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n There is one line of thought that George, Prince ofnWales, was behind the whole thing. When he realised that Parliament had nonintention of clearing his debts at a stroke, even though he had gone throughnwith the marriage to his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, and when he realisednthat they were an entirely unsuited couple, who could never make their marriagenwork, you can understand, if not condone, it that he resolved to be rid of her.
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| George, Prince of Wales |
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nShe was tactless, headstrong, garrulous and, let’s be honest, not the brightestndiamond in the tiara. If the rumours coming out of Blackheath were to benbelieved, the Princess was running wild, with far too many gentleman callers.nSo, let’s just say that her new neighbours, the Douglases, were ‘encouraged’ tonmove into the district and gain her confidence, and to relate their findingsnback to the Prince.
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nHow convenient would it be if they conveyed lurid storiesnof the Princess’s liaisons with a steady stream of suitors, and what ifnthe story of the illegitimate child was true? Messy, certainly, sordid,nabsolutely; grounds for divorce, definitely.
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| Caroline, Princess of Wales |
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nBut, let’s just imagine thatnCaroline realised what was going on, and deliberately played up to the spies,ngiving them just what they wanted, and more, knowing that in the cold light ofnreason, how ridiculous the claims would seem. So, she let Lady Douglas believenthat William Austin was her own child, dropping tasty hints at opportunenmoments, making the odd salty comment about the gentleman who just happened tonbe staying at Blackheath at the moment.
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| Charlotte, Lady Douglas |
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nLady Douglas must have thought she hadnstruck scandalous gold, and she mined it for all it was worth, eagerly scoopingnup the precious nuggets as they were revealed. And when it all went wrong, andnthe Delicate Investigation exonerated the Princess entirely, finding thencharges brought against her to be without foundation, and revealed the truenmother of William Austin to be a poor woman from Deptford, and that thenPrincess had charitably adopted the child, it must have seemed to the Prince ofnWales that his best laid plans had come to naught.
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| King George III |
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nThe King favoured his niece,nbrought her to court, gave her apartments at Kensington Palace and the publicnagreed that she deserved sympathy for the terrible persecution brought againstnher by the Prince and his faction. She became the most popular of all thenroyals (not a difficult feat, given the nature of the competition), cheered innthe streets whenever she went out in public, and feted by fashionable society,nwith her salon being the place to be seen.
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| Charles, Duke of Brunswick |
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nIt may have seemed tonCaroline that it had all been worthwhile, after all, although her option of anretreat back to Brunswick were dashed when her father was fatally woundednduring the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, the French victors consequently took controlnof the principality, and her mother sought asylum in England. The Duchess’snbrother, King George III, provided lodgings for her at Blackheath, and for thennext few years there were, in effect, two parallel courts; the Prince’s atnCarlton House and the Princess’s at Kensington.
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| Augusta, Duchess of Brunswick |
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nAnd then, in 1811, fate tossednanother twist into the mix, as King George III’s madness returned, and thenPrince of Wales was made Regent, ruling in his father’s stead. Using his newnpowers, he began to realign the pieces on the chessboard, and many of thenfaithful former visitors to Kensington, sensing the shift, strategically movedntheir allegiances to Carlton House instead.
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| Caroline, Princess of Wales |
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nSo, it will come as no surprise tonlearn that, before long, it all began to unravel. George obviously nurtured hisngrudge, biding his time, looking for evidence, waiting for the slip, the crack,nthe chance. With characteristic petulance, he withdrew Caroline’s access tontheir daughter, Princess Charlotte, forbidding any contact between mother andndaughter, and even going so far as to issue orders to the coachmen not to stopnfor or even approach Caroline’s carriage if they happened to encounter itnwhilst out driving the Princess (in fact, a chance meeting in Hyde Parknoutraged the public, when they learned that this was the extent of the contactnbetween the two). Caroline wrote to George, begging him to reconsider hisnaction and asking for access to Charlotte, and George, entirely in character,nreturned the unopened letter.
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| Henry Brougham |
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nCaroline now found a new ally (following thenassassination of Spencer Perceval), in a rapidly rising politician called Henry Brougham, who may well have drafted the letter for her, and who leaked it tonthe press, who happily printed the full text in the papers. George responded bynleaking Lady Douglas’s deposition to the Delicate Investigation, in anbid to weaken the public perception of his wife, and Brougham retaliated bynfurther leaking the letters to the Investigation that had refutednDouglas’s allegations.
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| The Assassination of Spencer Perceval |
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nCaroline’s social isolation was further ensured whennGeorge let it be known that anyone who was in contact with her would benunwelcome at the Royal court, and in 1814, following Napoleon’s defeat innEurope, this was made abundantly plain when she was excluded from the victoryncelebrations of the European nobility held in London (when George had been toldnof the Duke of Wellington’s victories in the west, he had responded with thenoutburst,
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n“Damn the west! And damn the east! And damn Wellington! Thenquestion is, how am I to get rid of this damned Princess of Wales?”n
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nTomorrow – How, indeed?