23rd.—Prince Leopold arrived in Paris, on his way to Germany and Italy. He dined with the King at St. Cloud.
28th.—Prince Leopold dined with Sir Charles Stuart. He is often with the Orleans family. It is said that the Duke de Richelieu has persuaded the two Royalist Ministers, Messieurs de Corbière and de Villèle, to remain in office. They were going to resign.
29th.—At Prince Castelcicala’s I met Don Luigi Medici, who has been to the coronation in England, having left Rome a few weeks ago. He happily escaped from Naples without passport or bill of health, having concealed himself for three days, as he was on the proscribed list, and would have been murdered by the Carbonari. He was an excellent Minister of Finance, but the rebels knew he would not forward their views. His account of the whole affair was very interesting. Amongst other horrid things, there was a procession of forty thousand men armed with stilettoes. It is difficult to decide whether atrocious rapacity on the one side, or cowardly weakness on the other, were most conspicuous.
Princess Augusta has gone to see her sisters in Germany, and the King to Ireland.
August 9th.—The Duke de Richelieu received a telegraphic account of the death of the Queen of England.[[91]] For some days the reports of her case had been very bad.
13th.—Mrs. Lutwyche and I went to the Tuileries, where the King, Madame, and the Duke d’Angoulême received company; all very gracious.
14th.—The remains of the late Queen of England have been removed from Brandenburg House, where she died, to be taken to Harwich, and embarked for the Continent, as she had expressed a desire that she might be buried at Brunswick. The telegraph gave sad accounts of the scuffle between the Government and the populace, in which some persons lost their lives, and others were wounded.
September 7th.—I heard Don Luigi Medici say that there was some reason for the persecution by the English of the late Queen of Naples, Caroline of Austria. He believed that Lord William Bentinck, and the English in general, were deceived by letters to Bonaparte, fabricated in her name. These letters were forged by a Neapolitan notary, who imitated her handwriting perfectly, and were thrown in the way of the English, in order to be intercepted by them. This notary was in the employ of Bonaparte. Another circumstance which appeared to confirm the suspicions of the English was this: When Lucien Bonaparte was taken by an English frigate, he wrote to the Queen of Naples, and enclosed open letters, which he wished to have forwarded to his sister, &c., throwing himself on her generosity. Medici and others advised her to show those letters to the English authorities, but she said that she would not betray even an enemy, and particularly one who had trusted her. These letters also were intercepted, and told against her.
25th.—A telegraphic despatch from Calais announced that the King of England had landed there at five o’clock. He goes to Hanover, but it is said that he has given up the intention of coming to Paris on his way home. He had very stormy weather on his passage from Ireland, and stayed in London only long enough to appoint the Lords Justices for the government of the kingdom during his absence.
29th.—Michaelmas-day—anniversary of the birth of the Duke de Bordeaux. I went to Court at the Tuileries, and saw the King, Madame, the Duke d’Angoulême, Monsieur, and the Duke de Berri. Monsieur told me that the King of England did not now mean to come to Paris, but that he gave hopes of their seeing him in the spring.