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n Although she passed four months in Sicily, and ansimilar amount of time touring Greece and the Holy Land, for six years (betweenn1814 to 1820), Caroline lived in Italy, taking a variety of villas. Pergami andnhis family were her principal attendants, and the rumours that she lived withnthe Italian as man and wife were believed by all. In April 1817, she resolvednto sell the Villa d’Este, which was proving too expensive to maintain andnmoved, in August, to Pesaro.
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| The Marriage of Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Sallfeld |
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nHere she received a letter from her daughter,nPrincess Charlotte, with an engraving of her and her husband, Prince Leopold ofnSaxe-Coburg-Sallfeld. Charlotte had married in May 1816, and was declarednpregnant in the spring of 1817 (Caroline was not consulted regarding thenmarriage, and there was no representative of her present at the weddingnceremony). England was jubilant, the Princess was loved by all, and hopes of anmale heir raised the price of stock by six per cent.
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| Princess Charlotte |
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nAnd then tragedy struck,nand at only twenty-one years of age, Princess Charlotte died, after deliveringna stillborn son. The country plunged into deep mourning, the Prince Regent wasnso profoundly shocked that he was unable to attend his daughter’s funeral andncould not bring himself to write to Caroline with the news. He passed the responsibilitynto Prince Leopold, who was too grief-stricken to write, and news of herndaughter’s death only reached Caroline by accident. A messenger, on his way tondeliver the news to the Pope, passed through Pesaro and so Caroline onlyndiscovered the truth at second hand. She fainted immediately, and never reallynrecovered from the shock.
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| The Sorrows of Britain – A Sermon on the Occasion of the Great National Calamity – 1817 |
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nThe Prince Regent, left without legitimate childrennor grandchildren, then formally appointed a royal commission to examine thenreports of Caroline’s infidelity that were received from Ompteda and his spies.nMr Leach and Mr Cooke, both barristers, Mr Powell, a gentleman with connectionsnat court, Colonel Brown and Lord Stewart departed for Italy, where they metnwith a Milanese agent, Vimercati, and established a bureau for the collectionnof evidence against the Princess.
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| Caroline, Princess of Wales |
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nThe so-called Milan Commission wasnjust as disgraceful, corrupt and ham-fisted as you’d expect anyngovernment-funded muck-raking mission to Italy to be. They had £30,000 to spendnon expenses, which they did, and if they had spent twice as much, they wouldnhave undoubtedly bought twice as much evidence, and all of it would have beennworth exactly the same, which was nothing. Retired servants offered salaciousntales in return for money. Sacked former employees were interviewed and,nunsurprisingly, were only too happy to revenge themselves by telling whateverntales the Commission wanted to hear. Sacchi, a groom sacked by Pergami (againstnwhom he vowed reprisals), perhaps summed it up best,
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n“What would you have mendo? I am desperate; I have no work; I will say what they told me to say.”n
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nIt was such a botched job, so obviously riddled with lies and inconsistencies,nthat when the Commission delivered its report, on July 10th 1819, nonfurther action was taken. Nevertheless, Caroline wasn’t to know that at thentime and resolved to move somewhere nearer to England, just in case she neededneasier, speedier access to her lawyers.
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| King George III |
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nUncertain of how she would be receivednby the French, she started out for Rome, but was intercepted at Leghorn withnnews that, on January 29th 1820, King George III had died. As anconsequence, she was now the Queen of England.
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| Queen Caroline |
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nNo attempt was made by the Royalncourt to inform her of her change of circumstance, indeed, it was intimated tonthe courts of Europe that it was the desire of the new King that his consortnshould not be recognised as Queen. As far as the courts of Europe werenconcerned, this was fine by them. George III had been mad for so long, and hisnson had acted as Regent for so long that, politically, nothing had reallynchanged. So when Caroline reached Rome, travelling incognito under thenname of the Countess Oldi, she was received as a private citizen and was told,nin no uncertain terms, that until Rome received an official statement from thenKing of England and Hanover informing it of her change of status, Rome wouldnnot recognise her as the Queen of England and Hanover.
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| King George IV |
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nIn a letter to LordnMontagu, Sir Walter Scott (the author), made a grave predication that whichevernof the King or the Queen struck the first blow, that one would inevitably losenthe battle. Her guilt was assumed in England, and it was also assumed that shenwould not dare to return. The King was now determined to divorce his wife,nalbeit that the evidence was circumstantial and rested, for the most part, onnthe word of foreign menials, foreign hotel-keepers, former foreign servantsndismissed from the Princess’s household, and, without putting too fine a pointnon it, foreigners. And we all know what they are like. It had also to be said,nquietly and with due reverence, that his Majesty had hardly conducted himselfnlike a monk, before, during or after the Princess’s residence in the country.
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| Contemporary Caricature of Caroline |
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nSomething of a compromise was reached when the Queen’s name was removed from thenLiturgy, and the government undertook to pass a Bill of Pains and Penalties, tontake effect if her Majesty returned to England, while the King consented thatnno such requirement would be forced upon them whilst she remained abroad. Thus,nthe battle lines were drawn in a war that had already waged for years.
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nTomorrow – bad behaviour galore.
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