During these dreadful proceedings King William's life had been in danger on the coast of Holland, where a dense fog prevented his making land as soon as he expected. Hearing from some fisherman that he was not more than a mile and a half from shore, the king resolved to be rowed in his barge. The Duke of Ormond and some other noblemen accompanied him. In a few moments the boat was lost in the fog, and could neither approach the shore nor return to the fleet. Night came on, and the waves dashed over the king, as he lay in the bottom of the boat covered up with his cloak. Some one expressed alarm at the situation when William asked sternly, "What, are you afraid to die with me?" At daybreak the fog had risen, and the party in the royal barge landed.
The king met with a grand reception at the Hague, for this was his first appearance there since he had mounted the British throne, and the Dutch considered that he had made the conquest of Great Britain. They hailed him "The Conqueror," which was not a pleasant sound to the Englishmen who had accompanied him.
After a stay of three months William returned to Eng-land for a supply of money and troops, and arrived just in time to see the Palace of Whitehall burned to the ground. Queen Mary barely escaped with her life, for she was a sound sleeper, and had not been aroused until the fire was well under way in the part of the palace she occupied.
The enmity between Mary and Anne was kept alive by several disagreeable circumstances, and encouraged by the partisans of each.
We have seen what influence Lord Marlborough and his wife exerted over the Princess Anne. Their ambition prompted them to prefer a request through her that the Order of the Garter might be bestowed on the earl as a reward for his military merit. This was refused by Queen Mary, and Marlborough was so enraged that he at once set to work to conspire for the downfall of herself and the king. As he was one of the council of nine appointed to assist the queen in governing, her position became dangerous, particularly as Marlborough wrote James II., "That he regretted his crimes against him, and would bring the Princess Anne back to her duty at the least word of encouragement."
James's only reply was, "That his good intentions must be proved by deeds rather than words."
The result was a very dutiful letter written by Anne to her father; but as Lady Fitzharding acted as a spy for the king, both he and Queen Mary knew all about the letter long before it reached its destination. It was written near the end of the year, and shortly after William's return from Flanders, where some bloody battles had been fought, and a great number of lives had been lost among the English troops; so his majesty's temper was not sweetened in the least.
When it was Marlborough's turn to act as gentleman of the bed-chamber he began his duties, but was soon dismissed, and afterwards received a message, "that the king and queen desired Lord Marlborough to absent himself from their presence for the future."
This made Princess Anne very angry; but her anger was changed to alarm, when she was informed by an anonymous letter that the next step of the government would be to imprison Lord Marlborough, and added a warning as to the treachery of Lady Fitzharding. The king and queen brought no charge; because, if they had dared openly to accuse Marlborough of trying to effect a reconciliation between Anne and her father, many of their subjects would have followed his example.
[A.D. 1692.] Shortly after her husband's dismissal, Lady Marlborough attended Princess Anne to a court reception. The next day Queen Mary wrote her sister that not only must the lady not appear again at court, but she must be at once dismissed from her service, because her presence at the Cockpit gave Lord Marlborough an excuse for appearing where he was forbidden to come.