GV: Part Three, Chapter Twenty-Three: Affairs of the Heart
King George V
Part Three, Chapter Twenty Three: Affairs of the Heart
As the King prepared to leave Buckingham Palace for Oxford, he complained to Frau Wiedl that he faced “a very heavy summer” in which he would have little time to visit her at Radley. To that end, he invited himself to visit Rosalinde in Bloomsbury Square before departing for Windsor. Though George was a regular visitor by now, on this particular occasion he seemed rather uncomfortable, almost nervous. When Frau Wiedl’s other guests departed, the King remained behind and in the salon of the house, the two sat together quietly as the King surprised Wiedl by asking for a second glass of brandy.Part Three, Chapter Twenty Three: Affairs of the Heart
“Are you quite well Sir?”, Rosalinde asked with genuine concern, “You do not seem yourself tonight”
The King sighed.
“I shall be quite frank with you Rosa my dear”, he said wearily, “I’m in rather a fix”
Rosa handed the King his brandy and patted him on the shoulder.
“I’m sure it can’t be as bad as all that”
“Oh but it is”, George replied, “I’ve made a foolish mistake, something I wouldn’t have had happen for the world. But it has and now…now I must make it right”
Frau Wiedl listened as the King explained. A few weeks earlier, George had received a very dejected letter from Princess Agnes in which she broke the unfortunate news that her parents had forbidden her from coming to England alone. However, there was a silver lining in that her father had arranged for Agnes to be near Hanover when the King visited in August. Upon hearing this news, the King immediately sent instructions to his Aunt Augusta at Herrenhausen asking her to prepare rooms for Princess Agnes and her great aunt Caroline, the Dowager Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. This was not exactly a shocking request and the Duchess of Cambridge had already met Agnes the previous Christmas and had liked her. But the Duchess made the mistake of putting pen to paper and in a letter to her sister the Grand Duchess Marie, Augusta said “I have been asked to make her comfortable but my dear, I am simply worn out with it all for I do not know the girl half as well as you do”. In this, Augusta was alluding to the fact that Agnes was Grand Duke George’s grandniece – though the Mecklenburg-Strelitzes and the Anhalt-Dessaus were never close and had barely exchanged more than a handful of letters over the years. Marie was already upset at how prominent Agnes’ presence had been made at Windsor at the start of the year and now, faced with this news from her sister at Herrenhausen, Marie became absolutely certain that her son-in-law was planning to propose to Agnes when they met in Hanover.
Grand Duchess Marie.
Furious that George had not given the Strelitzes advance warning of this, Marie wrote a letter to him in which she (quite unfairly) berated him for being “so very unfeeling”.
You have been as a son to us these past six years and we have always loved you as such and believed that you repaid our affections in a likewise manner. But now I am so bitterly hurt for there are things afoot which common decency would have us know about before anybody else and yet no word has come to us. I confess that I feel very aggrieved by this for I have known and loved you since you were a babe in arms and I believed that the grief we have shared bound us together so that we might trust and confide in each other as a mother and son should always do. It is so unlike you to be so very unfeeling and I can only hope that Augusta is mistaken and that if you are to begin anew, you would think to come to us first before any proposal was made. [1]
George was shocked to read this note and yet he did not respond with anger. On the contrary, he felt extremely guilty that such a situation had developed and that there remained a sense of estrangement with his Aunt Marie. He sent back a letter apologising if Marie had been hurt by anything that she had heard from the Duchess of Cambridge but he assured her that he had no intention of upsetting anybody and that “naturally you and Papa should worry for me but I beg you understand that I should never act in anyway to deliberately offend either of you”. What George did not comment on however, was whether or not there was any truth to Marie’s assumption that he intended to marry again.
By mid-1844, George had allowed himself to move past any feelings of guilt he may have in pursuing a new relationship. But at this time, relationships were (by convention) pursued very much with marriage in mind. The idea that a man would show affection to a woman without “honourable intentions” (that is, to make her his bride) was the mark of a cad and frowned upon in society. George had given every indication that he had developed a strong bond with Agnes and their letters around this time show that they had begun to sign off their notes to each other with the same phrase; “Toi et Moi”. But when faced with the reality of where his relationship was headed, put so bluntly by his mother-in-law, George now had to confront the natural conclusion of his courtship and in doing so, he had to ask himself very seriously if he wanted to marry again.
“Nobody would resent you if you did Sir”, Rosalinde comforted him, “You should not let the Grand Duchess’ feelings, as legitimate as they may be, rush you to a decision”
“I had decided”, George said sadly, “I had quite made up my mind that I would not marry again. But then I think of Nessa and our time together…she really does make me very happy…and now…I consider that life would be so very incomplete without her in it”
Frau Wiedl smiled.
“Might I make a suggestion?”
“Of course Rosa, you know how much I value your advice”
“Go to Hanover prepared for every eventuality”, she said calmly, “You will know what to do when you are with her. And as for the Grand Duchess…I fear you are seeking approval for something she will never be able to give. The late Queen lives very much in her memory. She will never part with that. But perhaps she may make peace with it if you make your intentions clear to her?”
The King grasped Frau Wiedl’s hand tightly and kissed her on the cheek.
“Thankyou my dear”, he said softly, “I appreciate that”
Rosalinde took a deep breath and stood up.
“And now Sir, I must ask for your understanding too”
“My understanding?”, the King grinned, “You know I shall always do what I can for you”
But Rosalinde did not return the smile. She turned her back to the King to face the fireplace, speaking into the flames as if she wanted the words to burn up as she spoke them.
“I have to go away for a time”, she said bluntly, “To Biarritz. It means I shall not be able to come with you to Hanover”
“But Rosa-“, the King protested.
“I am sorry my darling but I have no choice. You see…I am going to have a child”
The King’s eyes grew wide for a moment and then he slumped down into his chair.
“I take it Vernon knows about this?”, he said flatly, finally breaking the silence.
“Yes”, Rosa replied, “And I must ask you never to mention the subject again. I only tell you because you have been so honest with me this evening. Everything has been well arranged and I shall return in the New Year. I shall close the house and if anybody should ask after me, I have gone to Hanover to nurse a sick aunt. I am sorry if I disappoint you”.
The King stood up and put his hand on Rosa’s shoulder.
“You could never do that”, he said warmly, “I just feel so very sorry that this happened. I shall miss you”
Here it must be stated that naturally Rosalinde Wiedl’s pregnancy in 1844 has given rise to suggestions by less reputable sources that the child she carried was in fact the King’s baby yet once again there is no evidence that the pair ever pursued a physical relationship – or that either side desired one. This theory especially gained attention in 1988 when a French-American woman called Lisette Allard claimed that her grandmother Marie was the baby born to Rosalinde Wiedl in February 1845 in Biarritz and that Allard had letters in her possession which proved that Marie’s father was none other than George V. Allard refused to produce these letters but continued to appear on television shows enthusiastically boasting of her alleged royal heritage. The story was bizarrely proven to be a fake by Allard’s own brother Michel who shared family documents with the press that showed his grandmother was not in fact born illegitimately in Biarritz and adopted but rather that she was born to a couple in Marseilles in 1848. Lisette Allard was exposed as a fantasist though she maintained her story until she died in 1993 aged 83.
The end of Wiedl’s relationship with Robert Vernon Smith in February 1845 is proof enough for most historians that he was the father of Wiedl’s child. Whilst extra-marital affairs were commonplace in high society, inescapable proof that they existed could mean social ruin. Handled with the utmost discretion, such scandals could be ignored by all parties involved and it was only if one individual brought things out into the open that reputations might be irreparably damaged. The King’s reaction to Rosalinde’s news should therefore not shock or surprise. Though his own half-siblings were kept from his knowledge for decades, he would have been well aware of ladies in high society “falling from grace”, most notably when his own cousin George Cambridge had to provide a large sum to Lady Augusta Somerset to allow her to travel enceinte to Madrid to give birth and have her child adopted by a local family to avoid scandal. Whilst a baby born out of wedlock carried enormous social stigma for the middle and working classes, the upper classes were (rather unfairly) free from such so long as the fruits of illicit love affairs were kept well under wraps. [2]
Though clearly he had much on his mind, the King found work was the very best way to distract himself from his anxieties. The first stop on his tour in the third week of May 1844 was Oxford and though there was not much public excitement when the tour was announced, in the days before George V’s arrival to the city there was a sudden buzz of interest. The people of Oxford dutifully turned out en masse to welcome the King with cheers and applause as he drove through the East Gate for a formal welcome at the old Guildhall building. Every one of these ports of call on George’s tour had been fashioned after the same pattern; a welcome ceremony by officials followed by a lunch for civic leaders, a visit to two or three points of historical or local interest followed by a dinner to which the great and good of that particular locale were invited for presentation to His Majesty. [3]
This would be repeated in Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester, Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Hull over the course of eight weeks until the King was met by the Royal Yacht which would carry him across the North Sea to Hamburg from where he would journey on to Hanover. But this arduous schedule was not made any easier by the intense heat with the sun beating down in unusually high temperatures. In Oxford for example, the King was to tour the University’s famous Botanic Garden and to formally open a new cricket pavilion at Balliol where the King was lodged in the College’s faculty building overnight. When the King arrived at the height of the mid-day sun, two ladies collapsed and a local alderman had to be stripped of his robes and taken into the pavilion’s ice house to cool down. The newspapers noted that “even His Majesty was forced to avail himself of a handkerchief to the brow, so humid was the day”.
The Botanic Garden at Oxford.
One of the great advantages of this tour however was that the King was able to make use of some of England’s finest country houses, the owners of which were only too happy to thrown open their doors to His Majesty. We can chart the course of George’s tour by his letters sent from Berkeley Castle, Brockhampton Manor, Spetchley Park, Arbury Hall and many others, most his letters finding their way to Princess Agnes whom herself was on tour in Germany with her great aunt Caroline, the Dowager Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Though the King was genuinely interested in many of the sights he saw in England, Agnes could not have been more frustrated and bored by the activities she had to endure. Her great aunt was profoundly deaf and every afternoon at 2pm, the Dowager Princess insisted on taking a two hour nap during which time Agnes was left alone in her room to write letters or read. As a result, Agnes complained that she never really saw any of the interesting landmarks her father had planned and that her evenings were taken up with “frightfully dull dinners in horrible houses with the spotty sons of Great Aunt Caroline’s friends”.
The Dowager Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was doing exactly what she had been asked in introducing her grandniece to eligible bachelors in the houses of friends, the Duchess of Anhalt-Dessau being particularly keen to wean her daughter off the idea of marrying George V. Yet because the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau had set the conclusion of Agnes’ tour at Hanover where she would be reunited with George, naturally the young Princess could think of nothing else. Though several counts, dukes and princes made the effort to impress her in conversation, it quickly became clear to the Dowager Princess that her grandniece was “too preoccupied” which she attributed to “her immaturity which is so very tiring for I am sure I was far less excitable when I was a girl”.
But Aunt Caroline was not the only one to comment on how boisterous Agnes could be. When the Dowager Princess and Agnes finally arrived in Hanover, a few days before George V was due to arrive, the Duchess of Cambridge complained to her daughter Mary Adelaide that she found Agnes “exhausting” and comparing the two, suggested that the 11-year-old princess showed “far more maturity and is far more wise in her years than the Dessau girl”. In a similar observation, the Countess of Armagh noted that Agnes was “so very young in her ways and though she is twenty years of age, she remains quite childlike. This is both charming and irritating”. But in fairness to Princess Agnes, she had endured quite a limited and stifled upbringing in Dessau and who could fail to be carried away by the excitements of a grand tour culminating in a week of festivities in Hanover with the most eligible man in Europe? [4]
Of course, the King had no idea that the ladies of his family were finding Agnes a little too much to handle as he held his final private audience of the summer with the Prime Minister aboard the Royal Yacht in Kingston upon Hull before his departure for Germany. True to their agreement, the Prime Minister had withdrawn from accompanying the King on any part of his tour of England but was hosted by His Majesty before he left England. It was at this meeting that Graham finally confirmed to the King that he intended to call an early general election for the third week of November, the campaign lasting just four weeks until the country went to the ballot. The King acknowledged Graham’s request which would see the King return to England in September to carry out the last few engagements of his royal progress which were cut in number to conclude before the campaign began in the second week of October. Lord Betchworth was in attendance on the King at this time as he was to accompany him to Herrenhausen for Hanover Week and on to Wiesbaden for a meeting with Prince von Metternich at Schloss Johannisberg which had now been arranged by the Austrian Ambassador, Count von Dietrichstein. In his journal, Betchworth noted that the King and Sir James were “slightly hesitant in conversation with each other” and that “their meeting was purely formal lasting just an hour or so to the Prime Minister’s great irritation because he had travelled all the way from London in the hope of being seen publicly with His Majesty at least once”. Graham had to make do with a mention of his private audience in the Court Circular instead – hardly front-page news.
When the King finally arrived in Hanover, he was greeted not by an excitable Princess Agnes but by an unusually enthusiastic Duchess of Cambridge. Always thrilled to be able to break news before anybody else had heard it, the Duchess impatiently chivvied the King into the salon at Herrenhausen where he tried to greet his uncle only to be interrupted by his aunt insisting he sit down. From her pocket she produced a letter and in dramatic fashion, applied a pair of pince-nez as she read the content aloud. Happily she announced to King George V that he had just become an uncle for the second time. On the 2nd of June 1844 at the Anichkov Palace in St Petersburg, the King’s sister had given birth to a son. He was named Nicholas in honour of his grandfather and his birth was celebrated with an outpouring of public celebration. Maria Georgievna recalled many years later that “the cheers of the people rejoicing in the street filled the air so that they might be heard in the nursery and I was told that everywhere about the city the people were rushing about gleefully waving flags and singing songs. The bells of all the churches of St Petersburg rang out and in the evening, we saw fireworks which made such beautiful stars in the skies above us. It was a spectacle I shall never forget”. [5]
To celebrate this new arrival, the King insisted that a special service of thanksgiving be held at the newly completed Royal Guelphic Chapel built by Decimus Burton on the site of the old Garrison Church which George V had demolished in 1842. Princess Agnes wrote in her diary; “We had a very happy supper and then we all walked down to the little chapel here which is very new. Prayers were said for the birth of the little Russian baby who is the King’s new nephew and will one day be King of Russia [sic] so Georgie was very joyful. The Cambridges were cheered by this too and the Duchess far nicer to me than she has been thus far. The service had a very funny moment in which the pastor announced he was saying prayers for the Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandra and I was overcome with the giggles! Aunt Caroline did not approve and gave me a very stern telling off but it really was so very funny”. The King immediately wrote to his sister and brother-in-law congratulating them on the arrival of a son and heir and said that he hoped this meant they could now (along with their new addition to the family) join him for Christmas at Windsor at the end of the year.
“I think you will like my sister”, George said to Agnes, explaining that he had sent the invitation.
“I’m sure I shall!”, Agnes replied happily, “But…”
“Yes?”
“I did not realise I should be in England for Christmas again this year…”
On the 11th of August 1844, the gates of Herrenhausen Palace were swung wide open and the vast crowds that had assembled ahead of the Guelph Day celebrations were allowed to stream into the forecourt surrounding a dais which had been specially constructed with a canopy of rich red velvet trimmed with gold braid and embroidered with the royal arms of Hanover. The King emerged followed by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (and their daughter Mary Adelaide) and the Earl and Countess of Armagh. This investiture was newly created for the occasion and saw a slightly odd gesture made by the Duke when he handed the King a white and gold baton signifying his office – a baton he had not been given during his 30 years as Viceroy and which he only saw for the first time that morning. The King then gave a brief address of thanks and led three cheers for the Cambridges before the Earl of Armagh took an oath to the Crown and constitution of Hanover and received the baton from the King to polite applause from the crowds. Carriages then took the royal party from the dais to the Royal Guelphic Chapel once more for a service of thanksgiving before bringing the King, the Cambridges and the Armaghs back to Herrenhausen for a balcony appearance via a route which cut its way through the city square. But as colourful as the occasion was, it must be said that the turnout for the parade was somewhat lacklustre. Indeed, as the procession turned onto the market square, a young man dashed from the crowds shouting, “Down with the Monarchy!” and had to be dragged away. Some left in the crowd applauded the protestor and jeered at the police who removed him from the scene.
Herrenhausen and it's gardens in a 1708 print. They had changed little in 1844.
Safely back at Herrenhausen, there was an impressive gala at which the ladies of Hanover were presented first to the King, then to the new Viceroy and his wife before the various ministers, privy councillors, high bailiffs and magistrates took their turn in formally acknowledging the Earl of Armagh’s new office. This long and drawn-out ceremony bored Princess Agnes who kept asking impatiently when the dancing would begin. Once again, the King appeared especially nervous that evening and obviously distracted as he was forced to sit on a throne with an endless stream of people bowing and bobbing before him. When the last presentation had finally been made, he slipped away from the proceedings for a time to see his uncle, the Duke of Cambridge, in private. Cambridge was in wistful mood. After three decades, his time in Hanover was over and now, at nearly 70 years old, he would be returning home to England to spend what remained of his life in the land of his birth. For the most part, Cambridge felt he had achieved much in keeping the personal union between the Crown of the United Kingdom and the Crown of Hanover alive. Though he could not deny recent events had cast a shadow and he would never look back on his life’s work without a tinge of regret that it had ended in less than happy circumstances.
“I hope you know how very proud we all are of you”, the King said softly, breaking the silence and startling his uncle a little.
“Oh Georgie, you gave me quite a fright!”, Cambridge laughed, “But I am most grateful for your words. If I have made a difference, I am glad of it. It shall feel very strange to leave here…and yet I think of all that time I spent so far away from those I loved. My darling Mama. Your dear Papa”
The King smiled and patted his uncle on the back.
“Don’t spend too long with your ghosts Uncle”, he said playfully, “You’ve years in you yet”
The Duke of Cambridge chuckled. “Years are for the young”, he mused, “I shall live by the day I think and not look too far ahead. Brandy?”
The King nodded and accepted a glass.
“Uncle, I…I want to ask your advice on something and I know you will be honest with me”
The Duke paused slightly whilst he poured brandy from a decanter. He looked up at his nephew like a curious old owl.
“Oh dear”, he said impishly, “Have I become so old that you think me wise? I should hate to give you that impression Georgie”.
The King gave a half-hearted smile. He began to recount the situation that had developed as a result of the Duchess of Cambridge’s letter to the Grand Duchess Marie, how he had been given to thoughts of marrying again and how he considered he might go about it if he came to the conclusion that it was the right course to pursue. Cambridge listened intently, occasionally running his hand through his white shock of hair and patting his rotund stomach as if these gestures would help him to understand. Finally, he nodded slowly and pointed toward a portrait at the far end of the room. It showed the Duchess of Cambridge when she had first married, dressed in a beautiful gown of ivory satin, her pale skin like porcelain, her chestnut curls arranged beneath a sparkling tiara of diamonds.
Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, painted in 1818.
“I think you know that I did not choose your Aunt Augusta for myself”, the Duke said quietly, “But the moment I saw her standing before me, just as pretty as you see there in that portrait…I had my answer. I knew then and there that I should marry her and that if I did not, I would be miserable forever more wondering what might have been. We have had our trials. But I can honestly say today that I love her as dearly as I did then. And I wish the same for you my boy. You have suffered so very much. But life is so short Georgie. Time disappears before your eyes until these portraits are the only thing you have to remind you of how things used to be. Do not waste the years you have. If you love the girl…and if you believe she loves you…then you must not deny yourself that happiness which God has granted to you. Do you understand that Georgie?”
The King looked at his uncle through teary eyes. For a moment, he could almost see the Duke as he had never known him, a young man full of energy and drive arriving at Herrenhausen for the very first time, his beautiful bride following not long after to begin their lives together with so much opportunity ahead. George could see himself in his uncle’s worn face and fleetingly he imagined how it would be when he was 70 years old, white haired and wrinkled. Just as the Duke had Augusta to share those golden years, so too George wished to share the rest of his life with another. Though he had once believed he might find Sunny beside him in his dotage, now he pictured Nessa there instead and he no longer felt pangs of guilt – he simply felt ready to embrace the future.
The following morning, Princess Agnes woke in her suite at Herrenhausen to find a note from the King had been placed on her dressing table. The note invited her to join him later that afternoon when he returned from his meeting with the Privy Council in the private gardens of the Palace. At 2pm, Agnes stepped out onto the gravel path dressed in a pale pink dress trimmed with white lace, her blonde curls tucked neatly under a straw bonnet bedecked with ribbons and paper roses. As she walked further into the gardens, she allowed her hand in its white lace gloves to touch the tops of the lavender bushes sending their perfume into the air. As she turned a corner, she caught sight of the King, his long brown hair smartly coiffed, his clothes freshly pressed and his shoes gleaming in the sun. His appearance was elegant yet his hands could not stay still as he fidgeted. Without a word, he offered Agnes his arm and the pair began to walk through the gardens together.
“When you said you did not know if you would be in England for Christmas again this year…”, the King asked nervously, “Did you say that because the idea doesn’t please you?”
“Oh George!”, Agnes giggled, “You are silly. I adored England and I was very happy to be there. I just wondered if you had asked Papa about it because they…well…I told you that they would not let me go to see Rosa on my own. I really am so excited to see Windsor again, it’s a lovely house and…”
“Do you think you could ever live there?”, George interrupted hastily, immediately cursing himself for blurting out what he had hoped to come to in a more delicate way, “At Windsor, I mean. With…with me”
Agnes blushed a little and looked down at her feet.
“I should like that very much”, she said smiling, “To live there. With you”.
The couple stopped walking. George took Agnes hands in his and stared into her eyes.
“I should like…I…will you…promise me something?”
Agnes looked puzzled but nodded just the same.
“I have to leave tomorrow, to go to Wiesbaden, and you will be going home to your parents”, George said kindly, “When you get there, will you think of us? Together at Windsor? And then, when you come for Christmas…I hope you will give me an answer….”
“An answer to what, Georgie?”, Agnes cooed coyly.
“An answer to whether you might make me so very happy….and consent to be my wife?”
Notes
[1] This may come across as a little mean of the Grand Duchess Marie but I think just as the King had many mixed emotions about marrying again, so Marie would struggle with the idea that her poor daughter Louise was about to be replaced. She might have concerns that her grandchildren would come to view Agnes as their mother etc and so whilst it’s a harsh response, I think it’s logical from the character’s point of view.
[2] I felt a plot point like this was important for Rosa as I tend to find historical fiction from around this time tends to portray the aristocracy’s wife-swapping and slipper games in a kind of rose-tinted Jane Austen light…the reality is somewhat different. But more importantly I included this because it speaks to another divide in society whereby those who set the rules habitually broke them. If Rosa were a working-class girl, her life would be over. Yet for Rosa, her position and rank protect her from the harsh reality of the world. A great decline in morality? Certainly in the OTL the misbehaviour of the upper classes did not pass without comment and was increasingly regarded as unacceptable hypocrisy.
[3] Please excuse this brief overview of the tour but I didn’t see much interest in repeating the same royal schedule all over the UK with the place names changed!
[4] As we’ve hinted at before, Agnes’ age and maturity may prove to be an issue in the future…
[5] The second child for Sasha and Lottie, the Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich.
And so we have wedding bells in the offing at last! The King is not yet engaged and we have the reaction of the Anhalts to all this to come but finally George has accepted he wishes to marry again and Agnes is his choice. Once again, many thanks for reading and I hope that the double chapter today goes some way to make up for the lack of an update last week.
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