All she could do was be a petty tyrant in her own household where she had the authority to dismiss a maid if she wanted to. A lot of good Charlotte's speaking to him would do!
"I shall speak to him," declared George.
The Prince could not ignore his father's summons. He swaggered in looking very handsome in his elaborate embroidered waistcoat and buckskin breeches. Extravagant! thought the King. How much in debt is he? That'll be the next thing. Cards, tailors and women. Why should my son be like this?
George smiled insolently at his father. "Your Majesty requested a visit from me.”
"Requested, eh? What? I know nothing of requests. I commanded you to come here. Do you understand, eh? What?”
The King was heated, the Prince incredibly cool. He did not care. There was nothing the King could do to him. He even had his friends in the House, ambitious politicians who were ready to form a Prince's party when the opportunity arose. It was Hanoverian history repeating itself.
Princes of Wales always quarrelled with the Kings and if that King was their father all the fiercer was the quarrel. It was amusing in politics to have an Opposition led by the King-to-be while the King-that-was supported his Government. The Prince enjoyed the situation immensely, particularly as that most amusing, witty and brilliant of statesmen, Charles James Fox, was making overtures to him. The fact was the King was an ignorant old bore, an old fool and apart from a love of music he had no feelings for culture whatsoever.
The Prince felt very superior to the King and was certainly not going to attempt to hide something which in any case he felt to be obvious. The Prince bowed his head and waited with studied indifference for the storm to break.
"You're being talked about, young man.”
"Your Majesty will know that I have always been talked about.”
"I want no insolence," said the King. "You understand that, eh? What?”
The Prince raised his eyebrows.
"It's this woman ... this actress ... You know who I mean, eh?”
"I believe Your Majesty to be referring to Mrs. Mary Robinson.”
"Ah, so you've no doubt of that. It's got to stop. You understand me? It's got to stop, eh? It's got to stop.”
"Indeed.”
"Pray, sir, none of your insolence. I do not think you grasp the extent of your duty to er ... to the state. You must lead a more sober life. You must be er... more ...”
"Like Your Majesty?" said the Prince with the faintest sneer in his voice.
"You must remember that one day you may be King of this realm.”
"I have yet to learn that there is any doubt of that.”
"You be silent and listen to me. You will give up that actress. You will go to her and explain that your duties as Prince of Wales make it impossible for you to continue this er ... this er...”
"Liaison," prompted the Prince.
"This disgusting association," cried the King. "You understand me, eh? what? You stand there smiling. Take that grin off your face. You will go to this woman and tell her. You will do it at once, eh? what? Answer me. I tell you to take that grin off your face.”
"I thought Your Majesty's questions merely rhetorical and that in accordance with those habitually asked by Your Majesty required no answer.”
"You insolent... puppy.”
George advanced, his hand raised. He remembered suddenly an occasion when his grandfather had struck him. It was in Hampton Court and he had never liked the place since. But he had not been insolent like this young fellow. He had merely stammered. He was increasingly remem- bering scenes from the past.
The Prince stolidly stood his ground, amused by his father's vehemence.
"I'll cut your allowance," cried the King.
"That is a matter for the Government.”
Too clever, thought the King. And too much grace. He made his father feel clumsy. He was a social success whereas his father had been shy and gauche at his age. There was a world of difference between them. This George had all the airs and graces to make him popular. He was educated; he played the violin-cello with skill; he could chat in French and Italian and had a better command of the English language than his father could ever have; and his clothes! The King thought them outrageous but he supposed those who liked fashion would admire them. Oh, this son of his, of whom he had once been so proud, had grown too far from him. George realized with a start that he no longer had any control over him.
"And," he said angrily, 'you see too much of your uncle Cumberland. I daresay he thinks this is all very fine, eh, what? I daresay he thinks it's all very well to set actresses up in houses, eh? what?”
"We were discussing only one actress and one establishment, Your Majesty.”
"I'll have no more of your insolence. You learn your ways from Cumberland and his wife, I'll swear. That woman, eh? Very experienced before your uncle was such a fool as to marry her.
Eyelashes a yard long, I heard. Artful as Cleopatra and succeeded in making a fool of your uncle, eh? What?”
"My uncle seems very content to be made a fool of. Your Majesty.”
"Don't answer me back.”
"Ah, I understand. Another of those questions which require no answer. Your Majesty's pardon.”
What could he say to such a one? He was too quick for him. He was the Prince of Wales; people were on his side. He himself was growing old, he supposed; although he was not really old in years. But he felt tired and incapable of handling this young man.
"You will see less of your uncle Cumberland and his wife. You will stop seeing this actress altogether, eh? What? I want no scandal. We cannot afford more scandals in the family. You understand me?”
"A question Your Majesty? Or a prophecy?”
Oh the insolence of the boy!
"You get out of my sight before I... before I..." He needed no second order to do that. He bowed and, pretending to stifle a yawn, sauntered from the apartment. Insolent puppy! What could he do with such a one? George sat down, his brain was whirling. Everything went wrong. America! The Prince of Wales! Everything!
He covered his face with his hands and oddly enough he could see nothing but that woman of his brother's with the eyelashes a yard long and young George with his actress. He had made enquiries about the young woman; she was one of the most beautiful in London. Gloucester had a beautiful wife. They were rogues all of them and he tried to be a virtuous man, a good King. As a result he had Charlotte. Charlotte and a large family who would flout him as the eldest was doing now.
Life was a tragedy and a disappointment. It was as though Hannah and Sarah came to mock him.
It could have been different. At first he tried to shut out of his mind the erotic images that crowded into it. Then he made no attempt to do so. He sat thinking of what might have been.
Very shortly afterwards the shortcomings of the Prince of Wales were forgotten in a disaster which threatened to lay waste the whole of London and Westminster.
Ever since George's association with Hannah Lightfoot he had felt the need for tolerance in religious matters and, although he favoured Quakers particularly, he wanted to be remembered as the King under whom religious freedom had been encouraged.
England was fiercely Protestant and had been ever since the reign of Mary I, when the Smithfield fires had shocked the country. The history of England might have been different if James II had not become a Papist. Then he would have continued to reign and his son after him, and the House of Hanover would never have been known in England. George was King because his ancestors had been Protestants.
The laws against Catholics were unjust, he had always considered. Catholics could not hold land; Army officers could not be Catholics; the son of a Catholic who became a Protestant could claim his father's property; Catholic religious services were officially illegal, although for many years they had been held and no one had taken any action.