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Authors: James Chambers
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silver, and for the first time, again in the height of fashion, she wore ostrich feathers in her hair.
For Charlotte, the ball was a bit of a disappointment. She had been led to believe that it was being given for her, but when the time came it was Princess Mary and not Charlotte who was asked to lead off the dancing. She had hoped that she would be able to dance with the young Duke of Devonshire, but soon after she arrived she was told that he was indisposed.
The son of the famously beautiful Duchess, Georgiana, the 23-year-old Duke of Devonshire was very deaf and consequently shy and silent. Charlotte had âliked him very muchâ when she first met him. She was proud that she had put him at his ease and induced him to âtalk a great dealâ. But she was not attracted to him. As she told Mercer, âhe is certainly very plainâ.
Nevertheless, as with the Duke of Gloucester, Charlotteâs father was worried by his apparent interest in her, and particularly so in this case because the Duke of Devonshire was a leading Whig. âReally the Prince Regent is so excessively tiresome & absurd about everything of that sortâ, she wrote to Mercer, ââ¦& he is so suspicious always about my politicsâ. It may be therefore that the Duke was not present because the Prince had told him to stay away.
Without the young Duke, Charlotte could only dance with her uncles and other, much older, partners. As one of the other guests, Miss Mary Berry, put it, âall very magnificent, but such a lack of dancing young men and, indeed, women, I quite pitied the Princess Charlotte from the bottom of my heart for the dulness of the ballâ.
But this, at least, was not due to any exaggerated caution on the part of the Prince Regent. There was a dearth of good dancing partners in London in 1813. Like George FitzClarence and Charles Hesse, most of the young men worth dancing with were serving with Wellington in Spain.
Cornelia Knight enjoyed the ball even less than the Princess. In the course of the evening the Prince Regent took her aside and subjected her to a long, detailed and embarrassing diatribe against his wife. At the end of it he âeven accused her of threatening to declare that Princess Charlotte was not his daughterâ.
Miss Knight was âhorrifiedâ. âI really knew not what to answer.â
In the light of what happened next, it is possible that the Prince Regent was trying to earn Miss Knightâs sympathy, so that she, and hopefully his daughter, would be on his side when the storm broke.
C HAPTER S EVEN
âInfamous Insinuationsâ
O N 10 F EBRUARY the Morning Chronicle printed a letter that had been written by Charlotteâs mother to her father.
In it the Princess of Wales complained at length about the injustice of reducing her meetings with her daughter from one a week to one a fortnight. The âDelicate Investigationâ had been unable to substantiate any of the charges against her, and yet, by limiting her contact with Charlotte and thereby treating her as though she were a corrupting influence, the Prince Regent was implying to the world that she was guilty of all of them.
In one paragraph she wrote, âLet me implore you to reflect on the situation in which I am placed: without the shadow of a charge against me; without even an accuser; after an inquiry that led to my ample vindication, yet treated as if I were still more culpable than the perjuries of my suborned traducers represented me, holding me up to the world as a mother who may not enjoy the society of her only child.â
When he first received this letter, the Prince Regent had returned it unopened. The Princess of Wales had then sent it to the PrimeMinister and the Lord Chancellor, who also returned it unopened. When she sent it a second time to her husband, he read it but did not deign to answer. After that, in what she saw as justified exasperation, she had decided to put her
For Charlotte, the ball was a bit of a disappointment. She had been led to believe that it was being given for her, but when the time came it was Princess Mary and not Charlotte who was asked to lead off the dancing. She had hoped that she would be able to dance with the young Duke of Devonshire, but soon after she arrived she was told that he was indisposed.
The son of the famously beautiful Duchess, Georgiana, the 23-year-old Duke of Devonshire was very deaf and consequently shy and silent. Charlotte had âliked him very muchâ when she first met him. She was proud that she had put him at his ease and induced him to âtalk a great dealâ. But she was not attracted to him. As she told Mercer, âhe is certainly very plainâ.
Nevertheless, as with the Duke of Gloucester, Charlotteâs father was worried by his apparent interest in her, and particularly so in this case because the Duke of Devonshire was a leading Whig. âReally the Prince Regent is so excessively tiresome & absurd about everything of that sortâ, she wrote to Mercer, ââ¦& he is so suspicious always about my politicsâ. It may be therefore that the Duke was not present because the Prince had told him to stay away.
Without the young Duke, Charlotte could only dance with her uncles and other, much older, partners. As one of the other guests, Miss Mary Berry, put it, âall very magnificent, but such a lack of dancing young men and, indeed, women, I quite pitied the Princess Charlotte from the bottom of my heart for the dulness of the ballâ.
But this, at least, was not due to any exaggerated caution on the part of the Prince Regent. There was a dearth of good dancing partners in London in 1813. Like George FitzClarence and Charles Hesse, most of the young men worth dancing with were serving with Wellington in Spain.
Cornelia Knight enjoyed the ball even less than the Princess. In the course of the evening the Prince Regent took her aside and subjected her to a long, detailed and embarrassing diatribe against his wife. At the end of it he âeven accused her of threatening to declare that Princess Charlotte was not his daughterâ.
Miss Knight was âhorrifiedâ. âI really knew not what to answer.â
In the light of what happened next, it is possible that the Prince Regent was trying to earn Miss Knightâs sympathy, so that she, and hopefully his daughter, would be on his side when the storm broke.
C HAPTER S EVEN
âInfamous Insinuationsâ
O N 10 F EBRUARY the Morning Chronicle printed a letter that had been written by Charlotteâs mother to her father.
In it the Princess of Wales complained at length about the injustice of reducing her meetings with her daughter from one a week to one a fortnight. The âDelicate Investigationâ had been unable to substantiate any of the charges against her, and yet, by limiting her contact with Charlotte and thereby treating her as though she were a corrupting influence, the Prince Regent was implying to the world that she was guilty of all of them.
In one paragraph she wrote, âLet me implore you to reflect on the situation in which I am placed: without the shadow of a charge against me; without even an accuser; after an inquiry that led to my ample vindication, yet treated as if I were still more culpable than the perjuries of my suborned traducers represented me, holding me up to the world as a mother who may not enjoy the society of her only child.â
When he first received this letter, the Prince Regent had returned it unopened. The Princess of Wales had then sent it to the PrimeMinister and the Lord Chancellor, who also returned it unopened. When she sent it a second time to her husband, he read it but did not deign to answer. After that, in what she saw as justified exasperation, she had decided to put her
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