‘I know. I know. Perhaps I might put this case to His Highness. Perhaps I could explain to him. He may not realize that you write English even worse than you speak it.’
‘So you will tell him that I insist on bringing her?’
‘I will put the case to him and ask him to allow you to bring her.’
Caroline laughed suddenly. ‘It is the same thing,’ she said.
Her father looked at her anxiously; and thought of her sister Charlotte who had mysteriously, disappeared in Russia. How had she behaved to attract such a fate?
What was wrong with the children he had had by the Duchess— born of dislike and indifference. Oh, God, he thought, we royal people are to be pitied because we are forced into marriages which are repugnant to us; and not only do we suffer, but our children also. And what would happen to Caroline? Looking at her now, seeing the stubbornness in her face, hearing that wild laughter, he wondered.
But he would at least endeavour to explain to the Prince of Wales that his daughter needed the help of a secretary.
The Duchess sent for her daughter. When Caroline arrived her mother was lying back in a chair in a most dramatic attitude, a letter held in her hand.
‘Caroline! My daughter!’ she cried. ‘Shut the door. Make sure no one is listening.’
Caroline regarded her mother with distrust, but there was no doubt that the Duchess was genuinely agitated.
‘I have a letter here from— I know not whom— but it is most distressing. I don’t know what to make of it. But if it is true it— it horrifies me.’
‘What is it?’ asked Caroline, seating herself inelegantly on her mother’s bed.
‘It is unsigned. It tells me that Lady Jersey is the mistress of the Prince of Wales, that she is treated as the Princess of Wales and that he will continued to treat her as such after your arrival.’
‘What?’ cried Caroline and snatched the letter from her mother’s hand.
‘Oh dear, your manners! What will they think at the English Court— and if this is true— and I really believe―’
But Caroline was not listening to her mother; she was reading the letter.
The Prince of Wales doted on Lady Jersey; he spent most of his time with her; she was received at all the greatest houses as though she were Princess of Wales.
The letter purported to be a warning to the Princess against Lady Jersey who, it was said, would do all in her power to undermine Caroline’s position in England.
She would almost certainly attempt to find a lover for the Princess and aid her to continue the intrigue.
‘What will become of you,’ moaned the Duchess, taking the letter from her daughter and starting to read it again.
‘No one is going to lead me into a love affair if I don’t want to go,’ declared Caroline.
‘You don’t understand how clever these people can be. Even if you were not tempted—’ The Duchess looked knowingly at her daughter as though she were sure she would be— ‘that woman would make out a case against you. Oh, I am terrified— truly terrified.’
‘Nobody is going to make out cases against me,’ declared Caroline.
‘I fear, my child, that you are going among wolves.’
‘You forget that I have the Brunswick lion in my heart.’
That might be, thought the Duchess, but it was a somewhat wild animal.
‘I will speak to dear Lord Malmesbury about the letter,’ said Caroline. ‘Pray give it to me, Mamma.’
‘I am not sure.’
‘I am,’ said Caroline, and snatched the letter.
‘I think you should be very careful, Caroline. Lord Malmesbury is, you must remember, working for the King.’
‘No,’ said Caroline almost gently, ‘he is working for me.’ Her mother looked after her helplessly as she went out.
‘Pray, my Lord Malmesbury, tell me all you know about Lady Jersey.’ He was taken aback, she saw. So there was something in it. ‘Is she the Prince’s mistress? Come, be frank.’
‘The Prince has many friends and in a cultivated society friendship between members of opposite sexes does not necessarily indicate a love affair. Why does Your Highness ask?’
Caroline brought out the letter. He read it and could not hide his dismay.
Then he said: ‘An anonymous letter! One should never take such letters seriously. It may well be some milliner who is disappointed not to have obtained a post in the household that is being made ready for you. Some maidservant—’
“Do you think such people would have intimate knowledge of my husband’s affairs?’
‘I see that there is much you have to learn of the English scene. There is constant gossip in the chocolate and coffee houses concerning people in high places. Royalty does not escape. Rather is royalty, treated more scurrilously than most. That is why it is always so important to live exemplarily. The writer of this letter has clearly been listening to gossip. She— or he— shows a complete ignorance of affairs. This letter should be immediately destroyed and forgotten.’
‘So you mean I should not be on my guard against Lady Jersey?’
‘Your Highness should be on guard against everyone.’
‘But not specially Lady Jersey?’
‘Especially against those members of the Court with whom Your Highness will be in close contact.’
‘But it says she will attempt to lead me into an affair of gallantry.’
‘Complete nonsense. She could do no such thing.’
‘And why not, pray?’
‘Because, Your Highness, no man would dare make advances to the Princess of Wales.’
It was then that Malmesbury felt more than a twinge of uneasiness, for the Princess actually looked disappointed. ‘Why not?’ she demanded shrilly.
‘Because, Your Highness, anyone who presumed to love you would be guilty of high treason, which as Your Highness will know is punishable by death.’
‘By death!’
‘But certainly. It is a universal law. The King’s own sister, Caroline Matilda, who was Queen of Denmark, took a lover. He was executed; and she would have been also but for the intervention of His Majesty. She was imprisoned and died in prison when she was about Your Highness’s own age.’
The Princess Caroline had turned pale, and Malmesbury pressed home his advantage.
‘So you see, this is the letter of a person who is unfamiliar with the ways of the Court. It should be destroyed. I am surprised—’ He stopped himself in time.
He had been about to say that he was surprised that the Duchess should show it to her daughter. His friendship with Caroline was making him forget his diplomatic manners.
‘It is addressed to my mother,’ she said. ‘I will take it back to her and tell her to destroy it.’
‘Destroy and forget it,’ admonished Lord Malmesbury.
She almost flounced out.
What lack of grace! he thought. What will the Prince think of her? Lady Jersey’s task will not be difficult, I fear, and of course she will call attention to these gaucheries. Poor Caroline! What can I do to save her from unhappiness? In the Duchess’s apartments Caroline was saying: ‘So you see, Mamma, this is merely the spiteful letter of a disappointed servant. Lord Malmesbury says that no man would I dare attempt to be my lover, for if he did he would be punished by death.’
Caroline’s eyes gleamed. How exciting— to face death for a lover. If Lady Jersey were in truth the mistress of the Prince of Wales and she wanted a lover she would most certainly not hesitate. Why should she? If he could be unfaithful, so could she. She would have faced death for dearest Töbingen. Could there be another like him?
The Duchess was thinking: Death to love the Princess of Wales? Could that really be the law? It certainly had been flouted in the case of her own mother. She remembered the Dowager Princess of Wales who had been so enamoured of Lord Bute that she had been unable to keep her devotion secret. She had never heard any suggestion that they should be sentenced to death— although everyone knew of the connection. He used to visit her openly; he behaved like a father to young George— and it was a very cosy comfortable arrangement. The people had not liked it, of course. But that was because they had not liked Lord Bute— it was not due to the fact that he was the Princess’s lover but that he was a Scotsman who had wanted to rule England.