It is said that of all the Tories the Queen only sent a personal invitation to one to be present at the ceremony, and that was her old friend, Lord Liverpool. The Royal pair returned to Buckingham Palace on the 14th, and the Queen held a Levée on the 19th, when Albert stood by her side to receive the guests.
The marriage of the Queen made it necessary to rearrange the apartments in Buckingham Palace, and those which had been devoted to the Duchess of Kent were done up in splendid style for the Prince.
The King of Hanover had retained some apartments in St. James’s Palace for his own use, but had never returned to them since he left England; and it was considered, not without reason, that he might be willing to give up the rooms to the Duchess of Kent. However, Ernest had not yet lost hope; he could not prevent the marriage, it was true, but the Queen might die, there might be no children, something might still happen to give him his heart’s desire and set him on the Throne of England. Therefore, he felt it advisable to retain the rooms for his possible use in an emergency, and he wrote a curious letter about proceedings in England, implying that such terrible things were happening here that it would probably be necessary for him to return and save the situation.
So the Queen rented Ingestre House, Belgrave Square, at a cost of two thousand a year for a short time. When somewhat later Princess Augusta died the Duchess was transferred to Clarence House, St. James’s Palace, and was given Frogmore at Windsor as a residence. Thus ended for her any influence in great matters which she may have hoped to exercise upon her daughter, and thus also ended the deplorable friction which had made her so very unhappy. It was very possible that some of the Queen’s disregard for her mother—a disregard which was never shown in social matters or in outward filial conduct—existed really only in the mind of the Duchess, for it is usual for the person who feels slighted to exaggerate the offence. From this time forward, however, we hear of no further friction; indeed, Prince Albert seems to have acted as mediator, and to have championed the cause of his mother-in-law. Sir John Conroy lived in Berkshire, and one day in May, 1840, there appeared in a Berkshire paper an allusion to Royal affairs. If Conroy caused this to be inserted it only goes to prove the truth of the report: “Prince Albert, having unravelled the mysterious web with which certain intriguantes had contrived to embarrass and annoy the Duchess of Kent, has expressed his detestation of their acts, and at the same time has avowed his determination to restore that amiable and ill-used lady to her proper station, influence, and suitable residence.”
It is interesting to note that Victoria was quite well aware of the matrimonial project so long nursed by her uncle, the Duke of Cambridge, for in November, 1839, when writing to Melbourne to give an account of a visit which the Cambridges paid her, she said, in a somewhat mixed style: “They were all very kind and civil, George grown but not embellished, and much less reserved with the Queen, and evidently happy to be clear of me.”
At the end of December, in writing to Albert she said: “I saw to-day the Duke of Cambridge, who has shown me your letter, with which he is quite delighted—and, indeed, it is a very nice one. The Duke told Lord Melbourne he had always greatly desired our marriage, and never thought of George; but that I do not believe.”
At that time three of the sons of George III. were alive, and three daughters. The Queen had an affection for all but the King of Hanover, and did her best to make her uncle Sussex’s life easy, though he was just at this period in a fractious mood, being jealous of the rights of “the family.” He had made two illegal marriages, the second being, as has been said, with Cecilia Underwood—Lady Buggin—a daughter of the Earl of Arran, and widow of an attorney-knight, though disliking the plebeian name which marriage had bestowed upon her, she had taken that of her mother as soon as she was widowed. She attracted the Duke of Sussex and lived with him as his wife for years, then in 1840 he came to the determination of going through the ceremony of marriage. Whether it was an access of virtue or prudence which caused this long-delayed decision it is difficult to say, but he put it forward as a plea for an increase in his allowance. This naturally caused criticism of an adverse kind, it being generally thought and said that these two had lived long enough together to know the amount of their joint expenses, and that marriage should not increase them. One paper advocated compliance with the Duke’s demand on the ground that Cecilia would “not add a flock of locusts to increase the epidemic of the German pest.”
Victoria made Cecilia Duchess of Inverness, that she might be near her husband’s rank, and sometimes invited her to her own table, but she was never placed on the footing of a relative. It was in April, 1843, that the Duke died of erysipelas, and desired in his will that he should be buried at Kensal Green. This, after some hesitation, was done with military honours. Sussex seems to have won more affection and goodwill than any of his brothers.
The Duke of Cambridge, who took little part in public life after his return from Hanover, lived until 1850. In W. H. Brookfield’s Diary is to be found the following description of him in 1841: “The Duke of Cambridge was there to hear the Bishop (preach), and sate in the pew before me. Such a noise as he made in responses, Psalm reading, and singing, a sort of old Walpole with eyes. I had not caught what Psalm the clerk had given out, and turning to look on my neighbour’s book for the page—fidgety, restless, Royal Highness turns round and bawls loud enough to drown the organ, ‘It begins at the third verse—the third verse!’ All eyes turned on Royalty speaking to inferior clergy. I turned red as a radish. Royalty went on singing like a bull!”
It was with the Duchess of Cambridge that Lady Cardigan says she once drove to London, and the former took from her pocket a German sausage, and, cutting off slices with a silver knife, conveyed the pieces to her mouth with the help of the blade! Young George of Cambridge married, not a Queen, but an actress, Louisa Fairbrother, with whom he lived very happily until she died in 1890—and it is said that he never recovered the blow caused by her death.