He still had the verses which Miss Burney composed on his recovery after that frightful illness and which darling Amelia had presented to him. He remembered how sweet the child had looked and how she had spoken her piece which was: The little bearer begs a kissFrom dear Papa for bringing this. He would always treasure the memory. And whatever happened he had his darling Amelia.
Now he asked the Queen how Amelia’s cough was and when he heard that it was better he was much relieved.
‘I must bring up this matter of George’s debts to Parliament,’ he said. ‘I suppose they will be generous.’
‘It is the price he has to pay for his marriage.’ The Queen’s big crocodile mouth widened in a smile. ‘I daresay he is thinking the price a high one. Well, we all have to pay for our follies.’
‘You think he cannot take to the young woman, eh, what?’
‘I am sure he cannot. You will admit that she is a— spectacle.’
‘I thought she was a handsome enough young woman.’
‘Not handsome enough for George, evidently.’ The Queen gave a quick laugh.
‘Poor child,’ said the King compassionately. ‘It is not easy.’
‘Scarcely a child. I was some ten years younger when I came here.’
‘I know it. I know.’
‘I feel Louise would have been a better choice. Well, it is too late now. I can feel almost sorry for George.’
The King frowned. ‘I hope there will be no troubles about these debts. They are enormous. Some £620,000. How did he ever manage to let them grow to that extent, eh, what?’
The Queen shrugged her shoulders. ‘George will have the best of everything.’
She laughed again; but the King did not feel in the least like laughing. He was worried. It was not so long ago that the French had taken their king to the guillotine and cut off his head. When such a mighty conflagration as the Revolution was raging across the Channel, a neighbor so near as England could not expect to remain aloof. The execution of a king must stir up feeling against all monarchies. Are we so safe over here? wondered the King. And one of the most unpopular members of the royal family was the Prince of Wales.
‘If they go on like this,’ he said, ‘there’ll be no kings left in Europe. Eh, what?’
The Queen was accustomed to the manner in which the King’s thoughts strayed from one topic to another and she knew how much events on the other side of the Channel had preyed on his mind. If the King were incapacitated again she was going to make sure that she had a say in affairs and if George became Regent, she would conspire with Pitt to put a limit on his powers.
‘George’s behaviour does not help to make Royalty popular,’ she observed.
‘And now this marriage of his. If he had listened to me—’
‘When has he ever listened to either of us?’
The Queen lifted her shoulders. ‘Well, he married that his debts should be paid and it is high time that they should be. I hear that some of the trades-people involved are getting very restive.’
‘Something must be done— must be done. Don’t want trouble, eh, what?
Must speak to Pitt. Should not be too much delay.’
‘Yes, speak to Pitt. It is a well known fact that the Prince centered into this marriage for one reason only— and that was because he was in debt to such an extent that it could no longer go on.’
The Queen smiled. Lady Jersey reported to her regularly.
Between them— and with the help of the Prince, of, course— they would make Caroline wish she had never heard of the Prince of Wales.
Mr. Pitt was not inclined to make life easy for the Prince of Wales. Why should he? The heir to the throne had consistently shown himself to be the enemy of Mr. Pitt, had allied himself with Mr. Pitt’s enemies, and had made no secret of the fact that Fox was his man and on the day when he inherited the Crown he would do all in his power to oust Mr. Pitt from his position and set up in his place Mr. Fox or one of his Whig cronies.
The Prime Minister was too much of a politician to help such an enemy. It was Pitt who forced Fox to deny in the House of Commons the Prince’s marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert which had been responsible for making such a breach between Fox and the Prince that it had, Pitt believed, never entirely been healed. But the Prince was a Whig and Mr. Pitt and his Tones were prepared to do as little as possible for him.
The Prince’s debts seemed to be a recurring problem. How one man could manage to spend such large sums was a mystery. Should the Nation be expected to pay an extravagant young man’s gambling debts and those he had incurred in the pursuit of women— and Lady Jersey was one of the most rapacious of his band— merely because he was the Prince of Wales?
Certainly not.
Mr. Pitt made his proposals to the House of Commons.
The Prince’s debts, he explained, were once more a subject for discussion. He regretted to inform the House that they amounted to some £619,570— a vast sum of money they would all agree. He proposed as follows: The Prince’s income should be increased to £125,000 a year exclusive of those revenues due to him from the Duchy of Cornwall which he estimated as some £13,000 a year.
£120,000 should be allowed to the Prince for the completion of Carlton House.
He did not, however, propose to settle the Prince’s debts. He believed that the best manner of dealing with this problem was for the Treasury to deduct £73,000 from the Prince’s income per annum and this should be done until his debts were settled. This seemed to him the best possible solution to a delicate matter.
- When the Prince heard what the Government proposed he was furious.
He raved to Lady Jersey: ‘They have cheated me. I married this woman whom I loathe solely because my creditors were threatening action if they were not paid.
And I went through this marriage with her— this farce of marriage— and now I am worse off than ever. They have increased my income and will deduct £73,000 a year to pay these wretched debts. I shall be worse off than before.’
Lady Jersey was mournful. The Prince’s poverty affected her deeply. She did not wish him to cut down his expenses; she was doing very well and if there was less to be gained because the Prince must be ‘careful’— what a hateful word— he was far from pleased.
She tried to soothe him. ‘It is not final yet. It has to be passed.’
‘Pitt!’ he said. ‘It’s always Pitt. That fellow hates me. What a diabolical plot!
To deduct such a sum from my income!’
He thought of that other occasion when he had been unable to pay his debts and the King would not help him. He had economized; he had sold his horses, shut up most of Carlton House; and he and Maria had gone down to Brighton in a hired coach. It had seemed such fun then. They had enjoyed their economizing.
But then he had enjoyed everything with Maria. Maria had never wanted anything; she had never craved money, jewels— He looked with faint distaste at his mistress— that dainty creature who sometimes reminded him of a snake. But she still knew how to fascinate him, though not so completely as she once had done.
Yes, they had shut up Carlton House and gone down to Brighton and they had lived in a manner which he called humble— and now looking back he could believe that had been the happiest time of his life.
How different this was! His debts unpaid; his income raised and yet he would be poor because from it he would be obliged to pay his debts.
It was insulting. And it was more than that. It was infuriating, maddening and tragic because to achieve this end had had been forced to marry a woman he loathed, He hated her more than ever now. And what consolation had he? Frances Jersey— when his heart cried out for Maria Fitzherbert.