And no one denied him.
Brougham knew that he had averted a difficult situation. The Princess Charlotte would return and obey her father.
The allied forces against Napoleon had entered Paris; Napoleon had been obliged to abdicate and had retired to Elba. The French exiles, who had been living in as much state as they could muster in Aylesbury, had left with great pomp and ceremony for Versailles.
Caroline was thoughtful. The Continent was safe for travellers. Why should she not put into practice a plan which had been formulating for a long time?
Why should she stay in England to be humiliated? Why should she not travel?
She had always wanted to. Next to children, travel could excite her more than anything in the world.
There was only one person who could keep her here for she could take Willikin with her: that was Charlotte. But of what use was she to Charlotte? In fact now that Charlotte had been sent to Cranbourne Lodge in Windsor Forest, she doubted whether she would be allowed to see her for months.
No, she was the cause of much of the friction between Charlotte and her father.
She would be better out of the way.
Of one thing she could be certain. The Regent would put nothing in the way of her going.
She was right. He did not. And so Caroline began to make her plans to leave England.
The Spy at the Villa d’Este
So it was goodbye to England. Caroline’s feelings were mixed. It was sad to leave Charlotte; but she had Willikin to comfort her; and as she drove to Worthing with the boy and her two ladies-in-waiting, Lady Charlotte Lindsay and Lady Elizabeth Forbes, she believed that she had at least some of whom she loved to be her constant companions. Lady Charlotte Campbell had gone to Europe in advance and would join her later; and in her there was another dear friend.
The people had cheered her all along the route. It was as though they did not wish her to go. She had their sympathy. She took Willie’s hand and pressed it; he was excited, excited to be setting out on adventures with his dear Mamma who spoilt him, as everyone said, so atrociously.
Brougham had not wished her to go; in fact he had done his best to dissuade her. She was not entirely sure of him; in fact she was not sure of any politicians and often wondered how politic their partisanship was. Were they for her for the sake of their party— or against her for that reason? She was well aware that numbers of her enemies were such because they wished to please the Prince Regent.
She thought as she had many times of how different her life, would have been if she had been allowed to marry dearest Töbingen. Then she would have had a big family of children— not just one daughter whom she could scarcely call her own because the dear child had never been allowed to be with her, and one son who was not her own, much as she loved him. She had been forced to lavish all that great mother-love on Willikin and sometimes she admitted to herself that he was extremely self-willed and not very intelligent. Not that she did not love him.
She loved all children. But if she could have had that Töbingen brood— Brougham had said to her: ‘Your Highness should never forget that what the Prince Regent desires is to prove you guilty of immorality. He wants a divorce.
You are going to be surrounded by spies.’
That had made her laugh. ‘I will give them something to report to their master.’
‘I beg of Your Highness to take care.’
‘Why, my dear friend,’ she replied, ‘you would deprive me of one of the greatest pleasures in my life which is precisely not taking care.’
Brougham was dismayed. What a wild impulsive woman she was, impossible to direct.
He looked at her severely. ‘Your Highness should know the worse. Do you know what the Duke of Clarence has told the Captain of the ship on which you sail?’
‘Well, I should be surprised if he spoke against me. My brothers-in-law have always been my friends.’
‘He does not think to speak unkindly. Your Highness knows there has been much scandal surrounding you.’
‘Ha. Those Douglases! I’d like to see them in court. And what has Clarence said of me?’
‘He has told the Captain that he should have a love affair with you, that he can be sure he would not be repulsed and the Prince Regent would have no objection.
In fact would be more likely to reward him.’
Caroline burst out laughing. ‘It has come to a pretty pass when Mrs.
Fitzherbert’s husband tries to bribe a noble sea captain to sleep with me!’
Poor Brougham! He had been exasperated with her. And no wonder. After all his defence of her was going to make him famous. And he believed that her mode of life would certainly lead her into trouble sooner or later and this was particularly so since the Prince Regent would do his best to bring her there.
But nothing he could say would deter her. She was going on her travels because life in England was no longer endurable. She was to be known as the Countess of Wolfenbüttel— a thin disguise, for her face and figure had been made well known by the cartoonists, and her heavy pelisse caught together by fasteners of gold, and her hat of mauve and green, on which drooped a large green feather, were characteristic of the Princess of Wales. She had designed a costume for her gentlemen— embroidered black coats lined with scarlet silk, gold embroidered waistcoats and feathered hats.
She was clearly no ordinary traveller.
From the first there was an uneasy atmosphere in the travelling party, every member of which was aware that they might be called upon at some future time to report on the Princess’s actions. Caroline herself seemed to be unaware of this— or perhaps indifferent to it; but there was not one member of her suite who could bear to contemplate giving evidence against the Princess— which would be extremely disloyal, or against the Prince Regent which would be extremely unwise.
There was scarcely one of them who did not wish himself or herself back in England. At the best this was not a pleasure trip; it was banishment, and home began to look very inviting.
Lady Charlotte Lindsay begged leave to go and visit her sister Lady Glenbervie at Spa.
‘You must go and see the dear creature,’ declared Caroline. ‘And rejoin me at Naples.’
By the time she reached Brunswick her chamberlain St. Leger had begged leave to return to England, for his heath could not stand up to the rigours of travel.
Caroline gave the permission and the Hon. Keppel Craven took his place. Sir William Gell who had shared a chamberlain’s duties with St. Leger began, to suffer acutely from the gout but he remained with her, and realizing now that her suite were not anxious to accompany her— and guessing the reason— she shrugged her shoulders, but she did feel very grateful to the few who remained.
It was a strange feeling to be back in Brunswick. It had changed. After all there had been the occupation. Her brother greeted her with affection and she was delighted to see him back in possession of his lands. She walked through the old palace and recalled memories of her childhood; she lingered in the courtyard where she had often talked with Major von Töbingen. And there was her bedroom where she had staged that disastrous scene when she had pretended she was pregnant.
What anxieties she had caused to her dear good father! She was sorry for it now.
But the more they cage me, she thought, the more outrageous I become. It is not that I am wildly eccentric so much as that I wish people to believe I am. They suspect me and I want to make them go on suspecting. What causes it? Who will ever know? Perhaps wise Madame de Hertzfeldt would. No one else. She had no desire to stay longer in Brunswick at this time but told her brother she would come back in the spring. Her intention was to spend the winter in Naples.