friend or the enemy of the Princess of Wales if she became powerful. She would not, of course, while the King lived; but wise politicians planned ahead.

Already she had shown a desire to meddle in politics, and had hinted that she would like the post of Secretary of the Treasury for the husband of Mrs. Clayton, one of the women of her household for whom she had a great regard. Walpole

had no intention of allowing her to have the post for her friend; in the first instance she must not be allowed to acquire the power which friends in high places would give her; for the second he wanted the post for his brother Horatio.

"The Princess is perhaps ambitious," suggested Walpole, "and too ambitious to be content with merely social activities. It may be that she will attempt..."

He stopped; Stanhope was giving him a warning look but he knew very well what he wanted to imply.

"Attempt what?" asked the King.

"Attempt to make a circle ... a little court ... apart from Your Majesty's. It is not the first time it has been done."

Angry lights shot up in the King's eyes. "She would not dare."

"Not openly perhaps, Your Majesty. But it would not be good to have a rival Court. The friendship with Argyll, for instance "

"Dismiss Argyll."

There was silence. The King could scarcely order the Prince to part with a member of his own household. After all the Prince was adult, and heir to the throne; he had some say in the management of his own affairs.

"Dismiss Argyll," repeated the King. "I will send an order to the Prince at once. Well, why are you silent?"

Walpole said: "Your Majesty, I doubt the Prince will agree."

"He will agree or face my displeasure."

A quarrel in the royal family—an open one this time. What effect would that have? The King's ministers considered the effect on themselves. Townsend was telling himself that the King would not live for ever; and when the new King came to the throne he would be more inclined to favour those who had been with him before he took the crown rather than those who hurried to stand in line when he did. If this was going to be a quarrel between King and Prince, perhaps the far-seeing man would take his stand beside the Prince.

Stanhope and Townsend were silent and Walpole said: "Your Majesty will know how to deal with the Prince, and when Your Majesty is in Hanover..."

"I'll not make him Regent. The care of the realm will be left in the hands of my ministers."

Not an unsatisfactory arrangement, thought Walpole. It was in the hands of his ministers now, for George's heart was in Hanover and he did not seem to care much how this country was governed—as long as the Prince had no hand in it.

Family quarrels were bad for a royal family, but very often offered advantages to ministers.

When Caroline heard that the King was going to Hanover she forgot her usual discretion. He would see little Fritzchen; and surely he would be made to understand how a mother felt about her only son.

She asked for an audience with the King which was grudgingly granted. George thought she should have kept away particularly in view of all the bother about Argyll.

When she came to hini he dismissed his attendants and looked at her suspiciously. Oh yes, he thought, George Augustus may be a fool but this one isn't.

He waited in sullen silence for her to speak.

"Your Majesty is going to Hanover and will see your grandson. Will you please tell him how I miss him here, how I long to see him and hope that you will soon allow him to join his father, mother and the girls."

"Unsettling," said the King shaking his head.

"But he will come to England ... in time."

"In time. Not yet."

"But he will be the heir to the throne "

George scowled. He did not like any reference to his death; one of the reasons for his great dislike of his son was because he was continually referred to as the next King, a title he could only take on his father's death.

"He has his duties in Hanover."

The mother took possession of the diplomatist, and Caroline cried out: "What duties can a little boy of nine have? It is cruel to keep him from his mother."

"You're hysterical."

"I am not." It was something of which she had never been accused; and it was undeserved. She was a natural mother crying out against an unnatural separation. "Like any mother I want my son."

"You are a Princess and know that Frederick has his duties."

"And how do you think he is growing up there ... without his family?"

"He has his guardians ... and his duties."

"You are hard."

George looked bored.

"You must listen to me."

He stared over her head. "There's nothing more to be said."

The colour in her cheeks hid the slight imperfections made by the smallpox; her auburn hair was simply dressed with a curl hanging on her shoulder. She was an attractive woman, with her magnificent bust accentuated by her small waist and her ample hips. Slie had a figure which George admired. In fact, had she not been his daughter-in-law ... But she was and there was no sense in involving himself. Not that she would allow herself to be involved.

All women are the same in the dark, thought George with a yawn.

"There is a great deal to be said," she replied. "I want my son to join his family. After all, he is my son."