When they were gone she told me what was the cause of her sudden transport of grief. He had told her it was expected she should reside every year two or three months in Holland, and even, when necessary, follow him to the army; that the Prince and his ministers had not thought it advisable to tell her this, but that, as he always wished they should be open and fair with each other, he was resolved to tell her; that he was quite an Englishman himself, and hoped she would invite over what friends she liked, and that, with respect to her ladies, he only recommended one, which was one of the Fitzroys, and should himself prefer Georgiana. This pleased poor Princess Charlotte, but she had never entertained the slightest suspicion that she should be obliged to leave England. I reminded her of a conversation I had related to her a few days before, when Mrs. T.[[155]] told me she had heard “the Regent and his daughter were on bad terms because she would not marry the Prince of Orange,” and I had answered that it was not true, as he had never been proposed to her. On which Mrs. T. said she should be sorry for one reason, as I should then probably go with her to Holland.
As Princess Charlotte had, however, consented to these temporary absences, I endeavoured to make the best of it to her, and on her saying she would not ask any one to go with her, I volunteered my services, which she accepted with great feeling and pleasure, and, I afterwards heard, expressed herself with great satisfaction at my having made the offer. She seemed, however, by no means pleased at the idea of going over for a short time, and said I had lived so much abroad that I could not have the same feelings on the subject as she had.
When the Duchess came to dinner, we repeated to her what had passed, and I gave her the Regent’s message. She offered to go as much as her family duties would admit. Before Princess Charlotte was to go to Windsor to be confirmed, she was really mortified by a letter of Princess Mary, hinting that it would be better I should not come. I begged she would not think of it, and told her I was sure of the Queen never forgiving my having left her; that it was better I should not go. However, I was hurt by this as well as by several other similar circumstances, but I availed myself of the opportunity of passing two days with Lord St. Vincent at Rochetts, and on my return found a very flattering letter from Princess Elizabeth, and a very kind one from Princess Augusta, with an account of all that had passed. Soon after the return of the Princess Charlotte to town on the 27th, came on one of the thickest, most oppressive, and lasting fogs[[156]] I ever witnessed; I was ill all the winter with a violent cold and cough, and actually I found it scarcely possible to breathe. Thus ended the year 1813.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE GREAT FROST—DOMESTIC AMUSEMENTS OF THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE—PROJECTED MARRIAGE WITH THE PRINCE OF ORANGE—THE QUESTION OF RESIDENCE—ANXIETIES OF THE PRINCESS—TORTUOUS NEGOTIATIONS.
On the 1st January, 1814, Princess Charlotte went to dine at Windsor, attended by the Duchess, and the fog was so thick that I could not go to Lord Bruce’s, where I had promised to dine. Her Royal Highness returned the next day, and on the 7th, which was the anniversary of her birthday, her eighteenth birthday, to which she had looked forward in hope of an establishment and comparative liberty, she had only permission to make a morning visit to her mother, to which she was accompanied by the Duchess of Leeds; and in the evening we had Vacari and Dizzi, who gave her lessons on the harp, for the purpose of having a little music. The upper servants, and the tradespeople and their wives, had a dance in the dining-room. The Dukes of Kent and Sussex called in the evening to see her.
The fog, which had disappeared on the 6th, was succeeded by very severe frost and snow, which lasted for many weeks, and at last rendered the roads almost impassable. We scarcely saw anybody except the masters, the Duchess and Lady Catherine, and the Miss Fitzroys, who arrived in town soon after the 7th. We took airings in the park when the weather permitted, read, drew, &c. Music was also a great resource to Princess Charlotte, and we went one evening (the 29th) to the Duchess of Leeds’, who gave a ball for children. Princess Charlotte was very kind to the young Princes of Brunswick, whom her uncle, when he left England, had particularly recommended to her. She had them to dine with her that day, and took them with us in the evening.
In the beginning of February the Prince Regent, who had been far from well since his return from the Duke of Rutland’s,[[157]] and other places where he had been visiting, sent for me one morning. He was sitting on a sofa in his bedroom, looking very ill and weak. He said there was an unpleasant circumstance had happened, but nothing that he was so angry at as to make Princess Charlotte or me uneasy. The Duke of York, he said, had shown him a paragraph in the papers[[158]] about a fine carriage building for Princess Charlotte at Birch the coachmaker’s, and, out of friendship for him, being the brother nearest his own age, had told him all about this Birch, who was a protégé of the Duke of Kent, &c. &c. I explained to him the circumstance as well as I could, for it was, of course, the Duchess who had ordered this carriage when the three years’ job of the former one had expired, which was while we were at Windsor, and, as I understood, the Duke of Kent was consulted previously by Lady de Clifford on similar affairs. I also told the Prince the account of the new carriage had been misstated in the papers if it was said to be green, as it was yellow, like all the carriages belonging to his Royal Highness, and I could not think it was put in by Birch himself, as the description was not correct.
The Prince said that his coachmaker, who had served him for many years, had made heavy complaints, &c. &c. He spoke much of the Duke of Kent, and also of the Duke of Sussex, but attached more deceit and deep-laid plans to the former. He read one part of a letter he was writing to the Duke of Cambridge, promising to visit Hanover in the course of the summer, and seemed to have perfectly forgiven the Duke of Cumberland for having made his appearance at Hanover before Bernadotte, which had been much criticised, and had, it was said, excited his displeasure. In short, he seemed willing to talk, and kept me a long while; spoke of the King as having always done justice to his honourable principles, even when they were at variance on some points; complained of being much exhausted from having been kept low for many days, and really, I must say, he affected me. He mentioned Princess Charlotte spending too much with jewellers, and said it was fruitless to conceal anything from him, for tradespeople would talk, and it came to his knowledge. He thought it very shameful in young ladies of immense fortunes to take valuable presents from Princess Charlotte.