"Did you ever see such magnificent garments!”
Charlotte said in French: "I do not speak English.”
"Then," replied Caroline Matilda, 'you will have to learn quickly, will you not?”
The Duchess and the Marchioness appeared suddenly and the Princess Dowager commanded them to assist the Queen to dress in the garments without delay. Then she signed to her daughters to retire with her.
As soon as they had left, the sewing women came in, pins hanging on strips of paper from their belts, their small eyes which seemed to have sunk deep into their heads through so much close work, beady and alert, as the magnificent gown was slipped over Charlotte's head.
"Your Majesty is trembling," said the Marchioness.
"It is well for you to smile," retorted Charlotte. "You have been married twice. I never have before. So I find it no joke.”
Indeed not, she thought as the little sewing women seized her and lifted the gown up on the shoulders and in at the seams. It is like a bad dream that goes on and on, she thought. A nightmare.
At last the dress had been made to fit her. It was truly magnificent, being of white and silver; and her purple velvet mantle was fastened at one shoulder by a cluster of beautifully matching pearls.
The King's present to Charlotte was a diamond tiara, and this with her stomacher of diamonds also a gift from the King was valued at 60,000 pounds and when she put these on they scintillated so brilliantly that she was sure their glitter would take people's eyes from her face. Never had she seen such diamonds and she wondered fleetingly what Ida von Billow would say if she could see her now.
She wished that she could know what the King's thoughts had been when he had first seen her.
**** In his own apartments, being dressed for the wedding, George was attempting to deceive himself.
He had been startled by his bride's appearance for, romantically, when he had thought of her he had pictured her so different; he had made a composite picture of Sarah Lennox and Hannah Light foot and deceived himself into thinking Charlotte would bear some resemblance to those women whom he had loved so devotedly at one time of his life. And to see her pale, thin, small, with that wide mouth, he had been temporarily shocked. His inherent kindness had forced him to smile, to treat her with special tenderness and the most important thing in those first moments of meeting had not been his disappointment but his great desire to hide it.
He had kissed her warmly, had spoken to her tenderly and trusted she had not been aware of his distaste. He determined to be a good husband to her. He must never think of another woman. Fate had been good to him where Hannah was concerned. When he thought of the difficulties that could have arisen out of that youthful indiscretion and yet at the time what a passionate necessity it had been he could tell himself that he had been obliged to pay for that folly by giving up Sarah.
In any case the affair with Sarah was at an end. Charlotte was now his wife and it was his duty as her husband to be faithful to her and as a King to set an example of morality to his people.
So he would stop comparing Charlotte with Sarah. He would never give Sarah another thought.
Hannah and Sarah belonged to the past. Charlotte was now and the future.
Lord Bute came into the apartment in the unceremonious way he now and then adopted to stress the intimacy between them. "Your Majesty is smiling," he said. "I trust you are pleased with your bride.”
"I already have an affection for her," lied the King, at the same time trying to believe it.
"I think she will make a good wife and, I pray, a fruitful one.”
The King bowed his head in agreement. His spirits were raised a little. It would make up for a good deal if they had children; and Charlotte's children would live under his roof; he could be a true father to them. He was sad again, thinking of Hannah's children and his ... living their lives in a Surrey household, not knowing who their true father was.
What mystery. What intrigue. It was a good thing that he was suitably married now. Over the indiscretions of the past he would build a solid family life. Lord Bute was smiling at him quizzically. He believed his dear friend read his thoughts accurately.
In the Chapel Royal the Archbishop of Canterbury was waiting to perform the ceremony. It was nine o'clock and in her glittering wedding garments Charlotte felt more composed, although the mantle of velvet and ermine was so heavy it was all the time threatening to fall off her thin shoulders.
Charlotte was joined by her bridesmaids; there were ten of them, all daughters of dukes or earls and charming looking creatures they were, she thought some, she noticed with chagrin, comparing with her two ladies-in-waiting for beauty, particularly the girl at the head of them who was quite lovely in her bridesmaid's gown of white and silver and the diamond coronet on her head.
She whispered to the Duke of Cumberland the King's uncle, whose name she knew as the victor of Culloden and who was giving her away, that the bridesmaids were charming and who was the leader of them.
Cumberland bent his head and gave her a very tender look which was a little grotesque on his poor face, so distorted by the palsy, although he was not an old man. He said: "Your Majesty, she is Lady Sarah Lennox, sister of the Duke of Richmond and sister-in-law to Mr. Fox, one of the King's chief ministers.”
"She is charming," murmured Charlotte. And she was aware of a slight ripple of amusement which she did not understand. Her brothers-in-law the Duke of York and Prince William were close at hand, and Dr. Seeker the Archbishop was ready to begin the ceremony.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation ...”
Charlotte glanced sideways at her young bridegroom. He seemed resolute, almost grimly determined. I can be happy with him, I believe, she was thinking. There was a kindliness in his face which was comforting and led her to believe he would be tender towards her. Nowhere had she heard an unkind word spoken of him. He was a young man determined to be a good king and a good husband and if she were equally determined to be a good wife and queen what could go wrong?
"Look, O Lord, mercifully upon them from heaven and bless them as Thou did send Thy blessing upon Abraham and Sarah...”
The King started suddenly. He was looking at the chief bridesmaid, staring at her with longing and almost pleadingly as though he were asking her forgiveness. Charlotte was conscious of the look. She saw the beautiful young girl turn her head away and stare stonily in another direction.
There was something of which she had yet to learn, thought Charlotte; but she could guess. What had happened did not need words to explain it. Lady Sarah Lennox! Abraham and Sarah. They would have met on many occasions. As the sister and daughter of a duke and one of the leading dukes, that girl would have had many opportunities of meeting the King. And she was beautiful.
She was all that Charlotte was not. Charlotte kept reminding herself that she had one asset though which made her more desirable: she was a princess.
The ceremony was over and the procession from the chapel had begun. Charlotte was aware of the heaviness of her cloak and the hands which held her train were those of Sarah Lennox. The name kept repeating itself in her head. So it was Sarah Lennox he had wanted, that girl who was even lovelier than the Marchioness and the Duchess who had come to Stade to meet her, because she was young and fresh a girl, whereas they were women.
It seemed that those small hands tugged viciously at the cloak but that was not so. It was too heavy for her to support. She could feel it being pulled halfway down her back and saw several amused glances. She learned afterwards that Horace Walpole, that inveterate gossip and recorder of events, had noted that 'the spectators knew as much of the Queen's upper half as the King himself." And in fact she thought they would drag the clothes completely from her back before they reached the banqueting hall.