Crown Imperial: An Alt British Monarchy

[wwbgdiaslt]

Damn good installment, the formatting really wratcheted up the tension.

 

[Opo]

Damn good installment, the formatting really wratcheted up the tension.

Thank you so much! I'm happy with how it turned out. Phew!

 

[Ogrebear]

Lord Cottenham sounds like someone who would push reform down the road as 'someone else's problem' to avoid conflict.

Normanby as Russell's Foreign Sec? Hummmm

Cottenham as PM is going to split the Whigs I feel and risk letting the loonies in.

The mess Cottenham is making of his Cabinet is not a good sign.

William Fox-Strangways - what name!

Bye Palmerston - why do I get the feeling you will be back to cause trouble?

"The Opium trade was “abhorrent and sinful” and upholding it could never be used as a justification for war." - good, but are you going to ban it?

"His guests would spend the next two days blasting birds from the sky, fuelled by expensive wines and rich food." - while the real workers struggle to make ends meet. Such is the world heh?

"...could the Unionists reasonably consider offering confidence and supply to the Tories? And if so, was that far enough? Should they demand a formal coalition instead?" - hopefully just the former so some of the worst of the Unionist agenda cannot be implemented as easily.

"...the King accepted a cigar from Charlie Phipps, apparently a recently acquired habit" - you should quit that George, it is bad for you!

The Melbury-Granville Plan - well its not terrible, but....

"The King listened patiently. So did his military guests. Nobody quite knew what to say." - indeed. Just how does one answer that?

Glad The Duke of Wellington has his constitutional head on and reminds George of such.

"The plan is bold. It is courageous." - Warning! Warning!

Can Cottenham's government even survive it's first 100 days?

*Ad break time*

 

[nathanael1234]

“Division! Clear the Lobbies!”​

I am kind of confused. What does this mean exactly?

 

[Ogrebear]

I am kind of confused. What does this mean exactly?

It’s part of the procedure of voting in the House of Commons. In this instance it’s a tease/preview on that vote of no confidence in the government.

 

[wwbgdiaslt]

It’s part of the procedure of voting in the House of Commons. In this instance it’s a tease/preview on that vote of no confidence in the government.

Or we're supposed to think it's the vote of no confidence, whereas it could be something else. The PM could have countered the Vote of No Confidence by tabling a Vote of Confidence. That would be the only "getting one up on the Opposition" that I can think of in this position.

Or, George charges the Royal Duke's to sit in the Lords for the motion. It wasn't a done thing but wasn't strictly against the rules.

 

[Opo]

"The Opium trade was “abhorrent and sinful” and upholding it could never be used as a justification for war." - good, but are you going to ban it?

Glad The Duke of Wellington has his constitutional head on and reminds George of such.

"The plan is bold. It is courageous." - Warning! Warning!

Interestingly in my research for this plotline I found that Queen Victoria in the OTL was quite bold in insisting that the Opium trade be banned. She had to be gently reminded (as our King George V is here) that whilst privately she was welcome to her opinions, constitutionally she had to be very careful not to oppose the view of the government. Whilst she probably never read Lin's letter, she couldn't understand why the British were so keen to trade something so damaging abroad which almost everybody in England agreed was horrific except those who made a profit from it.

On the Melbury-Granville Plan, I really wanted to push home the change of direction from Palmerston's Foreign Policy here - in theory at least. Whilst he has been described as someone who sent ships first and asked questions later, Lord Melbury is the total opposite. This is something Cottenham can appreciate with his legal background. But as the Duke of Wellington says, how different is the approach in practise if the consequences for China etc will still be conflict if they don't accept what the British want at the negotiating table?

I am kind of confused. What does this mean exactly?

As @Ogrebear and @wwbgdiaslt have said, this is procedure in the Commons at the voting stage.

It has quite an interesting origin and seems to stem from 1771 when a non-MP managed to cast a vote on a bill. It wasn't the first time. If you've ever seen The Madness of King George by Alan Bennett, you can see it would be quite easy for a "stranger" to slip under the radar as it was generally bedlam in the voting lobbies. Not only did you have journalists and "interested parties" trying to sway MPs to their agenda right up until the last moment, but you also had Whips trying to (often physically) push reluctant MPs in the direction of the lobby they wanted them to vote in. So it was generally chaos and many MPs complained they couldn't get anywhere near the desk to give their vote to the clerks in the time allowed.

So the Speaker of the House of Commons began to give an order (to be enforced by the Serjeant at Arms) when the House divided to vote that the lobbies should be cleared of strangers (non-MPs) and that nobody should try to disrupt the voting procedure. Or else! Here it's a teaser that Sir James Graham did in fact table his Motion of No Confidence in the Cottenham government on Monday 16th of September 1839 as planned and the next instalment will give the results of that division. I hope this helps!

Or we're supposed to think it's the vote of no confidence, whereas it could be something else. The PM could have countered the Vote of No Confidence by tabling a Vote of Confidence. That would be the only "getting one up on the Opposition" that I can think of in this position.

Or, George charges the Royal Duke's to sit in the Lords for the motion. It wasn't a done thing but wasn't strictly against the rules.

And of course, there is that Whig majority in the Lords as a result of "peer packing".

 

[nathanael1234]

Great update!
Cottenham seems like a nervous wreck brought to life. Hope everything works out with him and he gets a little more aggressive because it seems that he is willing to bend over backwards to make everyone happy which is not a great trait when you are the prime minister.
I wonder how the vote will go?
I liked the format of the days ticking down. It created some suspense.
Hopefully everything works out in Afghanistan,Egypt, and China.
I also hope George will stop smoking cigars but since earlier in the timeline, it was mentioned that he died around 1889, I think George won’t kick his cigar smoking habit.

 

[Opo]

King George V

Part Two, Chapter Seven: A Tangled Web


The Ayes to the Right…295

The Noes to the Left: 342​

On the morning of Monday the 16th of September, Lord Cottenham made his way to the Westminster to gauge the mood of his colleagues. At this time, work had still to begin on the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster following the fire of 1834. Lord Melbourne had accepted the plans proposed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin and in 1838, a budget of £700,000 had been allocated for the reconstruction works to begin by April 1840 at the very latest. As a result, MPs and Peers alike had to make do with temporary accommodation in the surviving parts of the old palace such as Westminster Hall and the Chapter House of St Stephen’s. It was here that the Whips were at work, shoring up support on all sides. Cottenham believed the Whigs would survive Graham’s motion of no confidence but he could not pin anybody down on what majority he might expect. Edward Stanley, the Whig’s Chief Whip, did not reassure Cottenham much when he reported that 6 of their members would not make it to Westminster in time for the division. Two were ill, one was dying, another was on extended leave in a sanatorium and another two were stranded in Cambridge.

These absentees were the marvellously named Sir Henry Aglionby Aglionby, MP for Cockermouth, and his cousin Major Francis Aglionby Aglionby (MP for East Cumberland). They had gone to Scotland for the grouse as guests of the Earl of Dunmore at Glen Finart and had found themselves stranded in Sunderland by bad weather on their return to London. The first the Aglionbys heard about the Motion of No Confidence was on Saturday afternoon and by the time the vote was held, they were still 4 hours away from London in Cambridge. Edward Stanley did not object to the fact that they were absent as he quite understood they could not help being delayed on their return journey from Scotland; he was more annoyed that they had felt it appropriate to accept the hospitality of a Tory.

As the day progressed, word reached Cottenham that a further 3 Whig MPs were unlikely to be able to reach Westminster in time for the ballot. There was also a rumour circulating that Lord John Russell was ordering his supporters to abstain, forcing a loss for the government which would see Cottenham resign and Russell installed in his place pending a general election. It was these sorts of highly stressful moments which brought out the worst in the Prime Minister. Ironically for a man of the law, he loathed making decisions, yet he always maintained that this was a great advantage in his legal career; “I interpret the decisions of others”, he explained, “because I am not forced to draw on my character or morals to enforce decisions of my own”. On the day of the vote which could see his tenure as Prime Minister end after just 6 days in office, he found there was nothing to interpret but rumour and gossip. He began to panic.

Daniel O'Connell.

Whilst at Westminster, he was approached by Daniel O’Connell. O’Connell had been constantly rebuffed by Melbourne and Palmerston as he tried to force them to accept some of his proposals in Ireland but despite this, Repeal MPs had (thus far) been in a kind of informal pact with the Whigs. They knew they didn’t stand a chance of getting one 10th of their agenda adopted if the Tories (or God forbid, the Unionists) were in office and supported the lesser of the two evils. O’Connell saw an opportunity at last to get a formal promise of co-operation. He played up the rumours that the Whigs were now being predicted to lose the division by as many as 25 votes. Cottenham played with his cuffs and looked at the floor.

“Yes”, he said quietly, “It does seem to be that way, doesn’t it?”

“I’d like to say Sir that you have my support, but I can’t speak for all of my colleagues on that front”, O’Connell counselled, “I’m afraid I have been unable to convince some of our benches not to abstain”

Now Cottenham really did begin to panic. As things stood, the Whigs could only count on 276 of their members to vote with the government; that was assuming Russell was not about to try and stage a coup. At Stanley’s estimate, the Tories and Unionists had pulled together 350 votes. The Prime Minister would need every MP of the 63 members for the Repeal Association to make it to 340 votes; he would still be shy of 10. Unbeknownst to the Prime Minister, Edward Stanley had already canvassed some of the independents who pledged to vote with the government. It would be a close run thing.

But Stanley had another safety net. He had sought the advice of the Attorney General and both agreed that there was a precedent they could follow if the margin of defeat fell below 20 votes. In 1784, Pitt the Younger had lost a motion of no confidence by 19 votes. He had refused to resign. With the King’s backing, Pitt the Younger remained in office surviving two further motions of no confidence until no more could be called and the public gave Pitt their renewed support (and a safe majority) in a general election. Stanley had already put this proposal to the pro-Whig independents and radicals, and to O’Connell. All had agreed to back Cottenham if he chose to rely on this precedent so long as he (like Pitt the Younger) called a general election within 3 months. O’Connell renewed this pledge to the Prime Minister directly. But there remained the issue of the alleged abstainers. To get them on side, O’Connell needed a clear indication that unlike Melbourne, Cottenham was willing to begin the process of at least considering some of the Repeal Association’s proposed reforms.

What O’Connell wanted was a Royal Commission on the Constitutional Status of Ireland. The Repeal Association’s aim was to revert Ireland to the constitutional position it had briefly enjoyed in the 1780s, legislative independence under the British Crown. He knew the commission would produce a report which totally dismissed the prospect, but he had a long-term strategy. Royal Commissions often sat for some time (even years). The Royal Commission on the Poorer Classes of Ireland for example had taken three years to publish its findings and recommendations. For all the support he had in Ireland, there was little O’Connell could achieve at Westminster until a friendly government adopted some of his proposals. Using a Royal Commission to buy his party a little more time and retain the status quo of support would be hugely advantageous in keeping Irish voters in O’Connell’s camp. Especially as more radical movements were now popping up in Ireland which might split the Repeal Association’s voters.

He explained to Cottenham that this Commission would have benefits for both sides. For O’Connell, he could point to the fact that he had asked for it to be established and had won, regardless of its findings. He would also get a political boost when the report inevitability recommended nothing his voters wanted should actually be implemented, and he could cast Westminster as autocratic and ignorant to Ireland’s needs. At a time when many Irish people were still suffering from the fall out of the Tithe Wars in addition to poor harvests, rising food prices and general unrest, a Commission would be a sticking plaster but one that would hold just long enough to allow both the Whigs and the Repeal Association to come to a more beneficially mutual agreement on a new way forward. But for the Whigs, they could claim that the new Prime Minister was finally addressing domestic issues and in particular, could use the establishment of a Royal Commission as proof that Cottenham was a man of affirmative action.

Edward Stanley.

The Prime Minister should have consulted Stanley. If he had done so, he would have been reassured that there wasn’t a cat in hell’s chance of O’Connell’s grouping in the Commons voting with the Tories and Unionists and that a Royal Commission on Ireland would not only spend political capital Cottenham didn’t have but would ultimately be used as a stick to beat them with by the Tories, Unionists and Daniel O’Connell himself. Graham and Winchelsea would claim Cottenham had sold the United Kingdom to O’Connell to save his own skin whilst O’Connell would point to the Commission’s report when it was published and blame the Whigs for not accommodating the needs of the Irish people. But Cottenham did not consult Stanley. Instead, in a moment known as the “Jolly Agreement”, Cottenham patted O’Connell on the shoulder and said, “Jolly decent of you man, jolly decent indeed”.

The debate over the meaning of Cottenham’s words has raged for decades. Some claim that Cottenham made no clear agreement to accept O’Connell’s demands. Others believe his words could not be interpreted to mean anything else. But one thing is clear. The “Jolly Agreement” was the catalyst for something far more dangerous to the Whigs; the Winter of Discontent that would erupt just weeks later. But on that Monday evening in December, all Lord Cottenham could think about was numbers. When the final tally came in, he was stunned when the Speaker, Charles Shaw-Lefevre announced.

The Ayes to the Right…295

The Noes to the Left...342​

The Whigs roared their approval. Sir James Graham was baffled. The numbers simply didn’t add up. Throwing another landmark moment in the prelude to the Winter of Discontent, that Monday had seen the ‘White Hearts’ fail to turn up to the division. This moniker applied to 8 Unionist MPs who had been so confident of victory that they stopped off on their way to Westminster at the White Hart public house in Drury Lane. They had become so intoxicated that they never made it to parliament and therefore, did not cast their votes. Stanley grinned. In a Machiavellian moment of cunning, he had predicted that these regular patrons of the White Hart could not resist celebratory drinks before their victory, and he had given the barkeeper £10 to keep their mugs well topped up with ale on the house. The following morning, there were sore heads and a furious confrontation with Sir Edward Knatchbull.

But there was also confusion at Downing Street. Cottenham could not understand why Russell’s supporters had not made any attempt to secure a few pledges of their own before committing to supporting the government. He assumed, like O’Connell, they simply didn’t wish to risk a general election which might see the Tories returned to office. In reality, Stanley had got to Russell and his supporters first. He promised to persuade the Prime Minister to conduct a reshuffle within 3 months with Russell returned to the Cabinet and four of his most prominent supporters elevated in other ways; John Fort (Clitheroe), Robert Rolfe (Penryn and Falmouth), Thomas Leigh (Wallingford) and Lord Sudeley (former Chairman of the Commission to judge the designs for the new Palace of Westminster). In addition, he had promised that the Prime Minister would adopt two Private Member’s Bills to be introduced by Russell; a bill to provide local authorities with funds to build municipal baths for the growing urban working classes, and a bill to create a system of Poor Law Relief [1] in Ireland. But Russell’s main demand of Stanley (and a non-negotiable one at that) was the repeal of the Corn Laws.

Melbourne had been totally opposed to so much a move, but Cottenham was more sympathetic to Whigs like Russell who were prominent supporters of the Anti-Corn Law League. Stanley believed he could meet Russell halfway. Whig MP Charles Pelham Villers had consistently introduced motions to repeal the Corn Laws since 1837 and resistance diminished with every vote. Still, some of the die hards were standing firm. If he could not guarantee a repeal, Stanley pledged to force the Prime Minister into accepting the adoption of a mechanism via an amendment to the existing legislation whereby the British government would be forced to temporary lift the tariffs and trade restrictions on imported food and corn when the price of these goods reached a certain average market price linked to the average household income. In theory, the government were already able to suspend tariffs and trade restrictions but this amendment to the existing legislation gave an insurance policy to anti-Corn Law Whigs and their supporters that the suspension would not be the decision of the incumbent government, rather it would be a legal requirement. Russell was satisfied. But Cottenham knew nothing of the agreement his Chief Whip had made.

Neither did he know that Russell was only pushing for extension of Poor Relief in Ireland because he too had already sounded out Daniel O’Connell in the event that Cottenham was forced to resign, and Russell was appointed to replace him. O'Connell liked what he heard. Russell then approached ex-Chancellor Thomas Spring Rice to ask him to return to the Treasury with Russell's backing for a vast programme of public works projects to calm the people with “bread and baths” until a more permanent solution to the economic situation could be found. It was clear to everybody in parliament that Russell was doing everything he could to ensure he was Cottenham’s successor. Whether it was tomorrow or in ten years’ time, Lord John was not going to be overlooked again.

Cottenham was not the only one relieved that he did not have to tender his resignation after all. At Buckingham Palace, the King and Queen were facing the most difficult decision of their lives against a backdrop of increased family tensions. It was time to finally make plans to see the Princess Royal relocate to Germany. In this highly tense atmosphere, the first week of October 1839 brough news from Hanover which appalled the British Royal Family and gave rise to the most almighty row. The Winter of Discontent would not only see challenging times for the government but for the King personally, there was to be one crisis after another, both of which related to his late father's siblings. The first of these came that October.

In 1831, the Duke of Sussex had married Lady Cecilia Gore (aka Buggin and Underwood) without permission of the Sovereign and had (for the second time) contravened the Royal Marriages Act of 1772. In 1836, the Duke of Clarence had made a gesture to his younger brother [2] and created Lady Cecilia Duchess of Inverness in her own right so that she might have a better social standing as the (still unrecognised) wife of the Viceroy of Hanover. Since that time, Sussex had learned that his brother and predecessor in Hanover, the Duke of Cambridge, wished to return to Herrenhausen. Neither the Duke of Sussex nor his wife relished a return to England where their curious marital status would once again be reinforced. But he was also sore that nobody had thought to gauge his opinion on the matter. He did not feel he had done such a terrible job as Viceroy, and why should his brother automatically be given what he wanted whilst the Duke of Sussex was consistently overlooked for royal favours?

In Hanover, the marital situation of the Duke and Duchess was not regarded as anything unusual. German courts accepted morganatic marriage (which the Duke of Sussex argued his marriage was) as commonplace, indeed, British visitors to European palaces were often surprised at just how many morganatic couples packed the ballroom at state occasions. One such visitor wrote in the 1830s of Vienna; “Archduke John of Austria resides upon his lands in Styria and there, he lives most happily and in great simplicity with an amiable wife, by a left-hand marriage. The marriage is ground on reason and affection…he wisely determined on marrying a woman formed to be loved and fitted to be his friend and companion”. [3] A recent example of such a match was to be found in Prussia where King Frederick William III married Augusta von Harrach, a Catholic non-dynast from Dresden, when he became a widower in 1810. He created von Harrach Princess von Liegnitz and Countess von Hohenzollern, despite the outrage of his former in-laws and other relations.

The Duke of Sussex.

The Duke of Sussex’s situation was very different. Equality of rank did not come into it. Kings of England had been marrying commoners for years, after all, only two of Henry VIII’s six wives were of "dynastic" blood. As George IV had tried to explain to his brother, Lady Cecilia's social rank was never a barrier. She might have been Queen of Poland for all it mattered. His marriage was invalid - not morganatic - because he did not have the permission of George III when he took Cecilia as his wife. The Duke knew this well but in recent years, he had seen how well those he socialised with in Germany treated his wife. She was his equal there. She was his recognised wife there. He said as much to the King of Saxony whilst on a visit to Pillnitz as a guest of Frederick Augustus II. The two men had spent the last few summers together and had become close friends, often holidaying at the Little Pheasant Castle in Moritzburg with a party of friends. There, the King extended the courtesy to the Duke of Sussex of commanding his servants to address the Duchess of Inverness as Her Royal Highness and on royal menus (which listed the guests at this time) she was referred to as Duchess of Sussex & Inverness, not just the latter. In return, the Duke and Duchess turned a blind eye to the absence of the King’s wife Queen Maria Anna and showed the same generosity and politeness to Frederick Augustus’ many mistresses who sometimes joined the group at the castle in twos or even threes.

The King of Saxony was a peculiar prince. He had succeeded his father in 1836 but continued to show very little interest in Kingship at all. He was an officer during the War of the Sixth Coalition but had no enthusiasm for military affairs. He was co-regent for his father from 1830 until his accession, yet he was easily bored by politics. He appointed a coterie of liberal ministers to govern on his behalf whilst he spent his time travelling between his many palaces and castles, collecting women and objet d’art along the way. Frederick Augustus thought it quite absurd that the Duke of Sussex should have been treated so badly. After all, Lady Cecilia was a charming woman. Were she not married to the Duke of Sussex, the King of Saxony joked, he might take a fancy to her himself. Frederick Augustus enjoyed a joke. Unfortunately for the Duke of Sussex, he was about to become the victim of a right royal prank that would set off a right royal row back at home.

On a chilly morning in Naumburg, a handful of sniggering aides to King Frederick Augustus accompanied the Duke of Sussex and Lady Cecilia to the protestant Cathedral. There, they were married in a small ceremony by an assistant priest for the sum of six silver shillings, the equivalent today of around £20. When the Duke’s sister, Princess Augusta, heard what he had done, she remarked bitterly; “Only six silver pieces? I believed the going rate to be thirty”. King Frederick Augustus gave a small post-wedding reception for the couple (he did not attend the wedding himself, as a Roman Catholic he was barred from entering a Protestant house of worship else he commit a mortal sin) where he gleefully (and to the stifled giggles of his empty headed friends) declared Lady Cecilia to be Her Illustrious Highness The Countess von Naumburg. The King had toyed with second thoughts about going through with this prank, proposed when he was in his cups the evening before. But he was worried he'd lose face with his macho pals and, though it may be hard to believe, he didn't wish to hurt the Duke of Sussex. That evening, he contented himself that no real harm had been done.

Sussex himself was delighted. Regardless of whether King George could be convinced to recognise his marriage or not, at least the Duchess of Inverness as an Illustrious Highness would outrank all those pasty faced plump little debutants and their imperious hatched faced mothers. The new Countess von Naumburg was not so sure. On the night of their second wedding, she begged the Duke of Sussex to pretend it had never happened. He didn’t. Instead, he sat down and wrote a letter to his nephew in London informing him that he required a clear indication of when he would be recalled from Herrenhausen so he might make his travel plans. When they left the King of Saxony's court, Sussex was oblivious to what he left behind. King Frederick Augustus relayed the story of his prank with glee and when someone berated him for "treating the sanctity of marriage with levity" he replied, "Ah but they are Protestants! Their marriages aren't sacred anyway!".

At Buckingham Palace, the Duke of Sussex’s letter could not have come at a worst time. The construction of Hanover House in Broadwindsor was to be delayed. Part of the foundations had sunk into previously undiscovered marshland which the surveyors had failed to spot. In addition, the King believed that Cottenham’s reprieve would not last, and he foresaw a second motion of no confidence before the year was out. Even if there wasn’t, the Whig victory in parliament meant that they would undoubtedly press ahead with the Melbury-Granville Plan which the King had now decided was merely a temporary postponement of another foreign policy disaster. He meant to say as much to the Foreign Secretary at dinner but things took a rather unexpected turn. Melbury, usually so obsequious and accommodating in the King’s presence, seemed out of sorts from the very start but nobody could have foreseen what would transpire that evening.

Among the guests in the King's Dining Room that night was Sir Willoughby Dixie, a particular favourite of the King. Renowned as a wonderful storyteller, he began to relay an account of the goings on at the Eglinton Tournament, recently held in North Ayrshire. The Tournament was a re-enactment of a medieval joust and revel held at Eglinton Castle in the last week of August and had drawn many distinguished guests among the 100,000 spectators including Prince Louis Napoleon, Princess Esterhazy of Hungary and Count Lubeski of Poland. The star of the tournament was the 30-year-old wife of the Duke of Somerset, Georgiana Sheridan, who portrayed The Queen of Beauty. Whilst most agreed she was one of the most beautiful women in England, she was once described by her brother-in-law as “a low-bred greedy beggar woman, whose sole object was to get her hands on the property and leave it away from the direct heirs”. This contrast so amused high society that the Somersets were frequently the butt of jokes and tall tales. That evening at the Palace, Dixie began to relate how, dressed in a diaphanous, daring nightgown fashioned from pale pink cotton and mousseline, she was heralded by trumpets and led onto the parade ground on the arm of the Earl of Shaftesbury. [4]

The Duchess of Somerset as the Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton Tournament, August 1839.

As soon as the trumpets sounded, there was a flash of lightning, a great crash of thunder and the clouds above let loose with a sudden and violent rainstorm. To the giggles of all at the dining table, including King George, Dixie mopped his streaming eyes with his napkin, rocking back and forth and through howls of laughter explained; “She ran across the parade ground to get out of the rain which made her dress perfectly transparent and ran past all 100,000 of these silly fellows in their feathers and suits of armour... appearing as she did…totally naked!”. The table erupted.

Queen Louise pretended to scold Dixie; “Really Willy, you are too shocking! The poor lady, I feel very sorry for her!”

Everybody continued to laugh as Dixie continued. "Oh, it was quite the scene Sir, you really would not believe it, Lord Eglinton rushed about trying to protect the dear lady’s modesty and now he’s grown so fat, that in his costume, he slipped in the mud and split his trousers!”

“Willy!”, shrieked Harriet Sutherland playfully, “You go too far! Really Your Majesty, I don’t believe half the things he says and you shouldn't either!”

The King was too busy guffawing himself to pay any attention to her. It had been a difficult few weeks and the next couple of months proved to be even more so. He loved nothing more than to be in a room full of close friends, laughing and eating good food, sharing riddles and hearing slightly naughty jokes. He had his limits of course, there was a fine line between "near the knuckle" humour and bad manners - especially when ladies were present. But part of him was thrilled when people behaved irreverently in his company. He could never act that way himself and far too many people became stiff and formal in his presence. When the ladies rose to play cards led away by Queen Louise, the King and the rest of the gentlemen stayed behind in the dining room to smoke, drink and talk politics. Dixie was warming to his theme, never one to know when a joke had run it's course.

King George V by Foley, 1837.

“Really you know Dixie”, the King gently admonished Sir Willoughby, “You must remember the sensitivity of the ladies. Damned funny that though. Did she really appear naked?”

“As the day she was born Sir! Young Lord Craven was there, and he told me so himself at Apsley last week”

The King smiled. “Ah yes”, he said, eagerly lighting his cigar. The Queen did not approve of his new habit and he had promised to ration himself to just one a day after dinner, “Wellington always puts on a good meal. And can you believe, the last time we were there, he had some Italian chap who owned a flea circus of all things. Scared the Queen to death, she was itching for days” [5]

Lord Melbury could not help but pay more attention to this conversation than his own with William Mansfield.

“What was that about Apsley Dixie?”, he interrupted.

“Wellington had a dinner there, last week”, Sir Willoughby replied. Perhaps encouraged by the jocular atmosphere of the evening thus far, he winked and said sarcastically, “Doubt you go there much eh Melbury?”

Melbury did not laugh. He had heard rumours that His Majesty had been so displeased with Melbury’s report delivered on the Saturday that on the Sunday, the King had summoned Wellington to ask for his advice on the Melbury-Granville Plan after church.

“Now don’t tease Dixie”, the King chided, “I’m sure Lord Melbury doesn’t resent that. Tories and Whigs at the same table might be commonplace here, but at Apsley I hear it’s far more exclusive”. Now the King was teasing.

The gentleman laughed at the King’s joke. Again, Melbury did not.

“Perhaps some Tories should not dine at this table Sir”

There was absolute silence. The smiles of the gentlemen around the table dropped. You could hear a pin drop. George looked down at the table and took a puff of his cigar. Calmly, he smiled at Lord Melbury.

“And what do you mean by that Melbury?”

Melbury said nothing.

“Oh come on, I can't bear sulking, what did you mean to say?”

Melbury bit.

“I mean to say Sir that the Duke of Wellington should not be a guest in this house if he is to give unsolicited advice to act contrary to the will of Your Majesty’s government as I believe he did last week”. Silence returned. The King tapped his cigar on the edge of his ashtray.

William Mansfield chimed in to diffuse the situation which had become very uncomfortable; "Do not forget who you are addressing Lord Melbury. Let us not forget our heads". The King held up a hand to silence Mansfield. He wasn't angry. If anything, he respected Melbury for speaking his mind.

“It's alright Manso. Melbury my dear chap, Wellington did no such thing”, he replied kindly, “He was most respectful and he endorsed your plan. Now come on, have another brandy or something, what?". And then in an attempt to break the tension, the King laughed, "Really Melbury, I shall have to tell Her Majesty to submit lists of our guests to the Foreign Office for your approval from now on, I can see that!"

Melbury stood up. He was furious. Almost shaking.

“I should like Your Majesty to refrain from inviting the Duke of Wellington here to give advice when he knows it to be unconstitutional to do so”. Melbury’s voice had risen in volume. This was no longer a friendly debate. He had publicly admonished the King in his own palace in front of his closest friends and advisors. Nobody dare speak. The King let his cigar fall into the ashtray on the table. He fixed Melbury with a glare and rose from his seat to reach the Foreign Secretary at eye level. He was no longer smiling.

“I am not happy with how you handled this matter Melbury”, he said tersely, the words seemingly being offered in place of far more angry ones which the King might have let forth had he not been able to control his temper, “We shall discuss this further”

And with that, the King left the room. But if he had managed to contain his rage in the dining room, the news awaiting him in his study was about to tip him over the edge into stone cold fury.


Notes

[1] Passed in 1838 but not in TTL where it comes a little later.

[2] For more on this, see here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/tl-king-george-iv.514810/page-12#post-22697098

[3] From Austria and the Austrians, Vol. I (London, 1837), pp. 247, 250-51.

[4] The Eglinton Tournament was an attempt by Tories and their supporters to cash in on the Gothic Revival movement which saw people all over Europe fascinated by the Medieval period. The Whigs thought this was totally ridiculous and the Tournament is now best remembered for becoming a frequent source of ridicule by the Whigs. In the OTL, Queen Victoria was very much taken with the whole idea and though she couldn’t attend, it was she who selected Georgiana Somerset to be the Queen of Beauty. She disliked it when people criticised the event as a flop because she herself loved the romanticism of the Gothic Revival.

[5] As bizarre as this sounds, Flea Circuses were hugely popular with the rich at this time. Princess Augusta even agreed to become a patron of one belonging to a man known as L. Bertolotto who put her name on his flyers to promote his act.


Just two little additional notes here: The first is that obviously the Duke of Sussex plot point is 100% butterflies but I think in TTL it's plausible. Here, Sussex has served the Crown and is being (somewhat unfairly) dragged back to England to suit the needs of his brother who's wife has never been insulted by the Crown in the way George III and George IV insulted poor old Cecilia Buggin. So he's in a bit of a sulk. Sussex was never very sensible where women were concerned either and there are stories of him falling for silly pranks because he was generally just that little bit...well...dim? Which was the inspiration for this theme. It's also important for a later storyline. Much later.

As to whether King Frederick Augustus would do something like this? Like most men of his age and class, he channelled his boredom into mischief. I suppose you could see this as a rather extreme prank but the worst consequences he could face would be a ticking off by letter from King George. Britain is hardly going to declare war against Saxony for making the Duke of Sussex look foolish when he's already spent 50 years doing that very well by himself. It's also worth bearing in mind that at the time, foreign Kings often gave titles to non-dynast brides (totally seriously) to their friends or relations to legitimise their (albeit morganatic) marriages. Saxony is just exploiting that for his own amusement. Additionally, the Duke of Sussex did consider marrying the Duchess of Inverness again after she was given a peerage in her own right because he believed this would force his niece in the OTL to recognise his marriage - still not understanding that Underwood's rank was never the issue. He was talked out of it in the OTL and told by Prince Albert not to push his luck. Put those things together and I think it's still butterflies but only tiny ones. Okay, medium sized butterflies!

The second thing I wanted to raise here was to ask for a little feedback on pace. In my George IV timeline I stuck to a general rule of one chapter = one year. In this TL, the pace is slowed a little and the last few chapters have covered weeks, rather than months. Having said that, I try to pack as much detail in as I can and I think it'd be short-changing you guys to skip over things just because it means we might move forward in time a bit quicker.

But I'm very much open to suggestions. As much as I write this as a hobby I enjoy, I also want those following this TL to continue to enjoy reading it and not feel we're getting bogged down in details you don't really feel add to the story in any way.

As ever, thank you all for reading!

 

[dmg86]

I for one have no issue with your updates.

 

[nathanael1234]

I for one have no issue with your updates.

Neither do I. I like the slower pace as we get more details about everything.

 

[wwbgdiaslt]

I have enjoyed the change of pace lately, but this chain of events required it. I think you should proceed at the pace the story demands.

 

[Ogrebear]

"Lord Melbourne had accepted the plans proposed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin" - poop I was hoping for one of the other designs...

"On the day of the vote which could see his tenure as Prime Minister end after just 6 days in office, he found there was nothing to interpret but rumour and gossip. He began to panic." - whoops!

"O’Connell wanted was a Royal Commission on the Constitutional Status of Ireland." - clever move by O'Connell to shore up his own support here.

“Jolly Agreement” - reminds me of a certain Blair-Brown meeting in a restaurant in our world.

"the Winter of Discontent that would erupt just weeks later." - hummm a period much debated later on 'What If...?' forums?

"...Stanley grinned. In a Machiavellian moment of cunning..." - I guess we have found Blackadder's descendent here...

"Russell was satisfied. But Cottenham knew nothing of the agreement his Chief Whip had made." - *sings* There maybe trouble ahead....

The Duke of Sussex has been played by Fredrick quite badly here. Though I do see his point about being recalled as Viceroy without being asked.

"Part of the foundations had sunk into previously undiscovered marshland which the surveyors had failed to spot." - whoops. Someone was not doing their job!

Eglinton Tournament sounds terrible with all that rain!

"The Queen did not approve of his new habit and he had promised to ration himself to just one a day after dinner" - good for Louise. Should stick to that or quit George!

I feel for Melbury here, perhaps in a more private setting he could have raised the issue of Wellington. Now? He's probably made an enemy.

Is the King eating better and exercising or is he piling on the pounds like his ancestors?

Your pacing is fine to me @Opo - go faster if there is less 'big events' but the Afghan mess, Cottenham, and this Winter of Discontent seem to be events that need the detail.

 

[Opo]

"Lord Melbourne had accepted the plans proposed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin" - poop I was hoping for one of the other designs...

Hold that thought...

"the Winter of Discontent that would erupt just weeks later." - hummm a period much debated later on 'What If...?' forums?

I thought the same when I was writing and fell down a rabbit hole of a WI on my POD. Very confusing.

Is the King eating better and exercising or is he piling on the pounds like his ancestors?

Your pacing is fine to me @Opo - go faster if there is less 'big events' but the Afghan mess, Cottenham, and this Winter of Discontent seem to be events that need the detail.

At the moment, he's sticking to Alison's advice. But the Hanoverians did love their food. I think gluttony was in the genes. So he'll have to be careful as he grows older.

A huge thank you to everyone who commented on the pacing issue, it's a huge help. I think we'll just let the story dictate the pace as we go, though I'm still two chapters ahead so fortunately it won't be long until the next instalment is posted.

 

[nathanael1234]

We may have not gotten a Stockmar slap but at least we got a Melbury meltdown!

 

[Opo]

I just wanted to draw attention a correction in Part Two, Chapter Five.

Crown Imperial: An Alt British Monarchy

Why do I feel Nolliflop is about to go all Marion Crawford on us. Heaven forbid!

www.alternatehistory.com

I had written:

In return, the British would allow the border between Afghanistan and the Kazan Khanate to open temporarily. This would mean the Russians could transport troops and supplies from the Black Sea to any number of ports there and prepare a pincer attack on the Khanate with armies able to head for Kazan from both the east and west.

This has now been replaced with:

In return, the British would agree to support some of Russia's demands regarding the Khanate of Khiva (thought not all). Palmerston agreed that Russian merchants should be allowed to trade on the same terms as native merchants in Bukhara and Khiva and he also suggested that the British might be able to intervene in securing the release of some Russian prisoners, and Russian slaves. If this could be achieved, the Russian pretext for an assault against Khiva would be removed.

I had managed to confuse Kazan and Khiva and made a terrible muddle of two incidents! I shall blame the Covid brain fog which I've had for a few days now and apologise for this blunder (which made absolutely no sense ) and I'm very grateful to the reader who private messaged me to point this out.

Looking ahead, there'll be another instalment posted today.

 

[Opo]

King George V

Part Two, Chapter Eight: A King’s Burdens​

“I don’t care where he is or what he’s doing”, George V raged at Charlie Phipps in the King’s Study at Buckingham Palace, “You will get the Duke of Cambridge here immediately”

“But Your Majesty”, Phipps protested, still uncomfortable at what had just transpired in the dining room, “His Royal Highness is attending a performance at Drury Lane this evening and I don't think…”

“Damn your eyes Phipps!”, George bellowed, “I said immediately!”.

The Duke of Cambridge was surprised to find the figure of Phipps sneaking in through the red velvet curtains of the royal box mid-Act. He hadn’t a clue what could be so important as to summon him without delay to the Palace, but he assumed it must be something extremely urgent. When Phipps prepared the Duke on their journey from Covent Garden together, Cambridge rolled his eyes. “Typical Freddie”, he muttered, “Drops ink on the carpet and leaves it for others to clean up the spill”. But he was more concerned at what had occurred that evening at the King’s dinner table. The idea that the Foreign Secretary would publicly scold the King in his own house was without question a resigning offence. But then the Duke also saw that Melbury had inherited the worst possible series of crises at the Foreign Office and to hear that the Duke of Wellington had been consulted to sound out his plan was an error on the part of His Majesty. Cambridge would have to play mediator.

The Duke of Cambridge.

The King sat at his desk, smoking his fourth cigar in a row, and angrily going through his papers. He was taking in none of the words. How dare Melbury address him like that. And how dare he tell him whom he could and couldn’t entertain in his own house. Wellington was the great hero of Waterloo, Whigs and Tories alike overlooked political differences to give him the respect he deserved. Every King since George III had welcomed Wellington into their home regardless of the office he held, and the King had been proud to invite him to stand as a godfather to the Princess Royal. George seized a piece of notepaper and began writing to Cottenham. Melbury was to be dismissed forthwith and the King would veto any honours Cottenham might wish to give him in retirement. If the Prime Minister insisted on keeping Cottenham, that was his own affair, but never again would Lord Melbury be welcomed at court and the King would make it clear to everyone why that was. He signed the letter, blotted it and folded it in half for Phipps to deliver to Downing Street by hand the moment he returned from collecting the Duke of Cambridge.

When the Duke arrived, the King had not calmed down. Phipps announced him, Cambridge bowed and entered the room. George seized up a stack of letters from his desk and thrust them at the Duke.

“Do you see these?”, he ranted, “Each one a poisonous little dagger with pretty wax seals. If it’s not your damn fool of a brother disobeying my orders then it’s your wife’s complaints about Hanover, there’s another begging letter from Cumberland here, I have three from the Duke of Nassau who refuses to accept Lottie has no interest in the pompous little prig and now, in my own house, I am lectured to and humiliated by a man with a peerage so new they haven’t shot the bloody ermine to trim him with yet”

The Duke of Cambridge remembered these moments well. As regent, he had discovered what a thankless chore Kingship was. His nephew had done well thus far but it had been a rocky road. It was inevitable that this 20-year-old man, his childhood defined by abandonment and confusion, his adult life decided for him by others, might find in these early months the need to rebel and flex his muscles. This was the King coming to terms with the sudden realisation that this would be his future for the rest of his days. The begging letters and family dramas, the rise and fall of the politicians, the fickleness of popularity with the people; this was George’s birth right but it was also his burden. Not only was he the Sovereign but his position also made him the head of the family, inheriting as he had a rather eccentric bunch with their own flaws and foibles. And family, Cambridge suspected, was the underlying cause of the King’s outburst that evening.

With the Queen’s second baby due in the Spring, all should have been celebration and hope. But the King was too busy trying to put off making a decision concerning their first child. Drs Alison and Hill were both insistent that Missy must go to Leipzig as soon as the New Year came. Whenever Alison raised the matter, George would reply “Yes yes, but I first I must deal with these letters” or “Can’t possibly discuss that Alison, I have audiences”. The Queen was somewhat more resigned to what must be done. Unbeknownst to the King, she had written to her mother and had asked her to send an agent to Leipzig. If the Princess Royal was to be sent there, the Queen wanted her to have as comfortable an upbringing outside of the Heinicke School as was possible. The agent was tasked with finding a house at a discrete distance where the King and Queen could spend their summer holidays and where the little Princess could call home. There, the Queen would assemble a household for her daughter so that at weekends and during school holidays when the crossing to England was too far, she could grow up with those the King and Queen trusted and where she could lay down some roots. After all, Germany was to be her home until she was almost 15 years old.

The house in question was a Palladian manor house in Bautzen, Saxony which boasted an estate of 75 acres nestled in Upper Lusatia with an orangery and beautifully landscaped gardens. Gaussig House was owned by the von Keyserlingks, a family of Baltic German nobility who served the Russian Tsars as diplomats. The incumbent Count von Keyserlingk much preferred his palace at Köningsberg to Gaussig and thus the property had been empty for some time. Without consulting her husband, Queen Louise paid £25,000 (half her annual income) to secure a 20-year lease on Glaussig and assembled a domestic staff of 13; a butler, housekeeper and cook, a footman, two house parlour-maids, two nursery maids, two kitchen maids, a scullery maid, a boot boy and a “tweenie”. All were sourced by the Grand Duchess Marie in Neustrelitz from the houses of friends and relations. As for the Princess Royal’s existing nursery staff, this was rather more difficult to pin down.

Schloss Gaussig today.

The Queen wanted Baroness Fillon to accompany the Princess Royal to Germany. But she was now 80 years old and so it was with regret that she asked Her Majesty if she might stay in England in the King’s employ as Governess there, taking care of the impending arrival rather than the Princess Royal. Queen Louise was initially quite hurt at Fillon’s refusal until the old woman said sadly, “It’s just that…I don’t wish to die there Ma’am. I made England my home in the service of His Majesty's family and I would like to meet my maker somewhere close to those who have given me the greatest happinesses of my life”. Queen Louise forgot all protocol and threw her arms around Nolliflop, kissing her warmly on the cheek and saying, “Of course you must stay with us. You can always stay with us Nolli. For as long as you wish”. The Queen was less understanding when Lady Maria Jocelyn, Sub-Governess of the Royal Nursery, said that she could not possibly go to Germany as she hoped to marry soon, and she did not wish to take a German husband. She had possibly forgotten for a moment that her mistress was German.

So it was that the Queen had to find an entirely new staff for the Princess Royal's Household at Glaussig. These were difficult decisions as she had to be certain she could trust those she appointed. They need to be excellent in their duties, but they also needed to be discrete and to understand the nature of their assignment. Missy would be separated from her family. She would need surrogates to give her the love the King and Queen could only give from afar. And yet they must also not overstep the boundaries. To have an affection for a Governess that saw the rules of etiquette ignored once every now and then was quite natural – but these people would one day have to reconcile the fact that the little baby they cared for was in fact, the Princess Royal. Queen Louise was at a loss. Writing to her mother, Her Majesty said sadly; “It is all so very difficult Mama, and I dare not tell any of this to Georgie for I have only just resigned myself to this, and if I give him the slightest cause for worry or doubt, I know he and I shall talk ourselves out of every promise we made about Missy to you and Papa. Better I present him with these things, and all shall be so well arranged that we shall neither of us feel that we can change course”.

Eventually, the Queen was been forced to reveal her arrangements to her husband. She felt uncomfortable keeping such big secrets from him. He sat in silence as she explained everything. He stood up and looked into the crackling flames in the fireplace.

“Please do not be angry with me my darling”, the Queen said softly, “but if I did not do these things, I should never have sent her away and I know we must. I know we have no choice”

She watched as the King fell to his knees before her. Frightened that he had been taken ill, Louise rushed forward, only to find he was sobbing. His cries were so deep there was no sound and they squeezed at his chest. His tears fell and the Queen dropped to his side and held him in her arms. They wept together. With the Queen’s plans now in the open, the couple comforted themselves that they were doing the best they possibly could for their daughter. And besides, Missy would not leave until January, and that was months away. But the King didn’t count months. He counted days. It was with this heavy burden laying on his mind that he had almost seen a collapse of his government, a member of that government embarrass him at his own dining table and then the news from Germany from his Uncle Sussex.

Back in the study, Cambridge listened as the King continued to rant on. When he finally stopped and sat down, the Duke smiled.

“What in God’s name is there to smile about?”

“I’m sorry Georgie”, Cambridge nodded knowingly, “It’s just that…you have become a man. With all a man’s stresses and sorrows. Yours will not be an easy life but you can overcome these burdens if you can keep a sense of proportion. Never let them overwhelm you. You come from a long line of great and glorious Kings. They all knew these moments too. But they rose to the challenge, they did not buckle. And they did their duty so well that you sit where you do today. Remember Georgie, there is more to being a King than being obeyed”

“I do not wish to be obeyed”, Georgie sulked, “I only wish to be shown respect in my own house”

The Duke of Cambridge motioned to the settee. He daren’t sit in the King’s presence until he was invited to do so. George nodded at him.

“I think it is about time you told me the truth about Missy”, Cambridge said. George looked at the floor. He puffed at his cigar. The King and Queen had told nobody but Lord Melbourne, the Queen’s parents, and Baroness Fillon about the Princess Royal’s deafness. In her infancy, it was easy to hide. It was not that they felt shame, rather that they hoped she would grow out of it. Dr Lacock had disavowed them of that hope. But the family were not naïve. They understood something was wrong, even if they could not put their finger on it. Why was the Queen sleeping in the salon next to her daughter? Why had Dr Hill joined the nursery staff when the Royal Household was already being served by a small army of physicians under Dr Alison? And why was Missy never brought out from the nursery when the family visited? She was always feeding or resting. It was as if they didn’t want her to be seen.

The time for secrecy had passed. Soon enough, Missy would be sent to Germany. And that required an explanation. The King finally looked into his uncles’ eyes.

“We have to send her away”

“Away? Where?”

“To Germany. Leipzig. She requires treatment”

“What sort of treatment? Surely, we have doctors here Georgie?”

The King shooked his head. His eyes filled with tears. Suddenly he was that small little boy the Duke remembered so well and not the King he had been just a few moments earlier. He tried to continue talking through the surge of emotion, but his throat felt tight and all he could do was shake his head. Finally, the truth was told. Missy was deaf. There was also a possibility that she may never learn to speak. In the absence of adequate treatments in London and knowing the need for discretion given her position as the first in line of succession to the throne, the King and Queen had no choice. She must go to Leipzig. The Duke of Cambridge listened and waited for the King to control his tears.

“Oh, my dear boy”, he said softly, “I had no idea”

“Louise has taken a house there. We can visit whenever we wish. But I…I can’t help…I feel the same way I did when poor Eddy died. There one day and gone the next. And now you wish to leave me. And Aunt Augusta. It’s too much to bear at once Uncle, it is surely too much for anyone to bear”

Cambridge stood and walked over to the window.

“I have lost six brothers", he said sadly, "Three sisters too. And they say Elizabeth is dying. [1] We are none of us spared the grief of separation. But we carry on because we must. Missy may be leaving you for a time, but you have another child which will soon need all your love and care here, in England. If it is a son, he will succeed you. You must not fail him by surrendering to melancholy. 'There is vigour in duty'. My father always said that".

The King would think about his Uncle’s words for almost a week. He needed time to process them but eventually, they made sense to him. Lord Melbury had sent a note of apology the next morning but George was still too embarrassed to respond. By the following Friday, the court had moved to Windsor and Lord Melbury was staggered to receive an invitation to stay for the weekend with a small party of the King’s family and friends. On the Friday evening, the subject was avoided entirely. Melbury had quite made up his mind to feign illness and go home first thing in the morning. But at 5am, there was a knock at his bedroom door. It was the King.

“Thought you and I might take a little walk together”, Georgie said. A startled Melbury jumped out of bed and rang for his valet to dress him. The two men set off in the crisp frosty morning with a low mist cloaking the castle. At first, they walked in silence. And then, when they were far enough away from where the servants were arriving crocodile fashion from their lodgings on the estate to begin the day’s work, the King spoke.

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit, there is no guile”.

“Sir?”

“Psalm 32. I come here every morning and speak my prayers aloud”, the King said, slightly kicking at the mud with his boot, “Never did care for churches much. All that cold stone over one’s head and those boring sermons. This is where God is Melbury. Just here. In this place”

“I have never thought about it that way Sir”, Melbury said, stifling a yawn and wondering what on earth was happening. He did not have to wait much longer for an explanation.

“I wronged you Melbury”, the King said, extending a hand, “I hope you can forgive me”

Melbury later recalled that he almost burst into tears. Instead, he kissed the King’s hand.

“No Sir, the fault was mine. Whatever I may have felt on the matter, that was no excuse for my behaviour, and I apologise most sincerely”. George nodded. He patted Melbury’s shoulder. The pair resumed their walk. In silence. Just as they neared the castle again, the King stopped.

“I have to send my daughter to Germany”, he said, “She is unwell”

“Oh, I am sorry to hear that Sir”

“It’ll be for some time. I wanted you to know. Don’t mention it to the Queen though will you, there’s a good chap? She’s pretty low about the whole thing”

“I imagine she must be Sir. I do offer Your Majesties every good wish”

“Can’t be helped Melbury”, the King said as they approached the George IV Gate, “But my God I wish it could be”.

For the rest of the weekend, the King and his guests enjoyed a Royal Hunt in the Great Park. The Queen noticed that the King seemed less tense, less anxious. She was pleased he had settled things with Lord Melbury and Charlie Phipps noted in his diary “King in reasonably good humour once more. Gave Melbury a copy of St Germain from the library, said he need not return it. [2]”. It was not only the Duke of Cambridge’s words which had settled the King’s temper. Cambridge had taken practical steps to help his nephew too. He had written to Queen Louise with a gesture he hoped would ease the King and Queen's anguish. After talking it through with his wife, the Cambridges had decided that Missy would not go alone to Germany. Their daughter, Princess Augusta, would go with her. At nearly 18 years old, it was already clear that Augusta's correspondence with the Queen’s brother, Hereditary Duke Frederick William of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, showed a few shoots of a blossoming romance. The Cambridges saw no reason why Augusta should not live in Germany with her cousin Missy until the time came for her to marry.

Princess Augusta of Cambridge, c. 1843.

The Duke made it clear that he had not made such an offer because he hoped the King would relent on his reluctance to send the Cambridges back to Hanover. But he must have known that was inevitable now that the Duke of Sussex could not possibly remain as Viceroy following the events in Naumburg. The King and Queen accepted the Cambridge's generous proposal and decided that come hell or high water, whatever the situation in the country or cabinet, they would host the entire British Royal Family for Christmas at Windsor and give the Cambridges the send off they deserved. On the 10th of January 1840, they would leave England for Herrenhausen once more, joined by the Dowager Duchess of Clarence who was somewhat recovered (though she would continue to fight her illness for the remainder of her life) who would accompany Princess Augusta and Princess Marie Louise to Bautzen and remain there for a time as Augusta’s chaperone. When she felt the time was right (and once the Princess had turned 18), Adelaide would go to Meiningen to spend some time with her brother Bernhard and his wife Marie Fredericka, the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen. In this way, the Princess Royal would not be all that far away from her family and the Duchess of Cambridge promised to visit her at Bautzen whenever possible so that she could ensure Princess Augusta was providing well for her.

The King had every faith in his cousin and to that end, he provided Augusta with an allowance of £500 a year from his own pocket (around £30,000 today) to begin immediately but she would not have to use this for household costs at Bautzen. These were to be paid by the Queen; thus, Augusta would have a comfortable life and money at hand to provide the Princess Royal with anything she might want or need. Within reason of course. But the Queen also provided Princess Augusta with a lady-in-waiting. This was quite common, British princesses who were not married being given their first companion by the Queen, though not from her own household as these were carefully selected by the Prime Minister. The Queen asked Lady Anne Anson, Princess Charlotte Louise’s friend and companion, to recommend somebody around Augusta’s own age whom she might get on well with and who was responsible and likely to take to the Princess Royal too.

Lady Dorothy Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, later Princess Dorothea von Bötticher

Lady Anson had recently paid a visit to Wentworth Woodhouse, the country estate of the Earls Fitzwilliam to whom she was related by marriage, Lady Anson’s cousin Alice having married the 5th Earl’s son the Hon George Wentworth-Fitzwilliam. George was one of thirteen children but his favourite sibling by far was his younger sister Lady Dorothy. She was just 17 years old in 1839 and was much liked for her witty and charming personality. Lady Anson recommended that the Queen approach Lady Dorothy to become the new lady in waiting to Princess Augusta of Cambridge. Unknowingly, Lady Anson introduced the Royal Family to somebody who would become an integral part of their lives. Indeed, Princess Dorothea von Bötticher (as Lady Dorothy later became), would become so beloved that the King’s children and grandchildren would forever know her as ‘Aunt Dolly’. She would serve the Royal Family for the next 70 years and become a first-hand witness to the reign of three British sovereigns, ultimately publishing her memoirs in 1912 just a year before her death at the grand old age of 91.

Whilst all these arrangements greatly comforted the King and Queen, it was clear that they would have to provide some sort of explanation as to where the Princess Royal had gone. The Palace was a never-ending turnstile of guests and the chance to see royal babies was considered to be a part of the honour of an invitation. More often than not, the royal children (including newborns) were brought into the ballroom before a gala began for guests to admire for a time. When the Queen’s second child arrived, it was only natural that people would begin to ask questions. For almost 5 hours on the 28th of September 1838, King George and Queen Louise sat with the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Melbury and Dr Alison trying to draft a statement. Lord Cottenham had been informed and had advised that they keep any announcement as vague as possible but which gave no suggestion that the health condition affecting the Princess Royal (of which he knew no details other than it would not claim her life) was a cause for public concern.

They finally agreed on the following: -

“Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal will travel to the court of His Grand Ducal Highness the Grand Duke George of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in the New Year where she shall continue to recover from a mild illness of the chest. The King’s Physician has assured Their Majesties this has caused no grievance to the Princess Royal’s constitution and Her Royal Highness is in a very good state of physical health. In this brief period of recuperation, the Princess shall be accompanied by Her Royal Highness the Dowager Duchess of Clarence and Her Royal Highness Princess Augusta of Cambridge. The Royal Party shall return to England in the Spring”. [3]

This was of course, bending the truth somewhat. But it was determined that it was more important to acknowledge the Princess Royal’s departure from England whilst also leaving no clue as to where she was really going. It was also suggested by Lord Melbury that a “mild illness of the chest” covered a multitude of ailments but by stressing that no damage had been done during Missy’s fictitious illness and that she was in good health, nobody could be concerned that the first in line to throne was being sent abroad to recuperate from anything life-threatening.

Doctors of the New Georgian era still believed that, where possible, their patients should visit other parts of the country – or go abroad – to escape the damp weather and aide their recovery and rehabilitation from sickness. It was for this reason the Dowager Duchess of Clarence would spend almost the next decade flitting from English country houses to German castles and villas in Gibraltar. Such a statement would raise no eyebrows and could easily be renewed in the future; “Her Royal Highness continues to require a better climate” or “Their Majesties have opted to visit the Princess Royal in Germany”. Sooner or later, the excuse would wear thin but for now, it would hold.

One person the King would not be visiting in Germany any time soon was his Uncle Sussex, now recalled to England and waiting for the handover on the 10th of January at Herrenhausen before returning to London. The Duke of Cambridge had written to his brother scolding him most strongly for allowing himself to be made a fool of in Saxony. The King himself was less angry now. After the initial surprise of the news which had admittedly come at a very difficult time for George, he pondered what he should do.

Clearly it was right that Sussex be recalled, even if it did mean losing his Uncle Cambridge for a time. But whilst the Sussex marriage was gazetted in Saxony, the British press now had the story. They welcomed the chance to return to the good old days of royal scandal, grateful for a break from the saccharine stories about the beautiful young King and Queen with their perfectly lovely lives which was the only sort of royal news the public wanted to read. The King had two choices; uphold the ruling of his grandfather, father and uncle, all of whom firmly stood their ground with the Duke of Sussex on his marriage…or give in. He was now Sovereign. He could recognise the marriage, receive his Uncle’s wife at court just once, and then see them off into a quiet retirement.

The King was contemplating this matter when Charlie Phipps and William Mansfield entered his study looking decidedly grim-faced.

"What's today's tale then Gentlemen?", he asked brightly.

“There is news from Kabul, Your Majesty”, Phipps said, “The palace at Bala Hissar has been attacked. Lord Keane is dead”.


Notes

[1] Princess Elizabeth (1770 - 1840). Daughter of George III and Queen Charlotte, she married the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg in 1818 and was widowed in 1829. She lived in Frankfurt am Main in her widowhood, falling ill in August 1839. She died the following year on the 10th of January 1840 at the age of 69.

[2] The Doctor and Student by Christopher St Germain is structured as a series of dialogues between a doctor of divinity and a student of the law.

One prudent quote the King may have in mind from this work is; "Therefore forasmuch as it behooves you to be occupied in such things as pertain to the law; it is necessary that you ever hold a pure and clean conscience, specially in such things as concern restitution: for the sin is not forgiven, but if the thing that is wrongfully taken be restored" which comes from Chapter 15 of the 1518 work by St Germain called "On Conscience" which among other themes addresses pride, vanity and forgiveness.

[3] Medical bulletins in this era were incredibly detailed. Whilst today we're used to "Her Majesty is in good spirits" with very little detail, royal physicians of the past would release information on a daily basis when members of the Royal Family were ill which detailed their symptoms and the treatments prescribed. In the case of William IV, his doctors were happy to announce; "His Majesty has been well relieved of his bowels this morning which has eased his suffering enormously". And they say today's royal family lacks privacy...

On a more general note, we will get stuck into the Winter of Discontent with more political drama and foreign adventures but the past few instalments have been quite heavy on this and I wanted to offer a break with a little more family focus before we move on. So don't worry, we'll be back in Kabul and the Commons very soon!

 

[nathanael1234]

Great chapter!

 

[Tamar of the Tamar tribe]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

[C. McKay]

Yes, this is an amazing story.