[1816.]
January 10th.—Princess Charlotte summoned to Cranbourne Lodge to accompany the Queen to Brighton, where her birthday was to be kept, and it was and still is expected that she is to marry the Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg at her own request. She went to Brighton with the Queen on the 6th. Nothing extraordinary seems to have been done for her birthday,[[59]] though it completes her twentieth year. Many people of rank were invited to meet the Queen when she was there at Christmas, but not so now.
I had a kind message from Princess Charlotte this morning, conveyed by a person who saw her while at Cranbourne. She was much thinner, as she had been reduced by the medicines she had been obliged to take for a pain in her side, occasioned by a bilious disorder, which was erroneously treated as nervous.
This morning I called on Lord St. Vincent in Mortimer-street, as he came to consult Clive and Sir Edward Horne for his wrist, which had suffered by a fall. I also went with Princess Castelcicala to see the paintings and drawings of Gottenburgh, a German from Vienna. He is an old man, but still makes beautiful small drawings in pencil, portraits chiefly of Roman women; and his small copies in oils, from Correggio and other masters, are very good.
12th.—I called in the morning at Lady Louisa Macdonald’s, Mr. Keate’s, and on the Ladies Bruce. Everybody talks of this marriage, and K. told me the Queen and Prince Regent, when they wrote to order Princess Charlotte to Cranbourne and Brighton, said she would meet with an agreeable surprise. It is now supposed they will prolong their stay at Brighton till after the 18th, and it is supposed the young man will be sent for. People say he has only 200l. a year, which they calculate is just enough to buy him two coats and a dozen of shirts. I dined at Mr. Hallam’s, where I met Mr. Ward, Mr. H. Fane, and Mr. W. J. Rose. The first is counted one of our first wits; has not been long returned from Italy. He is certainly very clever and entertaining, but odd, and rash in his judgments.[[60]] Mr. H. Fane appears pedantic, but well informed.
13th.—I dined at Lady Downshire’s. The Duke of Sussex and his son, Captain d’Este, &c. &c., dined there. No mention was made of Princess Charlotte’s marriage. It is said that the Dukes of Bedford and Devonshire have received nothing from their tenants for the last year.
14th.—I dined at Prince Castelcicala’s. General Count Nugent, commander of the Austrian army in Italy, has married the orphan daughter of the late Marquis Carleto at Naples, whose mother was one of the daughters of Prince Xavier of Saxony.
17th.—Dined at Sir Archibald Macdonald’s. Duchess-Dowager of Leeds and Lady Catherine Osborne, Mr. Osborne Markham, Mr. Jekyll, and Archdeacon Pott there. Sir Robert Wilson, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Bruce, who travelled with Lady Hester Stanhope in the desert, were accused of high treason in France for effecting the escape of Lavalette.[[61]]
18th.—Called on Miss Fielding, Lady Mary Parker, and Miss Mercer Elphinstone. The latter said she had received only one letter from Princess Charlotte since her stay at Brighton, and no mention in it of the marriage.
23rd.—I had letters from Lady Mary Hill, and Mr. Hallam mentioned a paragraph in the Morning Chronicle of a Prince Leopold of saxe-coburg being married at Vienna, but it proves to be a Prince Ferdinand.
February 6th.—I had a letter from a friend, who mentions Princess Charlotte as desiring to contradict the reports relative to her marriage. It appears that there is some obstacle which she cannot surmount, as she wishes to consult the papers respecting her engagement with the Prince of Orange. Probably in this instance, as in that, her father and his Ministers wish her to live abroad.
8th.—Went to town. Princess Castelcicala and the Ladies Hill called. It seems Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg asked for the command of the troops in Hanover. I dined at Lady Downshire’s.
22nd.—I called on the Misses [ ]. Mr. D. said he had just seen Lord Liverpool, and that he and Lord Castlereagh were to accompany the Prince of Saxe-Coburg to Brighton to-morrow. Afterwards called on Mrs. R. Keate and Lady Neave. Mr. Lyttleton had been there, and said the Princess Charlotte would not marry the Prince of Saxe-Coburg, as he would take her to Hanover.
26th.—Princess Charlotte goes with the Queen to-day to Brighton. At Windsor they consider the marriage as certain.
28th.—I received a very kind letter from Princess Charlotte, dated Saturday, 24th. Very happy in the thoughts of approaching freedom, and saying that she should send for me to visit her as soon as she was mistress of her own house. I went this morning to Chantry’s, while Lord St. Vincent sat for his bust.
I afterwards saw a person, who told me Princess Mary had informed him that the Prince Regent was quite nervous with impatience to get Princess Charlotte married, as otherwise the Opposition might clamour for her being treated as an heir-apparent, and want more than ministers could, or it would be proper to, give.
March 1.—I was at a small party at Lady Harrington’s. It was said there that orders had been sent to Weymouth to prepare the Lodge for the reception of somebody, but of whom it is not known. Some said the Prince of Saxe-Coburg was to remain there until the marriage; others, that Princess Charlotte was; others, that perhaps they were to be married soon, and both go there to stay till after Easter. It is now said the Prince Regent is to come to town on the 10th.
The introduction of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was very embarrassing to Princess Charlotte, and (what must have been still more so) the Queen then left them together. He is now sent on a tour, and to finish at Weymouth, where he is to remain till the day before the marriage. She is gone back to Cranbourne Lodge. Lord Winchilsea, who is just returned from Windsor, said at the Opera that the message about the marriage was to go down to Parliament to-day. Others say it is not to be till this day week. I dined at Prince Castelcicala’s. I believe it is true that the Duke de Berri is to marry the grand-daughter of the King of Naples, by the first wife of the Hereditary Prince, who was sister of the Emperor of Austria.
6th.—The message[[62]] did not come down; and Mr. Thomas Granville told Mr. T. that the reason was because there was a difficulty; for that the Prince Regent wished 50,000l. a year to be asked for Princess Charlotte and her husband, but only 10,000l. of it to be given into their hands for their privy purse, and the salaries of three ladies and three gentlemen; the other 40,000l. to be given to him to provide house, &c. for them. This being an intention subversive of all confidence in their future Queen, Mr. Thomas Granville considered as impossible to be proposed by any Ministers, and therefore concluded some alteration in it must take place. How true this account might be I know not; but the provision has been settled at 10,000l. a year to Prince Leopold, for their joint expenses, and 60,000l. as an outfit.
29th.—The Duke de Berri’s approaching marriage with the Princess Caroline, daughter of the Hereditary Prince of Naples, by his first wife, a sister of the Emperor, is confirmed.
Cards have been sent to the Queen’s ladies for the 4th of May, to attend the wedding of Princess Charlotte. It is said the precedent for the wedding, &c., is the marriage of the late Duchess of Brunswick, but all Peers and Peeresses were invited to that, and will not be to this.
Lady John Thynne and Lady Emily Murray are appointed ladies of the bedchamber to Princess Charlotte; Mrs. Campbell, privy purse and bedchamber woman; Miss F. Coates, bedchamber woman; Colonel Addenbroke, equerry. The marriage is now fixed for the 2nd of May.
May 1.—The Queen came to Town on the 29th of April. Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg to the apartments of the Duke of Clarence, and Princess Charlotte to Warwick House. The royal household, the Cabinet Ministers and their wives, and Foreign Ministers and their wives, are invited to the wedding.
6th.—Intend leaving London to-morrow for Dover, in my way to Paris with Sir Thomas and Lady Troubridge, and two Mr. Norgates. Received a very kind message from Princess Charlotte, which she gave to Madame [ ] on the day of her wedding, regretting my going.
[This appears to be the fittest place for the introduction of the following supplementary remarks on the career and character of the Princess Charlotte, which are entered in a separate note-book, and bear proof of having been written, from memory, at a much later date. Some passages have been advisedly omitted, either because they contain statements of doubtful authenticity, recorded as such by Miss Knight, or because they touch, in a manner that might give pain, on the private concerns of living individuals:]
The marriage of the Hereditary Prince of Orange with a sister of the Emperor of Russia gave reason for many people to believe that he and the Grand-Duchess Catherine had contributed to disunite the Prince and Princess Charlotte. What passed at the Portland Hotel seemed intended to prove the contrary.
The King of Würtemberg has since then assured me that the late Queen, the Grand-Duchess, constantly expressed the greatest fondness for Princess Charlotte, and the most fervent regret for her death.
The marriage of the Princess Mary with the Duke of Gloucester took place very soon after that of Princess Charlotte with Prince Leopold, in 1816.
The wish of the Princess Charlotte, after the rupture of the intended marriage with the Hereditary Prince of Orange, was to marry one of the Prussian Princes, and some months elapsed before she entirely gave up this plan, which was opposed on both sides of the water. * * * *
An English lady, who happened to be standing very near the Prince of Orange soon after the news of Princess Charlotte’s death had reached him, assured me that his sighs and sobs were quite affecting.
At a party given by their present Majesties (William IV. and Queen Adelaide) I met the Prince of Orange, who came to solicit protection and assistance during the troubles of Belgium. He took no notice of me, and I have always heard he had been much prejudiced against me, for which I cannot account, as I did what I could with propriety in his favour, after Princess Charlotte had once given her consent; and, indeed, I thought she would have been happier in Holland than in England, as every motive must have engaged the King and Queen of that country to endeavour to gain her affection; and here unfortunately the heir-apparent is always an object of jealousy on the one hand, and of artful intrigues on the other.
The conduct of the Prince of Orange, however, since his marriage has not been such as to make one believe that she would have been happy with him. Providence has done the best for her, and, as it appears, for Princess Victoria.
I have lived to witness the termination of many things, and I humbly bend with resignation and gratitude to the Divine dispensations.
With respect to myself, all I can say is this. I cannot help regretting having left the Queen. My intentions were not bad, but in many respects I consulted my feelings more than my reason. My mind was then too active, perhaps now it is too indolent; but either I ought to have remained with the Queen, or I ought to have carried things with a higher hand to be really useful while I was with Princess Charlotte. I had no support from the good Duchess; nor, indeed, from any one. She had neither energy of character nor powerful connexions. I had the romantic desire that Princess Charlotte should think for herself, and think wisely. Was that to be expected from a girl of seventeen, and from one who had never had proper care taken of her since early childhood? She might have been great indeed. She had a heart and a mind capable of rendering her so. She had the most charitable disposition possible.
I forgot to mention in my journal for 1814, that when I perceived the marriage treaty must be broken off, if some assurance were not given of an establishment in England, I begged to see Lord Liverpool myself, that I might tell him my apprehensions, and beg that something might be done to prevent the mischief. He only came and asked for Princess Charlotte, but when I heard he was in the library, I asked her permission to go down and speak to him first, which she granted. I went and told him what I thought my duty to say, but he made no decisive answer, and seemed impatient to go up-stairs. When Princess Charlotte entered on the subject, all she could get from him was, that some arrangement might be made like that between two persons, who were named, by no means of distinguished families, and at last said he would try to obtain from the Regent permission that she might retain Warwick House for some time after her marriage.
When Princess Charlotte told all this to the Prince of Orange, he was still more indignant than herself, both on account of the comparison with Mr. —— and Miss ——, and also of Warwick House, saying, “Did Lord Liverpool think he would live in such an ugly old place?”
Another thing which made Princess Charlotte very unhappy was, that not a word was said to her about what was to be her household, or how it was to be composed. But I remember hearing one of my own acquaintance say, “Would she not have had a very agreeable existence at Brussels, where she and her husband were to have kept their Court?”
Princess Charlotte had not the slightest idea of that, but supposed she was expected to live with the King and Queen of the Netherlands.
It is possible that when Princess Charlotte was a child, her temper might have been violent and head-strong, and the world held that opinion when she was grown up.[[63]] I never saw anything of this violence or obstinacy. Much agitation, nervous uneasiness, and sometimes nervous impatience,—all this I observed, and sometimes to such a degree as to injure her health. As a proof of this, it may be remarked that she was so much afraid of her father, that when she had seen him, or expected him, she stuttered exceedingly,[[64]] which she never did at times when there was nothing particular to agitate her. This nervous feeling was perhaps one of the principal causes why, so far from being obstinate, she was often persuaded to things she did not like, and would think firmness so essential to the happiness of every one, and more especially of a royal person.
Of this want of firmness the artful and designing took advantage, and unfortunately those about her had been so often changed, and she had so few natural friends, that it was difficult to obtain her perfect confidence; or, I should rather say, to preserve it.
Her humanity and kindness to all who were in distress or affliction surpass belief, and I never knew a person less selfish. The only value she set on a present was as it proved more or less the kind intentions of the person who made it. I never saw in her any personal vanity, and there was nothing unforgiving in her disposition.
Her notions were aristocratical, though her mind had received from her father an early bias in favour of the Whig party, of which he was long considered as the support, and of course that party did not neglect any opportunity of making her their friend, and persuading her that the good of the country would depend on her continuing to encourage them. However, she was equally attentive to all who paid her proper respect, whether of the Ministry or Opposition.[[65]]