Crown Imperial: An Alt British Monarchy
- Thread starter Opo
- Start date
Oops, slip of the keyboard there, thanks for letting me know so I can correct it.
Thanks also for reading, I'm really glad you're looking forward to the next chapter!
This timeline was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Can't wait to read about the reign of King George V.
GV: Part 1, Chapter 1: The Boy King
King George V
(1827 - 1885)
Part One
From Regency to Coronation
Chapter One: The Boy King
As the snow fell in the second week of January 1827, Captain William Smith (known to all as ‘Honest Billy’) watched with a gentle smile as his young charge played in the falling flurry. It had been the general consensus that court mourning would not apply to the royal children and as such, the 6-year-old boy who had just a week earlier become King George V carried on as any small child would in the winter excitement. He could have no idea at this time that in the castle he called home, tensions between those who would become the foundation of his early reign threatened to erupt throughout the panelled corridors hung with the portraits of his predecessors. Neither had he the slightest inkling that his own position had changed. Wrapping the boy in a fur cloak after a time, Honest Billy took the Prince to his rooms where his devoted nanny, Elsie Cable, ran him a warm bath and playfully scolded the Captain for letting the child spend so long in the freezing winter air. In just a few days, young Georgie would travel to Buckingham Palace where he would meet with his uncle and regent, the Duke of Clarence. There he would learn that he was now King and everything would change.
From the age of five, Georgie had begun to take afternoon classes in basic reading, writing and arithmetic under the tutelage of George Cottingham, a tutor from Eton College who came highly recommended by the college’s headmaster John Keate. The lessons were the brainchild of Baron Stockmar, Private Secretary to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who had been asked by King George IV for his advice on how the then Prince of Wales should be educated. Unaware that by the time the next phase would begin the Prince would be King, the so-called Stockmar System proposed a rigorous and intense programme of studies in languages, mathematics, the sciences, history and religious studies. These were to be accompanied by extracurricular activities such as gardening or assisting on the farms at Windsor. Due to begin when George turned 8, it was decided to introduce the next phase when the King turned 7 instead. But no consideration had been given to providing playmates for the young Prince who studied entirely alone. As a small child, he had been able to socialise only with his younger sister Princess Charlotte Louise but her education was to be limited and handled by a German governess appointed by her mother. Now Georgie didn’t even have Lottie’s company in the schoolroom. [1]
A portrait of King George V aged 8 by Sir Martin Shee. [2]
Neither had anyone considered how and when to explain to the Prince of Wales the nature of his position in life. King George IV had learned that he would be King in his mid-50s by which time he had lived almost entirely independently with a freedom he was rarely forced to restrict. Things would be very different for ‘the Boy King’ and whilst George IV had hoped to live long enough to explain the situation to his son personally, now the responsibility fell to the King’s Regent, the Duke of Clarence. The Prime Minister, Lord Eldon, met with the Duke shortly before this meeting to establish the composition of the new Royal Household. Whilst some office holders would remain in place, the nature of the Second Regency meant that some courtiers were no longer needed. Sir William Knighton, the late King’s Private Secretary, became Private Secretary to the Duke of Clarence. As for ‘Honest Billy’, so well-liked was he by the Royal Family that he was appointed the first Crown Equerry with the intention that he would serve as a confidant and exemplary model of military discipline to the young King.
To her horror, the dedicated Elsie Cable saw the young King leave her charge as it was decided that the King would no longer take meals in the royal nursery. Instead, he would eat with Honest Billy, the Duke of Clarence or senior courtiers who could prompt and encourage educational dinner conversation. Georgie’s living quarters were to change too. The Duke of Clarence wished to remain resident at Clarence House and so it was that Georgie occupied the King’s Apartments at Buckingham Palace and at Windsor Castle which were slightly modified to make them more child friendly. The downside of this was that his time with his sister and younger brother Prince Edward became extremely limited and in London, servants were forced to watch as the young King kicked a ball in the gardens alone or sat sadly on a wall by himself. When a footman broke rank and began to race with the King, he was instantly dismissed without a character.
The King’s 7th birthday on the 20th of April 1827 could not be celebrated with any grand ceremony or festivities as the court remained in mourning for his father. Nonetheless, the Duke of Clarence arranged an intimate gathering of the Royal Family at Windsor where tea was served and a birthday cake was wheeled in for the wide-eyed boy who naturally became over excited. He rushed around the room brandishing a toy sword he had been gifted by the Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Princess Augusta left early complaining that the noise of the royal children was far too loud. This was enough to convince Baron Stockmar that his programme of education should indeed be brought forward by a year and that “there was absolutely no harm in advancing the implementation of the system, indeed, if we do not I fear the King may find it difficult to adjust after a year of doing relatively little other than fill his time with childish pursuits”.
Baron Stockmar, now promoted to Physician to His Majesty the King to replace the outgoing Sir Andrew Halliday, was intended to serve more as a moral guardian and tutor than just a doctor. Stockmar answered to the Duke of Clarence but Prince Leopold, whom the Duke liked and whom Stockmar had served for many years, became a permanent fixture again at court. For Stockmar this proved essential as some of his more harsh suggestions were initially rejected by the Duke of Clarence only to be accepted later when Prince Leopold had voiced support for them. One particularly unpleasant decision concerned a rabbit farm at Windsor. As part of his new educational programme, Georgie was given charge of six rabbits which lived in hutches near to the castle in the Home Park. As they reproduced, Georgie was to tend the rabbits and raise the babies to adulthood.
The young King became devoted to his rabbits as any child would and whenever he was at Windsor for the next year, he raced to the Home Park to visit them. He drew each rabbit and named them, keeping careful records of their diet and pedigree. One morning, Georgie raced to the rabbit farm only to find the hutches were gone. Stockmar considered the activity to have been a success but saw no reason why the King should want to keep the rabbits now that the educational advantage had been gained. To add insult to injury, Georgie was served some of his former pets for supper. Stockmar insisted this was the best way to demonstrate how many of Georgie’s subjects lived on their own farms but the young King promptly vomited at the dining table and screamed until he had to be calmed down by Honest Billy. Stockmar was concerned at this reaction, writing a note to the Duke of Clarence that he hoped this was not a sign of “excessive sentimentality or emotional weakness which might indicate instability in his character”.
Baron Stockmar.
Baron Stockmar’s weekly schedule for the King was rigid and unbending. There were to be no deviations to the programme and Honest Billy was charged with ensuring that the King was always present and punctual. After a breakfast restricted to warm porridge with honey and a little dried fruit, the King was taken for a half an hour walk by Billy come rain or shine. After this, he was to change into a kind of school uniform and his lessons began. From 8.30am until 4.00pm, Cottingham lectured on everything from important military battles of the last 100 years to the mating habits of dragonflies. When he was 12, the subject material would include more detail on constitutional matters. But as a 7-year-old boy, Georgie came to long for afternoon tea at four o’clock when his lessons had come to an end and when he was permitted to take tea with his mother, Queen Louise, and his siblings in the King’s Drawing Room. At first, this was an awkward ceremony with the Queen and Princess Charlotte Louise (Prince Edward still in infancy) expected to curtsey to the boy and wait for his permission to begin eating. Stockmar insisted on this etiquette being strictly observed so as to reinforce Georgie’s position to his younger siblings from the very start and fortunately, within a few months, it became second nature and far less uncomfortable for those involved.
Saturdays were spent on the farms on the Crown Estate whilst Sundays began with church after which time, the King spent two hours in the company of his mother before receiving those the young Georgie nicknamed ‘the Four Old Men’; the Duke of Clarence, the Prime Minister, Baron Stockmar and Prince Leopold [3]. Together, the ‘Four Old Men’ questioned the young King on his activities of the week and prepared him for what was to come in the next seven days. Whilst these meetings were a bore for Georgie, there was one advantage he greatly looked forward to. Every Sunday evening when he met with the ‘Four Old Men’, the Duke of Clarence would bring him a gift of a box of tin soldiers. The Duke would explain the regiment, the rank and the role they played and Honest Billy created a model battlefield so that the young King might re-enact famous battles as his collection grew. This created a long-held obsession in Georgie who prized his collection of tin soldiers his entire life, so much so that by the time he died, he had amassed thousands of them representing regiments from across all corners of the globe. Naturally Stockmar approved enormously of this activity.
In his diary, the Duke of Clarence records the moment he first explained to Georgie that he was now King; “At first I feared he may weep or become tearful and so I elected to discuss with him his history lessons and I addressed the reign of King Edward VI. After a time, he seemed to understand the situation but who can truly know if the matter is fixed in his mind or what effect it will have upon him”. But the Duke had high hopes for his nephew; “He displays a fine character and a degree of comprehension that is rare in one so young. I believe his education will smooth any rough edges there may be and whilst I believe his current influences to be wholesome, I agreed with Stockmar that it would be quite unwise to widen these beyond the family and trusted officials at this time. We must never forget that to those outside he is the King and they will undoubtedly treat him as such which at such a crucial age may impart an arrogance in him which must be avoided at all costs”.
Whilst the Duke of Clarence had carried out his brother’s wishes to the letter regarding the King’s education going forward, there was one matter he could not avoid and which caused significant unpleasantness at court in the first year after George IV’s death. It had been the late King’s wish that the Duke of Clarence serve as regent for his son and that a Deputy should be appointed in the person of the Duke of Cambridge. Lord Eldon had agreed with this, though the Duke spent much of his time in Hanover and rarely involved himself in any official way in the King’s upbringing. Queen Louise was to be kept away from any kind of official role though she remained the most senior woman at the British court. But Louise was loathe to accept this and in the first few weeks after the King’s death, she became obsessed with the idea that the Duke of Clarence was going to put her aside and send her back to Germany. She confided to the Duchess of Buckingham that she feared William favoured the Duchess of Kent over her and was planning to “exact revenge on her for what had happened in the years previous”.
Queen Louise depicted in mourning in 1827.
The Duke of Clarence had no such intentions and he insisted that Queen Louise be reassured that she was free to see her son whenever she wished. But Stockmar’s schedule restricted these opportunities and immediately, Queen Louise decided that Stockmar was the true threat to her position. This only intensified when she learned that she was no longer entitled to certain privileges she had enjoyed during her husband’s lifetime. She blamed Stockmar for cutting her number of ladies in waiting and in restricting her access to certain jewels in the royal vaults. It was explained to Louise that the life of a Dowager Queen in England that of ‘The’ Queen were different. Whilst she would still enjoy precedence over all other women in the Royal Family, her position as the King’s mother did not give her any constitutional role, indeed, arrangements had been made to provide a regent to avoid this. Queen Louise summoned the Duke of Clarence to her presence at Windsor Castle and raged at him, accusing him of giving Stockmar too much influence. The Duke reminded her that she and the late King had been only too happy to accept Stockmar’s advice before and that he felt Stockmar a reliable and resourceful advisor. Queen Louise demanded he be dismissed which the Duke of Clarence politely refused. As a result, Louise withdrew in great temper to Royal Lodge where she remained for three weeks refusing even to receive her son, the King.
Louise faced no retaliation for this behaviour from the Duke of Clarence. He was not a petty man and in many ways, he sympathised with her situation. He was pleased to see her take tea with the King each day and when he heard that Stockmar intended to cancel their Sunday meeting in order that Georgie serve an extra day on the farms on the Royal Estate, the Duke admonished Stockmar and told him always to ensure that Georgie saw his mother on Sunday afternoons. It would be easy to assume that Queen Louise was unhappy with what we may regard as far too intense a schedule for a child of seven years old or that she was grieved by his lack of friends or playmates. However, Louise’s motivation was neither of these things. The Duchess of Buckingham later wrote that she felt that Louise “mourned her loss of influence, power and position far more than she did the late King. And as for her son, she was furious if ever he missed a meeting but thought nothing of failing to turn up for them herself if a more interesting activity came along”.
Nonetheless Queen Louise had endless complaints and these were always put in writing to the Duke of Clarence which form a substantial part of her archive. In one letter, she raises objections to how much the King is being served to eat for breakfast, in another she bemoans he is being served too little. There is a missive sent to the Duchess of Cambridge in which Queen Louise accuses the Duke of Clarence of indulging the King in his newfound passion for watercolour painting at a cost to his studies. Yet just a few days later, Louise writes to the Duchess of Clarence fuming on the lack of free time the King is being given and begging that he be allowed “a little more time to enjoy his painting which he so much enjoys and which can hardly be injurious to his learning”. Lord Eldon considered Louise’s behaviour “petty and of no consequence” but the Duke of Clarence began to grow increasingly frustrated with his sister-in-law, especially when she admonished him for allowing the young King to spend the afternoon with his cousin Princess Victoria at Clarence House instead of taking tea with his siblings. The Duke explained that Princess Charlotte Louise had a cold and it was felt unwise for the King to be exposed to any infection, thus he felt it “perfectly well-ordered” that the King take tea with Princess Victoria instead. Queen Louise responded that she; “accepted the reason on this occasion but I should not be so accommodating were the incident to repeat itself in the future”.
Princess Charlotte Louise depicted in a portrait from 1828.
Again, whilst some may believe that Queen Louise was merely being protective of her son, or that she was displaying some natural maternal instinct, she showed no such interest in the arrangements made for her daughter. Princess Charlotte Louise was to remain in the nursery and was taught basic reading, writing and arithmetic by a governess from the age of five. But after the age of eight, the Princess would take a very different course to her older brother. There would be classes in languages and some recent history but otherwise her education was to be confined to music, ballet, art appreciation and “suitable literature, preferably that of a religious nature”. Stockmar felt it likely than in the years to come Charlotte Louise, as the daughter of a British King, could make an impressive marriage but that any future husband (hopefully one of the highest rank) would be deterred by a girl with too much education. It is possible that Queen Louise agreed with Stockmar on this and so never raised objections but notes sent to the royal nursery by Queen Louise at this time pertain only to Prince Edward. None mention Princess Charlotte Louise at all and in later years, the Princess would have no relationship with her mother whom she always referred to as “Her Majesty” and never as “Mama”.
The Duke of Clarence meanwhile had no time to indulge his sister-in-law’s persecution complex. The death of his elder brother had triggered a General Election and whilst Lord Eldon considered that the public had “enormous and genuine affection for their King”, this was not universally true. Radicals still existed and since the King’s death, anti-government protests led by Irish communities in England had broken out on a regular basis condemning the decision of the so-called “Orange Cabinet” to withdraw any future proposals for Catholic emancipation. Whilst no Tory would dare support such public disorder, many had sympathy for the cause and on the Opposition benches, there was a feeling that a new reign should mark a turning point with a view to constitutional reform being seriously considered. In the face of two threats made against the young King’s life being discovered in March 1827, security for the royal children was dramatically increased and the Duke of Clarence feared that Lord Eldon risked splitting his own party on the matter of emancipation and reform. He also had concerns that some MPs might wish to force certain issues now that he was regent and was known for being more sympathetic to liberal ideas than his father or brothers. [4]
Sir Robert Peel.
In the 1827 General Election, of the 87 seats gained by the Tories in 1826, 28 were lost. Eldon was keen to point out the whys and wherefores and to minimise the reasons for the losses which he insisted were due to a mixture of “election fatigue” and “the rise of some temporarily and inconvenient radical elements”. But the Tories still had a substantial majority in the House of Commons and whilst he accepted there were some differences of opinion in certain quarters of his party, he felt able to reassure the Duke of Clarence that there was no political crisis on the horizon. For all his confidence, the Tory Party benches were home to malcontents. These individuals “felt that the Cabinet was overtly “ultra-Tory”, in other words, that men like the Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Huskisson, and Lord Camden, still a Minister without Portfolio from the Liverpool ministry, would not even countenance a compromise on issues they felt would increase division and inflame tensions in public. The ultra-Tories rejected their moniker and insisted that they represented the majority view on Catholic emancipation and Constitutional reform. [5]
There was one man in the Cabinet however who concerned Lord Eldon more than any other. Robert Peel, Home Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons, had served under Lord Liverpool and had happily joined forces with Lord Eldon when he became Prime Minister. Just 24 months earlier, Peel had voiced support for Eldon’s position on both subjects but now he seemed open to the view being expressed by the malcontents in the Tory party. Indeed, some of these were even beginning to regard Peel as a suitable alternative to Eldon. Eldon confided these concerns to the Duke of Clarence who “was kind enough to offer reassurance” but there was a feeling in parliament that Eldon was very much “yesterday’s man” and that his premiership had hit a rough patch which he would need to do his best to steer himself out of and quickly. Whilst Eldon seemed secure enough for the immediate future, he became more aware of those expressing criticism of his positions among his own backbenches, however mild or well intentioned that criticism may be. The Duke of Clarence felt Eldon to be overly concerned by such matters and advised him to “stay the course”.
The Duke was now over 60, his hair grey and his portly figure giving him a slight waddle when he walked. For all the stresses and strains of his new role, he still found time to devote to his wife and his niece Princess Victoria at Clarence House. Both the King and Princess Charlotte Louise agreed in later life that, in Princess Charlotte Louise’s words, the Duke was; “the most superb uncle and playmate”. She recalled how he “fashioned a ship from two settees and in between and at the front he used very tall candlesticks draped with sheets to form the sails. We children hopped into this creation and Uncle William was the captain, taking us to all sorts of wonderful and interesting places. He narrated everything we saw in such marvellous detail that I truly believed I had visited Africa and India and of course we loved best the part when we inevitably hit a rock and with much dramatic gurglings and cries we pretended to fall overboard. Then Aunt Adelaide would appear and see us convulsed in giggles upon the rug with dear Uncle William laughing loudest of all and she would chivvy him for exciting us so. But I also saw her laugh with us on many occasions and though she would never board our little ship, she once agreed to play the part of a tribal princess who gave us all strawberries which we pretended never to have seen before”.
Adelaide, Duchess of Clarence and St Andrews.
Whilst the King had a more restrictive upbringing around this time than his younger siblings, they remained incredibly close. “Georgie” and “Lottie” were as devoted to each other as they both were to their little brother “Eddy” and both enjoyed nothing more than being allowed to take the baby out in his perambulator in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. Princess Charlotte Louise treated him as a living doll and became quite infuriated when the royal nursery staff wouldn’t allow her to pick him up and feed him whenever the mood took her. She recalled later; “I was not at all discouraged when he made horrible messes or pulled my hair for he was such a happy and charming little baby and so full of joy at everything we did”. The King also later recalled in his adulthood how “the best memories of my rather unusual childhood were those moments we three spent together. I do not believe we were spoilt children at all and we found happiness in silly imaginings, playing games together which I still remember so very fondly to this day”. But neither the King nor Princess Charlotte Louise mention their mother in their diaries, letters or memoirs of later years with any affection at all. She is referenced only in passing.
It would be unfair to suggest however that Queen Louise made no effort to provide her children with happy childhood memories and indeed, she did go to great lengths in 1827 to insist that they be given a holiday from their studies and join her in Scotland. The lease of Abbotsford for ten years provided the royal children with a four week break in Scotland and whilst the majority of the British Royal Family were not invited, invitations were sent to relatives of Queen Louise in Germany making for a lively house party. For the young King, his holidays in Abbotsford had a particularly poignant meaning for these marked rare occasions when he had the opportunity to mix with other children his own age. Queen Louise’s sister and brother-in-law, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, brought their children Luise, Caroline and Georg whilst the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were included along with their children George and Augusta. In 1827, Queen Louise’s eldest brother William also attended with his children Karoline, Marie, Louise, Friedrich Wilhelm and Auguste but his wife Louise remained in Denmark with their 8-month-old daughter, Sophie [6]. Invitations were not sent to the Duke and Duchess of Clarence and Princess Victoria, neither were any other of the King’s aunts or uncles (with the exception of the Cambridges) asked to stay.
Still, Abbotsford provided a stage for some of King George V’s happiest memories and he was greatly taken with his Danish cousins whom he regarded as “far more outgoing and friendly” than his Strelitz relations. He was incredibly fond of his uncle William and later recalled how the Prince took a party of the children into the grounds of Abbotsford and threw each one into the River Tweed finally allowing himself (“with false protests”) to be dragged into the water too. Princess Charlotte Louise remembered “skating competitions” in the entrance hall where the children would slip velvet covers onto their shoes and slide up and down the polished stone floor until “Aunt Marie Strelitz would appear from the library to scold us and lecture us on how badly we might injure ourselves. I’m afraid to say we took no notice of her very sound and wise advise and continued with many bruises and bumps occurring as a result”.
Abbotsford.
Despite their coldness towards Queen Louise in later life, both King George V and Princess Charlotte Louise speak of her kindly in relation to Abbotsford. Princess Charlotte Louise recalled “how much lighter in spirit she was there” and the King later told one of his grandchildren that he had only ever seen his mother truly happy when she was in Scotland. He also remembered how he and his siblings would “wail and cry when the time came to leave Abbotsford for we knew we had to return to our studies and the very dull business of responsibility”. For Baron Stockmar, these four weeks were the only exception he was willing to make and even Christmas or Easter celebrations were not allowed to disrupt his precious system. Indeed, Christmas 1827 saw the young King remain in lessons on both Christmas Eve and Boxing Day with only Christmas Day itself allowed as a holiday. Whilst some historians suggest this is because the first anniversary of George IV’s death and funeral was fast approaching, this remained the pattern until the King reached the age of majority with very few exceptions.
Beyond the walls of the Palace, the British public found themselves fascinated by every small detail of their new King’s lifestyle and daily habits. Whilst some in government had been concerned that the British people would resent “the Boy King”, public interest overflowed with demands for information that became so constant that newspapers offered large sums to palace servants for any morsel of information they could include in their daily editions. When this was discovered, eight servants from Buckingham Palace and four from Windsor Castle were dismissed and palace moles had to become a little more adept in their spying. However, nothing harmful was ever printed, indeed, the public would have been angry if any newspaper had anything but pleasant stories about the King in print. The names George and Charlotte became instant favourites with the public with the majority of babies born that year given the royal names at their baptisms, moreso than when the royal children had been born. Far from resenting him, the British people had very much taken the “Boy King” to their hearts. It remained to be seen how long that would continue.
[1] This is based on the educational programme Stockmar created for the infant Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) in the OTL.
[2] This is actually a portrait of Shee's son but it fits well here so I've adopted the image for a young George V.
[3] Prince Leopold remained an important figure at the British court. Naturally his influence increased when Victoria became Queen in the OTL (and he King of the Belgians) but as he was a close friend of the Duke of Clarence and given his relation to Baron Stockmar, I've increased that influence a little early. This will also suit a later narrative I have planned.
[4] As King, William IV was more friendly to liberals than his predecessors had been despite having previously taken the opposite stance on the issues of Catholic emancipation and Constitutional reform. He didn't change his mind but he tried to remain more neutral than his father or brother, which I feel he would apply as Regent in this TL.
[5] This TL erases George Canning as Prime Minister but the internal politics of the Tory party remain similar (if not heightened because of the makeup of the Cabinet and Eldon's backtracking on the big issues of the day). This is the first mention of the changing political situation I've designed for this TL.
[6] Princess Sophie died in December 1827.
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Does not glasses already exist by those time? Surely George can be fixed a pair to help him?
Thankyou so much! I agree, poor bunnies and poor Georgie!
Spectacles did exist in the 1820s but I did some research to see what help George IV might have been given for his eyesight and was surprised to learn that even though doctors regularly prescribed spectacles, hardly anybody who could afford them ever actually bought a pair. For some reason they were regarded as an indication of limited intelligence and/or physical weakness but the real reason high society in England never took to spectacles in this period was fashion. Silly as it sounds, they just didn't like the way they looked and so they went without.
Things only really began to change when Queen Victoria was fitted for a pair of spectacles in the 1890s and had the common sense to actually wear them (she was even photographed in them) after which time you started to see spectacles come into general use. But even then, they were never really worn outside the home until much, much later when the frames were seen as a fashion accessory rather than a fashion faux pas.
If it weren't for the fact that you mentioned George V having grandchildren, I was starting to consider that both Lottie and Eddy may have gained the throne after the Edward VI comparisons.
I do wonder if we might see a Danish match a generation earlier than OTL, and whom might Drina end up with here, free from her mother and the Kensington system. Maybe she finds happiness with Grand Duke Alexander, but perhaps he would aim for Lottie - but would Leopold perhaps target a match between Drina and George, as Drina is effectively a Clarence by proxy and the warning by Queen Louise seems very much seed sewing.
I do wonder if we might see a Danish match a generation earlier than OTL, and whom might Drina end up with here, free from her mother and the Kensington system. Maybe she finds happiness with Grand Duke Alexander, but perhaps he would aim for Lottie - but would Leopold perhaps target a match between Drina and George, as Drina is effectively a Clarence by proxy and the warning by Queen Louise seems very much seed sewing.
Canterbury, very possibly, but York would be about 300 km away, attending to his ecclesiastical duties. It would take days for a message to reach him, and even longer for him to travel to Windsor. (The incumbent, Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt, was 69 years old; not someone who could get on a horse and gallop all day and all night.)
Considering he was an active member of the House of Lords OTL , there is a chance he is in London not York.
While bishops and archbishops had seats in the Lords, AFAIK they rarely attended sessions or voted.
I worked on the premise that given the King's decline in the last week of 1826, the top brass of the Church of England would have been warned to be "on stand by" for a sudden call to Windsor but I take the point, if I were a 69 year old Archbishop I wouldn't want a midnight gallop of 300km!
Look, the guy made speech's, was a member of the privy council and OTL was involved in looking after George III during his "madness" , he therefore was a frequent visitor to London. Probably not as much as his predecessor Cardinal Wolsey who spent virtually all his time at court but not locked away all the time in York. His family, whose estates he inherited was based in Oxfordshire, plenty of reasons to be in the South.
I think the assumption we are making here is the the AB of York travelled from Bishopthorpe to Windsor, when he could have been in London to speak before Parliament as others stated or even resident with the AB of Canterbury at Lambeth in anticipation of the summons.
Were even assuming it's the same person as OTL.
Were even assuming it's the same person as OTL.
I predict that when George becomes a adult he will rebel against the Baron’s control and teachings in a very passionate and flamboyant way!! I wouldn’t be surprised if George became’s a man who good/competent monarch or not, will have a disdain for rules, restrictions and schedules!! This upbringing will end up having the exact opposite effect that Baron Stockmar intended!!!!