Of course it must be remembered that the actors in this absurd scene were all young, though the Prince was the eldest and certainly twenty-nine.
For some reason, possibly by way of a joke, for he was extremely fond of joking, vide the Bubb Doddington incident, the Prince decreed that at this meal, his brother and all his sisters should sit on stools without any backs, whilst he and his bride luxuriated in arm-chairs at the head of the table. Upon this the Duke of Cumberland, who was fifteen, and the Princesses, refused to go into the Dining Chamber until the stools were all removed—there ought to have been one for the Princess Augusta’s doll—and chairs substituted in their place.
This formality being complied with, exception was taken by these young royalties to the fact that the Prince of Wales and the bride were being served on bended knee and they were not. This difficulty was got over by their being allowed to be waited on by their own servants, who it is presumed served them also on bended knee or in any other position in which it pleased them to have their food handed to them.
But these young sticklers remained firm on one point, they would not receive coffee from the Prince’s servants for fear they should “pass some indignity upon them with the cups.” Altogether it was a scene which was well fitted for a nursery, and no doubt heartily enjoyed by Augusta who had just come away from one.
It is notable that the King, perhaps having an idea what this dinner party of his children was likely to be, commanded that they were to dine “undressed,” that is in their ordinary clothes, and not in the grand paraphernalia of the wedding. This was probably a wise precaution.
The dinner and the various objections and counter-objections concerning the etiquette to be observed at the meal occupied nearly all the afternoon, so that when the time came for uprising, Augusta had barely time to withdraw to her rooms, and commence that most important dressing of a girl’s life, whether she be a princess or a ’prentice, her wedding toilette.
FOOTNOTES:
[30] “Old Blackbourn, the Archbishop of York, told her,” i.e., the Queen, “one day, that he had been talking to her Minister, Walpole, about the new mistress, and was glad to find that Her Majesty was so sensible a woman as to like her husband should divert himself.” Walpole’s Memoirs, App., p. 446.
[31] Hervey’s Memoirs.
[32] End of 1729.