The Third George Read online

  In her happy frame of mind Charlotte wanted to please everyone and told the English, in French, that in future Mademoiselle von Schwellenburg would direct them. Elizabeth Chudleigh listened with outward decorum, but immediately talked over the matter with the others.

  "You can see very well what is going to happen," she declared. "Everything in this place will become German. It is always the same with these Germans. They want to impose their dullness on everyone else. I shall be looking like a hausfrau very soon and so will the rest of you, and there will be no entertainment but music ... music ... music. And worse still, no one will be able to approach the Queen except through Schwellenburg.”

  "The Queen seems to want to give the loathsome creature a special place in her household, so what can we do about it?" asked the Duchess of Ancaster.

  "Plenty," reported Elizabeth Chudleigh; and proceeded to act. Under her devious and expert direction the knowledge soon reached the ears of the Princess Dowager that Mademoiselle von Schwellenburg had a great influence with the Queen, that she gave her orders in the Queen's apartment and that the English maids of honour were in revolt.

  Miss Chudleigh was summoned to the Princess's apartment and gave her opinion that Mademoiselle von Schwellenburg was an ambitious woman and she was certain that in her odious German, in which she chattered volubly, she was making all sorts of plans to run the Court in accordance with her German ideas. One could trust Miss Chudleigh to scent trouble even if one could trust her in no other way; and the Princess Dowager graciously thanked her, implying she would be grateful for more news, that it would be well for Miss Chudleigh to work faiths fully for her since her position at Court was a somewhat precarious one, owing to her rather dubious relationship with the Duke of Kingston. To which implication Miss Chudleigh responded with equal grace and innuendo. She was in possession of some secrets concerning the King and a certain Quaker lady; and she did having helped to arrange that affair know a little more about it than most; and she was sure that in the hands of the scribblers and lampoonists it would make a story that would not amuse but shock the people of England; but she was keeping quiet because, just as the Princess Dowager wished to please her, so did she wish to retain the esteem of the Princess Dowager.

  The Princess Dowager inclined her head in acknowledgement of a delicate situation. Elizabeth Chudleigh's place was safe at Court however disreputably she behaved; though Elizabeth Chudleigh would do well to remember that there were some limits beyond which a Princess would not go even to avoid involving her son in a hideous scandal. The situation was clearly understood between them; and as in moments of uncertainty, as the Princess Dowager had always done, she sent for Lord Bute.

  He came quickly. She looked at him anxiously, wondering if he were changing. Was he a little less devoted? Did he spend more time with the King than with her? Naturally he must keep his eyes on the King for all their sakes, but was he slightly less attentive to her than in the past? And had the change come about since George's elevation to the throne?

  As he bent and kissed her she felt it was unworthy of her to entertain such thoughts for a moment.

  She was not a promiscuous woman; she did not seek a host of lovers; the liaison between herself and Lord Bute was as a marriage, lacking nothing but the benefit of clergy. She could trust him and he could trust her. Their goal was the same and they would march together towards it.

  "Disturbing news, dearest, from the Chudleigh woman.”

  "Trust her to scent trouble.”

  "She has her uses ... if one can trust her.”

  "Ah, if one can trust her! What's the trouble now?”

  "Schwellenburg; she is giving herself airs, making trouble with the other women and in fact setting herself up as a little queen. You know what that can mean. Very soon she will be selling honours; she will be making Charlotte the centre of a coterie of power. You know the signs.”

  "I know them full well. With the shining example of Sarah Churchill not far behind us we have good reason to be suspicious of these ambitious women near a queen. But with this one the answer should be simple.”

  "What do you have in mind?”

  "Send her packing.”

  The Princess Dowager laughed. "Trust you to find the solution. Why didn't I think of it?”

  "Because you thought to please me by letting me suggest it." She gave him a tender look.

  "We had better go to see George about it, and suggest it would be better if Schwellenburg left.”

  "We'll ask him to come here.”

  "My dear! Sometimes I think you forget he is the King." He turned to her and there was a fierceness in his look which, while it alarmed her slightly, delighted her.

  "He is still our George. Nothing can alter that. We will ask him to come here.”

  Yes, she thought as he ordered a page to go to the King and request his presence in his mother's apartment, her dear Lord Bute had become more sure of himself since the King's accession.

  "I do not think," said George, 'that Charlotte will care to relinquish that woman. She came from Germany with her. It is natural that she should want to keep her.”

  "It is a situation all Princesses have to face," his mother pointed out. "We come with our attendants and after a while must do without them. Moreover, Schwellenburg is making trouble with the other women.”

  "It is better to have a peaceful atmosphere in the Queen's apartments," said Bute softly. "It is better for the Queen.”

  "Yes, I suppose so," sighed George. "But I don't care to ask Charlotte to give up this woman.”

  "Your Majesty need not distress yourself on that score," said Bute promptly. "What are your subjects for but to do that work which is distasteful to Your Majesty?”

  He smiled at the Princess Dowager as though to say: See how easily our battles are won?

  **** Mademoiselle von Schwellenburg was incensed. "But, Madam, this is monstrous. This cannot be.

  They will send me away. Who will care for you? I... only I... know how to do that! I came with you from Germany...”

  Charlotte said: "This is nonsense. Who says you are to go?”

  "It is orders. They come from the King. I am to go, to leave the Palace within a few days. My transport is provided. Back to Mecklenburg, they say. Oh, no, no, it is impossible.”

  Charlotte was aghast. Not so much at the prospect of losing Schwellenburg, whose overbearing ways were often hard to bear, but that her dismissal should have been decided on without reference to herself. She went to the King and asked him what this meant; and what was her position here in England if she could not decide who should be her own servants.

  George looked embarrassed. "It is the custom," he explained, 'for foreign servants to go back to their homes after a certain period. They come, you see, to help you settle in. Well, now I should say you had settled in, wouldn't you?”

  "I do not understand this. I do not wish Schwellenburg to go ... unless I myself dismiss her. Tell me this, pray. Was it your mother who asked you to order this ?”

  George admitted that this was so.

  "Then will you ask her to come here so that I can hear the reasons from her lips.”

  "You make too much of this, Charlotte. You shall have other women to replace her... women who understand our ways.”

  "All the same I wish to speak to the Princess Dowager in your presence.”

  George looked uneasy. He hoped Charlotte was not going to turn into a virago, just as he had been congratulating himself that he had acquired a pleasant, docile wife. But he wanted to please her; and secretly he could see her point. After all, as Queen she should be allowed to choose her servants surely.

  The Princess Dowager came with Lord Bute at the King's summons, and when they saw Charlotte's distress they knew the reason for it.

  "Her Majesty is concerned," the King explained, 'that you should have asked for the dismissal of Mademoiselle von Schwellenburg.”

  "I know exactly how you feel, my dear," said the Princess Dowager fixing
her cold eyes on the Queen. "Did I not suffer in exactly the same way when I first came to this country? Of course I quickly began to realize that those who had lived here longer than I knew best...”

  "I cannot see what harm Mademoiselle von Schwellenburg is doing here.”

  The Princess looked pained. The Queen had no manners; she had actually interrupted her. No doubt the little upstart was suffering from conceit. Where had she come from? Some little Dukedom that no one had ever heard of! When it had been known that the English ambassadors were going there, that wit Horace Walpole had said, "Let us hope they will be able to find it!" But of course these were the sort of people who gave themselves airs. The Princess Augusta did not look too searchingly into her own origins, but at least she had been absolutely docile all through her married life. And if an ambitious woman should not have a few political ambitions when she was free to do so, when could she ever display her talents? If this little Madam was the Queen she herself was the King's mother; and but for the death of her husband she herself would have been queen. No, little Charlotte must be promptly put in her place which was, queen or not, considerably lower than that of the King's mother.

  "Then my dear, you must try to understand. That woman is overbearing. She is causing trouble among your attendants. It is a common enough situation and she must go.”

  The young woman who had dared write a letter to Frederick the Great came to life at such an ultimatum. She herself was not so very fond of Schwellenburg that she would be heartbroken to lose her. Who could be as fond as that of Schwellenburg? But she would have to find someone to take her place. Haggerdorn was too meek; and there must be someone with whom she could speak her native tongue. No, she was not going to be robbed of Schwellenburg as easily as that if only to show her mother-in-law that she would not be treated in such an undignified manner.

  "I do not wish her to go. She is useful to me. Until I learn to speak English I must have someone who speaks German with me. You cannot imagine how difficult it would be.”

  "I cannot imagine," cried the Princess Dowager. "My dear Charlotte, this happened to me, but I had the good sense to accept it as the natural course of events.”

  This conversation had taken place in German which George understood better than Lord Bute; but it was obvious to the latter that the tempers of both ladies were rapidly rising.

  Then Charlotte went to the King and lifting her eyes appealingly to him said: "I ask this favour.

  Allow me to keep Mademoiselle von Schwellenburg.”

  George was in a dilemma. He did not wish to displease his mother; yet he did not see how he could refuse such a simple I request from his bride. In fact he was on her side. He could not I see why the tiresome Schwellenburg should not receive a warning that she must change her attitude and then all would be well. It was the solution. He smiled delightedly and his smile included Lord Bute who, he was sure, with masculine perspicacity, would be on his side. This was a quarrel between two women; and he felt as a husband he must support his wife, although it would be going against his mother.

  He wavered for a moment and the Princess Dowager was about to speak when he said: "Mademoiselle von Schwellenburg shall stay and I know that the Queen will warn her.”

  "But..." began the Princess.

  "I will warn her," said Charlotte quickly.

  "Yes ... yes ..." went on the King. "You must tell her that if she does not behave er...

  becomingly ... she will have to go.”

  "This will not do," began the Princess Dowager, but Lord Bute was flashing a warning at her.

  The King spoke with dignity. "But Your Highness must understand that I have said it shall be so.”

  He looked at the clock. "And now I think our attendants are waiting to assist at our dressing.”

  It was dismissal. Even the Princess Dowager had to accept it. Lord Bute, in recognition of the King's order, gave his arm to the Princess Dowager and there was nothing they could do but retire.

  "Can you believe it!" cried the Princess when they were alone in her apartments. "What can have happened to George?”

  "My dearest, you are always telling him that he must be a king. At last he has taken the admonition to heart and become one.”

  "You mean he is going to begin setting himself up against us?”

  "I saw that in his face today, which tells me that he wishes it known to us that in future if there is a difference of opinion between us, he will make the decision.”

  "That gives me great cause for alarm.”

  "It is a change, of course; and one of which we must be wary. We must, however, make sure that in future we all agree.”

  "But if he is going to imagine that he is the King and his word is law ...”

  "The last king believed all that, yet I have heard it said that it was really Queen Caroline who ruled.”

  "It was true.”

  "Yet George II thought he did. Why should George III be denied such a pleasant delusion?”

  "You are so clever.”

  "We must be, my dearest, and we must not have any repetition of that Schwellenburg scene.”

  "But I have determined that the woman shall go.”

  "Your Highness must forget that determination. The woman is of no importance.”

  "But she is going to guide Charlotte...”

  "My dear, we must see that Charlotte is not important either.”

  "The Queen!”

  "Yes, the Queen. She has been brought over here to fill the royal nurseries. If she does that she will be well occupied. The King does not care for women's interference. He has said so often enough to me. We will foster that and in the meantime keep our eyes on Charlotte.”

  The Princess nodded. "You go on influencing the King, my love; and leave Charlotte to me.”

  **** The Princess Dowager had presented the Queen with several new women.

  "Because, my dear Charlotte, you set such store on having Germans about you, I am sending you Miss Pascal. She came from Germany and has served me well. I give her to you.”

  Charlotte, flushed with victory over the retention of Schwellenburg, accepted gracefully. Then there was Miss Laverock and Miss Vernon.

  "All excellent women," declared the Princess Dowager. And she believed that they and Miss Chudleigh would do very good service in the Queen's household for the Princess Dowager, of course; for the chief duty of these women, while they went about the tasks allotted to them no doubt by the dominating Schwellenburg, was to spy for the Princess and report to her all that Queen Charlotte did and said.

  Lord Bute as always was right. There should be no more disagreements with the King. And if the Princess and Lord Bute knew exactly what was happening in the Queen's private apartments they would be able to shape their policy so much more easily; and at the same time make sure that the upstart little Queen should be nothing but the mother of the new royal family. The Great Commoner The Dowager Princess Augusta had been right when the thought had occurred to her that Lord Bute was more interested in the King than in herself. She had always regarded him as a husband; and it seemed natural that he should be absorbed, almost completely absorbed, in the welfare of her son, for she was sure that the family spirit had so engulfed Lord Bute that he thought of George as his son. Everything he did for George was for George's good and as he had pointed out to her, what was for George's good was for theirs; for their one aim was to see George reigning over his kingdom, happy and secure.

  He had talked to her at length about the monarchy, and they were in complete agreement. As Lord Bute saw it, a king should be the supreme ruler. This had been the case in the past. Charles II had had great power. And what a statesman he had proved himself to be, conducting secret policies with the French behind his government's back and, Lord Bute was quick to point out, to the great advantage not only himself but his country. But then Charles was a Stuart as Lord Bute himself was, and although he could not claim direct connection, the name being the same, the link must be there. Lord Bute would l
ike to see George absolute monarch.

  "But there is the Constitution," the Princess had pointed out.

  "Made for William the Dutchman. Naturally, the people wanted it then. The man was a foreigner; and they had just turned out James II, who lacked the intelligence of his brother. And after that there was Anne, who was a woman, and then they looked to the House of Hanover. Neither of the two previous Georges cared about England, and the English sensed that. But now it is changed.

  Our George is an Englishman born and bred in England. It is time this country returned to true kingship.”

  "And the Government?”

  "Ah, my love has put her finger on the trouble. While we have Mr. Pitt at the head of affairs this country will be ruled by its government and not by its king.”

  "And what do you propose, my love?”

  "To rid ourselves of Mr. Pitt.”

  "The people's idol?”

  "The people quickly forget their idols.”

  "And you think Mr. Pitt will agree to retire?”

  "Mr. Pitt, my dearest, must be brought to such a pass that he can do nothing else but retire.”

  "It will need very careful handling.”

  Lord Bute smiled at her. "Shall we call on His Majesty.”

  The Princess nodded, and rising, slipped her arm through that of the lover. Both the Princess and Lord Bute were aware of the King's new determination when they found him at his desk studying state papers. He greeted them warmly, embracing them both.

  "Your Majesty will forgive this intrusion on your time," murmured Lord Bute.

  "My dear friend, I am always happy to see you.”

  "And your mother, I trust?" asked the Princess.

  "My dearest mother, you know it.”

  "The Princess and I have been talking of the war," said Bute.

  George frowned. He hated wars. Killing! he thought. Men who are strong one moment and killed or even worse, maimed the next. A terrible price to pay for power. Yet, Mr. Pitt had assured him that it was necessary for the welfare of the people.

  "We were saying," added his mother, "What a blessing it would be if there could be an end to all this bloodshed.”