Crown Imperial: An Alt British Monarchy
- Thread starter Opo
- Start date
Oh, the Dowager Queen is so delightfully unlikable. But she attends George's wedding - so there's still room for the "Who's that?" "That's my mother" with Louise pulling a Queen Caroline and making a dramatic entrance to the cathedral.
Very good read. You have a wonderful way of writing that reflects the time period. I do however occasionally see the grammatical error or two. Simple thing like 'though,' when you meant, 'thought.'
Would you prefer these errors be pointed out?
Would you prefer these errors be pointed out?
Thankyou so much, I'm glad you're enjoying the Timeline! And yes, absolutely feel free to point them out to me so I can correct them. More often than not it's the result of Microsoft Word being overzealous and I miss them when I read things back before posting. I sometimes miss the Paper Clip Guy. But only sometimes. Thanks again for reading!
I'm currently working on the next installment but for those who have been following, I've created a test thread where I'll be storing a few little extras related to these timelines.
This post details the TV series which was made about the life of King George IV by ATV in 1973.
This post details the TV series which was made about the life of King George IV by ATV in 1973.
I do enjoy little bits and pieces like this, I've done the same before. I did an Alt Blackadder 3 for one of my TL, and an Alt Doctor Who serial in the same one. I had an alternate version of the Philipsophers Song from Monty Python planned and written too.
I think it adds flavour to a timeline for sure but it also allowed me to indulge my love of classic British period dramas. Which is never a bad thing!
Thank you so much! That's so kind of you. The next installment will be here tomorrow, I was planning to add another chapter yesterday but decided to rewrite it today. So glad you're enjoying this TL!
GV: Part 1, Chapter Twelve: Clarence's Revenge
King George V
Chapter Twelve: Clarence’s Revenge
Chapter Twelve: Clarence’s Revenge
In July 1833 the Duke of Clarence received the Dutch Ambassador, Andre Tuyl, at Clarence House. Tuyl reassured the Duke that the Dutch King had paid no attention to Queen Louise’s letter and that there was no suggestion at all that the Prince and Princess of Orange had ruled out Princess Victoria of Kent as a suitable bride for their eldest son. Indeed, Princess Anna had been most impressed with Victoria and wrote to her sister, the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (née Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia) that she “found much to be admired in the girl”. Anna continued; “There is an understated attractiveness though her nose is a little narrow and her eyes a little wide. But it is her personality which cannot fail to impress for she is a serious girl with a modest and friendly nature which quite charmed us both”. Though Anna stressed that “Duke William (sic) will not contemplate a marriage before the age of 18 for his niece”, it appears that by August of that year the Oranges had decided that they wanted Princess Victoria for their daughter-in-law and future Queen Consort of the Netherlands.
Queen Louise’s attempts to cause difficulties between the Dutch royal couple and her brother-in-law had failed. Indeed, by this time Louise’s reputation abroad had suffered just as much as it had at home. The complicated family tree of European royalty meant that Louise’s poison pen letters were often shared across borders and whilst at the beginning there were those who loved to feast on the tittle tattle from the British court (which always seemed to think itself so superior to its contemporaries), by 1833 many had become bored as the novelty wore off. But for the Duke of Clarence, Queen Louise had committed the ultimate crime in trying to derail the future of his favourite niece. Whilst the Duke adored King George V and Princess Charlotte Louise just as much, Princess Victoria had arrived at Clarence House at such a young age that William could never see her as anything other than his own daughter.
King William II and Queen Anna of the Netherlands.
He was pleased to hear from Tuyl that the Dutch had not been moved against Victoria by Queen Louise. Whilst he would not countenance any serious negotiations at this time (Victoria was still just 14), he told Lord Grey that “there could be no finer match if the interest proves to be sustained”. As for the young Prince William of the Netherlands, the Duke thought him “robust and well mannered” and wrote to his brother the Duke of Sussex that; “His rough edges will smooth with time I believe and it would be hard to overlook the merits of a marriage with a Prince who shall one day be the King of an allied nation, a close neighbour and a Protestant one at that”. Naturally there was no talk of love or even friendship, though the Duchess of Clarence proposed that she take Victoria to The Hague later in the year to see if William and Victoria could develop such a friendship away from the British court. It was also important to Adelaide that Victoria took an interest in what could be her future home. She knew only too well the difficulties of adjusting to life in a new country and if it appeared that a marriage might one day take place, she believed Victoria should be well-prepared “learning the language, customs and intricacies of life at the Dutch court”.
Earl Grey was supportive of the idea of a Dutch match for Princess Victoria, though there was some concern that such a marriage may raise a diplomatic issue; Victoria’s uncle was King of the Belgians, a country which the Netherlands still refused to recognize. The British had shown unity with the Dutch by following suit but this could not continue for long. If Victoria became engaged to the future Prince of Orange and the Netherlands remained stubbornly opposed to recognition for Belgium, Britain might find itself in an awkward position as a result of the close family ties between the ruling families of the Netherlands, Britain and Belgium. Clarence reassured Grey that if an engagement did arise, it would be far into the future by which time the Dutch and the Belgians would no doubt have come to amicable terms. Though there would be interest in Princess Victoria at this time in other European courts, the Duke of Clarence had privately decided that the Dutch match was by far the best opportunity for his niece.
However relieved he was that the Dutch had not been put off by Queen Louise’s meddling, he was still incensed by his sister-in-law’s behaviour. The question over Louise’s continued absence from England was gaining ground with radicals and backbench Whigs who were keen to make changes to the Civil List. Renewed annually, the United Kingdom was still facing large debts and the Civil List had consistently been increased since the death of King George IV. Some wanted to introduce an amendment to the legislation which set the Civil List for a period of five years before it could be increased, something the Duke of Clarence wished to avoid. But in the midst of the debate both in parliament and around the dinner tables of Belgravia, one issue united all sides; it was ridiculous that Queen Louise should be in receipt of £45,000 a year when she was no longer resident in England. Not only that but her presence at Herrenhausen had seen the expenses for the Viceroy almost double.
Louise had always been extravagant but by 1833, her habit for lavish spending had caught up with her. Her renovations to her suite of rooms at Herrenhausen had gone way over budget and because Herrenhausen was an official residence of the British Sovereign (as King of Hanover), she insisted that the cost be met by the Viceregal budget. Unable to refuse, the Duke of Cambridge wrote a worried letter to his brother, the Duke of Clarence, asking for advice. Unfortunately for Louise, this came just after her efforts to derail the Dutch interest in Princess Victoria. The Duke of Clarence was in no mood to be kind. In the past, he had always managed to maintain a calm approach where his sister-in-law was concerned but now, Queen Louise had pushed the Duke too far. The final straw came not from Hanover but from London when a letter appeared in the Times in August 1833 which threatened to give rise to yet another royal spending scandal.
A Birmingham silver medal struck to commemorate Joshua Scholefield in 1844.
Joshua Scholefield was the radical liberal MP for Birmingham and a founding member of the Birmingham Political Union. He served alongside Thomas Attwood as the Union’s Chair until the Union’s aims were achieved with the passing of the Reform Act. Scholefield was at a dinner party when a guest referred to Queen Louise as “the Beggar of Herrenhausen”. In his diary, Scholefield noted; “Talk then turned to why he should refer to the Queen in this way and so it was explained that with her allowance cut in half, Her Majesty has taken to writing begging letters to Unionists asking to defend her interests when the Civil List is once again before the Commons for debate. There is talk of growing debts which cannot be paid and naturally she will not return to England so long as the Duke of Clarence has a hold on the royal purse strings so her full annuity will not be restored. Regardless, they say she spends money as if she were sowing seeds”.
Unlike most dinner party gossip, these rumours were actually true. Louise made no attempt to economize and with her annual allowance now cut to £25,000 a year, even her sister Augusta could not reason with her to curb her spending. Scholefield's letter to the Times took aim as follows; “Parliament shall now be asked to consider yet another increase to the Civil List, which in spite of savings made recently by the Treasury, still remains unacceptably high. Most recently we concluded that it would be quite wrong to continue to fund royalties in foreign lands who no longer serve this nation. Those in receipt of such annuities must remember the contract forged between the Crown and Parliament and I urge my fellow parliamentarians to demand that every economy that can be made is made for the people expect us to justify every penny that is spent, whether that be in England or in Hanover”. Scholefield didn’t name Queen Louise (indeed, Lord Winchelsea said that if he had, he would have challenged him to a duel for insulting the Queen personally) but nobody could be blind to his intended target. The Duke of Clarence was concerned by the letter, fearing another Kew Scandal was about to erupt. But before he could raise the matter with the Prime Minister and ask for advice, his hand was forced.
In September 1833, the Duchess of Clarence received a letter from the Duchess of Cambridge. Heavily pregnant, Augusta was being driven to breaking point by her sister at Herrenhausen. But the letter had an urgency to it and contained an unpaid bill from Fossin, the Parisian-based jeweler later to become the House of Chaumet. Sore at not being able to remove certain pieces from the Royal Vault when she left England, Queen Louise had initially eschewed wearing jewelry as a tactic to plead mistreatment when anybody asked where her tiara was. But her sister Augusta had a healthy collection of jewels of her own and pretty soon, Louise grew tired of appearing as the poor relation. Whilst Garrards & Co was the official Crown Jeweller, Louise refused to patronize them for as long as she was not resident in England, fearing that the Duke of Clarence might stop Garrards taking commissions from her. Instead, she had chosen to summon a representative from Fossin to Hanover where she placed orders mostly for relatively inexpensive demi-parures. That changed in the summer of 1833 when the agent from Fossin presented a recent acquisition which he believed the Dowager Queen might be interested in.
Ishwari Sen, 13th Raja of Mandi wearing the original necklace purchased by Queen Louise in 1833.
Like their contemporaries, Fossin had agents present in the so-called “jewel capitals” of Southeast Asia where precious gems and stones would be assessed and then returned to Paris, Berlin, London or Rome and then sold to wealthy clientele. Whilst most agents dealt in quality gemstones that had either been discovered or acquired in their raw natural state, the most prestigious agents were sent to countries such as India or Burma to ingratiate themselves with the ruling families and convince them to part with larger pieces which could then be brought back to Europe for sale. This was not always a fair arrangement. Some unscrupulous agents would engage conmen who would promise to take pieces from wealthy families to Europe so that they could be copied. A deposit was paid (usually 1/4th of the value) but these conmen would then quickly disappear. The pieces would be sent to Europe, broken up so that they were unrecognizable and the original owners were left cheated. Fortunately, other agents were more honest and built up a regular clientele of moderately wealthy princes who were only too keen to part with family heirlooms for a good price when their private fortunes took a nosedive. One such client was the 14th Raja of Mandi, Zalim Sen.
The Raja was first approached by Henri Sulis, one of Fossin’s most renowned and respected agents, in 1828 shortly after he succeeded his father, the 13th Raja, Ishwari Sen. Through Sulis, Zalim Sen had sold many pieces in his collection to the House of Fossin but these were almost always broken up and reset to suit European tastes in jewelry. In 1833, the Raja had decided to part with an exquisite necklace that belonged to his father but which the Raja personally care for. The Mandi necklace was assessed by Sulis, his report noting that it contained twelve large cabochon emeralds the size of quail’s eggs totaling 220 carats with a circular pendant made of 150 rose-cut diamonds. In the center of the pendant was a large round-cut 25 carat ruby (said to have been a gift from King Bodawpaya of Burma) with a pear shape drop emerald dangling below estimated to be 30.6 carats. Fossin purchased the necklace for £500, a vast sum of money and one of their most expensive acquisitions at the time. With Queen Louise now a regular client, Sulis was asked to leave India and take the necklace to Hanover to give the Dowager Queen first refusal.
When Queen Louise saw the Mandi necklace, she was immediately attracted but as was common, she disliked the design. Sulis had thought ahead. He took with him designs for a parure which could be created from the necklace once it had been broken up. The designs were impressive. The centrepiece was to be a circlet based on an oak leaf motif with six acorns set in emeralds and diamonds suspended from diamond and pearl arches. The remaining emeralds would be set into a stunning collar which used most of the remaining diamonds and pearls in its design. However, Fossin already had stones from a previous acquisition from the Raja of Mandi which could be included in the commission to provide earrings, two brooches, a bracelet and two aigrettes. The total cost to produce the Mandi Parure would be £1,800 and could be completed by the end of the year. Louise didn’t hesitate. She signed a purchase order with Sulis and agreed to pay the full amount upon receipt of the parure but advanced Sulis the sum of £800. This meant that Louise now owned the necklace (or rather, the stones in the necklace) and she awaited the delivery of her new suite of jewels in a state of great excitement. She never saw them. [1]
Chaumet in Paris, the building once housed Fossin before the House of Chaumet succeeded it.
With Fossin working at breakneck speed, the parure was completed ahead of schedule and now, the jeweler wanted his money. Louise didn’t have it. She had already accrued debts with almost every dressmaker in Hanover, so much so that those she hadn’t yet commissioned refused to visit Herrenhausen for fittings. They knew only too well that she would never pay them and word quickly got round that Louise was known for issuing promissory notes which were never honoured. If the merchants were lucky, the Duke or Duchess of Cambridge would step in and pay the bill but many lost money and Queen Louise’s reputation was badly damaged. When Louise couldn’t pay and ignored Fossin’s final demands, the jeweler wrote to the Duchess of Cambridge. In turn, she wrote to the Duchess of Clarence. If the bill was not paid, Fossin would have no choice but to take legal action against the Dowager Queen. In that event, scandal would be unavoidable.
With these threads woven together, the Duke of Clarence now moved to put an end to his sister-in-law’s bad behaviour once and for all. He had the upper hand and he intended to use it to its full impact. At an audience with the Prime Minister at Clarence House, the Duke laid out his battle plans. He would send Louise an ultimatum. If she returned to England as the government had frequently demanded, her debts would be paid and her full allowance of £45,000 a year would be reinstated. Baroness Pallenberg was to be allowed to remain in her household and she would be free to visit Hanover at her leisure for six weeks a year to spend time with her sister, the Duchess of Cambridge. In addition, the refurbishment of her rooms at Herrenhausen would be completed and her bills at Fossin and with her dressmaker would be paid.
For his generosity, Clarence expected the Queen to cease interfering in political matters, to stay out of any marriage negotiations for Princess Victoria and to curb her spending once her financial situation was put right. The alternative was a harsh one but the Prime Minister felt it entirely fair and backed Clarence to the hilt. If Louise would not return to England, her allowance would be cut in half again and her debts would remain unpaid. If that happened, her creditors were likely to seize her belongings in England which would be publicly (and humiliatingly) sold at auction. Furthermore, he reminded Louise that Herrenhausen was not a private royal residence but an official residence of the Sovereign as King of Hanover. This gave Clarence as Regent the right to admit to the Palace whomsoever he liked. It also gave him the right to remove people from the Palace too. Queen Louise now faced financial ruin and eviction from Herrenhausen if she did not submit.
The Duke and Duchess of Clarence.
When Clarence’s letter reached Herrenhausen, Louise flew into a rage that even shocked the resilient Baroness Pallenberg. She later recalled how; “Her Majesty quite lost her composure and she tore at the draperies, kicked the furniture and tore the letter in two. She swore she would never return to England whilst the Duke of Clarence was living and was all of a fury on the matter for days”. The Duke of Cambridge tried to reason with her. Clarence was a man of his word. Cambridge had little reason to doubt that he would make good on his threats and in that event, he could do nothing (even as Viceroy) to prevent Louise being evicted from Herrenhausen.
After two weeks, Louise wrote to the Duke of Clarence. She had been considering returning to England, she insisted, but had delayed because she wished to remain in Hanover to see her sister’s third child born before returning to Windsor. She now believed she had been mistaken to consider leaving Hanover; “for now I see that England will forever be hostile to me and that you wish to see my humiliation above all else”. She insisted that the Duke had no right to remove her from Herrenhausen and that if he tried, she would waste no time in “relaying this most outrageous action to my friends in parliament whom I have no doubt shall raise the matter in my defense for there are still good men in England who recognize the service and sacrifice I have always given to my adopted homeland, though it has never been appreciated by those who are determined to see me ruined in an attempt to keep me from His Majesty the King”.
Backed by the Prime Minister, the Duke of Clarence ordered that any letters from Queen Louise to England be intercepted, just as Queen Louise had once demanded of the letters sent by the late Duchess of Kent. Though she did indeed write to powerful friends in the Unionist Party and other sympathetic peers, they never received her letters. Instead, there was radio silence and for a time, Louise was allowed to believe that she had won and that Grey and Clarence had given up their scheme to force her return to England. She was sorely mistaken. With her sister now in the last month of her pregnancy, Louise was kept from Augusta on the grounds that her confinement was proving difficult and her doctors wished to keep her as calm as possible. In reality, this was a ruse that allowed Augusta to claim later that she had no forewarning of what was about to occur. Returning from a walk in the grounds of the Palace with Baroness Pallenberg, the Dowager Queen returned to her rooms at Herrenhausen only to find the doors had been bolted. Two Officers of the Guard stood before them, barring Queen Louise and Baroness Pallenberg from entry.
Louise ran to the rooms of her brother-in-law and sister but found the Duke of Cambridge had already departed for Neustrelitz to pay a four-day visit to Augusta and Louise’s sister Marie and her husband Grand Duke George. Louise later said this was “cowardice on the part of my brother-in-law who left his wife, heavy with child, quite alone so that he would not have to play a part in such a ghastly assault on the mother of the King”. She could not gain entry into her sister’s rooms and therefore ran back to the doors of her suite and demanded she be allowed inside. The Guards informed her that they had orders not to admit anybody but Baroness Pallenberg and only then if they were given an assurance that the Baroness would be preparing the Dowager Queen’s personal belongings for her return to England. Louise withdrew to the Salon of the palace where she sat and stewed for three hours. Eventually, Pallenberg was dispatched to the suite, allowed entry and began packing.
The following morning, a coach arrived and was made ready for a long journey. Accompanied only by the Baroness, the Dowager Queen departed Herrenhausen for the last time. She dispatched a letter to her son as she boarded the coach; “Your poor dear Mama has been so cruelly treated by your Uncle William who now forces her to remove herself even further from her dearest darling boy. I take you with me in my heart and you must believe me when I say that I should wish for nothing more than to return to you and be with you. But Clarence makes this impossible and so I must continue to be parted from you. You must never forget my darling Georgie, that I am devoted to you and I only pray we may soon be reunited when my tormenter no longer holds authority over you”. Louise’s coach headed south to Rumpenheim.
Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge.
The Duchess of Cambridge later wrote; “I shall never know what changed in my sister to make her so troublesome. She was always such a dear, sweet girl and yet now she causes such upset to us all”. Historians have long speculated on this question too. The traditional view is that Louise was left disappointed and resentful at what she regarded as a total loss of position and influence when her husband died. Whilst some of her contemporaries could expect to be useful and to retain access to the machinery of state by taking an active role in a regency, this was denied to her (by none other than her own husband). During her tenure as Queen consort, Louise had always craved attention and to prove her importance by seeing just how much she could get away with. This only became heightened when her husband died and she was seemingly pushed out of the inner royal circle.
But to those who are sympathetic to Louise, there exists a view that she was wrenched away from her family, sent to a strange country and was simply unsuited to the British way of life. It should also be remembered that however close King George IV and Queen Louise became, their marriage was an arranged one which suffered a prolonged period of estrangement, especially after she had provided her husband with a much-needed heir. The rejection she felt during the days of the late King’s infatuation with Lady Elizabeth Somerset was perhaps the turning point in Louise’s personality which made her hard and bitter. Royal biographer Anna Bailey suggests that Louise may also have suffered a kind of nervous breakdown following the death of her youngest son Prince Edward. The fact that she never came out of mourning and could not bear to hear his name mentioned suggests that far from being unfeeling as many claim, she was deeply affected by such a loss and thereafter adopted a tough exterior to hide how brittle she was underneath.
Whichever side one falls on where Louise is concerned, it is clear that even her own family in Rumpenheim held little sympathy for her situation. When Queen Louise arrived unannounced at her father’s palace on the banks of the River Main, she did not receive the warm welcome she had imagined. Landgrave Frederick was 86 years old, widowed and in poor health. His eldest son William had kept his sister at arm’s length in recent years, embarrassed by her behaviour which he believed “stained the reputation of the entire family”. He had even written to the Duke of Clarence assuring him that “We share a position in many ways and I support you in your attempts to ensure a decent and honourable upbringing for our nephew which I understand can sadly not include my sister”.
Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Kassel-Rumpenheim.
William had naturally passed on every piece of tittle tattle to his father who was said to remark that he would “cast the petulant child out of the palace” if she ever returned to Rumpenheim. Now was his chance to make good on his promise but the Landgrave was extremely frail and confined to his bed for most of the day. He listened patiently as Louise sobbed and wept, recounting her plight and demanding that he take some action on her behalf. But the Landgrave did nothing. He allowed her to stay at Rumpenheim but warned that the British would not be made fools of; “They will take your crown and then what shall you be?”.
Meanwhile in England, the Duke of Clarence had no idea that his sister-in-law had fled for Rumpenheim. He assumed that she would buckle when he closed the doors of Herrenhausen to her and that with no money and nowhere to go, she would naturally submit and return to England. Anticipating this, he made good on his side of the bargain. Royal Lodge was prepared for her arrival, the Marchioness of Lansdowne was asked to ready the Queen’s Household and he began to settle her financial problems. Whilst most were paid from the Privy Purse, the bill at Fossin was paid from the Duke’s own private fortune. With the outstanding amount paid, Fossin dispatched a messenger to England carrying with him a large red leather box in which sat the Mandi Parure. Earl Grey agreed that government funds could be used to pay off the contractors in Hanover and the works at Herrenhausen completed as part of a general refurbishment effort whilst the Queen’s dressmakers were happy to finally have some recompense after nearly eleven months of issuing final demands. When the Duke heard Queen Louise would not be returning after all, he used the very last remaining weapon in his armoury; the King.
A Letter from the Duke of Clarence to Dowager Queen Louise, December 1833.
“It is with regret Madam that I have learned of your journey to Rumpenheim, a course of action I feel can only increase the frustration that exists here on this most exhausting matter. I must therefore inform you that with the agreement of His Majesty’s government, there shall be a further decrease in the monies paid from the Civil List which I feel appropriate given the position of the Prime Minister that such a generous annuity can no longer be given to one who no longer wishes to reside in a country which has given her so very much. I must also inform you Madam that I have been made aware of certain sentiments expressed to His Majesty personally that seek to poison his heart against me. This I take as a most grievous insult for I have only ever tried to serve His Majesty as I believe my beloved brother, the late King, would expect and I am content that the relationship which exists between His Majesty as Sovereign as myself as His Majesty’s Regent is one of mutual trust and admiration, as it must be for the future success and stability of the Crown of England.
To that end Madam, it is with the greatest reluctance that I act as I do so now. I am minded of the departure from this country of another who sought to cause division at court and within my family, one whom not so recently departed this life after some years of living in no better circumstances than a beggar. I am also minded that at that time, Your Majesty was most pleased by the outcome of that matter as you believed then, as did I, that my brother, His Late Majesty, was acting to preserve the dignity of the Crown and of our family. I can therefore only follow his example when a similar threat to that dignity arises. It is my intention therefore to spare you none of the censures which were applied at that time. With regret Madam, I must beg you return to England or I shall have no course of action left to me but to forbid you any contact with His Majesty the King forthwith. To do so would, I fear, turn the King against his primary advisors at a very delicate time in his development and do irreparable damage to that relationship which is designed to foster in His Majesty a character well-prepared to reign over the people of this nation for many years to come.
I urge you Madam to think well on this matter. Whatever the path which has brought us to this most regrettable place, I say now in all honesty that I would happily restore friendship and forget all previous quarrels and hardships if you will return to England as soon as possible. I ask you to consider what is best, not for yourself, but for your son, His Majesty the King, whom I have never, and will never, turn against a loving mother who may yet put this terrible situation right with so easy and simple a gesture. I await word from you Madam and send my best wishes to the court at Rumpenheim, a court to which my family has always shown generosity and kindness as it would readily do so once again”.
The Duke of Clarence’s letter did not move Louise to compromise. Though they despaired at her actions, her eldest brother and father had no choice but to allow Louise to remain at Rumpenheim. Clarence upheld his promise and cut her allowance to £10,000 a year in 1834 and threatened a further reduction by half the following year. For 18 months, Queen Louise dug in her heels and refused to concede defeat but defeated she was. She finally returned to England in 1835, her full annuity restored but her standing within the Royal Family forever diminished. She had become a stranger to the people and to her children and her future looked increasingly lonely as the years went by. Her reunion with the King when she finally made her way back to Windsor was stilted and emotionless. She held out her arms to embrace him but Georgie simply bowed and walked away. Whilst she remained the most senior lady at court, her position in the immediate aftermath of her return was severely damaged and she was unable to reconstruct any kind of relationship with her siblings-in-law. For two years, she lived at Royal Lodge almost entirely alone except for the constant companionship of Baroness Pallenberg.
But there was hope for her yet. 1837 would mark a turning point for Louise, one which would see her sink or swim...
[1] These figures are based on the sums Prince Albert spent on a new parure for Queen Victoria in the OTL a year after their marriage.
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Unsurprising that George wouldn't be excited to see his mother. Most mothers would do anything to be near their children. Louise had to be dragged kicking.
Will he pull his OTL trick of living juuuuust long enough, though?
Very much this. By this time she'd be pretty much a stranger to him. He knows who she is of course and he respects her position but on a personal level, there really isn't much of a relationship there at all.
Clarence will die on 20 June 1837 as in the OTL. So he will see Princess Victoria turn 18 (and I don't think it's a huge spoiler now to say that he will live long enough to see her engaged) but he won't live long enough to see King George V reach the age of majority.
Which means there'll be ten months left of the regency in 1837...
Just realised that if George V is born in April 1820, he turns 18 in April 1838, but we've been told that he has a child born in 1838 too.
So either he marries before the age of eighteen and conceives his eldest then or he marries immediately after his eighteenth birthday, conceives immediately and the baby is born a month prematurely by December 31st 1838.
So either he marries before the age of eighteen and conceives his eldest then or he marries immediately after his eighteenth birthday, conceives immediately and the baby is born a month prematurely by December 31st 1838.