Princess Charlotte was ordered to be present at this audience, attended by the Duchess of Leeds, and the Grand-Duchess afterwards called to leave her name at Warwick House. In the evening there was a large party at Carlton House, and a concert, which annoyed the Grand-Duchess so much that she left the room abruptly. It seems that music overcame her nerves. She was said to have frequent faintings, and to have scarcely slept at all since the death of her husband.
This sentimentality in a great politician, not to say intrigante, appeared to me very extraordinary. Her figure was slight and well-formed, her complexion good, her eyes fine, and her manners dignified, called graceful, but I think not gracefully feminine, at least not when she spoke, her nose Calmuck, and, altogether, I thought her very like what I remembered her father, only I liked his manners better. She had with her a Prince Gagarin and a Princess Volkonskoi, apparently a good kind of woman, daughter of the famous Prince Repnin,[[164]] and a Mademoiselle Aladensky, who had been her governess—a sensible woman, who did not appear to me very good natured; both were elderly, and plain in their dress.[[165]]
Princess Charlotte was much pleased with the Grand-Duchess, and returned her visit very soon, stayed a long while, and returned enchanted[[166]] with her. The Duchess of Leeds had accompanied her Royal Highness, but had not been admitted into the private room. She sat with the ladies. Princess Charlotte told me the Grand-Duchess had complained of the assiduities of the Duke of Clarence, of his vulgar familiarity, and of his want of delicacy, had called the Prince Regent “un voluptueux,” and had talked very confidentially to her.
I was shocked at all this, but at the same time knew not how to prevent mischief. The Prince sent Sir Henry Halford to me to desire I would keep Princess Charlotte from going too often to the Grand-Duchess, but I could not prevent her coming to Warwick House, nor could I well blame Princess Charlotte for being pleased with the conversation of a sensible woman of a rank similar to her own. The Grand-Duchess hinted to her that she thought of marrying the Archduke Charles, and Princess Charlotte told her that many persons had supposed that she was to marry the Regent if he could have found cause for a divorce. She answered that she was so much attached to her brother the Emperor, that for his sake and the public good she would have done whatever he wished, but that now she had seen the Regent she could never think of marrying him. She expressed great esteem and even preference for the Duke of Sussex, and he was so much pleased with it that he conceived the highest opinion of her.
On the 5th (of April), while she was making a visit to Princess Charlotte, I received a note from Lord Bathurst, to inform the Princess that the allies had entered Paris on the 31st of March. This delightful intelligence was soon followed by that of Bonaparte’s defeat and abdication, and the restoration of the Bourbons to the throne of their ancestors. A general illumination took place, and joy and good order reigned throughout the metropolis.
Poor Princess Charlotte was far from happy. On the 16th of this month (April) she wrote a letter to her father, humbly requesting to see the marriage contract, a sketch of which she heard from the Prince of Orange had been shown to him; she expressed her uneasiness at not hearing of a house or establishment, and begged that insertion might be made in the contract of an article to prevent her being taken or kept out of England against her inclinations. To this the Prince returned no answer, but on the 18th sent for me, and appeared greatly enraged, but promised forgiveness if she would withdraw her letter; otherwise, he said he must bring the matter before his Cabinet, declared that he had no intention to banish her, but that the duty of a wife was to follow her husband; that perhaps he might have to build a house for her, and that in the mean while, when she came to England, she might be at Carlton House. He said that neither her Royal Highness nor the hereditary Prince had any business to see the contract; that it had been sent to the sovereign of the Netherlands because it was a matter to be settled by fathers, but that the great provision of 50,000l. a year which was to be made, and the clause that her eldest son was, as the future Sovereign of England, to be sent when between three and four years of age over for education here, proved that no harm was intended her; that the second would be Sovereign of Holland, and educated there. He insisted on my repeating all this, and desired I would come back at twelve next day with her answer.
The answer which I took next day was not such a one as to procure me a favourable reception, for Princess Charlotte adhered firmly, though respectfully and very affectionately, to the purport of her first letter. However, I found the Prince less violent than the day before, but very uneasy. He recapitulated all that, he said, had passed with respect to Princess Charlotte’s engagement with the Prince of Orange, declared that he had not the slightest idea himself of the Prince of Orange being arrived, until Sir Henry brought him Princess Charlotte’s message, desiring to meet him at dinner next day, &c. &c. I was kept a long while, and at length dismissed, with the arrangement that the Duke of York would be sent to talk to Princess Charlotte on the subject.
When I returned, her Royal Highness positively denied having given any such message to Sir Henry Halford. The Duke of York and Mr. Adam came on the following day, and the Duke wished me to leave the room, though Princess Charlotte was desirous I should stay. When they were gone she seemed hurt and agitated, and said the Duke was to come next day for her answer, but that she would write to prevent it, as it was very painful to her, from her affection for him, to disagree with him. Mr. Adam soon after came back, and asked for me. He told me the Prince did not mean I should leave the room; that, on the contrary, he wished me to be present, and had now sent him to repeat to me all the arguments they had used with Princess Charlotte, that I might impress them on the mind of her Royal Highness, but that he could not stay now, as he was expected on business, and would return in the evening.
He came, and recapitulated what he had said in the morning with respect to Princess Mary, daughter of James the Second, and the Prince of Orange, &c. &c. He remarked, it was supposed Princess Charlotte must have legal advisers, as her letters were not those of a woman. I said that he must recollect, she had gone through a course of study on the laws of England, and by his own observation to me one evening at Carlton House, was allowed to be mistress of the subject. He smiled, and said her Royal Highness turned his arms against himself. He was in the midst of this when Princess Charlotte entered the room with the letter which she had been writing, as she said she would, to the Duke of York, and put it into Mr. Adam’s hand that he might read it; after which she sealed it and left the room. He conjured me to follow her and prevent its going; but before I arrived at the drawing-room it was gone. Miss Mercer was with her all the time. Her Royal Highness had been reading the passage in Burnet, where he mentions the provision made by the Peers to prevent Queen Mary the First from being taken out of the kingdom by Philip of Spain, &c. &c.
Next day the Duke of York came and desired to speak with me. He repeated to me all the arguments before used, and added that Princess Charlotte laboured under a great mistake, for that she seemed to consider herself as heir-apparent, whereas she could hardly be considered as presumptive heiress. He was very anxious to see her; but she refused it in the most peremptory manner, and was displeased with my pressing it, as she said I knew the pain it gave her.