Caroline the Illustrious, vol. 2 (of 2)

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Queen Caroline, and the Duke of Cumberland.
Walter L. Colls Ph. Sc.
Caroline the Illustrious Queen-Consort of George II. and sometime Queen-Regent
A Study of her Life and Time
BY W. H. WILKINS, M.A., F.S.A. AUTHOR OF “THE LOVE OF AN UNCROWNED QUEEN”
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II.
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1901
The news of George the First’s death reached England four days after he had breathed his last at Osnabrück. A messenger, bearing sealed despatches from Lord Townshend, arrived at Sir Robert Walpole’s house in Arlington Street at noon on Wednesday, June 14th. He was told that the Prime Minister was at Chelsea, and he at once repaired thither. He found the great man at dinner. Walpole was thunderstruck at the news, for the old King was of so strong a constitution that, despite his occasional fainting fits, every one expected him to live to a green old age, as his mother had done before him. His sudden death, too, might mean the end of the Prime Minister’s political career. But there was no time for vain regrets—the King was dead, long live the King. So ordering his horse to be saddled, Walpole rode off at full speed to Richmond, where George Augustus then was, to announce the tidings and pay homage to his new Sovereign. The day was hot, and so furiously did he ride that he killed, his son tells us, two horses between Chelsea and Richmond; but then his son was given to exaggeration.