But the King was a simple man and not accustomed to delving into the innermost recesses of his mind to understand his own motives. He merely said: ‘I can’t abide that fellow Fox.’ And he never asked himself if his dislike had anything to do with the loss of Sarah.
Charles James knew that he would never be the leader of the House if the King could help it, and although the King was dependent on his ministers, the King’s favour was of the greatest importance to the members of his government.
So the wily Fox had turned his eyes to the young man who was just emerging into the limelight. If the King would have none of him, why not cultivate the Prince? Why not educate the Prince in politics. Why not revive the old custom – so prevalent in the Hanoverian dynasty – of setting son against father. There could be, as there had been before, the King’s party and that of the Prince of Wales; and as every wise man knew it was more intelligent to attach one’s wagon to the rising than to the setting star.
The Prince was breaking out of his shell; he was indulging in amatory adventures to the tolerant amusement of the cynical members of the Court, and although a small part of these rumours reached the ears of his parents and their staid supporters, very little could be done to prevent the princely exploits. The Prince was as much a prisoner now as they could make him – still he managed his secret intrigues. But when he was eighteen they could scarcely treat him as a child of twelve. The people would never allow that. And George was only a few months from his eighteenth birthday.
When he did appear in public the people cheered him wildly. George was all they expected a prince to be. With his powdered hair setting off the pink and white of his complexion and making his eyes look more blue than ever he was indeed a Prince Charming. Silver buckled shoes, coats of blue and pink satin, white buckskin breeches … He was a joy to behold. And while he was young and handsome the people would love him; and was it not always the case that after a period of Puritan rule the people adored a rake? And young as he was, George was showing all signs of fast becoming that.
‘Reflect,’ said Charles James Fox to his friend Edmund Burke, ‘how the people welcomed the restoration of Charles the Second. How they adored him when he promenaded in St James’s Park, a mistress on either side and more following behind. And how they loathed poor dull Noll Cromwell because he was a faithful husband and a Puritan. So do they feel about His virtuous but oh so dull and just a little stupid Majesty.’
Burke agreed with Fox, but Fox was not going to leave it at that. He had an idea and like most of his ideas it was a brilliant one.
It was natural that since the King showed no favour towards him he should be on good terms with those who had a grudge against His Majesty and his mind immediately went to the Cumberlands.
Henry, Duke of Cumberland had, under the influence of his Duchess, the lady whose eyelashes had brought her fame and fortune, smarted under the King’s neglect. The King did not wish to see his brother Henry. Whenever he thought of him he remembered the disgusting affair with Lady Grosvenor, and phrases from those very revealing letters which Cumberland had written to the lady, and which betrayed such eroticism as the King had scarcely known existed, haunted his nightmares in which to his dismay women figured so prominently. No, the King could not bear to see Cumberland. It was different with his brother William, Duke of Gloucester, who had made another mésalliance, it was true, by marrying Lady Waldegrave, but although this lady was illegitimate and a milliner’s daughter, Gloucester’s life was comparatively respectable. Moreover, the King had always been very fond of Gloucester.
This state of affairs made the Cumberlands even more resentful, and it was to them that Charles James Fox decided to turn.
He called at the Cumberland House where he was always a welcome guest. Fox was a witty conversationalist, a high liver, a gambler, an amorist – in fact he indulged freely in all the fleshly vices. At the same time he was the cleverest politician in the country and while the Cumberlands could attract such men to their house their parties could be the most amusing in town. Moreover, they could give not only offence but anxiety to the King.
Fox, a stubble on his double chin, for over-indulgence in food and drink had made him fat in spite of the fact that he was only thirty years of age, his coat slightly splashed with grease from his last meal, for he made no concessions to royal dukes, arrived at Cumberland House, his mind full of the project.
The Duchess, fluttering her long lashes, received him boisterously. There was nothing regal about the Duchess. Her conversation was amusing and droll and not untouched by coarseness, but she was a very beautiful woman.
The Duke was with his wife – a small man with the loose Hanoverian mouth and the rather bulging blue eyes. Charles James had little respect for his intelligence – the Duchess had more – but his position as uncle to the Prince of Wales made him important.
He believed that Fox had come for a gamble, for the politician was a gambler by nature and could never resist a game of chance, but Fox quickly disillusioned him.
‘I have come to talk to Your Highness of your nephew.’
‘George!’ cried the Duchess. ‘There is no talk of anything but George. What a rascal the boy is becoming! He’ll soon be a rival to his uncle.’
The Duke grinned at her.
‘I hope someone will warn him not to write letters,’ continued the irrepressible Duchess. ‘Love letters can be costly when those who receive them are no longer in love.’
The Duke laughed at this reference to the Grosvenor case. ‘Is everyone going to go on talking of that forever?’
‘I’m sure it is what His Gracious Majesty holds against you … far more than your marriage to me.’
‘The Prince will need guidance,’ said Fox.
‘He’ll get it,’ laughed the Duke.
‘Never fear, dear Mr Fox,’ went on the Duchess. ‘Papa keeps him in his gilded cage and Mamma has tied his reins very firmly to her apron strings.’
‘All’s very well while he’s a minor. Your Highnesses forget he will soon be eighteen. Then we shall see changes.’
‘Changes!’ mused the Duchess. ‘He has shown very clearly the way he will go. Ladies, short and tall, fair and dark will lead him by the hand. And, Mr Fox, is it not charming of him to prefer beautiful English women … not like his ancestors who like ugly German ones.’
‘He is behaving … naturally,’ said Charles James. ‘Of course he is up in arms against his father.’
‘Which does not surprise me,’ put in Cumberland.
‘It would surprise me if it were otherwise,’ said the Duchess. ‘The King has treated our Prince like a naughty child in the past and is continuing to do so … in spite of the fact that he has shown the world so clearly that he is in possession of his manhood. I don’t know the number of seductions to date …’ She glanced at the Duke. ‘Perhaps you do, my darling. But they are too many for a boy. Our Prince is a man.’
‘The last one is a rather amusing story,’ said the Duke. ‘It concerns a certain married lady of the Palace. Yes, His Highness is finding married ladies very much to his taste.’
‘Preferring experience to innocence,’ added the Duchess. ‘Wise young man.’
‘There very nearly was a mighty scandal over this affair,’ said the Duke.
‘There very nearly always is a mighty scandal. Don’t look so disappointed, Mr Fox. We’ll have our mighty scandal pretty soon, I promise you.’
‘It’ll come,’ agreed Fox. ‘And then he must have someone to turn to … someone to help him.’
‘He’ll get his reproaches from the Queen and a lecture from the King, who’ll tell him he wishes he could use the cane on him as he did when he was a bad boy.’