But whenever she thought of that—which could not now be far distant—she shivered with apprehension. What had been happening during his absence was almost an open declaration of war between them.
While she lay recovering from her ordeal Townsend came to see her.
The Prince was with her and as soon as the minister entered the apartment George Augustus dismissed their attendants, for both he and Caroline saw at once that something was wrong,
Townsend lost no time in telling them.
"I am dismissed from office," he said. "On the King's orders. Stanhope is now Prime Minister."
"Dismissed! " cried the Prince.
"Townsend nodded. "Bothmer has been reporting to Hanover. The King does not approve of our friendship. It was the last straw when I asked that you might have special powers to open Parliament since he was so long away."
The Prince was speechless.
Caroline lay back on her pillows and thought: The battle has begun.
The King was coming back to England, and the Christmas celebrations had been soured by this knowledge. It could not be long now. The days of glory were coming to an end.
The Prince, clinging to power as long as possible, strutted in the Park reviewing the troops. He made more public appearances than ever, bowing, smiling, showing the people how he loved them; and his popularity was at its height. One early morning when a fire broke out near the Palace he rose from his bed and helped to put it out. Not content with that he sent money to people who had lost their homes. Everyone was talking of his bravery and consideration for his father's subjects; when the news that the mad man who had tried to shoot him at Drury Lane had made an attack on his warders in Newgate, the story of his courage was recalled.
"This is truly the Guardian of the Realm," said one newspaper.
The Prince was pleased and more able to live in the present than Caroline, who now fully recovered in health awaited the return of the King with growing apprehension.
And one day at the end of January George I returned to England.
The Prince met him at Blackheath. When his coach came to a halt the Prince alighted and went to that of the King.
As a crowd had gathered to see the meeting the King could do nothing but alight.
They faced each other and embraced while the people cheered.
Then they got into the King's coach together as though they were the best of friends. But the Prince had caught the cold dislike in the eyes of his father.
They continued the journey to St. James's in stony silence.
The Fateful Christening
It was once more summer at Hampton Court. But how different was this summer from the last! There was common talk now of the Prince's Party and the King's Party and it was well known, not only at Court, but throughout the country that the King and his son were enemies.
The only way in which peace was maintained was by seeing that the Prince and the King were kept out of each other's way, and as they had no wish to see each other this was not difficult. The King declared himself most dissatisfied with his son; the Prince made no secret of the fact that he hated his father.
Caroline alone kept up a pretence that all was well; and however vehemently she expressed her dislike of her father-in-law in private, she always behaved with the utmost respect in public.
They had moved to Hampton Court for the summer; the King was not as displeased to be back in England now as he had been in the winter, for he had promised himself another trip to Hanover in the not too distant future while he resigned himself to the fact that as King of England he must spend some of his time in that country.
And at Hampton Court the King made an attempt to gain a little popularity, since his son had acquired a great deal during his absence. It was not easy for George, but he did try; he allowed conversation at the dinner table in which he sometimes joined, speaking French for he still made no effort whatsoever to speak English. He would sometimes sit in the pavilion and watch the bowl players, or take a turn at the cards; he often listened to music; he liked to take supper alone with Ermengarda, who was now the Duchess of Kendal, making sure that they retired early to what he called "a seasonable bedtime".
Caroline was pleased that they were at Hampton. She was once more pregnant and this time was determined to take more care of herself. She longed for a son; and the very root of her resentment against the King was the fact that he would not allow Fritzchen to come to England.
The Whig Ministry had been reformed with Stanhope and Sunderland at its head. Sunderland however, had become a great favourite of the King's for two reasons. One was his intense dislike of the Prince of Wales; and the other that he had become fast friends with the Duchess of Kendal, whose long association with the King had made her as a wife to him, and also with Bernstorff who was the King's chief adviser. Even Stanhope, brilliant master of foreign affairs that he was—and the King appreciated his worth—could not compete with that. As for Townsend, although he had lost his office, he was, with Walpole, still of some importance; yet, to the chagrin of Caroline and the Prince, since the return of the King, the friendship towards them and these two men had waned considerably. They seemed as though instead of being the support they had promised to be, they merely wanted to remain on good terms, ready for the day when the Prince would be in power.
Still, there were Whigs who were very dissatisfied with the reigning ministry and these formed the nucleus of the Prince's party.
There was one man whom the Prince and Caroline disliked and distrusted more than any other and that was the Duke of Newcastle. The Duke had shown his contempt for the Prince and stood firmly against him. That was something George Augustus and Caroline found hard to forgive.
But there was fortunately no obligation to see much of the man. In fact, because of her pregnancy, and moreover because of the last confinement which had ended so disastrously, Caroline made every excuse to live quietly in her own apartments.
This she did, and it was pleasant to have her little girls with her. They had become devoted to her now that they could be so much together, but she was rather alarmed to notice that Anne was aware of certain follies in her father. She had seen the child watching him when he betrayed his vanity, or quick temper, or some lack of perception. If Anne became critical of her father she would have to correct that. She shuddered to think of having her children in conflict with their parents. Anne was old enough to know of course, of the strife between her father and grandfather. On no account must that be repeated.
So with the family together and the excitement of intrigues with those politicians who, even though the King had returned, remained faithful to the Prince, life was far from tedious. Although at times when Caroline was made aware of the choleric temper of her husband and the soured vindictive-ness of his father she did feel as though she were sitting on gunpowder.
There was storm in the sultry air all that summer when everyone was comparing it with that of the previous year.
And in October Caroline and the Prince returned to St. James's to be ready for Caroline's lying-in.
Exactly a year after the disaster when she had lost her child and almost her own life through her prudery in not allowing Sir David Hamilton to attend her, Caroline gave birth to a son.
She was delighted, but not more so than the Prince. He came to her, his face pink with emotion as he knelt by her bed and kissed her hands.
"My tear, my tear, this the happiest day ... Now you vill not miss little Fritzchen so much, eh?"
"Wunderbar . .. vunderbar!" whispered Caroline.
"And vere is this little fellow?"