Victoria in the Wings: (Georgian Series) Read online

  Proud, thought Adelaide, to go to a stranger, to an unknown land! To be the bride of a man who had been rejected by so many! But I myself was once rejected, she reminded herself.

  And she would leave her home, her mother, her brother. But she saw clearly that her mother believed any marriage to be better than no marriage at all.

  She thought about her future husband. A man of fifty-two, a royal Duke, a man who had spent his early years at sea, who had lived with an actress for twenty years, had had ten children by her, and then deserted her. He was overburdened by debts; it was for this reason that he would marry, she knew, and because he was forced to do so by his family and the English Parliament, and the reason was that if the House of Hanover was to be preserved the urgent necessity was an heir to the throne.

  In such circumstances should she be proud?

  There was a new respect for her in the castle. The Princess Adelaide could be the Queen of England. Two ageing and not very healthy men stood between her and that exalted position. Ida wrote to her: ‘Dearest Adelaide, what great good fortune! Who would have believed this could happen to you!’

  Yes, who would have believed it? Adelaide asked herself. And did she want it?

  Yes, in a way. She had known ever since she had held her little niece in her arms that above everything on earth she longed for a child.

  Whatever unpleasant experience lay between her and that goal must be endured.

  Adelaide had never asked for the impossible, so she must be prepared.

  She had tried on the gowns which had been made for her, and the Duchess dismissed the dressmakers which was a sign that she wished to talk confidentially.

  ‘My dear,’ she said, ‘one must be wary of the English royal family. I have decided that I will accompany you to England. I have talked this over with my advisers and we all agree this to be best. The royal family of England has not always treated those who join it with the respect due to them.’

  Adelaide smiled with pleasure. ‘Oh, Mamma, that will make everything so much easier.’

  ‘Yes,’ said the Duchess. ‘I can leave Saxe-Meiningen for a few weeks and travel with you. I should not wish to leave you in England until I see you safely married. I have declined to have a proxy marriage … which I consider to be of very little use. Besides, that would have entailed a great deal of expense. Caroline of Brunswick was treated very badly when she arrived in England. She was greeted by the mistress of the Prince of Wales. Can you imagine anything more shocking?’

  ‘You think I shall be greeted by my future husband’s mistress?’

  ‘My dear Adelaide. You speak too frankly. There is no evidence that he has a mistress. There was, of course, that disgraceful affair with the actress Mrs Jordan but at least it lasted for twenty years and she is now dead, although there are all those children. Heaven knows what complications there will be over them. But that you will discover. The point is that the family is not always gracious to those who marry into it. The Queen refuses to receive the Duchess of Cumberland. Not that I am surprised. That woman’s reputation is quite horrifying. But all the same I should like to see you safely married before I left you in England. I have heard that the Prince of Wales almost refused to marry Caroline of Brunswick at the altar. Think of that.’

  ‘Do you think that the Duke of Clarence will refuse to marry me once he has seen me?’

  ‘What nonsense! Why should he?’

  ‘I am not what is called an attractive woman.’

  ‘And he is a man of fifty-two! He will find your youth … your comparative youth … delightful. No. It is the family I am thinking of. And I am determined to come with you.’

  ‘Well, Mamma, your decision gives me great relief.’

  ‘My dear child, don’t think I don’t realize what an ordeal this is. You are so sensible that you don’t display your fears but I realize that they are there none the less. I have no qualms about your future, my love, because you are yourself. Your dear father used to say Adelaide will never cause us any anxiety, and I have always known it to be true. We were fortunate indeed to have such a daughter; and I am desolate at losing you, but I know this is right for you.’

  ‘Yes, Mamma.’

  ‘It is your duty … and such a glittering future!’

  ‘I know, Mamma. I know.’

  ‘Well, then, we must not allow our emotions to take control of us. We shall travel inconspicuously. We could not afford to do otherwise. Nor do we want to make a show of having what we have not. I believe the Regent’s manner of life to be most elaborate. But you have been taught that it is better to live modestly than in ostentatious state which you cannot afford; and for all their grandeur the Princes of England live beyond their means. But no matter. You will manage your household with care, I know, as you have been taught to do. I was saying that we shall travel in accordance with our means. You shall have two ladies-in-waiting and I will take von Konitz and von Effa to counsel me. I shall need their services.’

  ‘I think that this is an admirable arrangement, Mamma.’

  ‘And there is one other thing. How are you getting on with your English lessons?’

  Adelaide smiled. ‘I am working hard, Mamma.’

  ‘You will soon master it. But I daresay your husband will speak German. Or perhaps French. And in time of course you will master the language. There is nothing like living among the natives to do that. Queen Charlotte could not speak a word of English when she arrived, but she seemed to get on very well. But I believe the poor King was very different from his sons. How I wish that we had had you taught English. If only we had known … but who would have thought such a glittering possibility would come our way. We should rejoice, should we not, that it has.’

  The Duchess Eleanor was looking anxiously at her daughter. She wished romantically that the Duke of Clarence could have come to Saxe-Meiningen and fallen in love with Adelaide and she with him – as with the case of Ida and Weimar.

  She was being absurdly romantic, but she did hope that Adelaide was not too fearful. She did not show her feelings, admirable girl.

  Let her be happy, prayed the Duchess.

  Every day the Duchess Eleanor fearfully awaited a message. She was terrified that there might be some hitch.

  But preparations went on and nothing happened to stop them, and one warm July day the party set out for England.

  The bride took her last look at the castle and wondered whether she would ever see it again. Adelaide, soon to be the Duchess of Clarence – and perhaps in due course Queen of England – was on her way to the new life.

  ‘The Humbugs’

  QUEEN CHARLOTTE FERVENTLY wished that she did not feel so ill. At this important time she needed all her strength of purpose. She awoke every morning with the realization that the family’s existence was in danger and that none of them seemed to be urgently aware of it.

  She was not a woman to magnify her ailments, but she was fully aware what the dropsical state of her body meant and doubted whether she would live long enough to see the birth of the new heir to the throne. Who would be first, she wondered, Clarence or Kent – or failing them there was Cumberland (God forbid that it should be that woman’s child) or Cambridge. The marriages took so long to arrange, and her sons were not the most ardent of wooers; there was Kent with his French woman and he seemed to be more concerned about her future than that of the woman who was to be his wife. That somewhat independent widow, the Princess Victoria, might become aware of this and change her mind. As for Clarence, when had he ever behaved with wisdom?

  He had been furious to have to jilt Miss Wykeham. Jilt! What a ridiculous expression! He had never been properly betrothed to her in any case and if she had had any sense she would have known it.

  And then all that fuss about the marriage allowances. Really Clarence had a perfect genius for getting himself into absurd situations.

  She sent one of the women for her daughter Elizabeth for she wished to talk to her about the marriage which was being pr
oposed for her.

  Such a crop of marriages, she thought. Necessary for brothers but why for the sisters? There was something rather pathetic about an ageing woman marrying – and being so eager to do so.

  Elizabeth came to her call. She was forty-eight. Indeed, she should have more dignity.

  ‘My dear Elizabeth, my snuff-box.’

  Elizabeth hastened to bring it to her mother.

  ‘It has not been filled,’ complained the Queen.

  Elizabeth thought: How irritable she is! Her rheumatism, I suppose. What joy to be free of it all!

  ‘Thank you. I am surprised that you forgot to fill it, Elizabeth.’

  ‘I am sorry, Mamma.’

  ‘You had other things on your mind.’ The ugly mouth curled to a sneer. ‘This … marriage of yours, I’ll swear.’

  ‘I suppose when she is about to be married a woman could be excused for being a little absent-minded about a snuff-box.’

  ‘Oh dear!’ sighed the Queen. ‘How you have changed!’

  ‘I am sorry, Mamma,’ said Elizabeth. ‘I shall not forget again … as long as I am here.’

  ‘So you have determined to accept this proposal.’

  ‘I have already accepted, Mamma.’

  The Queen laughed unpleasantly. ‘I have heard he is little better than an animal.’

  ‘That could apply to so many,’ retorted Elizabeth blithely.

  ‘Elizabeth, I do not think you have considered this sufficiently.’

  ‘I did not have to consider it, Mamma. I always knew that I would prefer any marriage to none at all.’

  ‘I cannot understand you … any of you.’

  The Queen’s mouth shut like a trap. She would have liked to oppose the marriage but George was for it, providing, he said, Elizabeth wanted it. He was sorry for his sisters. They had never had a chance, he affirmed; and it was unnatural for them to be shut away as they had been all their lives. The King had behaved towards his daughters as though they were birds to be kept in cages. He forgot they were human beings although they were princesses. George had always sworn that when he came to the throne – and the Regency was the same thing – his first act would be to do something for his sisters. And for once George had kept his word. He had given them all allowances and if any of them could find men to marry them, he was not going to withhold his consent.

  So when the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg offered for Elizabeth the Regent declared that it was Elizabeth’s affair and if she wished to accept the fellow she might do so. And she had accepted with unbecoming alacrity.

  What she would do without Elizabeth, she was not sure. Elizabeth had been her favourite daughter – because she was the most useful. Mary had married her cousin Gloucester, that ridiculous ‘Slice’ as the papers called him or ‘Silly Billy’ as the Regent had named him, and she was no longer available to wait upon her Mamma. There would be only Augusta and Sophia left when Elizabeth had married, and Sophia was so often ill that she had to keep to her bed.

  And just at the time when I most need them! thought the Queen irritably. Surely they could have waited a little longer before rushing off with the first man who asked them.

  Elizabeth guessed the Queen’s thoughts. How unfair! She was forty-eight. How could she be expected to wait! Already she was too old to have children and when she thought how they had all been treated she could hate the irritable ugly old woman in the chair for having condemned them all to live as they had. Although perhaps Papa was more to blame. But how could she hate that poor shambling old man who was nearly blind and completely deaf and lived shut away from them all with his doctors who were really his keepers?

  But the door of the cage was open at last and no matter what the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg was like she was going to have him.

  ‘Sit down. Sit down,’ said the Queen. ‘You fidget me standing there looking so … so helpless. What is the news? Have you heard any?’

  ‘Nothing I daresay, Mamma, that you would not have heard already.’

  ‘Pray take your embroidery. I do not care to see you sitting idle-handed.’

  For the time it was easier to obey, thought Elizabeth. But the tyranny was almost over. Soon the Landgrave would be in England. What was he like? She had heard some reports that were not very flattering but then people were so unkind. They loved to poke fun. And anything … just anything would be better than this slavery.

  Elizabeth was thinking of her sisters. Charlotte the eldest who had married twenty years before. Strangely her bridegroom had been the husband of the Regent’s wife’s sister who had disappeared mysteriously and was said to have been murdered. She remembered how ill poor Charlotte had been when she had thought the wedding might not take place because of a rumour that her bridegroom’s first wife was still alive. She had suffered from jaundice, poor girl, and had been quite yellow at the ceremony. But she had achieved marriage, the only one of them to do so at that time. Mary had married last year. She should have married Gloucester years before. Augusta was doomed to remain a spinster and that left Sophia who had not been without adventures. She had at least had a lover – old General Garth – and there had been the boy to prove it. What a time that had been when they had discovered Sophia was pregnant and had had to get her down to Weymouth ‘for her health’s sake’ where she had successfully given birth. Garth adored the boy – and so did Sophia. She saw him whenever she could and Garth was still at Court. The scandals in this family were almost beyond belief. It was because the King had been so strict with the boys that as soon as they were free they rushed off wildly to make up for lost time; and the girls did what they could in their prisons to brighten the monotony of their lives. Even the dead, sainted Amelia had been in love with Charles Fitzroy and had had to keep it hidden from Papa.

  And now here was freedom coming towards her in the person of the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.

  Was she going to seize that freedom? She certainly was … with both hands; and she had quoted an ancestress of hers to Augusta: ‘I would marry an ape rather than no one at all.’

  And nothing is going to stop me, she determined.

  ‘Of course,’ the Queen was saying, ‘when you see the Landgrave you may change your mind.’

  Elizabeth plied her needle steadily.

  The Queen sighed. ‘At least your brother Clarence is being sensible at last. He was in quite a tantrum. First about that woman with the odd name.’

  ‘Miss Wykeham.’

  ‘That is the creature. And then declaring that he would not marry at all because Parliament only offered him an additional £6,000 a year.’

  ‘He has decided against that now, Mamma. He is quite ready to take the Princess of Saxe-Meiningen.’

  ‘I should think so. Such a waste of time. I shall not rest easily until these marriages take place. And when I hear that they are fruitful I shall be really at peace.’

  ‘Yes, Mamma.’

  ‘I cannot think why there always has to be fuss about these matters. And why your brothers seem to do everything they possibly can to make themselves unpopular.’

  Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. That freedom which was almost within her grasp made her reckless.

  ‘I heard that the Duke of Wellington has said that the royal dukes are the damnedest millstone round the necks of any government that can be imagined.’

  ‘That man uses the most coarse language. I am surprised at your repeating it, Elizabeth.’

  ‘I thought Your Majesty wished to hear all I had heard.’

  The Queen closed her eyes. ‘Bring me the higher footrest. And hand me my snuff-box.’

  Elizabeth obeyed and, looking at her mother lying back in the chair, her eyes closed, that yellowish tinge to her face, thought how ill she looked and even uglier than usual.

  She felt sorry for her. She would not repeat the latest quip about George. ‘Prinney has let loose his belly which now reaches to his knees.’ A comment on the fact that the Regent no longer belted his waist. They were coarse and unkind;
and they liked to ridicule them all. She could imagine what would be said of her and her Landgrave.

  But I don’t care, thought Elizabeth. All I care is that I escape.

  She looked at her mother and believed she had fallen asleep.

  How unlike her! And how grey and old she looked in sleep!

  Poor Mamma! thought Elizabeth. She is as ill in her way as Papa is in his.

  And she thought of her father, and how it was sometimes necessary to put him into a strait-jacket, and her cold-hearted mother, who had helped to ruin so many of their lives, and George with his wild affairs and the other brothers with their matrimonial difficulties.

  What a family!

  The Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg had arrived in England and the public was amused. What was this creature who had come to marry the Princess? There was something ridiculous about a woman of forty-eight behaving like a coy young bride which, it was insisted, was what the Princess Elizabeth was doing. She was over-plump, somewhat unwieldy in fact; and when her bridegroom appeared the cartoons came thick and fast.

  When he arrived in England, it was said, his face and body were so caked with dirt that no one could see his features. He had never washed in his life. He did not think washing necessary. He smoked continuously and the smell of his smoky unclean person sent people scurrying away from him.

  They had had to insist that he take several very hot baths one after another to make some inroad into the grime; and to take his pipe away from him, which made him peevish.

  The truth was that hygiene at the English Court had become something of a fetish owing to the Regent’s habits. He himself bathed every day and he expected everyone who came into contact with him to do the same. Thus the bathing habit was taken up throughout the Court but baths were rarities in Hesse-Homburg; and remembering the disastrous meeting of the Regent with Caroline of Brunswick when the odour which emanated from her person so sickened him that he turned away calling for a strong brandy, the Landgrave was advised to bath and change his linen before being presented to his future bride.