In fact, she would not have him, and Papa did not like it. Naturally, the Satirists of the time got hold of their estrangement, and improved the occasion. I reproduce one print, "Miss endeavouring to excite a Glow with her Dutch Plaything." The Princess says to her father, "There! I have kept it up a long while; you may send it away now, I am tired of it. Mother has got some better play-things for me." The Regent replies, "What! are you tired already? Take another spell at it, or give me the whip." To which the Princess answers, "No, no! You may take the Top, but I'll keep the whip."
There was another, "The Dutch Toy." The Princess is represented as whipping a Top, with the letters P. O. painted on it, saying, "Take this for Ma! and this for Pa! and this! and this! for myself, you ugly thing, you." Through an open door the Regent's arm is seen, carrying a portentous birch rod; and he warns her that if she does not find pleasure in whipping the Top, he will exercise his paternal authority with the instrument which he bears. There are others, but they are hardly worth repeating.
She had met with her fate. We all know that there is in a woman's life but one "Prince Charming." Sometimes he never comes, but, as a rule, he does. Well! here was a case. That fairy Godmother, the Duchess of Oldenburgh, living at her Pulteney Hotel, could, of course, entertain any guests she liked; and one morning, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, whilst paying a visit to the Duchess, met with the Princess Charlotte. People have given up thinking of how marriages are made, and put the onus on a Higher Power, and say they are made in Heaven. She met her kismet, and, as far as is publicly known, her brief life was spent happily. England, as a nation, ought to be very thankful for this union, for it gave our most gracious Queen Victoria one of the wisest and kindest Counsellors possible—King Leopold of Belgium. There must be many, besides myself, who read these pages, who recollect the kindly gentleman who used to come over here, just as if he was going to pay a call in the next street, without any fuss, and to whom one would regret the not paying the ordinary courteous form of recognition, because he was so unostentatious. The History of Europe knows the effect of his quiet counsel.
THE DEVONSHIRE MINUET.
(Published May 29, 1813, by Wm. Holland.)
But who would recognize him in the accompanying illustration? Ay de mi! He and the Princess Charlotte danced that Minuet, and are no more; but, for the time being, they were a handsome, graceful couple.
The Orange affair fell through; and, as far as I am concerned, who only have to deal with what people talked about in England at that time, there is an end of it. But something, or somebody, irritated Papa, and he resolved that Mademoiselle's independence must be curtailed, and that in future she must live—well, not exactly with him, but under his roof, at Carlton House. I have read all I know that there is to be read on the subject, and I prefer letting one of the parties tell the tale. It, and much more, can be found in "The Autobiography of Miss Cornelia Knight, Lady Companion to the Princess Charlotte of Wales" (2 vols. London, 1861).
"About this time the Bishop,[25] who often saw the Chancellor, and Lord Liverpool, and was, also, I believe, employed by the Regent, who, formerly, disliked and despised him, hinted to Princess Charlotte, in a private conversation, and to me, on paper—as I wrote to him on the subject—that, unless Princess Charlotte would write a submissive letter to her father, and hold out a hope that in a few months she might be induced to give her hand to the Prince of Orange, arrangements would be made, by no means agreeable to her inclinations. Her Royal Highness wrote to the Regent a most submissive and affectionate letter, but held out no hope of renewing the treaty of marriage.