Orange looked on with some astonishment. She hoped that he was admiring her father.
With perfect timing the Regent stopped his act and became statesmanlike.
‘The engagement shall not yet be made public,’ he said. ‘Her Majesty would be put out if she heard through any other means than by my special messenger. I think perhaps the Duke of York should take the news to her.’ He smiled charmingly at Clarence. ‘She would expect it from my eldest brother.’
Clarence said he would inform the Duke of York without delay.
‘And now,’ said the Regent expansively, ‘I think our betrothed young people might have an opportunity of sauntering through the rooms … alone.’
So they sauntered, shyly, wondering what to say to each other. The Regent’s display of eloquence had left them tongue tied.
‘I … I had expected you to be a little different,’ said Charlotte awkwardly, implying that he was not so bad as she had expected.
‘And I had thought you would be different from what you are.’
They smiled and suddenly it struck Charlotte that just as she had heard about the lack of charm of Slender Billy he had doubtless heard stories of her.
It struck her as funny and she burst out laughing, rather hysterical laughter, for it was very disconcerting to have made up one’s mind to refuse a suitor and then find oneself affianced to him.
But Orange was laughing.
Yes, thought Charlotte, he is not so bad.
And she began to feel better.
When she returned to Warwick House she would talk to no one. Louisa helped her out of the purple satin; Cornelia wanted to speak to her; but she was silent.
They were disturbed, knowing something had happened, but she refused to allow them to question her.
The next morning the Prince of Orange called at Warwick House.
When he was announced Charlotte said to Cornelia: ‘He is my betrothed.’
‘You cannot mean …’ began Cornelia.
‘I do. It happened last night at Carlton House.’
‘So you agreed.’
‘Well, not exactly. It happened. I did not quite know how but one moment my father asked me how I felt and the next I was engaged.’
Cornelia stared in horror at Charlotte, who swept past her, and Cornelia following went down to greet the Prince.
Oh dear, thought Cornelia, hardly prepossessing. Really plain … and he does not look healthy. She cannot really be in love with him. In love with him! But of course she is not.
But perhaps she is, for she loves strange people. Gloucester for instance. But that was not serious. Devonshire, Hesse, Fitzclarence. They all except Gloucester, who did not count, had a romantic air about them which this young boy from Holland lacked.
She could hear the betrothed pair talking together. They sounded like two ordinary young people getting to know each other. Charlotte did not seem desperately unhappy so perhaps she was reconciled to her father’s wishes.
When he had left the Princess was uncommunicative – but quiet and serious. Cornelia wished that Mercer were here so that they could discuss the matter together.
The next day the Prince of Orange came again and with him was the Prince Regent.
The latter was more cordial to Cornelia than he had been for some time; he was clearly good-humoured and delighted with himself and the young people.
‘The Prince of Orange was so eager to call on the Princess,’ he told Cornelia, ‘that I thought I would accompany him here. Charlotte, you and the Prince will have a great deal to say to each other and I will sit awhile and talk to the Chevalier. I have something to say to her.’
Cornelia felt a twinge of apprehension, wondering what the Regent had to say to her.
She soon discovered. He had not forgotten her rather careless conduct in riding out to Chiswick with the Princess. He wanted her to be especially careful, particularly now that Charlotte was affianced. He had noticed that his daughter’s behaviour was sometimes what he would call ‘light’. He did not think those who had been put in charge of her should allow her to behave in this way. She was an innocent young girl, he was fully aware of that. But he did not want people to suppose for one moment that it could be otherwise. And people were inclined to put unfortunate constructions on the most innocent actions. He did not want to have to lay the blame at any door, there were so many who would say that there was some fault in her household.
Cornelia thought of the Hesse letters and shivered.
This rather disturbing conversation was brought to an end by the sound of violent sobbing in the next room. The Regent sprang to his feet and hurried in the direction of the sobs. Charlotte had thrown herself on to a sofa and was crying bitterly while the Prince of Orange was standing helplessly by.
‘Is he taking his leave of you?’ asked the Regent. ‘Well, well, you must not be distressed. You will have plenty of chances to be alone with him.’ He turned to Orange. ‘In spite of her protests I fear we must depart now. Don’t forget you have an important engagement.’
How like him! He did not want to know the cause of her tears and had implied it was because Orange was saying goodbye to her. He decided how people should act to give him most comfort, and that was the way he pretended they did.
When they had gone Charlotte said: ‘I don’t want to be engaged to him, Cornelia. I never wanted it. And he told me that I shall have to live part of the year in Holland. I won’t. I swear I won’t.’
Cornelia did her best to comfort her, but they were both conscious of how implacable could be the will of the plump and benign-looking Regent.
Charlotte lay listlessly in her bed. For some days she had felt very unwell. The pain in her knee had intensified; she had no desire to go out. Louisa tried to mother her, but she did not respond. Cornelia, who knew the cause of her apprehension, wrote to Mercer and told her how uneasy she was.
When Mercer arrived Charlotte brightened considerably and the two of them discussed her affairs with Cornelia. Charlotte admitted that she did not want to marry Orange although she did not dislike him as much as she had thought she would, and she knew she had to marry someone; but the thought of having to leave England horrified her.
‘Imagine,’ she cried, ‘to be in a strange land, parted from all one’s friends. Besides, my place is here. One day I shall be the Queen. Should the Queen of England live abroad?’
Mercer was thoughtful. ‘You could not, as Queen of England, live abroad.’
‘And could he, as ruler of Holland which he will one day be, live in England?’
There was silence and then Mercer said: ‘Don’t worry, let things go for the moment and do not let the Regent know that you are determined on this point. You could not possibly go abroad for a long time. The state of Europe would not permit it. And your betrothal has not yet been publicly announced. I would say wait and see what happens.’
Cornelia was nodding her approval of this idea; and Charlotte felt relieved. Her two friends had comforted her as they always did.
Enter and exit Leopold
THE FOLLOWING JANUARY was the coldest Charlotte ever remembered. By the middle of the month the Thames was frozen and booths were set up on the ice that a fair might be held. It was impossible to travel outside London for the roads were blocked with snow; trade was coming to a standstill; but the mood of the people continued exultant because the end of the Napoleonic war was in sight.
The Regent was stricken with influenza and gout. He was peevish and his doctors were constantly at his bedside; Charlotte herself was far from well; she said she only had to put her nose outside the door to shrivel up like a lemon.
But by the end of the month the thaw had set in and everyone’s spirits rose.