William was glad when the ceremony was over and he was on his way back to Windsor. Passing Kensington Palace he remembered the Duchess and his anger returned. She was staying at Claremont now from where she would deign to come over to Windsor. He ordered the coachman to stop. He would call at Kensington Palace; he would inspect the Duchess’s apartments. She would not be there, but she would hear of his visit and it would let her know that the apartments she used belonged to him, and that if he had much more impertinence from her he would turn her out.
That woman needs a good lesson, he thought.
There was consternation among the servants. A royal visit. And they had had no notice of it.
He was amused to see their dismay.
‘I’ve come to see the apartments I allow the Duchess of Kent to use,’ he said in his free and easy way. ‘No, no need to take me – I know the way.’ He went to those which he had allotted to her.
To his amazement they were empty. He called: ‘Here. Come here. You, fellow. Where are the apartments of the Duchess and the Princess Victoria?’
‘If Your Majesty will come this way …’
If he would go that way! He would! And as he went he knew what had happened.
These were the rooms she had asked for and he had denied her. She had made alterations in his Palace. How many rooms had she taken? He was going to count for himself. Seventeen. The number for which she had asked; and she had turned the gallery into three rooms – without consulting him, going against his orders.
How dared she!
He went through the entire set of apartments … the bedrooms, the sitting-rooms, the dressing-rooms and the receiving-rooms. Trust her to make the place fit for a Queen.
He could not speak; he thought his anger would choke him.
He got into his carriage and growled the order: ‘To Windsor.’
The journey to Windsor seemed longer than usual. It was nearly ten o’clock when he arrived. The house party was assembled in one of the drawing-rooms and he went straight to it.
When Adelaide saw him she knew that something terrible had happened. He greeted her and his eyes went round the room until they rested on the Duchess of Kent who was standing with her daughter waiting to be greeted first because of her rank.
The King ignored her and held out his hand to Victoria.
‘My dear child,’ he said, ‘I am very glad to see you here. I am sorry I do not see you more often.’
Victoria was smiling her open affectionate smile and returning her uncle’s kiss warmly; she had not noticed that he was seething with rage.
He turned to the Duchess and bowed coldly.
Then he said in a voice which every person in the drawing-room could hear: ‘A great liberty has been taken with one of my palaces. I have just been to Kensington Palace where apartments have been taken against my express commands. I do not understand such conduct.’ He glared into the Duchess’s flushed face. ‘Nor will I endure it, for it is quite disrespectful to me.’
He then turned to Victoria who was trembling. So they had no right to those beautiful rooms! She had thought that her mother had asked for them and that the King had granted her request. How dreadful to think that Mamma had taken them against the King’s wishes. It was like stealing.
She would never enjoy them again.
The King was smiling at her. He wanted her to know that he did not include her in his disapproval.
‘So you’re at Claremont, eh. A lovely place. Always liked it. Reminds me of Bushy. Ah, I spent many happy years at Bushy.’
But there were tears in Victoria’s eyes and while she answered the King she thought: ‘Oh, Mamma, how dared you. All this trouble is your fault. Yours and that man’s … who persuaded you to it.’
The evening was brought to a hasty close. The King was tired and he was not fond of late nights in any case. Abruptly, he turned to Adelaide and said they would go to bed.
When he had gone, the Duchess led Victoria away; and Victoria knew that as soon as they had gone there would be an excited buzz of conversation as to what steps the King would take to punish the Duchess of Kent.
Adelaide was alarmed. The King’s anger had not been soothed by that outbreak in the drawing-room. In their bedroom he raved against the Duchess. He detested her, he said. If they had been living a couple of hundred years ago he would have sent her to the block. ‘No power nowadays,’ he mourned. ‘Kings … they’re controlled by Parliaments. But, by God, I won’t have that woman controlling me.’
Adelaide said: ‘In less than a year Victoria will be of age. Then everything will be different.’
‘Yes, by God, and I’ll see it is. But don’t let her think that in the meantime she can rule us.’
‘I am sure you made her feel very uncomfortable tonight.’
‘Good! Good! And I’ll make her a damned sight more uncomfortable before I’ve finished with her.’
‘William …’
‘Don’t you worry, Adelaide. Leave this to me. A King must have some say in how things should be done.’
‘It’s your birthday tomorrow. You should be at peace with the world.’
‘Nothing’s going to make me at peace with that woman.’
The next morning his anger had not abated.
Lady de l’lsle who was pregnant tried to soothe him. William was particularly tender to his eldest daughter because of her condition but he would not swerve from his resentment.
When Lord Adolphus FitzClarence called to wish his father a happy birthday William embraced him warmly, always delighted to have the family call of their own accord, always ready to forgive their slights and insults of the past, but he went on grumbling about that outrageous creature who was actually here in the Castle at this moment.
All through that day his anger smouldered but when it was time to go in to dinner he seemed much calmer. There were a hundred guests all come to celebrate his birthday and as it was to some extent a ceremonial occasion everyone must be seated with some concessions to precedence. It was very unfortunate that the Duchess of Kent must therefore be placed next to him.
Adelaide watched the King with apprehension; he was smiling and talking to Victoria, but she could see that the Princess was uneasy, no doubt remembering the King’s remarks of the previous evening.
All went well through the dinner except that the King did not address a word to the Duchess of Kent, and then Adelaide expressed the desire that the King’s health should be drunk. This was done and the King rose to thank his guests.
They believed that there was to be one of his long rambling speeches and were unprepared for what happened.
He began to shout and to the consternation of everyone he began his attack on the Duchess of Kent.
‘I trust in God that my life may be spared for nine months longer, after which period, in the event of my death, no Regency would take place.’ He paused and pointed to Victoria who sat as though petrified, unable to take her eyes from his purple face. ‘I should then,’ he went on, ‘have the satisfaction of leaving the royal authority to the personal exercise of that young lady, the heiress presumptive of the Crown, and not in the hands of a person now near me, who is surrounded by evil advisers and is herself incompetent to act with propriety in the station in which she would be placed. I have no hesitation in saying that I have been insulted – grossly and continually – by that person, but I am determined to endure no longer a course of behaviour so disrespectful to me. Among many other things I have particularly to complain of the manner in which that young lady has been kept away from my Court; she has been repeatedly kept from my Drawing-Rooms, at which she ought always to be present, but I am fully resolved that this shall not happen again. I would have her know that I am King, and I am determined to make my authority respected and for the future I shall insist and command that the Princess do upon all occasions appear at my Court, as it is her duty to do.’